The Bolt Report

00:07 This is The Bolt Report. 00:12 One Nation has arrived because leader Pauline Hanson today had Anthony Albanese spooked. 00:20 I want to give you a contrast. When the Prime Minister gave his big speech at the last Labor National Conference three years ago, he did not mention One Nation once, did not hint about it, did not take any sniping out of it, nothing. 00:37 But at Labor's national conference in Adelaide today, Albanese could not stop talking about Hansen and One Nation. In fact, he attacked One Nation more than he attacked the Liberals, which tells me that Labor now thinks One Nation is its biggest threat, its real opposition. And I find this amazing, that Albanese should spend so much energy attacking a party that right now has just two seats in the House of Representatives. 01:08 And these attacks on one nation, most of them childish, most of them dishonest, started with Albanese's warm-up act, in fact, South Australian Premier Peter Malinowskis, who wants you to think that Pauline Hanson, who's been in politics for 30 years, saying much the same kind of things in all that time, is really just copying more recent politicians overseas. 01:31 The people of Australia don't need a cheap imitation of global populism. 01:38 We need someone who gets things done. 01:41 We need someone who brings this country together. 01:48 Well, like the Prime Minister with his voice at the Parliament. I know it's nonsense, all that stuff. You know, like Mellon House is also joking, not joking, that One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce yelling at his dog proved that One Nation was unfit for government. 02:04 If you can't govern your dog, you can't govern the country. 02:11 I mean, you've just got to ask, is this how brainless our politics has got or is it just Labor? 02:18 So in came Albanese, you know, after, of course, he'd narrowly survived an escalator, which was as start-stop as the economy is under him, emerging in the hall like a man too small for the job of running this country. Albanese started his speech by again reminding us of his agenda to divide Australians by race. 02:40 I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we're meeting and I pay my respect to the elders past, present and emerging and I also pay my respect to any First Nations people who are with us here today. 02:56 Now, by the way, his genuflection there to Labor's division of Australians by race came from a stage that likewise was dominated by three flags and after the official welcome to country by a man identifying as Aboriginal and wearing three feathers. 03:16 My name is Mickey O'Brien. My Aboriginal name is that of the impatient one, and I am six born of seven children. My father, Yola Burka, the old man of the sea, Uncle Lewis O'Brien, the oldest living Kaurna person, and he is 96. 03:29 Well, speaking of his father, here is his Aboriginal father, Lewis O'Brien, the Aboriginal son of an Englishman. 03:41 and a woman with some Aboriginal ancestry, it seems. But this is how Labor is pushing us on this ridiculous division by race. No wonder One Nation is on the rise. And that is, of course, why Albanese today got stuck into One Nation, blasting Pauline Hanson for apparently not telling the world that Albanese was doing a brilliant job running this now divided country where living standards are also falling. 04:09 all those attention-seeking culture wars imported from overseas, all those trips around the world to talk Australia down, cannot disguise the fact that none of them have anything new or anything positive to offer our country. 04:31 Now, note already, you know, the dishonesty that Albanese cannot honestly say, cannot honestly tell his audience what One Nation is really arguing, because then he'd have to reveal that Labor has no answer to it. 04:47 I mean, culture wars, they're not important for a start. I mean, welcome to country. That's Albanese and Labor. 04:54 Global warming. 04:56 One Nation's rejection of net zero policies. That's not a culture war. That's about economics. 05:03 Our Labor is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars and de-industrialising our nation for nothing. And One Nation is saying no to mass immigration again. Not a culture war that's more an issue of economics. Again. And the fact that we're short of houses for the one and a half million people that Albanese has let in in just four years. 05:24 And the one time that Albanese tried to mock a specific One Nation policy that is about culture... 05:30 Now, Hanson calling for a public monoculture, he was again too dishonest or maybe just too dumb to understand or say what Hanson was actually arguing. 05:42 Even the very first Labor government was not a monoculture. 05:49 There were Protestants and Catholics, English, Irish and Scots. 05:56 One was an American pretending to be a Canadian, And no-one was quite sure if the leader was born in New Zealand or Chile. 06:09 I mean, that is just so pathetic and, like I say, dishonest. As if Pauline Hanson doesn't know that Australians come from everywhere. 06:17 given that Hansen herself married a Polish refugee, when her leader in South Australia is of Italian heritage, when her president in South Australia was born in Argentina, when her Victorian state secretary was born in Italy, where One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, he was born in India. 06:41 Now, what Hansen has in fact said about monoculture is pretty simple. 