Paul Murray LiveAustralians mark our national day, celebrating our greatest Australians as winners of awards are revealed, smaller turnout at invasion day rallies. Plus, unofficial election campaign underway.
The Sky New Center. This is Paul Murray Live. Do you like an evening, Happy Australia Day. Welcome into the man Cave. This is a huge night, because Sunday nights. I'm Pall Murray Live.
This moment in our Sky News week is for the hard course, the people who want to know not just story behind the story, but the real deal behind what everyone else will react to in the next few days.
We're calling it the State of the Race.
There's a conversation with people who do a bunch of polling but also speak to a bunch of voters about that polling, and of course the great Michael Kroger, who's been through many an election. If you think you care about politics, believe me, you want to see this segment. It will be every Sunday between now and the election, which feels like it could be between now and November next year, but believe me, it's okay.
That'll be between now and May.
Of course, today is our National Day, the day where we are proud of the country that we are and we look forward to the nation that we will be. It was cool to see, at least on Channel seven News that the lead story was Australia celebrating Australia. It was nice to see that it wasn't and also there was no dot dot dot. It was Australia celebrating Australia. Fifteen thousand people joined the country today. They took up their citizenship. They have joined the greatest club in the world. Congratulations, welcome, enjoy everything that we've got for you.
And I just love anywhere you went that there were.
Plenty of people who were willing to talk to a camera about the greatest joint in the world.
We love our country and there's no other country like it.
I love Australia.
I'm Australian through and through. I look out Australian and I think we should all celebrate this day.
I love it, I really love it.
Look, it is disappointing that when you go through the majority of our CBDs that you don't see the public bunting and flags that you may well have used to.
I loved that.
I woke up this morning in Brisbane after the Luke Comb's concert last night. What an absolute thumper that was. I'll get to that a little bit later. And there wasn't really much to see in the center of the city. But the further you went into the suburbs and you'd see a flag on a car here or there. The point is that while there are many big institutions that don't want to recognize the day, you can you do so. If you got the cash, put a flagpole out of the front of your house. Why not fly the flag three sixty five? Why not find a way to fly out a couple of days before, a couple of days after. Why not put a sticker on your car. The point is is that we know the vast majority of Australians.
We've got the poles to prove it. They're all in on the day.
They understand the day they understand the day is not a victory over Indigenous Australia or any.
Garbage like that.
Instead a celebration of the modernity and the peacefulness of which we live. And as I always talk about the fact that our national story maybe tens of thousands of years in that direction, a couple of hundred years of modern tales, but there is every page yet to be printed is blank, and all twenty seven million of us will play our part in deciding what the story is between now and the next time that we can reconvene on this day. So if you're somebody who did fly the flag today, good on you. If you're somebody who will be inspired as a result of this conversation to fly the flag next to you, good on you. Because I don't care what your local council does, I don't care what the government says. And the end of the day, we're the ones who decide what our street looks like. We're the ones who decide what our homes look like. It stuck out like the proverbial, but I've got to say a shout out to the Amkel chemist at the airport because it was the only shop that had stuck up an Australian flag. Now, of course many and most brands are all obviously scared of the twenty percent that are going to throw the toys out of the court all the rest of it. But here's the deal. I hope you had a great day. You know why we mark this day. We celebrate this day while we understand the complexities of this day, but we commit to that future like fifteen thousand people are. So by the time we next convene, more flags wherever you can. Let's get it going. Not to annoy people, but just to show how into it you are. As I suggested the other night, the Australian of the Year most likely was going to end up being Olden Her of course, the former legendary AFL player and AFL coach, a man who was diagnosed in twenty thirteen with motor neurone disease. He was told that his life would end within three years. Well now we are many years beyond that. In fact, what the best part of twelve And while the beast as he calls it, is wrecking his body, it is not breaking his spirit. He and his wife have of course put together that phenomenal fight mode of neurone disease charity.
That's raised more than one hundred million.
Dollars to fight the disease, to have re search where previously no one was looking to delve into the too hard basket.
Strength and love to him.
What a perfect and wonderful example not just of a person who is the best of us this year, but next year and for all years to come. I guarantee that no one will be regretting this decision in five years or ten years, as opposed to more fashionable choices of previous years. Neil can't use his own voice anymore, but through the power of modern technology, he is still able to communicate with us. I chose to fight because if I didn't, how could I expect anyone else to.
I chose to hope.
Because I believe in the decency and generosity of Australians.
