The Kenny Report | 14 September

0:00This is the Kenny Report. Thanks for joining me for another week here on the Kenny Report. Tonight, Labor's Net Zero Nightmare plays out in Yalla. Your money wasted, industry and jobs disappear all the same. Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tien will join me. Immigration and the economy, one nation puts up a policy and both the major parties go on the attack. Artificial intelligence, running a muck, even AI developers, urging caution, will hear from an expert. As we get a stunning confession about the failure to combat anti-Semitism in our country, I'll speak with Sherry Markson and Alex Riftian about their remarkable and important book, Bondi Terror. All that and heaps more with Sophie Olsworth in London and Gemma and Caroline in Perth. Let's get cracking. While everyone is getting head up about Pauline Hanson, the Coalition is nowhere to be seen. And the Anthony Albanese and his Labour Governor

1:02are continuing on their merry way, undermining this country and jeopardising our future. This is the problem with our country and our national debate at the moment. We are fiddling while Rome is burning. Today, the bad news for our national steel industry and the still-making town of Yalla in South Australia is that 600 workers might soon be stood down because the coal-fired blast furnace that's been out of action for months can't be restarted. The plant has been in dire straits for years and is in administration looking for a new buyer, which is why state and federal labour tipped in billions of dollars of your money, apparently, all to no avail. At the time, they claim to be heroes, of course. This $2.4 billion plan, consisting of $500 million, firstly, to deal with administration to keep the steelworks going, keep people being paid. But importantly, as well, investment in the future.

2:05And we have, of course, a very bright future here indeed. On top of this, of course, we will be allocating funds from our $1 billion green iron investment fund that we have created. I mean, heaven help anyone would invest in an upgraded coal-fired blast furnace, or the government help with that. But no, coal this scene is evil. And it's been all about net zero and so-called green steel. There was even hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars pumped into a neighbouring green hydrogen plant, which, like most other, green hydrogen plants has fallen over. They've burned many billions of taxpayers' dollars, but haven't burned any hydrogen yet. So this is Labor's net zero agenda. They still hope to get Waller up and running again with a new owner funding an electric arc furnace. But that'll be expensive.

3:05And, of course, it'll require reliable power, not intermittent renewables. Yet, just up the road at Port Augusta, they demolished the coal-fired power stations that once powered most of that state. And, of course, electricity prices and supplies have become dastardly ever since. And, of course, even though there is a uranium mine just up the road at Roxby Downs, we wouldn't use reliable, clean, nuclear power, would we? Because we're stuck in some 1970s anti-uranium time warp. So industries close down, workers lose their jobs, our nation becomes poorer, and our standard of living drops. What geniuses? And they pretend, of course, that they're saving the planet, seriously. The state Labor Premier, Peter Malone-Ansker's, visited the workers today. We've got one of them being here this morning just to be able to look everyone in the eye and express one thing to your bubble.

4:06That also has my gratitude. Yeah, this part of South Australia used to be known as the Iron Triangle. But the power stations are gone. The shipyards are gone. The steelworks might be gone next. So it's become more of an empty triangle or a commuter triangle for taxpayers' money. And I'm old enough to remember when Labor was mocking union and coalition concerns about how the carbon tax and net zero would destroy Whale. Yeah, I don't think I'd be singing that in Whale tonight, mate. Labor and the left singing from the rooftops about policies that kill industries and jobs. Remember when they used to be on the side of workers? Remember when they used to think that industry and jobs were useful? Australia? We are in strife.

5:07OK, so let's stay on the economy, which at least got a bit of attention today, when one nation revealed its immigration policy. For a period of three years, we will deliver net negative migration by drastically cutting the number of temporary visa holders. We will take that control over the economy and we will be able to make sure that the economy is not too bad. We will be able to make sure that the economy is not too bad. We will be able to make sure that the economy is not too bad. We will take that control over who comes here and how many we accept. Now, the interesting thing about this is that the response from both the Labor government and the coalition focused on dire economic consequences. One nation's policy is a recipe to destroy the Australian economy and drive the Australian economy into recession. A headline number and a few slogans, well, that will send the economy into shock and potentially into recession. That would be dire for all Australians.