06:45 unless you're a simpleton. We all come originally from somewhere else and have our own cultures, but the government's job is to, given all that, unite us by promoting just one, the Australian one, with one law for all and just one flag as well. 07:02 So, really, you see, you know, right there in that speech, Albanese is struggling with One Nation, unable to honestly say why it's wrong to say that the role of government is to unite us culturally and not divide us from multiculturalism. 07:16 And then came probably Albanese's biggest spray at One Nation, with the Liberals caught in the crossfire. 07:23 And while you can go a long way in politics for a long time by raging against a system that you're a part of without a plan to fix it, or blaming people who cannot defend themselves for a problem they did not cause, that doesn't build anything. It doesn't change anything. It doesn't take our country forward. It doesn't help anyone find a job, pay their bills, or put a roof over their head. 07:52 This has always been the fundamental contrast between Labor and all our political opponents, and never more so than now, because beyond One Nation's personality clashes, policy confusion, conspiracy theories and candidate chaos, and regardless of who leads the Liberals to the next election, In every way that matters, the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are already a coalition. 08:25 It's not just that they need each other to form government, they agree with each other. 08:34 That was his best shot and unfair here. I let it run and run so you could see what he's got and what he's got is nothing. 08:42 That One Nation doesn't have solutions for the problems it's raising, it's blaming the weak and I assume it means migrants for everything. 08:52 Now, it is true that One Nation is light on solutions so far, but it is also true that it's really got quite a few policies out there already. 09:02 even if it hasn't said how it will quite pay for them. It's got a policy on immigration, it's got a policy on multiculturalism, on net zero, on defence and AUKUS and income splitting and on the flag and so on and on. Go to the website and check for yourself. Now, I agree, not enough policies yet and not enough costings, absolutely. Labor, though, of course, it's got policies up the wazoo, so many policies... 09:30 And how's that working out for you? 09:33 Your living standards are down. Your house prices, they're crashing. Inflation is up, interest rates are up, our debt is reaching a trillion dollars, our military is weak, our country is now divided. 09:48 I don't judge politicians by the piles of paper that have written on policy. 09:52 I don't judge by the paper, but the performance. And this government's performance has been shocking, and that's what's, of course, helped to create One Nation. 10:02 And that's why Albanese today was freaking. But if he has got a good argument against One Nation, it sure wasn't in his speech today. 10:17 Now, the obsession with One Nation at the Labor Conference was at times insane. 10:22 For years, One Nation has voted with the Coalition against key protections for workers. 10:29 I mean, it was like Labor needed One Nation to feed their hate. 10:44 But I reckon this next speaker really took the cake, actually claiming that One Nation was against people speaking their own languages at home. 10:51 And Labor had to vote to stop her, which it did. 10:54 One of the things that we have in this motion is to support a multilingual Australia because contrary to the beliefs of the leader of One Nation, it is actually a thing we should be proud of, that we have people who speak other languages at home who can communicate with the rest of the world in their language. 11:22 Now, I'm pretty confident I'm not going to upset Pauline Hanson by saying that, as I say at home about lies like that, In Dutch, that is, how dumb do you have to be to believe that? 11:41 And normally on a Thursday, my regular commentator is Barnaby Joyce, but he's off for most of the next few weeks. And I thought, well, with all this freaking about One Nation and, as you heard, you know, Albanese, you're fulminating about the candidates. Let's see who else they've actually got. What monsters are lurking there behind Hanson and Barnaby with their evil plans? 12:01 So let's have a look now at One Nation Senator Tyron Whitton. Now... 12:06 Tyrone Whitten, thank you very much for your time. I hope I didn't offend you by speaking a bit of Dutch there. Please tell me that that is allowed under One Nation. 12:15 Absolutely it's allowed. I mean, my son married into a family of Italians, you know, and I hear my grandson say Italian words and it makes me proud. But, yeah, absolutely speak whatever language you want. But you will speak Australian if you're going to live here and make Australia your home. 12:35 Well, that's what we're speaking in right now. English, right? Now, I don't want to turn this into a promo for you, OK? So I'll ask you tough ones later to balance it all up. But I want viewers to know where One Nation gets its people from. Now, you had a great-grandfather who was made deaf and blind in an industrial accident. You had a grandfather who raised four children as a single father when his wife died earlier. And you yourself worked in construction and oyster farming. 13:02 You actually did pretty well for yourself, didn't you? 13:06 Yeah, I mean, I wasn't born into money. My brother and I started our construction business many years ago. It was him, me, a wheelbarrow and a ute, and a lot of drive, a lot of passion, and we grew that business to employing over 1,000 people. 