He's a special blow. Congratulations to everyone involved in that fight. How to everyone who is cook this Australia day who wasn't last, Strength and love to you for the fight that is in front of you, be it big or small. To the cares of Australia who will not get a little gold Order of Australia badge, their name will never end up in the paper. To the people who take care of those that are taking a tough time again, strengthen, love to all of you. But one hundred million dollars raised by a person who was able to use his fame and his power to make not only his life longer, but equally importantly, to try to create a scenario to extend other people's lives until eventually, hopefully fingers crossed, one day we get to the place where life can be as good as possible for as long as possible and again strengthen love to everyone who lost someone between this Australia Day and the last Australia Day. We know how difficult any public holiday or family occasion is. I just wanted to know, wanted you to know that we see you, we think of you each and every day, and let's all commit to again to live the life that the people who are no longer with us can't because they are the people who made us who we are, and help us to our bit for the country of which we love. The Senior Australian of the Year had a phenomenal story as well to tell. He's from Western Australia and he has done incredible things when it comes to wheelchairs. This phenomenal story here of brother Thomas Oliver Pickett.
And Wheelchairs costs two hundred and seventy five dollars for our wheelchair, for our volunteers to make and for this summer money. A child with a disability perceives a new life by getting off the ground, having dignity as well as mobility.
You betcha how good again?
Like I took time on Thursday night to go through all of the different state representatives.
I'm taking time tonight.
To look at the people who ended up being elevated above the rest as the Australian of the Year, Senior Australian the Year, Young Australian and Local hero because again they are the best of us. The next time somebody wants to roll their eyes or overtly attack the country, these are four reasons why you can tell them where to go, including the Young Australian of the Year doing her bid when it comes to particularly the health and wellbeing of Indigenous young people.
This was her statement. This is doctor Katrina Ruck.
We are pioneering the world's first reusable laundry system to combat rheumatic heart disease, as you heard, a condition that almost exclusively affects Indigenous Australians.
ID love that and the award that I think doesn't get as much attention because of the history of Australian of the Year and the well it feels like a generation of recognition of the young and Senior Australians.
But the local Heroes.
These are two women from the Act who again decided to get together to do something special for their community and they have been.
Highlighted as the local heroes.
This Australian Day, connecting through food, women can share their knowledge and culture, enriching our society through diverse It's about providing opportunities, stability and hope to people who, just like us, just want a chance to make something of their lives.
They work together to harness the power of the hospitality industry, I believe to help empower the most vulnerable in their community. Now they have done many interviews in the hour since, but his some of what these special people have had to say. In fact, I'll get that for you in a moment or two's time. But these people, they are the examples of what is the best amongst us, and they deserve the full celebration and that moment in the spotlight meantime, as always, there are people who tried to fifty to fifty the day and a lot of Greens voters decided to march, of course, because they believe that any celebration today is.
Of course wrong. You know the debate, you know my view.
Interesting to note that apparently the numbers slightly down on previous years. My guess would be that if there was a federal change of government, it would become again catch cry for much of the left.
To get a little more fired up.
But because they're in power right now, on the verge of potentially more power as a result of minority government, well you know, maybe they sat this one out. Also, we know there's been a significant change at the moment in Australia when it comes to people's attitudes towards Australia day now.
Amazingly, some of the.
People who decide to choose today or last night before today to make their point about the past and how they believe that it shapes our future. Someone decided to rip the heads off the busts of two former prime ministers.
This was in Ballarat.
There's a bunch of statues with the faces of former prime ministers the ones they attacked, Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd. Now like well just like their politics, and clearly I wouldn't have voted for either of them. These are two very strange people specifically to have gone after. Of course, Paul Keating, anyone who's ever read their Redfern speech would suggest that I'd be surprised that he would be. Of all of the figures, they're the one to take and Kevin right, of course, when it came to the national apology, which brings me to the real point I want to make it today, and it's not about the tens of thousands of people who march. It's about some of the people who are now associating themselves with the organizations that organize these things, or the people who are very happy to show themselves at times like this. Now, can I show you here some of again the protesting that took place today. I'm avoiding their terms, but there's one photo in particular. Now, take away the every little t shirt, take away the Palestinian flags. Have a look at that one, which is abolish the date and abolish the state. You may have seen versions of this around you. Down with the day and down with the colony. And this is interesting because the mask is slipping for these people. They use things like a debate about a national day to attack something much bigger.
March bigger.
Than the day on which we recognize Australia's past and we can recommit to its future. These are the hardest of hardcore leftists who.
Have always wanted a revolution.
This happens to be their way that they think they can get into the revolution. But it says everything that if they had the blank check what happens. It's one thing to change a name of something, it's one thing to change a flag of something. But what do they mean. Do they mean the entire system of government will be replaced by only certain people being able to vote, maybe no one votes at all. In the same criticism that is offered about European royal families, is it about bloodlines that somehow decide who.
Is going to be in charge of our community?
