Dobbo Chats (1) – The Prime Minister’s address (2 April)

0:00All right, good morning, and welcome back to Rural Queensland today. As I said at the top of the show, the Prime Minister made a speech six o'clock Australia in Queensland time, I should say, seven o'clock for the rest of the country. I was lucky enough that I was at my daughter's formal at Fairhome and what a wonderful night that was. So I didn't have to listen to the April Fool's joke and the garbage that he said. All the talk was that the Prime Minister was talking, what it was in regard to. All the talk was that it was very much going to give us some hope, some potential understanding of the situation of what is going on with the fuel prices soaring and our country bleeding every single day. I'm going to apply some of this to you, but it's an embarrassment the way he treated us. Senator Susan McDonald will join us as well this morning, but no problem there. She's going to be joining us very shortly.

1:01But this is an absolute dogs breakfast. Have a listen to Anthony Albanese. He's some of his press conference last night, which to me is sending a clear message that he thinks that we are fools. That's what he thinks. Here it is. Fellow Australians, by nature, we're an optimistic country, but I understand that right now, it's hard to be positive. The war in the Middle East has caused the biggest spike in petrol and diesel prices in history. Australia is not an active participant in this war, but all Australians are paying higher prices because of it. I know that you're seeing this at the servo and at the supermarket, and I understand farmers and truckies, small businesses and families are doing it tough. And the reality is, the economic shocks caused by this war will be with us for months.

2:01Tonight, I want to speak directly with you about what the government is doing to shield Australia in these uncertain times. And also, what all of us can do to help our country and help each other in the period ahead. On Monday, National Cabinet adopted the National Fuel Security Plan, leaders from both sides of politics from right around the country working together to keep Australia moving, making sure that we are prepared so that if the global situation gets worse and our fuel supplies are seriously disrupted over the long term, we can coordinate the next steps together. Today, we cut the fuel exercise in half, cutting the tax on every litre of petrol by 26 cents. Those savings have started showing up at your petrol station. For our truckies, we have cut the heavy vehicle roadies to charge to zero. Both these measures will be in place for the next three months.

3:03We are working to bring the price of fuel down, to make more fuel here and to keep it on shore and get more fuel here, using our strong trading relationships with our region to bring more petrol, diesel and fertilizer to Australia. Now it's the Australian way that people want to do their bit. And there are simple ways that you can. You should go about your business and your life as normal, enjoy your Easter. And if you're hitting the road, don't take more fuel than you need, just fill up like you normally would. Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries. And overcoming weeks if you can switch to catching the train or bus or tram to work, do so. That builds our reserves and it saves fuel for people who have no choice but to drive. Farmers and miners and traders who need diesel every single day. And all those shift workers and nurses who do so much for our country.

4:05The months ahead may not be easy. I want to be upfront about that. No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing. I can promise we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it. These are uncertain times, but I'm absolutely certain of this. We will deal with these global challenges, the Australian way, working together and looking after each other as we always have. Thank you. And good evening. Yeah. Good evening to you. Well, normally these kind of addresses are for an emergency. When there's an emergency, you know, you call the Prime Minister calls it, three minute live televised speech, go about your business and your life is normal as you attempted to try and calm everybody. But then he told the nation, you have to do little things differently, like enjoy your

5:08Easter, but don't take more fuel than you need on road trips. You call on people to take public transport. Well, how do you do that in Longreach? How do you do that in Emerald? How do you do that in Mount Isar? Then he said if you could save fuel for people who had no choice but to drive, shift workers, farmers, miners and tradeys, well, throw in parents, throw in doctors, cheer whiz. This is a beat up of all proportions. He acknowledged in and then he went down the road of months, many months ahead may not be easy, but we'll do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it. Well, you haven't done that at all. You haven't done it and it's been two months of this and you've blubbed around and you've made all sorts of promises and not delivered a thing.

6:08Now Angus Taylor said Australians need more detail, they need a plan amid the fuel crisis. The lack of detail has always been the problem. The nation was just bewildered. This was built as the Easter present that we were all going to see and hope for and want. Instead, we had this dinosaur get up and treat us like a joke. How do people go on at $3 a liter? Yeah, it's ridiculous. We want to answer Prime Minister and once again, your rhetoric backfired, it always backs fires. The problem I have now is absolutely we are 100% now staring down the barrel of a potential

7:09recession. Things are not great, but more importantly, we need to protect our farmers. The biggest thing I want to say though is don't take us for a fool. It was April Fool's Law yesterday and I thought this was a joke. Well, it was a joke and it wasn't an April Fool's joke. Today Donald Trump will make his own address to the nation. Right? It'll be interesting to see there. It's conflicting reports out of America who's doing and who's talking. Albanese is to address the national press club today and be expected to see what Bologna is spoken there, but not in any way how anybody wanted to start their Easter break having Anthony Albanese preaching to us, telling us to calm down on a Wednesday night.

8:13As I said, I'm just bloody lucky that I was at my daughter's formal and not here. We're going to take a break. Come back. Senator Susan McDonald will join us first up. This is Rural Queen's Land Today.