13:22 And, you know, there was all the usual things along the way. There was a lot of late nights, blood, sweat and tears. 13:30 We skinned our knees many times, a lot of scar tissue. 13:34 It taught me a lot about how the world really works and that's the background that I come from and that's the experience I bring to the party and the parliament. 13:45 Yeah. I don't think a single... 13:48 A member of the Labor Cabinet has ever run a business of any kind, let alone grown one to that size. Now, you've heard Labor there at its national conference attacking your party. It's just about outrage. It's got no solutions. It's just about beating up immigrants. It's just copying Donald Trump and other foreigners. Your response? 14:11 Well, gee, we're occupying a lot of time in their heads, aren't we? I mean, if you took out all the One Nation talk there, it would have gone for 20 minutes. 14:19 And this talk about copying Donald Trump, Pauline's been around for 30 years. Donald Trump's a new phenomenon. 14:28 You could almost argue he's copying Pauline. So the outrage... Yes, there's outrage in the community. We hear it all the time. People are so fed up with this Labor government and the things they do and don't do. 14:41 They've lost sight of where they were from and the people are feeling it. And that's why our popularity is rising and soaring. 14:50 Now, you've also seen journalists attacking recent stumbles by One Nation, if that's what they are. I mean, and I put up my hand. I thought that Pauline Hanson should have been making speeches explaining her idea of a monoculture to stop the lies being told about it. She didn't. I thought she made a big mistake talking to convicted thug Tommy Robinson. I think Malcolm Robinson's conspiracy theories and Putin admiration are cuckoo. and also last night said that Pauline Hanson spoke very clumsily about domestic violence. Are you frustrated by any of these unforced errors? 15:27 Not at all. I mean, you know, we're a small party and we're trying hard. What we won't do is not answer the questions. So we're happy to answer the tough questions. We're happy to talk about the tough topics. And inevitably along that path, you know, there'll be a couple of little stumbles. But I think the majority of people out there, when we make these, let's call them errors, might understand what we're trying to say. They understand where we're coming from. We're real people like them. We're not perfect. 15:58 Who is? But we will always answer the tough questions and not back away from the tough conversations. 16:06 Now, you walked away from a very successful business to be in politics. What is it that you most want One Nation to get done if you do get lucky in the next election? What did you come into the party to actually do? 16:24 Well, yeah, I'd left the business well before my thoughts turned to politics. 16:31 I used to say to my children, you know, don't complain about something, do something about it. So that's how I got here. And, yeah, I think it's no secret of some of the things that we want to achieve if we get anywhere close to power. with reducing mass immigration, getting rid of the climate change, getting out of the Paris Agreement. I mean, we've broken records saying them a thousand times. People know what we're here to do. But we're fighting for Australia and Australians. And every decision we make, every bill we vote on, gets put through a filter. 17:03 Is this good for Australia and Australians? And that's how I see the world. That's what we will be fighting for. 17:11 But you personally, Tyrone, when you thought, you know, crikey, I'm going to Canberra, what was it that you thought, this is what I want to do? When I leave politics, I'd like this to have at least, this one thing to have been done. 17:27 Well, I want the country to do better than when I got here, which is going to be a tough gig at the moment. You look at all the decisions and things that Labor's introducing, it's, you know, we've got a long road ahead of us, a big challenge. But, yeah, I'll be damned if I leave this place worse than the way I found it for my children, everyone's children. 17:51 Taryn Whitten, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. 17:55 After the break, Labor insider Cameron Milner on the real story behind Labor's national conference. I don't think it's good. And today's unemployment fix, I tell you what, they do show that one state is ruining it for everyone else. 18:12 Okay, I'm showing you the Prime Minister's speech today at Labor's national conference, the obsession with Pauline Hanson, but there was something else. 18:20 If you look at why so many Australians are doing it so tough right now, some things really leap out, like businesses tied down with red tape, green tape too, productivity down the toilet, making it so hard to create more wealth, which is what we need, more wealth. I mean, you just compare Australia's per capita growth after inflation under this government. Albanese government on the right of the screen. Compare it to all the previous governments. I mean, it's just terrible, terrible. 18:53 And that, of course, explains why people are getting poorer. Now, given that, the need to get more productive so there's a bigger pie to share it with so many more people too, what then were the big new policy reveals in Albanese speech today? 