Of course, they'll never say any of this because it's basically just the big generic that they are going against. And these are the people who, if they lived in Norway would want a revolution in Norway. The people who lived in New Zealand who'd want a revolution in New Zealand, the people that are born here who want a revolution here. And again there are thousands of people twenty percent of the country very legitimate position. Their position is opposite to the majority of the country. But the joy of free speeches, they can have it. But when you're holding up abolish the state, the colony will fall. They're not talking about a republic, they're not talking about removing the word royal from the children's hospital. They're talking about something that is a revolution one that I think that Australia will never want, let alone accept. But what starts with words may well end up as more aggressive actions. I hope that the institutions that are as committed to the incredible future of this country as recognizing the difficulties of the past, are very stern in dealing with these scenarios. But what if they're going to do is turn around and pull down the banners and stop saying things like Happy Australia Day as a way of trying to pretend that they can delay their revolution by a day. I've got some news for them that's not going to work. You may have seen the Prime Minister on our airwaves here today talking with Andrew clonel good and interesting wide ranging interview, but a couple of things jumped up as well as the Prime Minister's appearance at the National Press Club. This of course is his official return to the official start of the official year, when he's been around since the start of the year, over and over and over again. Look, the election has been running since last year. Now it's officially unofficially officially officially unofficially beginning when people get back to work, presumably either starting tomorrow because you won't have that public holiday because ra or Tuesday, because you do now. The Prime Minister said in this speech and in the interview that he believes that the country's headed in the right direction. The exact opposite, by the way of what more than fifty percent of the people who do the opinion poll in the Guardian think about the direction of the country. But here is the Prime Minister saying everything is fine, nothing to see here.
What I'm confident of is the II leader government that's focused, that's orderly, that has seen Australia through some very difficult economic times, that we are heading in the right direction, and that we have an agenda to build on that in our second term.
Am I the anyone who sort of tunes out about three words in because you can tell, oh, okay, they've worked something out to say, as opposed to it's going to be something d I say trump in that's a little off the cuff and a little surprising to us. It's the second of these that I also wanted to poke a little attention out, which was the Prime Minister say he has no regrets now. Of course we know chiefly and easily decision to send the country to a referendum that ultimately was sixty forty no cost four hundred and fifty million dollars and in terms of progressives put back many many causes.
You think that he would find a way to say that he regretted that.
Oh no, no, of course not everything is awesome and only Peter Dutton's the problem.
Right, what's your biggest regret?
Well, of course, of course any prime minister can do things in a way.
That are perfect.
Perhaps, and you know, I.
Have a view that if you look at the media every morning, I don't feel the need to give myself a character assessment.
He of course is talking at an event where the media. Now admittedly it's the canber Press Gallery, so this is the media that doesn't like all that all full stuff that appears in the media they don't control. But you would think that part of if the polls are showing us that there's a very significant number of people and there is a very significant number of people who don't like the Prime minister's leadership, a majority of people believing that he is doing a poor job. That rather than sort of eye rolling and doing the little giggle about the media, why't I be slightly self effacing Why not say we could have done this, we could have done that, but the point is we've learned out lesson and then here we go again. Instead, he thinks that basically he will be protected by the people in that room, and for of course labor politicians, it ends up being frankly a home game. But something I also wanted to point out about the opinion polls at the moment, which is that as stern as some of us may be in our views, there's a significant number of people who aren't. But there's a couple of things about the polls I wanted to show you, which is, sixty six percent of people they are committed to their vote, So thirty four percent is sort of still up for grabs, but basically.
Two thirds of the game has alway decided.
Now that's deciding whether they're going to go blue, red, yellow, independent, something else. Thirty four percent sliding around, but that titans will right up when we get to the question in again the turnbul Times poll, the essential poll, what percentage of people are undecided about which way their vote's.
Going to go?
Just five percent of people in that particular pole, So anywhere between five and thirty four percent of people apparently potentially up for grabs.
So let's talk about.
That in a Sunday Night segment which begins right now, which is state.
Of the Race.
Now, obviously we get closer, we get more polling, we'll start to work out who's up, who's down, all the rest of it. But the idea here is that while you are committed to a channel like this and a program like this and all the detail in the uphill and downdale of politics, I want to get people on who might be able to challenge some of our views, but also to put some data behind some of our perceptions and experience behind them as well. Simon Welsh we met last week from the Red Bridge organization. They're the ones who do polling and a whole bunch of insights, which in part is built with long, extensive conversations with voters. Lovely to see you again, Simon, and the great Michael Kroger, a carryout a CHAMPI has always strongly affiliated with the Liberal Party, and there is no surprise that he, like me, has a strong opinion about how the world works.
So, lads, I.
Wanted to ask a couple of things about the unofficial reset of the official reset of the official beginning of the end of the It's.
Like, okay, guys, guys, guys.
Anyone who's kind of turned on the news notes it didn't stop over summer, right, it doesn't stop over summer. In an election year, you just have fifteen ways of reintroducing yourself.
But let's get to those numbers.
I was saying, where it could be anywhere from five percent in some polls to thirty four percent of people that are either undecided or haven't started to lock in their views.
Simon, I'll start with you.
