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The government and Opposition issue promises and threats ahead of the upcoming federal election, and Scott Morrison spends New Year's Eve in Mar-a-Lago... but not everyone's happy about it. Plus, a new vehicle emissions tax to hit drivers.
Lately, Zany gentleman, Welcome to the Late Debates.
Good evening, Welcome to the Late Debate. I'm kil Richards. Thanks for joining us. Nice to have your company joining me on the desk. We have Lucy Zelig and Evelyn Ray. Now there are a lot of things to talk about tonight. This is an election year. Twenty twenty five is an election year and already the parties are coming up with promises and threats those in a moment. And also Scott Morrison spent a new year at mare Lago, but not everyone is happy about that. But firstly, there is one story which has been dominating the news all day. You've seen it leading every news bullooking, and it appears that when Donald Trump comes into power in about three weeks time on one of the big items on his list is going to have to be tackling terrorism because of this horrific incident that has happened in New Orleans, which is the way they pronounce it there, where you've had the car driving into people, fifteen people dead. This Shamsorda ding Jabbar has had a gun, he's had explosives. What's happening at the He is dead, He died in the attack. He was shot by police. But they're trying to work out now. The FBI has trying to work out if he's part of a gang, if there is a larger terrorist cell, and the answer is they don't know at the moment. At the same time, there was another event which happened in Las Vegas. Is it also a terrorist event? Is it connected? Is the question that everyone was asking. In Las Vegas there was a truck, a cyber truck which exploded. Appeared to be filled with cans of petrol and fireworks. It went up in an amazing sort of burst of flame, kill the driver. It seemed to be wired so that it would explodes. So was this meant to be a terrorist attack? And if so, was it coordinating with the attack in New Orleans. Many aspects of this have been discussed in the course of the day. It seems to me this one we still need to ask, and that is is this unavoidable? Can we in this day and age, given the level of terrorism that exists in the world around us, and the fact that Western civilization appear to be the target, can we avoid it? Is it preventable in some sort of way? Lucy, let me start with you. Is it unavoidable that some of us are going to die in terrorist attacks? Or can things be done to prevent these things happening?
I think this is first of all, my heart goes out to all of the victims involved in this. I mean, we're still getting to the root cause of the situation, of course, and identifying the fact that it has been labeled as a terrorist attack in one instance in particular, has been important to help us try and put the piece of the puzzle together. I mean, we've seen such a rise in attacks in fundamentalist Islamic groups now that have been targeting a lot of the Western civilization, and I don't know that it's unavoidable unavoidable. I think we've reached a situation as difficult as it is to acknowledge, where the damage has already been done, right, and so.
So what is the damage? What's the damage that's been done so far?
Well, we're seeing the results of it now. All of these terrorist attacks forty five thousand plus terrorist attacks across Europe in the last decade have all been attributed to these Lambist fundamentalist movement, right, this extreme radicalist movement that has been designed to wage war on the Western world, and it's terrifying.
Right, and I think we all rightly feel terrified.
My cousin actually was staying at the Trump Tower in Las Vegas, so I managed to get him on air today to have a.
Chat to him.
The sheer terror in his voice because he said, we didn't know what it was. We were barricading the door. We didn't know if it was a shooter on the loose. Because of these attacks that have occurred in America so frequently now, we've almost very sadly become immune to it.
Right.
But when they started to put the pieces of the puzzle together, all via social media and news reports that they were glued to within their room, they started to realize again, you know that this is something that's very concerning at the.
Forefront of people's minds.
We need to know now, Kel that in this scenario, how are we dealing with this?
Right?
The best response, of course, is to show our support to everyone that's been aggrieved by it. But then you've got to strip it back, right, what's to blame? Is it immigration that we're steering down the barrel of that's the cause of this issue. But we can't wind the clock back now, and we have to think about how are we handling this when we identify through our intelligence agencies people that are making these observations, that are you know, prioritizing their allegiance to their movement.
Given there are risks in the community, do the risks have to hit us, Evelyn? Or is it possibly? I mean, we've been saying for years, it's a tired old cliche that prevention is better than cure. Can the risk is there? Can we prevent the risk turning into an attack?
I certainly think we can do a lot better than what we have been doing thus far.
But like Lucy said, the bulk of.
The damage has been done, and so now we have to as a nation and as collective nations, because let's be honest, this is mostly happening in the Western.
World, have to We'll get statistics to you know, but.
That's where it's happening, the bulk of it's happening.
So we have to, I guess, figure out how to move forward from here. You know, I've just written some statistics down here. From December the twenty first to December the twenty seventh this year alone, there were twenty one attacks terrorist attacks in ten countries, killing one hundred and fifteen people and wounding fifty eight.
Others, and that included one suicide blast.
That is literally from the twenty first of December to the twenty seventh of December, where we know that's happnique, we know that's happening.