19:11 Nothing. Flat nothing. 19:14 about growing that pie. Instead, you had a vague assurance to help unions restrict the use of AI in business, plus the creation of another bureaucracy. More spending, not just on practical experience for health professionals, but that bureaucracy is another way for workers claiming to be underpaid to take their bosses to court. 19:36 but simply don't have the time or the resources to navigate the legal system, or are told their case will take months, even years, to resolve and cost them more than their claim is worth. 19:48 Now, that's just wrong, and we're going to fix it. 19:53 Today I announce that our government will create the Fair Work Court. 20:00 There you go, yet another court. Joining me is long-time Labor man Cameron Milner, former Chief of Staff to Labor Leader Bill Shorten, now Director of GXO Strategies. Cameron, thank you for your time. Look, this national conference, it goes for three days. You've been to a few of them yourself. What struck you most on day one? 20:20 Well, it's a stale imitation of Labor conferences past. I mean, Labor used to be about ideas and debates and contests of ideas rather than looking like a pale imitation of the Prime Minister, you know, insipid and about as shallow as an upturned dish. I mean, this is the problem is that Labor didn't have anything to say today. I mean, a shopping list of spending is not an ideas. It's not a platform. So what filled the space? Pauline Hanson filled the space. Pauline Hanson is living rent-free in Albanese's head. They're panicked by her presence. 20:51 They're panicked by the fact that they're actually being confronted by an opponent who actually, as to your point earlier, has been around for three decades, is pretty good, has got some ideas and wants to see Australia heading in a different direction. And it's challenging Labor and Albanese and the government, even with 94 seats. 21:09 Let me wonder, Cameron, whether there's some, you know, little mind game played here. Like, focusing on One Nation, is there another agenda here? Like, does it say... Is it a way of saying the Liberals don't count? Is it a way of diminishing the Liberals? We'll talk about that. Is it also a way of... You know, creating fury and passion in the Labor ranks to get them, you know, active and doing something? Is it a hate session? I don't... You know, is my nation a threat or is it a tool for the Labor Party? 21:45 Well, it'll be a threat in time. Right now, the polls say that a vote for Pauline is actually a vote for Albanese. Albanese will actually get returned with a smaller majority. But if you were Dave at the Carbrook Golf Club watching tonight's news, you know, looking at what the ALP National Conference was about, it wasn't about Labor ideas. It wasn't about a Labor policy agenda or a platform for the future. It was about Pauline Hanson and One Nation, speaker after speaker after speaker, you know, mentioning One Nation. I mean, it was pathetic, Andrew. I mean, this is the Labor Party conference and they're talking about One Nation. 22:16 Now, the economic policies such as they were, there was absolutely nothing about improving productivity and growth, right? And it was everything... If there was anything at all, it was about how to grow, you know, grab more of a shrinking pie, you know, your bit, especially a new tax. People are demanding a new tax on gas exports. But the Treasurer did today refuse to... You know, he did refuse to rule out this 25% tax on gas exports beyond the short term. Have a listen. 22:47 That is not on the government's agenda. Might it be at the next election, though? Well, not for the foreseeable future. So the reason why that is not on the government's agenda is because we've got other more pressing, more important things to focus on. 23:02 Honestly, Cameron, he should be saying, look, are you crazy? We wanted to kill the gas industry and gas investment here. But no, we might do it later. And given what happened to capital gains tax promises, it may well do so. It seems to be all about smash and grab. 23:20 It is, and it's all tax and spend, isn't it? And there's no pride in actually having a balanced budget. There's no pride in paying down our national debt any longer in Labor. I mean, you know, Keating would be rolling in his grave, you know, and others previously, you know. I mean, Labor used to be good economic managers. in my view. Like this, you know, it's been trashed since Swan and Chalmers hasn't done any better. And now it is, to your point, it's all tax and grab. There's no responsibility being taken. And to your point, goodness sake, let's get back to being a productive nation. Let's get back to making some things, you know, sensibly and actually drive wages up because we're good at what we're doing, not just because we're being given government debt and government handouts. 23:59 Yeah, well, it's not the Hawke government, I have to say, the Hawke Labor government. Exactly. Meanwhile, I think we got a warning about where this hard-left kind of politics lead. Like I say, this sort of smash and grab or tax and spend. Today's ABS figures show the unemployment rate nationally was steady at 4.4%. 24:19 But look where the big trouble is. It's in Victoria, under the criminally incompetent state government there, with the biggest debt of any state government in the country. Unemployment there rising to above 5%, way more than any other state. Now, Cameron, in Labor circles, is Victoria now being discussed as a warning to the left against wishing what has actually been destroying Victoria. 