6:09Now, there's a few things to say about this reaction. First, it demonstrates that the only thing keeping us out of recession at the moment is high levels of immigration, but we're in a per capita recession anyway. Second, it's bizarre for Labor to worry about the economic consequences of cutting immigration because it never worries about the economic consequences of its net zero policies. And third, this highlights how Labor is ignoring the most important way to grow our economy and improve our standard of living. And that is to boost productivity, something I've been focused on quite a bit here, I've laid. In four years, we've gone backwards and our productivity has fallen sharply. We are producing less per hour worked. Our relative output has fallen. That's important for more trouble in the future. The Urban EZ Labor Government has been making us poorer because its own policies on energy, on work from home, on union power over a range of worker entitlements.

7:13Its tax increases on investments, on capital gains and on housing, and its additional red tape and bureaucracy. All these have made us less productive, not more productive, and business groups have started to call this out at last. The Business Council of Australia calls it a crisis now, and its chief executive, Brown, Black wrote in the Australian today that the data shows our productivity is at crisis levels. Tinkering is now insufficient. We must take bold action, so we ease the cost of living pain. Australians are feeling right now. Well, we know there won't be any bold action from Labor, at least not positive bold action. All their bold actions make our productivity prospects worse. Australia, we are in strife. OK, let's go to Pauline Hanson again. She conceded here last week that Andrew Hastie is certainly not a traitor, even though a one-nation cartoon dubbed him as such.

8:15Now, old clips of Hanson have generated more outrage. She weighs in on sensitive issues with all the subtlety of a caterpillar D11. We're actually all leaning towards this Aboriginal unit teaching about Aboriginal culture and language. For what? What? And I'll say it on your program. What the hell have they done in this country? For so, it's, you know, it's supposedly 60,000 years. They'd never invented the wheel. There was nothing there. What are we actually holding up? A few, you know, rock paintings? Sorry. They're most primitive race on earth. And we're supposed to be holding up and saying what they've achieved. They've achieved nothing. Well, primitive is hardly a word we should use in this context. It's demeaning and derogatory. But if Bruce Pasco is going to exaggerate Indigenous technological achievements, someone is always going to run a corrective. And this comes on the back of outrage over what was supposed to be Hanson's attack

9:17on Anthony Albanese's mother. An attack on the PM's mum would be terrible. But is that what this really was? Oh, this is the Prime Minister. I've actually grew up in a housing commission house. You have no idea how hard it is to grow up in a housing commission house. Oh my God. I talk about Prime Minister. Not that it would be easy to grow up in a housing commission house, but... Come on. I actually grew up in a street where we had housing commission houses there. It was a helping hand to those people, but they had jobs and they worked. And yes, it is a helping hand. House commission houses should not be there for people to live in them for 30, 40. And he said his mother lived in the same one sheet. She was born in for 65 years. Sorry, that's not on to me. It should be limited time. You've been given a hand up, moving on to the next ones coming through. Well, Albanese certainly said it targeted his mum. I said during the last campaign, kindnessism, weakness,

10:18tear what's weakness, nastiness, nastiness, and spitefulness. And I am stunned at these comments. But I'll make this point. If Pauline Hansen wants to criticise me, then that's fine. But my mother was way out of Pauline Hansen's league, way out of it. Well, because Albo is nasty when he feels like it, but there is no question that Albanese was criticised in that interview for constantly going on about his circumstances. And it's certainly not the first time he's been mocked for running this narrative endlessly. A single mum who raised me in public housing. I was raised in a council house, not far from here, by a single mum on the disability pension. Anthony Albanese is the son of a single mum who grew up in council housing in Campodown. My mum lived in the one public housing

11:21that she was born in for all of her 65 years. You could argue it's Albanese who made his mother the issue. Queue the debate. I don't know the Prime Minister's mother. I'm sure she's a very, very good woman. And the circumstances of Mrs Albanese, Mrs Albanese, the Prime Minister's mother is a story about her life. But the whole log cabin story of living in the housing commission home that the Prime Minister rolls out over and over again for a person who owns multiple houses. And good luck to him and God bless him. He's about to go live in a $4.5 million house on the central coast. It just doesn't work. I did know her. She was a gorgeous woman. She couldn't take the lead off at jar of food to feed herself. She needed help doing up her buttons. She spent half her life in and out of hospital. And during that time, Anthony was either on his own or he was, when she was home, he was caring for her. He was doing everything for her. He was cleaning the house. He was feeding them.