What does it say to you that at this stage of the cycle, whether it is not the official thirty three day election campaign where people on television say, well, people are only starting to tune in because they don't like the results of the polls that are coming out. What does it tell you about this cycle compared to say, last one, when the frist on in the air was pretty obvious, which was that they wanted to dump the government.
Are there more undecided now fewer? What do you see?
Yeah, we're definitely seeing more undecided at this stage, and just quickly that disparity between the five percent thirty five percent. I think we'll come back to how they're sort of calculating those two categories. I think one might be a straight out message, a straight out sort of response people saying undecided. I suspect the other ones got people that might be leaning one way or the other but aren't truly committed to it. So they might be showing up as labor voters or liberal voters in the pole, but they'ren't there, they're not committed, they're not strong behind that fact. I suspect that's what's going on there. But certainly, yeah, well we're seeing there's a lot of up in the air now, and unsurprisingly particularly in those outer suburban contest seats where this election is going to be decided a lot because you've got a lot of voters out there that are coming off the labor pith, you know, and they're not sure which way they're going to go there. They're sort of not have what they're saying, you know, they've been shaken out of the tree, but they're not exactly sure where they're going to run yet. So labor's facing threats, yes, to the libbus, but also you know, if there's good independent campaigns and those sorts of things in those areas. So I think that's feeding into a lot of this.
Yeah, so, Michael, what about to this point where we read opinion polling about what's happening in Victoria that people just don't listen to the government anymore. We all know that there's that stage. What are the signs to you that Australians aren't listening that. Yes, there are some people that have been shaken out of its tree, but there are the ones who go, you know what, every time I see insert politician, most likely the Prime Minister in this case, say you know what, I don't care. I don't care what he offers me. I don't want to hear him.
So the globalsitegeist has changed and Albanese he's caught in this terrible situation where he is. For his whole life, he's been part of the hard left, the extreme left in Australian politics, and people are getting to know that. I mean October twenty three he comes up with his extremest referendum to change our constitution, to divide the nation by race forever. So from that day onwards, his polls have slipped right. There's a global movement against left politics for all the reasons We know this is hitting Albaneze hard and I don't know what he can do to turn it around. I'm not sure he can do much. People in the outer servers have just decided this guy's priority was half a billion dollars on the voice, massive government spending, which they know increases inflation, failing to protect Jewish Australians from this shocking, disgusting antisemitism we've seen in this country.
We see more anarchy in our.
Streets, against synagogues, against childcare centers, against Jewish homes. They're working middle class, the middle class, the swinging voters who've been with labor look at this and think this guy has completely lost control of this country, and there to vote against him in droves. And you know, as you know, Mat, I've been saying for months, Dutton's on seventy two. Dutton could well win in his own right.
At this stage that would require the total blowout of the Teals. And I really don't want to have till talk every Sunday night, But where do you see that happening?
Michael?
And then Simon a response to what Michael might be suggesting, he because I know you guys have got down into sort of the seats as well, Michael, take us from seventy two to seventy six.
Well, I've included the Western Australian Teal as a Liberal seat. It's only one in a bit percent, so we'll we'll win that and two others in Western Australia. I think went Worth on a knife edge for a Leegra spender. The Liberals could well win that back. There's a very significant Jewish population and all the to or two of credits she's been supportive.
It's not no.
One's as supportive as Peter Dutton has been. And in times of enormous crisis like this, you go those who've loved you longest, and that's the coalition going right back to Mensies, particularly through the powered period on recent time when he and Downer and Costello were always supporting Israel, the United Nations in Victoria. Look the labor votes collapsing in Victoria, partly to do with Albo, but mainly because of the massive unpopularity of the state labor government here. People have just had enough Daniel Andrews, he brought two elections in eighteen and twenty two. He's bankrupted the state. People have had enough of just Cindre alland Labor are going to dub her. They're just over the Labor Party here. Now, the Teal vote in Couyong and Goldstein was held up by the Labor Party people strategically switching their vote from Labor to the Teals. Yes, I wonder whether there isn't a lot of significant bio remorse they're thinking we've swop Josh Fredenberg for Monique Ryan and Tim Wilson for the Teal there. So I think the Teal's now in trouble in those two seats as well.
Yeah, I mean, Simon, when we went through the Resolve poll last week, particularly on preferred Prime Minister, the blowout is Queensland, but close to a blowout is New South Wales and a very clear lead is in Victoria.
Again.
You put out some polling towards the end of last year where there was a whole collection at fifty to fifty.
On the best possible night.
Is Michael going to have, you know, predictions that all go well or is the reality that you know there's there's a certain window we can't see at the moment.