24:52 Well, I mean, the big bills ended up in big debt, hasn't it? I mean, and this is the problem, is that Victoria is an object lesson in not what to do. I mean, look at Malinowskis, look at Chris Minns. They are true Labor premiers with a Labor right agenda, you know, a moderate Labor agenda compared to the hard left agenda we've seen in Victoria. And look where the polls are. People are actually supporting Malinowskis, they'll re-elect Minns and Alan is on the ropes in Victoria. So to your point, yes, I mean, the hard left policies lead to harder debt and harder problems for the community and an economy that doesn't work. 25:23 Cameron Milner, thank you very much for your time. 25:27 Speaking of Jacinta Allen, the Premier of Victoria, there's now talk that her allies are dropping her. There was even discussions in this national conference behind the scenes. 25:41 Wow. I hope that voters get a chance to say exactly what they've thought of her shocking mismanagement of the state. Astonishing mismanagement. After the break... 25:53 A shocking Ukraine. In the middle of its war for survival, the President sacks both the Defence Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the military. General Jack Keane and what this means for the war are how armies will fight in the future. 26:12 There are two big wars going on right now that are teaching the world how to fight. 26:16 or how not. They are deciding our future. So we've got to learn. I hope our generals are watching. 26:24 And both these wars, it's not just the war in Iran, but the one in Ukraine, have just gone... 26:30 bad for the West. Well, so it seems. Now, Ukraine is the most dramatic development, but let me quickly deal with the war on Iran first. That's teaching us, of course, that even the world's greatest superpower, with the most advanced weapons ever seen, cannot conquer even a country as relatively weak as Iran. just by bombing it from the air or blockading it with ships. The US has just completed its 12th straight day of bombing in Iran. But Iran's allies in Yemen have just attacked two more ships in the Red Sea on the other side of the Saudi Peninsula, leaving Donald Trump to issue blood-curdling threats, posting this... 27:08 Posting this, from this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by missile, rocket, drone or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant, including those located next to or in the capital city of Tehran. 27:28 Well, you don't need to threaten if you're actually doing the job, so it tells you something about the power of asymmetric warfare these days and, of course, the fear of the West of losing even a single soldier. 27:41 It tells you something that a rebel terrorist army like the Houthis can then help push back against the US and its Saudi Arabian ally. 27:51 The armed forces will continue their naval operations against the Saudi enemy and will persist in enforcing a siege for a siege equation. 28:06 Those Houthis, in particular, that spokesman, they love shouting at people. There's something in their culture there. Now, this is already one lesson there, OK? You do not commit to a war if you don't think it's worth the life of your soldiers. High tech alone, bombing from high altitude, is not going to win you territory. 28:28 Lesson. 28:29 But in Ukraine, huge developments... 28:33 President Volodymyr Zelensky last week shocked Ukrainians by firing his brilliant young defence minister, 35-year-old Mikhailo Fedorov. the man in the middle there next to Zelensky. Now, Fedorov was clashing with the head of Ukraine's military, the Russian-trained Alexander Serfsky, who was a very tough man, but Russian-born and with a reputation of being a Russian-style authoritarian military leader. He was trained in Russia, not being careful enough with the lives of his troops, for instance, hogging the decision-making. 29:07 And the firing of the defence minister, in the favour of Sersky, who was clashing with him. That's caused huge protests against Sersky, who was accused of just getting rid of a young rival. 29:22 And Sersky's now folded and fired Sersky as well. 29:27 Incredible. 29:29 That said, he's replaced him with a brilliant young general, Mikhailo Drupaty, who has been famous ever since a decade ago. He crashed his armoured vehicle over a barricade put up by pro-Russian militias to save trapped Ukrainian police. He's that kind of derring-do kind of guy, make decisions, take responsibility. So what does this actually mean for how we fight, or should? 29:55 Well, the reason the SAC defence minister was so popular was that he embraced the new technology. 30:00 He got, for instance, Elon Musk to turn off his Starlink satellites used by Russian soldiers, helping to blind them to developments on the battlefield, like the drone warfare. It's been a huge success. 30:14 He also pushed more democratic decision-making by soldiers down the line of command, including by giving units points for every kill, points that they could then use in a kind of Amazon site that could spend them there to order exactly the right kind of drones and weapons they wanted for the particular targets they faced. 30:34 That's the kind of democratic decision-making that was against the training and the character of the now SAC commander-in-chief. He went along with it a bit, but he didn't like a lot of it. 30:45 The new commander now that's replaced him, very different. He is embracing this new kind of warfighting. 