We want to know if we can do something to prevent. I mean, we've seen the Lead Cafe siege in Sydney, We've seen at the end of last year, we saw a fire bombing attack on a Melbourne synagogue. Do they have to happen or is it possible for our police forces, our security forces? In some ways she said it kill she said it.
The damage has already been done. Mate, it's too late, it's been done.
You're giving up.
Yeah, well, no one's giving up. No one's implying that. Oh yeh. I mean I think that we're.
Saying now, and she's about to get to a point, is that we're trying to reach a consensus on how do we manage this now.
The thing is you cannot You are a disease if you do not diagnose it correctly. We could be trying to fix our elbow when it's our knee that needs fixing. And so the reason why we need to we need to firstly acknowledge that the damage has been done and we.
Need to ask questions why.
One so that we can start fixing it, and two so we don't make the same mistakes again and our poor babies and our children and their children don't have to suffer. So the first thing we have to do is diagnose it, and that is I believe the number one cause for terrorism and these sorts of things is immigration.
And I you know, I do not care anymore if I'm called a racist, because somebody has to have this good time to say it.
It's exactly.
And the second thing that I think we need to do is we need to start making it very difficult for people to do this. And how we do that is old school, and you punish for the crime, and I'm sorry, it is eye for an eye. If people want to come into your nation and they want to kill your citizens, death penalty.
I think that's one of the only things.
That will work because people will go, you know what, I can do that because I can get away with it a lifetime in prisons.
How is the threat how is the threat of a death penalty going to stop a suicide bomber for usends to die. That's his plan. He always expected to stop.
Stop young kids being indoctrinated. It stops extremism happening, It nives it in the bud very early on.
Can we in public places do things. Do we need now to change our society so that there are bollards, there are physical obstructions to this kind of attack happening. Do we change the way we live?
I mean, we've seen that, but I think vastly now people have changed.
The way they live.
Unfortunately, when you go to these large scale events, I mean, I was just thanking God that everything went well over for us here, for us here in Australia, because you do have this sense of trepidation, particularly with the heightened temperature now regarding the conflict and everything occurring in the Middle East, so everyone does already feel on edge.
Kel.
I mean, I subscribe to what you know V saying in all of this, and I agree that we need.
To have harsher penalties, right.
We need to make it clear that if intelligence agencies are getting to the bottom of some type of operational people who are swearing their allegiances to their country, their cause, and their movement in our own country. I don't want them housed in our jols, get them out of here, to port them back to where they came from. And again that's not racist, that's protecting our own national and industry.
Well, let me take up the point that the Australian intelligence community has told us that they have prevented more than thirty terrorist attacks in Australia by having good intelligence. They monitored the texts being exchanged between people, the emails being exchanged, the encrypted messages, and they managed to detect plans stop them before they came into action. There are people serving time in prisons in Australia who've been convicted of planning terrorist offenses. So is the law and enforcement part of our society, the intelligence part of our society capable of reducing the possibility of this happening.
I think that they are.
But unfortunately I think that, you know, one of the biggest downfalls of all of this is the mainstream media and the government, because what they've done is have pushed propaganda. They've not allowed correct journalism, they've not.
Not used the correct language.
It has an effect.
Does the police hierarchy listen to these things and they're cautious. I remember a time in the Middle East into Asian and I remember being on the police radio going, am I looking from someone from you know, like a Chinese country or Japanese like the police force?
What hell do we have in society?
I'm telling you like it starts here by having honest conversations about the elephant in the room that will filter into Lauren Foston.
Law enforcement shouldn't be.
Affected by these things, but sadly the reality is that they are, and so we need to have the mainstream media held to account, the government held to account, and people like you and me at home need to just start calling a spade a spade.
Well, can I say that your conversation has not cheered me up enormously? So let's hope the twenty twenty five turns out to be a good year because our intelligence services are doing an extremely good job. Now it is going to be an election year and already the promises are coming, the threats are coming. One of the things that's come out from the Coalition is the suggestion that there could be ten thousand Australian businesses go bankrupt before the Parliament sits next They're warning they put an exact number on it. Ten two hundred businesses may go bankrupt between last December and the coming June, which is when the next parliament will sit. In fact, if you have a look at this graph, it shows you business insolvencies over a period of time. The red bars are when there were labor governments. The blue bars shows when there were coalition governments liberal National Party governments. By and large, the liberal bars are a bit lower, and the bad news the business is going broke, usually small businesses, small family businesses that then economically cripple that family they've tended to fall apart under labor governments. Is this warning the kind of warning that will change votes? Do you think, Lucy?
Look I personally, when it comes to what's going to decide this election this year, I genuinely think it's effectively a referendum on energy, to be honest. So you know, if you are someone that subscribes very heavily to the renewables path, regardless of how terribly Albo was done and how much he's driven this country into the ground, regardless of these types of statistics that we're showing everybody, I think that's the way that you're going to tend to vote if you support nuclear, if you support a change in government, if you recognize that we're not better off now than what we were in the last three and a bit years, then you're going to vote for Dunton.
Right.