Yeah, the election is going to be decided in New South Wales and Victoria. Yep, Libbs could pick up a couple of seats in Wa, but it's only a couple of that you're going to make up the eighteen seats. So you need numbers. You need those big numbers. Those big numbers are in New South Wales and Victoria. They're not in the tail seats. Our polling is consistently showing that the teal's largely holding your own. Now that said, you could pick up a curtain or something like that, but equally you could lose a brad Field, so there could be this sort of swapping and changing. The other thing that sort of bolsters the till vote is demographic change. These electorates are highly mobile elector and there was young people pouring into those electorates all the time, tens of thousands. So you know, I think you know the idea that even if sort of there is this by remorse, I think that demographic story holds up the teals in most of those seats where it's Wentworth or Kuyong or Goldstein. But that's there could be one or two that go, but I think you'd probably get one or two that swap in and out. But yeah, the big story, the big focus has got to be picking up big numbers of seats in Western Sydney, in the Hunter in the outer northern Western and even the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. That's there the places to watch.
Yeah, I mean you can.
You can start literally from the south coast at Gilmore through the Benlong to really easy ones in and around about a thousand votes changing. And then of course as you go further up the pendulumin in different places.
And remember things can be confusing too.
Where remember in the Queensland election, right clear majority get rid of the previous government, but the most marginal seat in the entire state was held by the Labour Party was Bunderberg and they held on to the seat. They lost ones that theoretically were harder to change. So when you start looking at pendulums and all the rest of it, there's many factors behind it. I wanted to talk to both of you about the Prime Minister and this idea about Okay, every pole you look at, he's below water on an indicy somewhere, but particularly significant things in and around you know, his leadership or even as I said, some of these preferred prime minister things. The start of the year, the Lucy Goosey just before everyone comes back time, that's the time to say, you know what, you're right, I got this wrong. But he's decided to say, no, that's just the media talking about it.
Simon.
If the Prime minister did adopt a process not of sitting there and listing every mistake he made on every day, but owning a mistake more honestly, do you think that that reopens the door for some soft voters.
I think the first challenge is there, You've got to get a politician to acknowledge.
They may yea, yeah, yeah, yah, yeah. I realized that.
Yeah, absolutely, and I think you sort of you mentioned this in your intro. I think one of the things so that the informational landscape has changed around politics. It used to be that, you know, you're political information was mediated by the meta and all these sorts of things, and even if you wanted to switch off from it, it was difficult because it was always there the six o'clock and use those sorts of things. That is no longer the landscape we are in. We're in a landscape now where politicians have to compete for attention because you've got social media. People create their own new speeds, et cetera, et cetera. So you need to cut through. And yes, that is hugely about what you've got to say, but it is also very much about how you say it. And you know, we hear it in the focus groups all the time that you know, politicians that sound like politicians, we just zone out.
Now. When people say they zone.
Out, now, that literally means they stopped the video, they click on another link and open something else. They completely stopped listening. It's not like the sort of sitting on I'm just zoning out while I'm watching this piece, this article on the news, but I'm kind of taking it in it there. Really it's in the background, that's not even happening. So I think absolutely, I think all politicians need to think about how they communicate, to cut through and differentiate themselves from these sort of SoundBite, rehearsed kind of kind of political lines.
Yeah, I mean, do I saylief if like a doctor pimple popper turns up on your Instagram feed, you go, no, that's just that's some people are going to be like that about politics. And the more they do that, then the less of it's going to appear, and the fewer people they get to so last one here, Michael is The Labor Party seems to believe get Dutton is some magical strategy that eventually if we can all point at Peter Dutton like the balls on Jim Chalmers to say, oh, if you vote for Peter Dunton, everything gets worse. When they were the ones that promised three years ago vote for us, everything gets better, and everything did get worse.
I know this must work the act.
I know this must work in the corridor as a radio national but it doesn't work in the real world.
No, but it doesn't. And they've been trying this for two years. They don't forget, and does numbers keep getting stronger. I mean attacking the opposition leader is not a substitute for explaining your second term agender and giving people a really strong reason to vote for you. I mean it's you know, Dutton wasn't all that popular in Victoria before he became leader. Now people are, as they call it, Dutton curious and a lot of people now respect him. Don't forget, don't forget. It's not in Federally, it's far more important to be respected than popular. No one ever liked Malcolm Fraser but he's got the two biggest majorities ever. John Howard was told not to bother at eighteen percent, et cetera, et cetera. The other thing, so attacking Dutton is not going to work.
It's not going to work.
It's failed for two years eventhing albaneze he's tried for the last six or eight months.
The reset has failed.
The other thing I should mention that's working badly against labor here in Victoria, or these Palestinian demonstrations and this Australia DAID demonstration today. So people are going to pick up people in the outer servers are going to pick up the paper tomorrow and read that at this demonstration today where the Palestinian extremists got together with these you know, the many of whom hate Australia, you know, demonstrations against Australia day. The speakers of this demonstration today described the police as racists, people who are attending the tennis tonight as fascists. What and then if you think that's bad enough, you think that's bad enough. One of the speakers got up and said the government is trying to make Aboriginal people extinct. In other words, one of those extremists got up and basically said, Alberanzi is trying to kill the Aboriginal, murder of the Aboriginal population.