30:51 And like I say, I do hope Australia's generals are watching events over there. I spoke earlier to General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, is now Chairman of the Institute for the Study of War. 31:06 General Jack Keane, what a pleasure to see you again. Look, Ukraine. Now, on the surface of it, the President firing both his Defence Minister and the Commander-in-Chief. I mean, the Russian Millie bloggers, they're celebrating this is great for Russia. It looks bad. Is it? 31:26 You know, yes and no, and I don't mean to equivocate here, but first of all, in firing the Minister of Defence... 31:33 Fedorov, who's in his mid-30s, very imaginative, creative, and he was really rocking the defense establishment, just not only in terms of really forcing technology to get done quicker, much more imaginative use of that technology, but forcing the generals who grew up in the Russian system to in the Russian education system were considerably more conservative and particularly the head of the Ukraine military, Sersky. 32:11 And they were at odds because they were completely different. Sersky was pushing back, much more rote, much more dogmatic, much more deliberate. And Fedorov wanted to move faster and be much more adaptive to what Russia was doing on the battlefield. And Zelensky took Sersky's side. on that and remove Fedorov. And that caused a huge upswell inside the country, and I must say, even among some allies. 32:44 And I had an opportunity to register my own opinion. I do have access to the president's office and also to the people around him. 32:52 And I thought it was a huge mistake. 32:55 And then he recovered from that by picking the most imaginative general that takes Sierski's place. So everybody is applauding the new military head, but also wish that Fedorov was still there. He offered Fedorov another position in the government But he declined it because he wanted to go back in the job as minister of defense. So, yes, good decision and new military had bad decision in removing the minister of defense. 33:28 Well, there's not a permanent replacement yet announced. There's an interim one, so who knows? Fedorov might come back. But I have to say, what a contrast with Russia. Do you really think the Russians would have allowed protests in the streets like that and then change...you know, Putin changes his mind as a consequence? Absolutely not. I think the idea that, you know, in some parts of America that, oh, this Zelenskyy is a dictator, we see here that... Essentially, there's a new democratic spirit in Ukraine, and I think that is great. 34:00 But this really is about the future of warfare, isn't it? I mean, for me, we have got to learn from Ukraine about how a democracy wins by fighting democratically, pushing the decision-making down the chain of command, data-driven, let people decide how best to fight the units that are out in the field. In a way, it's the model for our own SAS, really. Not our regular army, but the SAS. The units themselves sort of decide their weapons and how to do it. 34:31 Yeah, there's no doubt about that. Ukrainians have clearly have a very strong chain of command. They're very good at the tactical level of war. 34:41 And they're clearly remarkable. Hats off to their defence industry that they have built and how fast... they can get technology into the hands of their troops. It's nothing short of remarkable. 34:56 On a given day, so our audience can appreciate, on a single given day in Ukraine, the Ukrainians have up in the air 10,000 drones in one day. And we don't have 10,000 drones in the total United States Army. We're trying to move in that direction and get our defense industry moving, which is considerably more challenging than what Ukraine is doing. And believe me, this year, Ukraine will manufacture by the end of the year 8 million drones. And these are drones, not just air drones that we see and dominate, but unmanned ground vehicles. 35:34 They accomplished something never done in warfare. They pushed Russians off a position that would be defended by humans, and they pushed them off to the position with no humans in the fight. First time in warfare, we are likely going to see a chapter and verse coming, not just in Ukraine, but in other countries as a result of what the Ukrainians have proven. And then at sea, they have defeated the Black Sea Navy of Russia, and they don't own a navy themselves. 36:05 They did it with surface drones, aerial drones, and subsurface drones. 36:13 Quite remarkable. 36:15 It is extraordinary. It is extraordinary. Now, Iran... 36:21 which is a very different war. I mean, America's fighting it high-tech, from the air, no boots on the ground. 36:28 When I say high-tech, I mean big tech, not so much of the drones, although that's coming now. You've now got sea drones there, a few of them in the Strait of Hormuz. Why hasn't the US, though, launched a full-scale attack on Iran? Why only limited bombing, 12 days of it? Why not go all in? 36:48 I do believe, Andrew, that we are on a definite path to return to major combat operations that would involve Israel and the United States. I think that is the path we're on. Is there some negotiations that the Iranians want to do here? Of course. They want to negotiate. Why now? They want to negotiate because they want to stop the United States from imposing their will by firing on them and taking away their their military capabilities. 