So if it's going to be energy, I mean James Clavell wrote that famous line for Bill Clinton years ago. It's the economy, stupid. We've got an economy clearly struggling. You're saying that's not going to count this time.
Look, I don't know. This is the thing.
If you are a staunch renewable supporter, I don't think the economy is going to be enough.
What do you think of it?
It's not the ideological BS is going to win.
Trust me, it.
Will as in for the voter, So the voter it will win in their mod.
Yes, I do.
I think that those voters are not going to change. I agree regardless of whatever this says. But I do think which is encouraging is that hopefully majority of the strains and seeing the result of like the Voice referendum, gives.
Me hope that there are normal people at.
Their majority of people, and this affects normal people, not those ideologically fueled extremist people.
Who care about that.
Even ideologically fuel people sooner or later get by reality bites. When suddenly life is costing you so much social then you have to say, no, no, there's something wrong here. I need to change.
Have you met people on the list right?
And look, there are a lot of very ballad and common sensical people on the left. But I also think that the pendulum has swung very far and we've become a nation also of extremists when it comes to.
Our Polivia also very socialist, and the way that we have like a very nanny state, very you know, daddy government type thing is and we've even saw it through COVID, you know, like our government is so used to fishing people out of problems that I think these people honestly in their mind believe that they will be okay in the end because the government will save them. That's the problem, thankfully with this, especially with small businesses. These are the things that normal Australians really care about.
Anthony Albernezi agrees with you because that's the line that he's pushing. He's saying, ignore the economy, ignoring it else that's going on. We will take care of you. He's making health front and center. He's talking about increasing the co payment for bulk billing, for changing the way possibly doctors are employed. He's making bulk billing at the center of Labour's election pitch and their attack on Dutton. They've already talked about re energizing the medi scare. But even if they don't do that, the things they are going to be promising. They're talking about taking doctors off fees for appointments and onto a yearly lump sum, which would make doctors effectively employers of employees of the government. But if what you say is true, that all the people who think yes, the government should run everything would be very happy.
Oh yeah, they would, right, because they subscribe to that communist.
Style ideology as well.
You know, I just I think that again laborer clutching and they're really desperate. They're in a situation now. I mean, if you believe the polls, to be quite honest, I don't give too much weight and credence to polls anymore. We've seen how that's played out in the US multiple times, and it's never been an accurate depiction of what happens at the actual vote.
The big dance. So when it comes to.
This, I think that they are desperately looking for a way to appeal to the Australian public.
They know that genuinely now.
Per capita in this country, we are in a recession, right, so they know that.
But you're saying, if you're sufficiently ideal logical, being in a recession, everything costing you more when you go to the supermarket doesn't matter. Is that the case? Evilent?
So it is, you think, so, yes it is, And that's that's this is why it is so important for us to win the hearts and souls and minds of the younger generations, because that's.
Where these this is where these sorts of people are.
Birth from being indoctrinate in these Marxist ideologies in school, where they truly believe that, you know, daddy, government will be the Messiah and will save them from this. They haven't worked a hard day in their life. They're too busy gluing themselves to sidewalks. They don't understand responsible.
That's not many people, I mean, that's a tiny.
We're talking about here, you know, talking about the average is Stralian. We're talking about the people who will, regardless of all of these things still be voting.
That way, but in the end the election is not decided by then the election is decided by and everything is costing more. We're told that cars are going to cost more than twenty two five because of the government's policy. The leader of the Nationals, David Littelbrad was saying exactly that today, and Lucy, you spoke to him on your program.
I had the chance to speak to him because I wanted to hear his views on the issue. Of course, it's I think it's a ridiculous scheme again, labor taxing more. The price of these cars are effectively going to go through the roof, and some of the most popular cars that Australian families have come to love and really rely on, particularly those with big families, will find themselves in a scenario where they're going to be out of pocket a further.
Two three thousand dollars.
So I liked what he had to say on this subject, and I'd love everyone to take a bit of a listen.
So manufacturers are moving towards reducing their emissions, but they need time and technology to catch up. But Anthony Alberanezi hasn't worried about that he's simply expecting us all to buy evs and for some that should be about choice. And I have no issues with EV's, but you should have a choice.
This inherent push from Anthony Albanesi also to go down this electric vehicles half the rebates that he's attached to it as well, to try and make it more tempting in this bid to cut missions. I mean, do you think that the struggling family for really give a darn about climate change when they can't put food on the table, when they're struggling to put petrol in their tanks.
That's the point I was making in the beginning. The point is that reality in the end bites, and reality in the end has an impact on people like trust.
I think you are a sensible ideological people. They're the ones I'm talking about. They're not going to be swayed.
There are five of them, and they meet it in the Young Labor Club. But they don't do you think used to decide elections? And in fact, the one thing that I think might have a big bite in the election is what's happened with mortgages, because mortgage pain has already hit. This is the actual payments that people have had to make to keep up with their mortgages. Twelve increase rates in a row interest rates in a row mortgage interests bill up an extra twenty six thousand to fifty thousand for the average home since twenty twenty two. I hear what you're saying about ideology, but that reality that we can see on the screen, Evelyn, surely that in the end says to people, this is what you do with the pencil in the privacy of the voting booth.