12:23He was helping her get dressed. He was helping her get up and down out of a chair. That is part of what has made him. Yes, so Plybisek then afflict the attack onto Joyce for going to a private school. But Albanese went to a private school, too. Why doesn't he add that to his log cabin story? Perhaps it doesn't fit the political narrative. Let's go to Cameron Allen catch up with the shadow energy minister, Dan T. And thanks for joining us. Dan was pulling Hanson attacking Anthony Albanese's mother or was that infected outrage? Look, I think the point she was making when it... It's regard to the Prime Minister fair game. I think just going into the bit about the Prime Minister's mother, she just went a step too far. And I think that's the problem. None of us, and my mother was a wonderful person,

13:23wonderful member of Parliament. But if someone criticised her, I think I would take strong umber of it as well. If someone criticises me and my circumstances absolutely fair game. But I think we do have to know where the line is. And I think the line was overstepped in those comments. She was trying to make a point about the Prime Minister, but she waited too far. And I think, you know, the Prime Minister's mother should be out of bounds, like all our mothers should be, because it's us who are the public face of the debate, whether ones who voluntarily put ourselves in the public square. So go for us, but I do think we shouldn't reach an overreach and touch people's families. I think it is completely off limits. Talking about going a step too far, has one nation's immigration policy gone a step too far, cutting by 76,000 over three years?

14:25I mean, it's a similar policy to yours in terms of numbers. It's just about 50,000 fewer migrants a year. Well, Chris, we have to see the detail. And there wasn't a press conference today that didn't outline the costings, etc. Now we all know that immigration has to come down in this nation. We know that since 2022 when Anthony Albanyse was elected Prime Minister, they've brought far too many people in. And we do not have the service, if you do not have the houses, we have the schools, the hospitals, to be able to deal with it. But you've also got to be able to do it in a way that you know that your community is going to be able to manage it and deal with it, especially when it comes to the economy. And that's the big unknown. And we all have our policy out in the coming months. And I can tell you when we do it, you will have all the details there,

15:25because we know the number has to come down, but we also know that you've got to do it in a way which will enable your farmers still to be able to get the workers they need. Our age here sector still to be able to get the workers they need. And that is ultimately the challenge here. Yeah, but even one of your own colleagues has put that number at about 180,000 a year. I mean, it's pretty clear that you're going to have a policy that has lower immigration than labour, but you're going to be stuck saying that one nation is cutting even lower, and that's too far. Well, look, I can't announce our policy here, but it's like everything. What you've got to be able to do is get the balance right. And we're doing the work, the meticulous work that's required to do that. Now, it won't be rushed out, because there's been a bad week, the previous week. Ours will have the thought that needs to go to these things, because ultimately in the end, the last thing we want to do when we cut migration levels,

16:26and that's what we're going to do, is send this country into serious recession, because those key parts of our workforce that needs workers won't be able to get them. And that's why we'll get it right, and we will release all the detail, and we'll stand up, and we will give a press conference, and we'll detail exactly what's required. And that's what you need to be able to do, and that's what we're going to do, because we've got a good experience team that know these issues. We know we've got to cut it, but we've got to do it. As I reminded viewers at the top of the programme, Labor in the past has mocked people for questioning the future of Yalla under net zero policies and carbon taxes and the like. Yet now we're seeing, despite hundreds of millions, in billions of dollars of tax pay as money, it's still on its knees. They've tried green hydrogen, they're trying to run it with renewables. They've got rid of coal-fired power from that region.

17:27How much of this disaster for Yalla is caught up in the net zero dream? All of it. I mean, the only thing that's missing is Craig Emerson, you know, coming on to our screens, singing Yalla, Yalla wipe out. I mean, it once again shows what a complete mass Chris Bowen has made of our energy policy, and the sad reality is, it foretells the story of where Australia is going to head unless we can stop this madness, because South Australia is where Chris Bowen wants to take every other state and territory in this nation. And, you know, net zero, they've got a safeguard mechanism, so they're taxing Yalla while they're providing billions to it through their net zero safeguard mechanism. And the green hydrogen drawing, remember we're going to be a green hydrogen super power? Yeah. They haven't delivered anything, and not one new electron to that smelter. But they're saying that the way to save Yalla is an electric arc furnace.