These people are on another planet.
And you know, rightly or wrongly, Albanesi, because he's associated with the hard left of Australian politicis has said, as he always has been, in the hard left of the Labor Party. People sort of consider Albanizi a fellow traveler. The voters down here sort of see Albanezy, as you know, a fellow traveler of these leftists, because that's the way he's always been. He's been incredibly weak on Israeli, He's been incredibly weak on the Jewish community. So they're suffering a lot down here because of these extremist demonstrations. They are not helping Labor in the marginal seats at all.
Fascinating.
All right, lads, let us reconvene again next week. I do appreciate it. Enjoy Wodonga, enjoy Melbourne, love it to see you both. Will see you all again very soon. All right, quick break back with more plenty to fire up about for the rest of the show. No snow left is.
We're going to get right into it.
With a great James ashby Gary Hardgrave, bold predictions for the week ahead.
And a big dose of Trump more than a second. Thank you so much for watching.
So if I'm a little bit not often the game, but you can just tell that it's a public holiday vibe happening.
Yeah, yeah it.
Is because last night I was in Brisbane for Luke Combs, the American country music superstar, who is the first country artist to ever sell out Suncorp Stadium. Tens of thousands of people, not a ticket anywhere in town. Country was cool and everyone sort of Texas style, was getting around in their boots, in their hats. Brisbane was taken over by those of us that don't mind a bit of country music.
Now, a couple of things.
If you run a radio station, can you play some of his music on the radio?
Chris Stapleton's as well. It's basically rock music. Find a way to get it on. There's a football stadium.
Of people by the way, two nights, so one hundred thousand people who would like to hear it.
And God love it.
Just not Cold Chisel for the five hundred and eighty third time this year. As for Australian country music, the ten Worth Country Music Festival come into a close and Troy cassa Daily has yet again been honored.
For his incredible work latest album.
He's now got forty five of those beautiful golden guitars. Gary Hardgrave legend Australian broadcasting. I'm sure if he just had access to a radio show, would just play nothing but country music if you'd liked.
It at the top of each hour. But we'll have to find out tomorrow, won't we on four BC and.
The wonderful James Ashby of course joining us from Napoon where half of the people in the stadium came from last night. Gary, Brisbane was a country music town this weekend.
Yeah, and half of four b c's staff actually went to Luke Coomb's over the last couple of nights. Mate. So we played a little bit on Friday previewing the program, and I think we found Brisbane's greatest Luke Coombs actually amongst the four b C family. Yeah, a fair chance. We'll have to reprise a bit of that toimemorrow and amongst all of the great talk about Australia day my.
Oth ll right, you can hear it tomorrow from three o'clock. Good to see the Australian flag behind you.
Let's get into.
Not not the traditional ballfaest about Australian Day, but about what you saw today, James.
What did you see in and around Now I'm not talking about what the.
Local council did, but did you see flag on the back of a jet ski? Did you see sort of you know, a slightly more people in the park. How did you see it being celebrated?
Well, I had three flags up this Australia. They won on the on the.
Aerial of the car, one on the front veranda and one on the flag pole itself. So and I agree with you what you said, Paul. Go and buy a flag pole on eBay. There are hundred bucks and they take fifteen minutes to set with.
A bag of concrete.
So just go and do it, and go and ask your local politician for a free flag.
They love it when you do that. By the way, they've got budgets.
That dominate it for it.
That's a very good, actually great day.
Yeah they do.
They've got huge budgets for it. So especially the lower House members, we had a great day. Cheryl Kempton's our candidate for Capricorny and she hosts a fantastic Australia Day with myself and about sixty other people here. So yeah, Livingston put it on this year as a shier council. I'm proud of them for doing it, not backing your way. So yeah, terrific day. And yes there were a hell of a lot of Australian flags out.
Yeah, and again you know, I'm trying to avoid the the I word and I debate, but gary to what I was observing about some of the signs right now. Again, people in a free society, you can march against what you believe to be an injustice.
What you believe to be is the majority that's in the wrong. But great, I'm all up for it. That's the joy of the free country. Right.
But when you start to see that the colony will fall, abolish the day to the colony, there's something for some of these people that is not.
About this day and this nation.
It's a wider attempt to pull down the Western world brick by brick, isn't.