Absolutely, and that's I think we were all saying, you know, exactly the same thing at the beginning, is that at the moment, Australians are feeling it really tough. Everyday Australians are struggling to pay electricity, to pay for mortgages, pay for rent, pay for childcare, education.
These are really tough.
So this is going to really speak volumes in the next election. I just hope and pray that people don't believe the same gullible lies and forall for the same four years like they did.
But you're right, this stuff really does matter.
I mean, if you look at mortgages, the amount of money that they're learning and the amount of money that you have to pay back in interest and principle is insane. You're basically in debt for the rest of your life.
That's if you can get one in the first place.
Right how people are struggling to even get into the housing.
March prices are high exactly.
I mean we've seen a trend.
I mean I spoke to, you know, a financial strategist today who said that we have seen a bit of a drop in housing prices. But ultimately, you know, it's going to be a big guessing game as we come towards the election, right about when is the RBA going to make their rate cut announcement.
I mean, there's so much hinging on this, but ultimately.
Now, I mean, we've spoken a lot about the ideology around it, but you know, at the end of the day, the things that matter most to Australians is can I put food on the table?
Can I provide for my family? I don't know.
That's what I've been saying for the last ten minutes on one for kell Nil for the panel, It's not about ID, It's about reality.
It is about reality to people with common sense.
But what I'm saying anyone who goes to them.
To the hardcore Heidier logs, They're not going to be persuaded because they'll continue to make excuses.
For the alban Easy government.
You're saying no, but they will, and I'll see it daily in commentary and the way they.
Voted for Dean Andrews again after what he did.
Because exactly, I mean, you know he did, he did what he did down in Melbourne and they still get in a labor government.
I mean, it's absolutely Can I just read something about mortgage is quickly, just to just to break it up a bit. I wrote this down and it actually just blew my mind when I thought about this, just how insane this is and the position that we're putting young people who might be entering alone. So over thirty years, the total repayment on a one million dollar loan, which is you couldn't even afford a five or so for over thirty years, the total repayment on a one million dollar loan would approximately be over two point one million dollars, of which over one point one million dollars would just be pure interest, Like that is kneecapping.
Young families who want to.
Have a home for their kids, like to pay that much money and interest is ludicrous to me that we live in a first world nation and we can't do more for our kids.
My father, my father paid one thousand dollars for a block of land, and I mean, this is going back to the nineteen seventies and we account for indexation and all of that kind of stuff. But he said, after tap, I could have had a deposit the block of land after ten.
Weeks of work.
People are killing themselves kell and they still can't afford it.
The ideologues experience that you're saying to me that the ideolog.
Know that they worship the climate like it's a god, their identity.
It is the number of people who divorce themselves from reality that completely is tiny. We live with compulsory voting. It's this wonderful system that tends to give us sensible governments, most of the centrist governments. So because it's compulsory voting, twenty five million Australians have to make up their mind, not the ideologues. And what we're all agreeing on is the reality is so tough they are going to have to go in a way that rescues them.
But do you do you honestly think that Dutton's going to win this election. I hope he does quite frankly, But do you see it panning.
Out that way?
Yes?
In a landslide you in a landslide Alah, Trump.
It's going to be big. Yes. I mean, I know I've known my colors to the master on this before. And there may be an election night where I feel very silly that could happen, That could easily happen. But I'm still convinced that in fact there's On the subject of opinion polls as a group of people, the pollsters can't measure. They measure everyone who agrees to take part in a telephone pole. But some people say no, And I'm convinced more and more people are saying no, don't want to talk about it, won't take part in the poll. And those people, they are the people who are living in reality. They are the people who, in the end who are going to say, we're going to make these people a one turn government and we're going to elect Peter Dutton. Now I can see that happening. Am I being too cheerful? Evelyn? Look?
I like I'm a very glass half empty person and maybe that's something I need to change about myself.
But to be honest, stupidity.
Can't stain itself.
I agree, and you know, I think and I'm hopeful that Dutton wins. I do not necessarily think that it's going to be by a landslide, because I do think that there is such a We still have to wear jerseys. It's either you vote Liberal or you vote Labor and you wear blue or you wear Moron blue.
By the way, but.
This is unfortunately how we work in our country and I think that's something we need to break down.
And I think we need to start looking at.
Things more objectively, look at policy instead of looking at you know, a.
Party, so to speak.
But I don't think it's going to be a landslide because I agree with Lucy. I think there are a lot more people who are so ideologically feeled than we realize, especially young people coming into voting.
Yes, I know.
There's a shift from Greens to Labor.
If you look statistically, there has been a shift, and that's a positive thing. Hopefully they then keep moving up the ladder and go from you know, Greens to Labor to Liberal to maybe an independent party would.