18:30Now, that's great. If you can find a buyer who's going to invest in it, but guess what? They need electricity, lots of it, and reliably. Yet they won't burn gas, they won't burn coal, they won't use nuclear. They can't run that thing on renewable energy. But that was the Chris Bowen pipe dream. And you watch, and this is the sad thing about all this. Chris Bowen will go off to pre-cop in Fiji and Tuvalu with, you know, the leaders that are turning up to it, and I think at this stage is about five or six, while those poor workers in Yalla are wondering about their futures, five hundred or six hundred of them. Now, just quickly, a former colleague of yours who lost their job, Susan Lee, has been appointed by Labor to the board of the Snowy Hydro scheme. That thing's going to be a disaster, isn't it? Snowy Hydro 2.0 is going to cost us $20 billion. Why would Susan Lee sign up to that? Well, it's a good question, because what she's going to have to try and do

19:33is clean up another enormous Chris Bowen mess. As you've said, we think that it's going to blow out to over $20 billion in that figure. Could it even get higher? And that's because Chris Bowen changed the way the contract works for it. And you'll remember also, and this will be a good test for the board. They said they were going to do the due diligence on the finances and release those figures. Now, Chris Bowen has been asked by the media when those figures are going to be released about what is the current financial situation when it comes to Snowy Hydro, and he's refusing to answer. So the board is going to have to stand up to the minister and say, well, we're going to release all those figures so we know what's going on. And that'll be a very good test for Susan later to see whether she can be part of a board which tells the minister, we're going to be transparent when you're not. Thanks for joining us, Dan. I appreciate it. Dan Tee and they're joining us from Canberra. I want to go to the AI issue now, which is dominating news and debate around the world at the moment,

20:39because the head of an AI giant has called for a slowdown in the race to develop this technology. After researcher Jacob Cox and quick, quit anthropic, warning developers were gambling with our lives and that AI could kill us all by the end of the decade. Here's the latest from nine news. AI is now improving itself. I think it is unacceptable to be taking like a 10% chance of killing everybody by the end of the decade, obviously. Sam Ultman and Elon Musk backing calls from Claude's creator to slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. In July, an open AI model escaped and hacked into a platform called Hugging Face. If we don't slow down, could lead to AI takeover by the end of the decade, could happen as soon as next year. Some people even say six months. Let's go to Professor John Whittl. He's got 30 years of experience in developing and applying AI solutions for government and businesses with the Melbourne Business School and

21:41joins us from Melbourne. Thanks for joining us, John. Tell us just how serious should our concerns be about AI? The idea should kill humanity surely is ridiculous, but what sort of fears should we reasonably hold? Yeah, look, I think it's nonsense to say that we're all going to be dead in just over three years. This is not the first time that we've heard this playbook. We've heard these crazy claims before there was a Google engineer back in 2022 who came out and said that AI had become conscious and the media went crazy and everybody was talking about this being the end of the world and what actually happened. Well, nothing. So I wouldn't be worrying too much about humanity ending anytime soon, but it is true that these models are getting very, very capable. And if they're not used in a proper way by the humans that control them, then we could have some pretty serious problems on our hands. Isn't the great fear about autonomy? The fear that AI

22:42could autonomously could decide itself to take action against other AI bots, against infrastructure, or against any computer systems? Yeah, so these AI models are really just very massive statistical engines. And the reason that everyone's starting to get worried is because they're getting bigger and people have run experiments where they've been able to hack systems. So there are worries that, you know, these systems could hack into critical infrastructure and cause on manner of damage. But it's important to understand that these models can only do what the humans allow them to do. They're not going rogue, as has been often reported in the media, but it's humans conducting experiments with them and giving them the freedom to kind of go off on the internet. And then because they're statistical, they end up doing things that the human designers didn't expect. But that's what's statistically, you know. The trouble is there are plenty of malevolent humans around the

23:45place, which I guess is why one reason Donald Trump today has said that he doesn't want development slowed down. Here's the president. We're leading China and AI. We're a most sophisticated country in the world. And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins. And we can put guardrails, we can do this in that, but I think you have a lot of negative voices and bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing it up things that won't happen. That's the point, isn't it, John? You've got to keep developing this to keep bad actors at buy. Yeah, so there's definitely an arms race going on. China is catching up. You know, it used to be the case that we would say that the US was a bit of a couple of years ahead of China. And mostly people now talk about a few months. So, you know, it's, it's definitely a role for governments to play here. You know, there's that in Australia, for example, there's a bit of a flip flop, I think, going on about, you know, how much the government should get involved.