It absolutely Paul? And let me tell you the federal member for Ryan, the Greens member won't give out Australian flags, refuses to do it donates money to some local kitchen, for instance, and it's disgusting. And look, if we're going to have flag envy, James, we had three or four flying at our place too. We've got a flagpole, have been out front for years and I've put it up every day because it's important. We fly it and wrap it down to half staff on important days. But Paul, you're right, this is not about This is not about having a go at Australia Day, which of course is an important day to half our population. They've sworn Australian citizenship or their parents did on this day. You know that That's really what it's about now, the future, not just the past. But these people want to destroy our country. They don't like our country, they don't want the flag flying, they don't want Australia Day celebrated, because they don't want us to be a country. And the people like I saw an Upper House member in Victoria that was celebrating some former Australian of the Year who wore a profanity on a T shirt. I actually think that's going to sink Alban easy. The fact that he actually allowed that at his home, at his Sydney home, we fund on the Australian of the Year day. Look, Paul, the sentiment in Australia is very strong for this country. I think they're looking at what's happening in America and say, you know what, Australia First, all about Australia. Let's talk about how do we make Australia great again? How do we make elbow go away? I actually think it's real. I think it's right here. And I spent an entire last twelve months boycotting Woolworths because they failed to commemorate it and any other company that thinks that it's a great idea to pour scorn on the majority of us, if not just about every one of us over Australia. Day they're the visive, they're not happy with Australia. Then they can go. There's planes leaving almost every hour for another country.
See ya later.
Yeah, let's talk about what some people would like to see, which is, you know a little bit of a little bit of Trump dust in and around this election campaign.
That'd be good.
And certainly just enterprise is going to be a weapon going after a financial waste. All the rest of it, perhaps not the full Doge but she is going to be somebody who remember when it was the specificity of the referendum and the specificity of that debate, she was believable. The nature of a previous shadow ministry meant that effectively that was her focus, you know, essentially what previously had been called government waste or anything like that, much broader capacity to go after many other things in the governments. So very clever moved there from Peter Dutton. But James, let's not ignore the elephants in the room here in the day since Trump became the president, it was we're staying in Paris. Since Trump became president, Dutton says, you know, he's not going to buy into to the gender game. So it is going to be if it is Trump dust, it's going to be Trump dust, not a big dose of Donald across our election.
No, Peter Dutton lacks the persona of a Donald Trump. So he's not the Donald Trump that people are hoping for. I know there's a lot of people.
Out there expecting big things out of Dutton. He's a nice guy.
He's the better of two evils when it comes to who's going to run this country after this next federal election. But we're going to see big, bold statements and moves from the opposition.
No we're not.
And when it comes to Australia's very own Department of Government efficiency, that is not going to happen either.
You know, there's probably one hundred billion.
Dollars worth of savings that really could be carved up on a federal level. When you consider the duplication in departments on a federal and state level, what is the point of duplication, You've got to ask, Well, I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that, you know, the labor government over so long now have just been creating jobs out of thin air for the sake of employment purposes, and it's hard to get rid of them. And no one's got the courage to say we're going to take a red Niko and just slash and burn some of these departments, especially when you have a look at departments like the Department of Environment. Every state have their own Department of Environment and yet we've got this second overlay federally. Why doesn't Dalton take a bold move, which is centerprice, and say, bugger it, we're putting a red pen through it. We'll save ourselves thirty billion dollars, Indigenous affairs. Every state's got indigenous representation. Why do we need a duplication on a federal level?
Education?
Health, all those things we could put a marker through. But I don't think we're going to see the bold, decisive response that we see in America happening right now from someone like Peter Dutton. I wish you all the best, because, let me face it right now, a Peter Dutton government with the Coalition is a hell of a lot better than a second term Albanesi government.
And I'll point this one thing out to you, Paul. It was pointed out to me today.
The only thing that Anthony Alberzi has lived up to is transparency, because we can see right through him now.
Very well said, very well said.
By the way, newspol has just dropped the first one of the year shows the Coalition up fifty one forty nine. It shows that the preferred prime minister remains Anthony Abernezi. However, Peter Dutton is up three. That is now forty four to forty one, and fifty three percent of people across the entire regardless of whom they are planning to vote for, expect the Libs to win the upcoming election. There'll be plenty more to dig in there. We'll get into it as the day rolls on, but before everyone else pretends that they're.
The ones who saw it first. Yeah, we just saw it come up on the Australians.
Website, which is why Sunday Night's for the diehards.
It's for the hard course.
B here, get in first and turn up tomorrow and morning go yeah I heard that Tomorrow night. Yeah, yeah, I've seen that because we saw it with Sunday Night with.
Paul First Quick breakback. We're more here on Paul Murray Lofe.
Thank you for watching Royal Report in a few minutes, James Ashby with One Nation, Gary Hardgrave with the Wonderful Lady of four BC, and are popping up regularly here on.
Scott News as well.
I'll get your reaction to that news pole that pops because there's a couple of things there. Albanezi holds as preferred Prime Minister, different than the polls that showed that he was underwater in Nissoba's Queens and Victoria. You heard before with Simon talking about particularly Nissoba's Victoria having the seats to decide all of this, but then you see the other things here where the Libs in front when it comes to primary, in front when it comes to two pp. But the perception issue now too, James. If the majority of people think you are going to win, does that tell you that they're going to or just that an assumption is there and it's up to the Libs not to bank that. You've got to pretend that it's the other way around and fight fight.