Give you one hard numbers the Greens have dropped four percent. Two percent of gone to lay but two percent of gone to liberal. Now that's a really interesting shift. I mean, it seems to me that all Peter Dutton has to do is to stand up and use the Donald Trump line and say to people, do are you better off than you were three years ago? And suddenly people.
But if you're a fan of renewables, you're not going to care what the answer is to that, because that is going to be what guides you at the ballot box.
I'm telling you now, Kel, I just that's how I certainly feel about it.
The sentiment of the public commentary that I'm saying, I know you don't like to hear it because you want people to be stinked.
In reality, this is a referendum on energy. This is what this is this election.
I do think on this though, and it's important to know. I do think there is a shift. I can feel a shift.
You know.
That saying I feel it in my water is that you can feel.
You know, Trump won the election and you're conservatives, it's now more.
Acceptable to be right wing. It's now cooler.
And with that, I think the younger generation you know, coming through is good. And like I said, if we win the younger generations, there's.
Hope for the future.
But the problem is we've thrown them into school from four years old and they've been indoctrinated into this Marxist ideology and it's it runs thick like it's like Lucy said, if.
Somebody is there, it's their identity.
So and this is the problem because they raise these kids so that if you question the policy or if you question the idea, they take it as a personal attack because you're questioning them because they do consume this as their identity.
But now that there is a.
Shift and more of the quieter people, the quieter voters, the quieter kids who just sat there, I feel like they're going to be more confident to come from emboldened.
But I don't think we're there.
I think we've got a long way to go because of the damage that we've done.
But yeah, like I said, there is a shift.
No, that's an encouraging note. Let me give you. You may be thinking to yourself, this is terrible. The selection may go the wrong way. Twenty twenty five may't be horrible. Let me encourage you. I will give you some numbers, Lucy. The number of Australians who are committed idea logues is forty percent. The people who are realists are sixty percent. Those figures are firm. We got them in the referendum. They are the figures and the referendum, and they tell us who the realists are and who the ideal logues are and the realists who will win.
Have you have any of you been polled?
Like I'd love to know this, because we look at the facts and figures. We rely a lot on data and statistics. I don't know anyone that's been polled, that's received a telephone call, but we tend to give again a lot of weight to certain statistics and all the rest of it. Because that was one thing as a journalist that I was told to be very cautious of right, be wary of polls, be wary of surveys and statistics, because we don't know what's the catchment area Clinton. And the lead up to the they said that Trump had no shot, right, and they said that this election between you know, Rump and Carmela was going to be incredibly tight.
That's my point about Hanslop, That's my point about the Pole that I think there are people that the polls just don't catch and can't measure. Mind you, they did predict the outcome of the last election. They did predict that Scott Morrison would lose, and he did lose, but he's still enjoyed himself. Short celebrated New Year's Eve at Mara a Lago with Donald Trump. Have a look at this picture. There you can see Jenny Morrison and beside her Milania Trump, and then Donald J. Trump himself and then the Great Schoma celebrating. Now you know, that's fine. They had a happy New Year's Eve, but not everyone is happy about that. There was a tweet posted by Simon Holmes of Court. Now if you've forgotten his name, he is the rich man who pays for the teals, mister Tels, And this is what he said. He said, If Scott Morrison ever reads the replies to this tweet, it'll be the second time he will have wished he could stay in the US and avoid coming back home. Morrison is as popular as Rolf Harris. I mean, that is about as cruel as you can get, isn't it disgusting?
Action, Oh my gosh, And this coming from a movement that have been so hell bent on encouraging and telling and rating us to be kind and compassionate, and to be better with our language, and to be less racist, less divisive, all of these things.
Simon Holmes a court, you're a coward man.
You are a beata male who hides behind your female candidates to push your climate agender, grow a set and go and tell that discomo to his face.
That would be my advice to you.
I mean, it's just despicable and it's embarrassing, you know. And at what point are we now going to start calling the teals a party as well?
Right?
I mean, I know that we're kind of dominoing from that subject, but just disgrace you.
Comparing the man to a convicted and lake Peter.
Phob I said Rolf Harris was convicted of sexual assault and has passed away now, so comparing Scott Morrison to a dead man who was convicted of sexual assault, that's pretty nasty.
It's got a politics, you know. I think we've come to expect that from.
These sorts and that's why I actually I think it's great that these sorts of people are posting these things, and I think it's great that they're not being deleted off the internet. I was disappointed when you Know Dutton was asking you know to put down the meme with his wife, because I thought, I want people to see who they're voting for the sorts of people they're voting for, because I don't know about you guys, or you at home, that I actually really want to hold the politicians who represent me and who have authority over me highest step and I want them to be good people. I want them to be moral, I want them to be God fearing, and I want them to be good because that makes my life and my family's life good. And so I want these things to stay there on the internet so that people who are voting can see these cowardly type things and can actually make an informed decision, because I don't want people like that ever telling me and my family how to live my life.