24:47Before the last election, there was an advisory body set up to put mandatory guardrails in place. That was then stopped after the election. But there needs to be a conscious decision made by governments about how we're going to regulate these things. Yeah, it's a hell of an issue. And it's hard for all of us to keep up with it. So, thank you so much for sharing your insights. John, I appreciate it. Professor John Whittle there from the Melbourne Business School. Now, before we go to break, the other side, I'm going to show you a stunning confession when it comes to our failures in this country to combat anti-Semitism. I'm going to speak to Sherry Martin and Alex Riftian about their remarkable and crucially important book, Bondi Terror. Don't go away. Just on the fight against anti-Semitism and Islamist extremism, the fight our Prime Minister has manifestly failed to take up. Well, there's been a telling confession reported today. The Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finley, has belatedly admitted that she and her

25:50organisation have been missing in action. Speaking ahead of ending her tenure in November, Finley said, my greatest regret is that I did not speak out earlier and more clearly about the rise in anti-Semitism, particularly following the Sydney Opera House protests. Well, well, you don't say. She told a Jewish women's group that she was genuinely sorry. Look, the Human Rights Commission loves to lecture Australians on racism and sexism, but I went missing during the pandemic and yes, on Jew hatred too. I mean, here we had people in our streets celebrating the slaughter of Jewish people of Israelis in Israel and at the Opera House, they chanted and threatened Jews in Australia and the hatred continued in protests week after week and in the media and on social media and in political debate. But it seems because this hatred comes largely from the political left,

26:52the Human Rights Commission was struck dumb. The Human Rights Commissioner said, one lesson I will carry with me is that hatred must be confronted early, clearly and without hesitation. When institutions and leaders fail to do so, even with the best of intentions, the consequences can be profound. She is dead right. She failed. But as Finley said, it's up to leaders to act, which is why we can never forget or forgive the disastrous lack of leadership from Anthony Albanese on this. Let me go to our next guest now because they speak on a related issue, the horrific Bondi Beach massacre last December, which took 15 lives. Bondi Terror is the book by Sherry Marxon and Alex Riftian that documents this tragedy and its aftermath and plots are path forward. And I'm pleased to welcome both of them to the studio right now. Thanks so much for joining me. Thank you.

27:55Congratulations on the book. Give me your thoughts firstly about the launch last Thursday and that bringing together of so many elements of Australia, Sherry. Look, it was a very moving and emotional evening. It was launched by the Premier Chris Mins, Chairman of Newscop, Lockland Murdoch. It gave some very powerful words about how we need to do more in anti-Semitism and our company will not walk away from the Jewish community. Matilda's family got up there, her dad spoke it and look, a lot of people were very emotional just seeing his courage and his bravery, his message about sharing the kindness and the light of his little girl who was taken too soon at Bondi. And then we also had Josh Friedenberg speak. He referenced the ongoing offensive messages from the likes of Grace Tame. He had a panel of survivors there. Kelly Sloan as a first responder, Elon who was shot six times. Hano, his father was killed. So, you know, the theme was hopeful, uplifting. That's what this book is. You know,

29:01it ends with the path forward and what we need to do to confront this crisis. Look, that's the extraordinary thing here, Alex, about this book and I read it on the weekend. It's stunning and powerful and moving in its detail and the two of you have recounted what went on, but you've talked about the lead up, you've talked about the aftermath and the path forward. So, this is not just a book of history of contemporary history. This is a book about where we go to from here. Right. And, you know, it covers the three-year period really beginning with October 7th. There's, of course, a deep focus on the massacre, on the actions of individuals, of the heroes, of the first responders. But, as you said, it goes far beyond all that because it has to. It has to provide the context. It has to show the water current on that day wasn't merely an incident, a flashpoint. It was part of a process that was occurring in plain sight before our eyes. And we go through that in great detail. The day by day escalation of Australian

30:04anti-Semitism, the failure of leaders to take appropriate action in the moment. We look at the aftermath and that, to me, was a really fascinating thing to investigate and explore. What people did in the days and hours afterwards. And we found in our interviews that people really retreated into their own universes. There was the universe of the families of the dead, which consisted of their houses of mourning and being by grave sites and just being in a real stupa of loss and tragedy. Then there were those whose families were deep terribly wounded and were in critical condition. And their universe became the hospital and nothing else. So we tried to pierce all of that and piece it together to show the full toll of something like this. What it does to communities, families and to the country. I want to go to some of the personal stories here so that I can give our viewers an insight into what they get from this book. And, Sherry, I'm going to pinch a couple of excerpts from your documentary to steer that narrative. Let's have a look at this and a reminder that this is distressing vision. Nearby, Ellon's mother lay on top of his two children

31:09doing everything she could to protect them. But then she too was shot. My mum was ultimately exposed because she was by herself holding my two children. Ellon's mother was shot three times that she huddled over her grandkids. Sherry, we had that incredible detail in your documentary. But in this book, you have spoken to people so many people in such detail. I was just staggered by the number of people showing those acts of heroism laying over children to protect them, taking bullets themselves. Some lived, some died. Look, it's extraordinary. No one ever knows how they are going to react when something like this happens, when they unexpectedly find themselves with their family in a live shooting. And, you know, in the aftermath of the terror attack, I was hearing so many stories and it was too many, even in a documentary to properly tell which is why we wanted to properly record them in the book. And it is extraordinary reading. And I don't think