Absolutely.
Yeah, Look, anything can change over a twelve week period. You know, slip ups are inevitable over the next couple of months, and it's how the opposition or the Prime Minister deals with them. It's not going to be easy for either side to win government in their own right. And I think this is the message that's starting to break through to a lot of voters, is that okay, if they're not going to govern in their own right, who is going to help them govern?
And do we want the Greens to help them govern?
Or do we want one nation for parties of conservative values to get behind, like a coalition government for example. So look, I would say to all conservative parties, particularly to that of Peter Dutton, now is not the time to take the foot off the accelerator. When it comes to giving it your all, it needs to go right down to the wire here and there are a lot of armchair critics at home, whether it be this program or others. If you are so hell bent on giving your advice and making sure that we get the right outcomes for this country, one day, just one day this year, can you just give up one day of your life to go and implement change that is volunteering to hand out for whatever party it might be.
It can be one nation, could.
Could be another one, but go and hand out how to vote cards and bring about the change that this country needs, because without your help, people sadly are not understanding how they need to implement change through the power of the ballot box.
One hundred percent. Gary, your advice to the people who are goingo we've won when they haven't and they could end up going backwards because that's the way elections go.
Yeah, look, you're always one vote short. You've got to always go and talk to people about the stuff that's important. And you want to talk about government efficiency, how about a proposal that rids Australia's politics of public servants running departments who are paid twice what ministers are paid. We've got million dollar mandarins all over this country and if you want to save some real money, and James's idea of cutting that duplication is a valid idea. But Paul, I think Australians will be turned onto the idea that people are on a million dollars a year first in line to get the orders of Australia. They travel at the highest class, if not first class, business class, all around the world. They get the best seats at Olympics and other events like that, and they get paid a wage bigger than their boss, who's the minister, who, by the way of course works for us. So I think we've got to actually have a look at the way in which we lower the cost of government, get government out of our lives, and you can sprinkle the Trump dust. Peter Dutton is not Donald Trump. Australia is not America. We can't tell the world to go float their boats somewhere else over Paris simply because we can't sell goods overseas because everyone, you know, box ticks on whether or not we're doing something about whatever global emissions and whatever else is going on. But Paul, we can stand on our own two feet demand that our public sector is started by people doing the job, not those who are hiring consultants and setting themselves up for a career after their million dollar manda in time comes to an end. I think these are things that everyday Australians will relate to and labor have set up these enormous consultancy businesses within government, they really have, by the way in which they've hired so many of them. So I think there's a lot of good, good gris out there, and James's right pedal to the metal, keep going, Peter Dutton, I.
Say, I think it'd be good.
You know how Trump sort of did you know, Golf of Mexico's now Golf of America. You know, somebody's got to come out and say, you know, Golf of Carpenterrier gone, Golf of Peter Brook. That's what it'll be called into the future. We'll all find out whether it is votes the name that came to mind as I was working out, how will that be misinterpreted by the Internet.
You're a purist, like, we're here for the content for media watch.
Not only we pay your wage, we'll give you the content as well, all right, lad's a story about napping and power napping apparently great for your cognitive function blah blah blah, but apparently the amount of time that you should spend if you want the power n app not twenty minutes, not forty five ten, just ten minutes. Now, I'm sorry. That's not a power n app. That's waking up while you're on a plane. Like I say, if you want to have a nap, it's three hours thoughts, gentlemen.
Well, for me, I took on this afternoon.
Yeah, a few beers in that hot sun, and I was out like a light on the couch this afternoon.
And I'm with you, Paul, I think it was just shire three hours.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, A nice solid three hour. That's the Australian siesta. I'm fine with that, Gary. Plenty of people have had it. And you know what, it feels like you've lived two days in one.
Yeah, And I got so much power in James as isn't there for a three hour naps with you?
Paul?
That look? Mate? Ten minutes does it? Sometimes? Twenty minutes is pretty good, forty minutes is frightening, but two hours actually puts you into the wrong rhythm of some technical thing. But mate, I look cests work in so much of Europe, the biggest economies in the world enjoys. Yes, I don't know why we don't do the same thing. But you have to start work at six in the morning, okay, and finished at ten o'clock. I no.
Probably. Also, I think the downside.
To what James was saying before about the three hour nap, it's normally beers or burnout or a combination of both.
That seems to be a significant part of how you get there.
It's certainly the case for many people around Australia. Lads, I do appreciate it. We'll listen to you on the radio tomorrow. Gary, will see you on the Telly many times this week, Jakib obviously most importantly here next week.
Thank you.
That is our show tonight. If you want to send me an email, Paul, it's gone news dot com dot Are you back tomorrow for another big one? See you then.