Now, let me ask you a question. Would you like your state government to spend three hundred million dollars on an indigenous culture center? There's a possible answer after this break and Welcome back Kill Richard's with Evelyn Ray and Lucy zellikin this is the Late Debate. Now, think about being a police officer. You would think one of the most basic things you need in this day and age would be a stab vist. We know that there are police officers who tragically die in the course of their duty. They're certainly attacked, so they need a stab vest which will fit and suit and do the job. But if you're a female police officer in Queensland and you're a bit small, you're on the petite side, they actually don't don't have one that fits. The around three hundred and fifty police officers in Queensland young women police officers, and there is no protection available for them. Now they brought in some new stab vests and the stab vests don't fit people who are a bit smaller. They are simply the wrong size. The protection plates inside the stab vist are too big to fit on a smaller body. Now you beat a police officer, Evelyn. The idea that the police department just might have equipment that doesn't work and doesn't fit, does that shock you?
Absolutely not. It does not shock me in the side.
So interestingly, I you know, I served for over eleven years and in my entire years of so so I had never had a slash proof anything. So this is I felt relatively new like I was a detective after a few years, so I don't know if this was if this was brought out in uniform quicker than I know, but I remember towards the tail end of my time in uniform there was talk about it. A few people opted to have it if they wanted to, and it went underneath your blue button up shirt.
But it was just not really a thing, to be honest.
We went, you know, on the streets and went to knife attack everything.
You just rock up in your in your blue.
But did they ever offer you one.
No, it wasn't a thing. I'm fairly sure from memory, and.
Like I was a probably when Moses walked the author's how long it feel?
Not that on them.
But it was just something I from what I remember, you had to request your supervisor, and I'm fairly sure they were quite costly, so they didn't really give them out very often. But I will mention this, and again this may have changed, but back when I was in you had two large bulletproof vests that you would put in the boot of your police car and if there was like an active shooter or something with a firearm involved, you would have to get it out. It wasn't assigned to you as an individual officer. It was like assigned to your car or your police station. And those bulletproof vests did not fit women at all. As a female police officer, it was nearly impossible for me to wear because it was so large. It could fit somebody who was like two six.
Foot four blokes put together like that.
These were made for like sumo men, it would look like, and it would sit over your appointment belt, over your firearm, over your handcuffs, your.
Bat and everything.
And it was such an I'm like, I'd rather get shot and take my chances so that I can pull my gun than wear this and stand there and basically be useless.
It was very difficult.
But this is unfortunately the state of the police force. You know, we are in very dangerous situations and these sorts of things have just come to be something we accept and we just get on with our job.
I find that insane, though, like to listen to that we're being protected in such a highly volatile and high risk job that that.
Wouldn't be something that is put.
The fore front of their minds, and that's made a priority.
The television police shows that we see because in the television police shows, which are largely American, they go out on a rate and everyone has got a stab. Best just clearly the standard these days. That's what we assume, isn't it.
I just I can't.
I'm still flawed by this actually came about after very tragically and sadly the Queensland.
Police officers were killed, were murdered.
In that seat situation, correct, And so I'm fairly sure that things like this, and unfortunately what happens a lot of the time is bad things happen, and it then goes to the coroner's court and there's an inquest, and then the coroner goes, oh, wow, this is really bad, I better do something, and then they issue like mandates and things that.
The police then take on.
But it's just sad that it takes like the deaths of people serving and on duty for action to happen. Look, I know, I criticize the overreach of the police, particularly in COVID. I think it was disgusting and I know a lot of police officers who really struggled having to make these decisions.
I know a lot of.
Police officers who lost their jobs because of the mandates and stuff, and I'm more.
Than happy to be critical.
I think you have to be critical of government and police when they have authority over the citizen in.
This this is a responsibility to look after people well.
In terms of this, I'm more than happy to stick my neck out because cops do put their neck on the line every day, day and out the things that they have to witness and see, and they want to go home to their families just like we all do at the end of the day, and stuff like this should be what we fight our.
Cops for until they sort it out. The only advice we can give you is, if you're a small female police officer in Queensland, stick to the desk work until they've sorted this one out and got the rights of the best.
That's the advice.
Really, Like what am I struggling to recruit.
I mean, let's stay in Queensland. In Queensland, they've been debating for about twenty years spending a lot of money building an indigenous cultural center. They talk about as being a world class Indigenous cultural center. A whole series of governments have been promising this over the last twenty years. The new Premier, David Chris Fooley is now under pressure to build this world class indigenous cultural center in Queensland. He's not saying anything. He's staying silent on it because he knows, among other things, he has to pay for the Olympics in twenty thirty two, and perhaps he just doesn't want another cost burden, or perhaps he's just not all that enthusiastic about it. The cost that's been projected. They've done a three million dollar detailed business study and projected a possible cost of three hundred million dollars for a world class indigenous culture center. Is it worth it? Lucy? I?
You know, I'm a journalist, and of course, and I've always been someone I work in talkback radio.