32:12it is depressing. Some people have said to me, I don't know about reading. It is not. It is inspiring. The courage that people showed. You know, Ellon was trying to protect his children. As you just saw, his mum was trying to help. She was shot. Ellon was hit six times. He didn't want to let his children see their father pass away. So he started crawling away and then a 14-year-old girl in a safe spot ran it. I agree, absolutely, that this is inspiring. You read the book. It is horrifying. It's horrifying that situation you're dealing with. But, Alex, you must have had the same reaction. You knew so many of these people closely, right? But you would hope to behave in the way some of them did. Yeah, look, I think it's natural that you hypothesise and speculate what would have happened if I was there. Yeah. But I didn't really linger there for too long because when their reality is so horrible, you don't really need to be in the hypotheticals. But one thing that I found again in interviewing survivors and victims afterwards was that they were, you know, in the state of guilt,

33:18a state of confusion that could understand why someone survived and they didn't. There were instances, for example, you know, my media director, Evan, he ran when the shooting began. He was with two other people running in the same direction. Evan was shot in the back. Next to him was Dan Alkayam, who was shot through the chest and fatally wounded. And the third person didn't get a scratch. And then they wonder why me? Why did I survive and I person didn't? And that's where different people were acting different ways. I found that those with a deep religious kind of core were able to manage that better and find purpose and meaning. Whereas others are still lingering in the state of kind of confusion and guilt and not really... That's survival. ...builders, you're real. Yeah, that's right. I want to go to another hero, who I think is undeplied publicly, but certainly not in the book. Again, distressing vision. And here, dressed in red is Geffen Bitton, a young Israeli bravely running into help armoured. But the shooter on the bridge, 24-year-old Naveed, fires back.

34:23You can see the moment Geffen is shot. Just horrible. Shari Geffen had terrible injuries. He had war training. He might have done war with that gun if he'd taken it off armoured, but he's chosen not to go public. In the book he has. But in the book, that's why I think most Australians haven't heard enough about him, but in the book we hear from him. Well, also he was in a coma for a long period of time. He was so badly injured, I connected with his family first when he was in the coma. And then he was transported back to Israel. They put me in touch with Geffen. So I've been speaking with him on and off over quite a few months now. He went on the record in the book. It's the most extraordinary story. And he talks about in the book when he was in the coma having to decide whether to come back to Earth or not. And he, you know, amazing kind of near-death experience. But yes, he says, what haunts him is that armoured got there a few seconds before him. He says he was in the IDF. He knows how to use a gun. And if his plan was to run in and take out the shooter. And so he's

35:28haunted by the fact he got there too late. And he says that he was yelling at armoured, shoot, shoot him with some swear words thrown in. And, you know, he just replays it over and over. Just incredible. Another aspect of the book that really just stands out is that story of Geffen, what a hero, and how he's still suffering so much now. One of the worst injured. He says you'll never be able to walk properly again. This is another aspect that comes through in the book. So some of these injuries horrific people's lives change forever. It's not only the 15 dead. It's those on that ongoing suffering. I want to finish on a clip and I'll get your reaction to this Alex, given your role in the Jewish community. This is the memorial that was held at the Opera House, Sherry, you hosted it. Here's part of why Anthony Albanese had to say. You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom and you were met with the violence of hatred. I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil.

36:35Now all of this aftermath is covered in the book as well, but Alex, that wasn't really an apology for Matthew and Albanese. He's sorry he couldn't protect people, but there's no recognition of his failure in the two years leading up to Bondi to quash this hatred. Look, I think politicians and some more than others are limited in what they're willing to concede and being in the audience and listening to that, it felt significant and momentous, but it also I think showed us the limits of government and the limits of politicians and what they're willing to accept responsibility for. Ultimately, they want to do the right thing, I believe, but they also have to think about polls and election cycles and political survival, and that inevitably numbs their response. But the thing that I remember about that evening more than any other was not the apology. It was the actions of label Razor, a young man who was horribly wounded, shot multiple times. He had 14 surgeries to reconstruct his abdomen, and there was this anticipation where we didn't know whether he would make it out of the hospital