37:19 They want to stop that, as they did successfully back on April the 7th and April the 8th. They want to replay that. I don't believe that's going to happen. Pakistanis and Qataris are supporting them on that, but I don't think that's where the president is and his team around him. I believe where they are frustrated, THEY WANT TO GET THE STRAIGHTS OF THE MOVES EVENTUALLY OPEN AND ALSO RETURN TO MAJOR COMBAT OPERATIONS AND FINISH WHAT THEY STARTED OUT TO DO IN TERMS OF ASSIGNED MILITARY OBJECTIVES. 37:52 ECONOMIC PRESSURE TO BE SURE, SECRETARY OF TREASURY HAS PUT THE SANCTIONS BACK ON, THAT'S GOOD NEWS. WE GOT A NEIGHBOR BLOCKADE GOING AS WELL, AND THAT'S ALSO GOOD NEWS. BUT THE MILITARY PRESSURE AND ECONOMIC PRESSURE IS ESSENTIAL. I also believe that we need to use the CIA and the Mossad to undermine the regime and also to assist the Iranian people in their resistance. I think that is a major objective. We've had some success at doing this in the past. 38:22 In our history, the Mossad has got incredible contacts inside of Iran, and I think we should be about that business as well. 38:34 Well, so some boots on the ground, but maybe, you know, sneakers, slippers, something soft and silent on the ground. I think Mossad will be all over Iran. I mean, their penetration has been unbelievable. General Jack Keane, thank you so much indeed for your time. 38:52 Yeah, great talking to you, Andrew. Thank you very much. 38:56 After the break, don't tell DJ Albo, but Britain's new Prime Minister's first big call is cheaper beer and cheaper doof-doof. 39:11 You know, Britain's also in the shtuck, really. So, to me, it's extraordinary that Britain's new Prime Minister comes in, takes over without an election, by the way, you know. He's the new Prime Minister, the seventh in Britain in 10 years, and just the first thing he announces, almost the very first big decision he announces to get Britain back on its feet, or flatten its back, Andy Burnham has said 20% cut to the business rates that are charged to pubs, clubs and live music venues, only to them. 39:44 So, you know, cheaper beer and cheaper doof-doof. 39:48 This is going to put the great back into Britain. Joining me from London is GB News star presenter Patrick Christie. Patrick, great to see you again. I was thinking I shouldn't actually publicise this because it might just give our Anthony Albanese inspiration for yet another handout that does nothing for productivity. But how does this one make Britain more competitive, richer, earning its way back again to be great? 40:15 Well, it doesn't, unfortunately, Andrew, as you have correctly identified. So far, we have had a VAT cut on energy bills. That is unfunded. We've got a £2 bus fare cap that is largely unfunded. 20% VAT cut on pubs and clubs, as you just said there. Unfunded. What's happening here is that they are rolling the wicket for massive, massive tax hikes. And when they do that, they can say, look, at least we gave you the opportunity to leave a light on your spare room and you could get the bus to your pub where you might be able to pay about one pound less for a pint of Carlsberg. 40:50 So aren't you grateful with what we've done, you ungrateful so-and-sos? But this is the main problem here. is that Andy Burnham is a man who doesn't think that there's anything fundamentally wrong with Britain. He just thinks you can tinker around the edges. You know, yesterday, for example, we had a mega migrant dinghy come across the English Channel with more than 80 people on it. We've got massive crime figures. We've got issues with the welfare state, with the benefits system. Huge issues with defence at the moment. We are not funding defence correctly. 41:23 There is no big announcement or anything like that. What he's trying to do is palm the plebs off by saying, here you go, here's one pee off your pint of beer, and it's not really going to wash. 41:36 Well, yes, considering for the pubs, I think it works out about $2,000 a year off, but really, whoopee-doo. 41:46 Meanwhile, of course, you know, despite all the handouts, cheaper beer! 41:51 The government is still as woke as now you've got news that public servants are going to face punishment if they misgender colleagues, if they don't use the colleague's preferred name or their gender, if they're transgender. Now, look, I believe in good manners and a little bit of kindness and all that. Is that what this is about or is there something more? 42:13 No, this is absolutely ridiculous. If one day I said to you, Andrew, I want you to refer to me as Patricia now, and instead of this suit I put a dress on, and you decided that you didn't fancy doing that because it would be absolutely bonkers, then you could face massive, massive sanctions if you worked in our civil service. There is an interesting exemption here. So if you persistently misgender or deadname someone uh if you have a neurological condition then you are basically allowed to get away with doing it but in this case the neurological condition would be reality wouldn't it so that's quite a good way out of it i'm surprised that the civil service have actually got any time to do this because they're too busy at the moment doing things like listening circles diversity days and seminars on microaggressions all during working hours and it just shows how out of touch people who are actually in charge of making these laws in our country, in charge of actually designing them and drawing them up and all of that stuff, how out of touch they are with wider reality. 