At the moment, I'm really lost for words.
But I saw this and I thought, really, is this in a cost of living crisis as particularly when you look at it in the state of Queensland where we're steering down the barrel of people dying in ambulances and from the issues with ramping. This is the best way that we can spend our money to whose benefit?
For what reason? What reason I'm asking is this three hundred million.
Dollars worth of virtue signaling?
But it's insane to me that it doesn't matter, regardless of how rtuous you are and how desperate you are to show how virtuous you are that in the steering down the barrel of all of the issues that so many Australians have in this country, that this is a worthy way to spend hard working taxpayers dollars.
I can't. Maybe the money could be raised, the money that may be needed could be raised from the corporate sector, because they all want to be so virtuous, don't they. Now you promised everything to do a bit of research and discover if there already are indigenous cultural centers in Australia. What did you find?
Yeah, so.
It's difficult because they use different words for things. But there are two sort of categories of things which I would say are very similar to what they're suggesting to do here. And one is an Indigenous and cultural center. And you've got Indigenous art centers okay around Australia. So from the research that I did, I found that they're already over thirty five registered. So mind you, this could take in consideration other things that aren't registered as is, but there are over thirty five registered Indigenous and Cultural centers okay, and then on top of that, I found that they're.
As well eighty eight Indigenous Arts Center.
So if we have six states and two territories in Australia, so we'll just say there's eight parts of Australia if you do the maths, and I know i'll do it Kell because you're a words guy.
But.
It would be the equivalent of having at least four of these in each state. And so I guess the question is is there a.
Need for something like this?
Clearly from what I could find, I don't think there is a need. Two, Could the money be better spent elsewhere? Imagine three hundred million dollars properly spent in indigenous communities.
Who have hired They're getting billions of dollars annually, millions of I'm stipulating proper like proper distribution of this to children in need, but they're already being allocated those profunds exactly.
So that's what we need to get to the bottom one hundred percent.
Where are these billions of dollars that are being allocated to these indigenous communities?
Where are they being spent?
I want to know, we are reminded to know, Senator just Center Naperjurpa Price wants to do if she becomes a Minister for Indigenous Affairs. The first thing is you do a proper accounting and a proper auditing of where the money.
It has to be done. But let me just leave you with this final point about all of this.
What does this so called world class cultural center in Queensland do for these indigenous communities? What does it do to address issues of alcoholism, of children as young as ten being exposed to pornography, of the violence that we're seeing breaking out in Alice Springs that's virtually out of control.
There's almost there are almost states of laws.
There's a questions for people to think about, because there are questions for you to think about what we're doing about culture. By the way, let's turn our attention to a different area of culture to comedy, because the story is that woke has killed comedy. You know, the saying go woke, miss the joke. They're doing it all the time. Now, there is one particular cnichomedian for example, let me ask you the question, and this connects with what we were just talking about. Can a comedian make jokes about Aboriginal Australians comedian Biddy Laughlin had to try it this and she's now been criticized for the fact that she made jokes about Aboriginal women, and she's likely to. I mean, the High Court of Cancel Culture brought down their gavel on are almost immediately and said, no, you're out of order doing that kind of thing. Now you've had a chat to Biddy, haven't you.
Oh, I haven't. I've reached out to her, but I covered this story.
I didn't editorial about it this morning, and of course automatically got accused of having white privilege and that that's what seems to be the issue and why I've got this opinion I'm just a perpetual racist. You know what I would argue is the reaction to this is, you know, that's.
What's causing this further divide in our country.
That is what is effectively stipulating to us that, you know what, you can't make comments or even joke at the expense of Indigenous people. Biddy sat down with an Aboriginal woman who, by the way she grew Biddy grew up she was born and raised in Alice Springs.
So she understands the people, the culture as well. She knew a grandmother.
She bought the woman a beer, and after the woman drank the beer, she said, can I have another one?
And Betty said, you know, why don't you just share this one?
I encourage everyone to look at the footage and you can make your minds up for yourself. And the woman says, oh, we don't do that in my culture. And Biddy makes a couple of jokes at the expense of her and just impersonated her voice, and you know, and said that, you know, well, when you say Ala springs.
You've got to say it this way.
But it's also with a mouthful of methylated spirits, right, And so I did my own research. I mean, I love stand up comedy. I think that we take ourselves far too seriously. Political correctness has gone mad. But I also appreciate the comedy of a guy like Dave Chappelle, Right, you know, an African American man who always jokes about white people, impersonates them, talks about white people in the state of Ohio loving heroine.
Right now, that's its pretty intense, that's pretty hardcore.
But I watched it and I laughed. I found it to be entertaining. Why can they make jokes at a white person's expense and villify them racially, But if it's done in reverse, in the spirit of jest and not to cause harm, right, Because that's what we have to realize in all of this.
Why are the standards different?
So much for equality, so much for walking together and ignoring the color of one another's skin.
In the face of all this, we all bleed the same blood.
That message only exists on their side of the argument, but not on out.