37:37in time for that event and he got there. And again, covered in the book. Just incredible. I didn't know. I was one of the most uplifting moments of my life. So, to me, the lesson of that is look to the individual for leadership more so than our political leaders. I think more often than not, the ordinary person can show greater courage and leadership than the politicians. Well, Sid, I could talk to you guys about this for our hour out of time. Bondi, Tara, here it is. I'm so proud to know both of you as friends, and you should be so proud of this book. It's incredible reading and all Australians should read it. Both to know what happened and to give you some hope for the future. Thanks very much. Thanks very much, Harry. Thank you. And Alex. We're going to go to a break. Next, I'm going to go across to Sophie Ellsworth, live from the UK. We're Harry and Megan have released the first images of their new life in the English countryside. Don't go away. Let's go to the UK. Westminster, in fact, and catch up with the news corpse Europe correspondent

38:42and news 24 contributors, Sophie Ellsworth. Of course, good to talk to you again, Sophie. Give us a give us a bit of an update on net zero in the UK and the warnings that provides for the same net zero obsession here in Australia. A great to be with you, Chris. Yes, recently I was down in Kent near Grave, near where it is the it is home to the biggest solar farm in the UK. More than half a million solar panels there. And there's been a lot of outrage in this community by locals annoyed at the implementation of this solar farm. Locals telling me they have not seen their bills come down and that the UK is chasing this net zero dreams similar to Australia, but it's not paying off when it comes to its bills. And Chris, it is very much a live issue here in the UK. It is in Australia. People are annoyed at the move to net zero and the fact that he's not helping net hip pockets as the government is saying that it's short. Yeah, we've got some of those

39:45comments right here. Absolutely horrific really during the process of building the park. We're going to be losing out from agriculture and we're losing out on tourism. Ever you drive through the village, at some point you will look across and you will see this solar array. Yeah, you've got to feel for those communities as we do for communities in Australia and I don't know whether I'll get as much bang for their buck out of solar farms in England as they do on the western plains of New South Wales and the lake. Now also I'm dying to know what the former royals are up to. They've released some footage. They have indeed Chris yesterday afternoon here in the UK. Megan Markle who has vowed that she wants her privacy protected has now released this latest Instagram reel with many clips of their family enjoying life here back in the UK six years after they turned their back on Britain. Now it's shown her with Prince Harry holding hands

40:49walking through the woodlands in what appears to be the Cotswolds and her young children. Prince Che and Princess Lillabette enjoying their life here in the UK. But Chris, this is very interesting timing because it comes just a few days after that letter was issued on the direction of his majesty saying that they are not working royals. They will remain private citizens and basically they need to stay out of the public eye. They won't be getting the treatment that the royals get here and it seems that this couple seem to have a relevance deprivation syndrome where they have to keep putting stuff out into the media because they don't want to be forgotten about. Exactly. The global privacy to continues. Thanks for joining us. So I hope you stay dry there. So if you all is worth a live from the UK where they are getting a, it looks like they are about to get a bit of much needed rain. After the break we are going to check in on Victoria's pothole problem. It's become so bad that it is costing lives. I will catch up with Gemma Tonini and Caroline

41:50Dorosso. Look out Perth, they are both there and they are both live on the county report. Gemma Tonini from GT Communication of course, West Australian Liberal Party President. And news 24 contribute to Caroline Dorosso. Thanks both for joining us. Great to be here. Let me get quick thoughts. Let's start with you, Caroline. Quick thoughts. Was Pauline Hanson really having a go at Anthony Urban Eazy's mother? Look, I think it's one of those things. It's probably best not to stray into that territory if you can absolutely avoid it. I think, you know, you know, our politicians do make enough sacrifice. And yes, Albin Eazy talks about his mum, but you know, Morrison talked about Jen and the girls and that doesn't mean we just go open slather on Jen and the girls. So I would always just prefer that families are left out of it. Of course, unless of course they work for a lobbyist or something like that, then we should probably know about it. But other than that, I'd rather it just be left

42:54be there's very few red lines. I think that's probably one of them, but I hate to think I'm agreeing with Chris Bowen, so that makes me really uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. Well, here's a little compilation of how Anthony Urban Eazy uses his mum's story. A single mum who raised me in public housing. I was raised in a council house not far from here. By a single mum on the disability pension. Anthony Urban Eazy is the son of a single mum who grew up in council housing in campedown. My mum lived in the one public housing that she was born in for all of her 65 years. Yeah, now, Jim, I don't think anybody should attack Anthony Urban Eazy's mum, but when he's used that story so often, I think a lot of people in this country are thinking, actually, living all your life in public housing isn't the ideal. I think Pauline Hanson has actually said what a lot of people think and are probably too afraid to say.