43:15 Now, Patrick, I've got... I've had bad news today. I booked myself on a cruise I've wanted to do for decades, going down the Danube and the Rhine to Amsterdam, my dad's old stamping ground now. 43:31 I read there's such a bad heatwave and drought that the rivers are too low for some of the boats. One of the cruises I've taken has already been cancelled. I'm on tenderhooks now. Who are the people blaming? Is it the El Nino effect that's really hit Europe, winds bringing hot air from Africa, the usual whipping boy, of course, global warming? Let's not forget that. Or something else? 43:56 Well, I'm afraid it'll have to fall under the something else category here, Andrew. What's actually happened is that because we've been on this relentless drive to net zero in Europe and we have de-industrialized faster than any other part of the world at great expense and the loss of loads of jobs, by the way, We now do not actually have enough pollution in the skies to block the sun's rays. So we have seen huge, huge heat waves across especially continental Europe. 44:27 In France, there's been something like 4,000 excess deaths. as a result of the latest heat waves. We are due another heat wave here. And what they are now saying is, is that because we've not got enough pollution in the skies, we are in massive, massive trouble. And the sun's rays are just beaming directly onto people, killing them, starting fires and essentially draining the rivers. We've got about 10 million people living in Britain now who are currently living under a hose pipe band. So we are a first world country who've had a bit of heat. We can't even water our own back gardens. 44:59 Unless you are on benefits, in which case you are allowed to water your garden, which is remarkable, isn't it? So it's just nuts. Absolutely bonkers. 45:12 Patrick, can I just thank you for turning up so spruce and so neat and so well made up because I did notice that you were photographed with a massive bruise on your head, which I first thought, uh-oh, Patrick's got himself into trouble. Oh, my goodness me. And then I saw that the cause of this was a humble toy. Explain how on earth you did that to yourself. 45:40 So I have a 10-month-old son. As anyone who's got children will know, you will do anything to try to make them laugh. The sound of a baby's giggle is the best sound in the world. He's got a suction toy which you can stick onto things. I stuck it to my own forehead and ripped it off for about five minutes. solidly about 50 times, and it was making him laugh. And then about an hour later, I looked in the mirror and realised I'd given myself what looked like a massive love bite on the middle of my forehead. And you can't cover it up with make-up because it's blue. 46:12 So I'd have to paint my entire face blue when I go on the tally if I wanted to hide it. 46:17 LAUGHTER 46:19 I thought at first it was a shadow, but no, no, no, there you go. Patrick Christie's good on you. What a father won't do for his son. I hope my sons know that too. Thank you so much for your time, mate. Really appreciate it. 46:34 Before I go, I mean, here we go, you know. 46:39 We thought we'd seen... No, we didn't think we'd seen the last of it. Remember the case of... Giggle versus Tickle. Roxanne Tickle. It was actually Roxanne Tickle versus Giggle. Giggle is a women's only website. And Roxanne Tickle, who's transgender, now identifies as woman, sued, of course. You know the whole story. We've had it done here a number of times. 47:02 Sued because they were... 47:04 being discriminated against, right, as a woman. And the federal court said, you are a woman. Under the new Act that was passed by the Julia Gillard government, removing the definition of a woman, you are a woman because you say you are, essentially. That's what it said. That's being appealed to the High Court. We now have another case. 47:26 We now have another case. A Gold Coast pole dancing studio that says it too is just for women is being sued for $30,000 in damages after it refused membership to another transgender person identifying as female. 47:44 Now, I know it would be nice to include her if you could, or him, you know, but not... 47:52 if you don't think your customers would feel comfortable. And the owner of the studio says they didn't. They didn't feel comfortable. The vibe shifted. A couple of people, well, fine. 48:03 If you think they should do it, whatever, leave it up to people. But here is the problem. The court has actually said, if she says she's a woman, she is a woman. And you must by law. And this is the crazy thing. And what's even worse is that Julia Gillard, The former Prime Minister said three weeks ago, oh, times have changed and we weren't really thinking about that. She didn't know this would be a consequence. That's how dumb they were. That's how easily they pushed through these social legislation, never thinking it through. Well, if that's the case, if Parliament accidentally passed the law that's leading to these absurd restrictions on our freedom to choose our own company, then Parliament must then... 48:43 reconsider and pass a new law clarifying that a woman is an adult-born female, et cetera, et cetera. 48:50 My view, this is trouble for this woman. That's it from me. Coming up next is Sherry, hosted by the most excellent James McPherson. Good night.