Maybe it depends on who you are and what race you are. I was talking to a lovely Aboriginal man and he was a very clever, very funny man. He said, kel, do you realize there wasn't an Aboriginal person in the garden? Me I said, how do you know? He said, we would have thrown away the apple and eaten the snake. Now that was him making the joke, and because it was his culture, he was allowed to do that. But let's turn to something which is far more serious. We've often talked about the wave of anti Semitism that's sweeping across Australia. It's cruel, it is jew hatred. It's the kind of thing we are all opposed to and fighting against and people are doing that. Freier Leitch, whom you know as a panelist on Sky News more than once she found one of the co founders of organizations are called Never Again is Now and a whole lot of Christians have backed her up and had a number of rallies in order to say we're standing with Jewish people. The Hindu community is doing the same. One of the countries leading Hindu leaders is warning Anthony Alberanezi that religious hatred is something that can kill Australia. He said the nation is quote incubating religious intolerance with its failure to clamp down on anti Semitism, claiming those who hate Jewish Australians hate people of all faiths except their own. I'm delighted that the Hindu people of Australia are standing with the Jewish people. I think that's great. We all should send older to shoulder with Jewish Australians and it's nice to see this. It's nice to see there are people rallying around in the face of all the hatred that's flying around.
I think it's good to always stand up for what's good and for what's right. I think that more people should be bold in doing that and not fear, you know, the repercussions for that. But to be honest, I'd love to see more of this for all people in our country, because, to be honest, my church was vandalized, and I'm a Christian.
I get told.
Every day it's to stop believing in a sky fairy Daddy. So I actually don't think this is just isolated to one particular group. So we might be seeing more of that at the moment because we're heated in war at the moment and so we're seeing different things.
But I actually think that.
This is such a bigger, broader problem, and I think that it goes across all things, and I would like to see more people standing up for what is good and for what is right across the board. And I hope and thankfully we have laws that already exist in our country to protect from actual threats of violence and from intimidation and harassment.
Expressions of support can be really good. And it is a difficult time. I mean, we've had in New South Wales. The state government has fairly recently said that places of worship can now have special physical protections around them, bollards and that kind of thing. I mean, if we've got into a society that's got to that point, we need people to speak up for each other and say I'm standing with you, I.
Agree and heartbreaking.
Like Evelyn, I'm a woman of faith, a very proud Christian woman, and I think that various times in my life I've certainly been attacked over my faith, and so I know what it feels like. I know that, you know, it's really heartbreaking to be judged on those things. And we should, rightfully so feel safe when we go to synagogue's, churches, temples, whatever it may be. We all have the right to feel safe where we worship.
And can I just before we go to a break, can I just say to you. You know the Sea and N television channel, it's a lefty channel. They supported the Democrats all through the election. They've had a very interesting New Year's Eve celebration because they had a guest on their program. Her name is Whitney Cumming, and she's a comedian and she made some wonderful jokes and then suddenly realized she was on CNN making anti Democratic part who In fact, one of the things she said was I now played the audiences of three thousand people, which is about the size of the CNN a viewing audience. Take a look at what she said, ring.
It's the bus I'm not playing, you know, like three thousand see Peter ass about the viewership of CNN these days. Twenty twenty four election fried our brains. The Democrats couldn't hold a primary because they were too busy holding a body up?
Right?
Are we still rolling on my off rope for it? It was amazing that the pro choice party didn't give their voters im when he came to the presidential candidate toml was forced on us so hard you'd think she was paunted by Pizer.
I think she's very fun. They're very clever lines. But well, he ever get another gig on CNN? Okay, coming up after the break, the ugliest man ever to become a really serious, significant singing star. For many years right after this, I told for years, if you want to live longer, watch your diet, get some exercise, keep the brain active. Now, as we make our New year resolutions, we're being told you can actually live longer if you take up a hobby that engrosses you. So, Evelyn, if you're taking up a hobby this year, what will it be.
I'm going to read more and I'm going to start archery.
Well that's to the point, Lucy, what are you going to take up?
I'm going to stop watching Question Time and get more sleep.
Sleep will be my hobby.
The question that I've got to ask is is falling asleep in front of the television a hobby? Does that count? Now, before we leave you, one of the greats of country music in Australia, Chad Morgan, has died at the age of ninety one. He's one of that generation of country music stars, Slim Dusty, Smoky DAWs and Buddy Williams, those people, and he passed away very recently. He was famous as being the most unattractive looking man. His teeth, which were real, inspired the teeth of Sir Les Patterson for Barry Humphries. Have a listen to the sound of Chad Morgan.
And the welthing.
A may.
Not high culture, but it was great fun. He had a huge popular following and he has a statue along with the other greats. It peeled straight in Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia. That's why we have time for on this edition of the Late Debate and we will do it again tomorrow night. Evelyn Wraight, thank you for yours, your time. Lucy Zellig, thank you for yours and will be here to chat with you. We'd love to have your company tomorrow night.