43:55In entirely possible, Chris, that's the case. I think what is in with many things, it's the execution rather than the subject matter. There was a meanness to what Pauline Hanson said in a nastiness to it, which I can't abide. On the same by the same token, though, I personally do not appreciate the way Mr Urban Eazy tends to use this story. Time and again, the Australian public is well aware of how he was raised under difficult circumstances. He is not the only one. And if he constantly needs to reference that, then I think that speaks to a particular deficiency. That's my personal view. I know plenty, plenty of people in my personal circle and my wider circle who grew up in more challenging circumstances than the Prime Minister, often in violent circumstances, often in circumstances of extreme deprivation. That's their story. It's not the sum total of who they are. And if you fast forward to the fact that that man has been

44:57Prime Minister of this country for two terms, almost two full terms, and has sent the country backward, and Australians are finding it so tough. I paid $2.35 a litre for 91 unleaded this week. Chris, and now there's talks of shortages. And we know we have a productivity issue. Those are the things Australians want to hear this Prime Minister talk about and address because the price of leadership, Mr Urban Eazy, is accountability and you should get to know that concept. Let's go to Victorian State politics and Carol, I keen to get your thoughts on this, because there's been a lot of talk about potholes. A tragic case in recent days where a motorcycle rider has hit a pothole and it's ended up costing him his life. But this is more than a one-off. I was speaking to a very, very senior figure in the Victorian Liberal Party on the weekend who said that this looming election is not about Labor versus Coalition versus One Nation. There's all sorts of independence involved and it's going to be a seat by seat campaign where the real issues are

46:00things like the terrible state of the roads and local crime rates. Does that resonate with what you're hearing, Caroline? Well, it does and that's the whole point of state government. That it is service and delivery politics. And there's been a whole lot of carry on about how fabulous is it that we're having US football matches in Melbourne. Well, I think people would really like if that state government properly executed the very, very basics and it's things like healthcare, it's things like crime and it's things like road infrastructure. Those things are a non-negotiable Chris. Get them right and then you can have all the nice to have. But you can't have the nice to have without getting the need to have done first. So no wonder Victorians are feral about this and so they should be because they're living in a circumstance where those very basics aren't met and then the government wants pets on the back for all the other fluff. Yeah, yeah. Hey, speaking about big sporting events in Melbourne, you'll be pleased to know that the

47:03sport, the Minister for Sports Rorts, the Minister for Sports and Communications, Annika Wells has told us that she's got a bag. She should be back on the bedwagon this month. She's going to the grand final. Here she is. I will be there because it's a huge event in both the communications and sports stakeholder calendars. I see dozens of my stakeholders in that room. She's going back to the footy Gemro Pettel, their friends and family are rapped. Who's going to go with her? The fact that she can say that with a straight face is just, it's extraordinary. There's not an ounce of sort of, you know, she-bishness or apology. Like the fact that that Minister has still got a job is an insult to every Australian who's held to a different set of standards. You and I both know Chris that if we had have conducted ourselves in the same way and defrauded, you know, use the- use which word you want, found to have needed to pay back money to your employer, which is essentially the Australian taxpayer.

48:07I mean, you would never job. No, I work for myself. I don't know. I might still have a job, but get out your archive box. Exactly. The fact that that Minister gave that answer without a hint of context or or self-awareness just tells you everything you need to know about this government and its hubris and its sense of entitlement. It's going to be a great grand final. Never mind the footy there. We'll get all the vision of Annika Wells and the stands and then when Kylie's doing the pre-gaming, the team will be cutaways of our bow with Kylie performing. What an absolute joke. Thanks for joining us, Tim at Caroline. We'll catch you next week. Just a little bit of time for somebody to feedback from what we had to say last week when Pauline Hanson joined the program. And one of you says the throwing of dirt will only get worse when one nation wins the Victorian election. We shall see. Another viewer says, choose your battles Pauline Hanson. And this is not one worthy of fighting. That was the Andrew Hastie Trader battle. And another viewer says, I think Pauline Hanson should have the fortitude to pull the cartoon down. Not for any other reason

49:10than the fact that Hastie has taken a fence to it. She has said she does not think he is a Trader. I also think she would do a self and a party a favour by taking the high road and removing it. Thanks for joining me. It's good to be back. Thanks for Kayla Bond for last Thursday. I'll be back tomorrow night. He is Peter Kredlin.