Ben Fordham Live on 2GB Breakfast

00:02 Welcome to the Ben Fordham podcast. 00:06 Hi there, welcome to Tuesday, July 28. Coming up on the show today, Peter Van Onselen will join us in studio talking about Albo's Money for Media scheme. There's an influencer taking on Anthony Albanese at the next election. She's announcing today she's going to contest his seat of Grainler. Who's taking on Albo? Kelly Sloan will drop by the studio, the Liberal leader in New South Wales, as the Independent Commission Against Corruption begins its inquiries into the Liberal Party. We've also got a number of people dead and a two-year-old fighting for life after a shooting. 00:40 New forecast spelling big trouble in terms of inflation. A warning about price rises ahead of a ban on card surcharge fees. A funeral director faces sentencing after secretly hiding dozens of bodies. And we'll also tell you some great news for fans of the movie called The Castle. That and plenty more. Get ready. The show starts now. 01:03 This is Ben Fordham Live with Sydney's best breakfast on 2GB873. 01:10 Well, Anthony Albanese is making a big announcement today. The Prime Minister is unveiling plans to build a new oil refinery. It's set to be the third refinery in Australia alongside Brisbane and Geelong. The announcement is in a bid to shore up the nation's fuel security. 01:27 And Australia has not built an oil refinery since the 1960s. Twenty years ago we had eight of them, these days two. 01:36 The new refinery has been proposed in Western Australia and Anthony Albanese is travelling there today. He'll dedicate $4 million to conduct a feasibility study. The oil refinery is set to create thousands of jobs and boost the local economy. 01:52 And the announcement comes as war in the Middle East spells trouble for both inflation and petrol prices. The PM says the longer the war in the Middle East goes on, the greater the impact on Australia. He says my government will continue to do everything we can to shield Aussies from the worst effects. 02:11 This is Ben Fordham Live with Sydney's Best Breakfast on 2GB 873. 02:19 Pauline Hanson has lost her appeal in a landmark racial discrimination case. The One Nation leader has failed to overturn a ruling that she racially vilified a Green Senator. Senator Hanson says she's disappointed by the decision. 02:34 Public discussion in Australia has become almost totally silenced by laws and rules which prevent ordinary people expressing their personal views in case some small part of our society takes some sort of offence or feels hurt or distressed. This has never been, nor ever should be, the Australian way. 02:55 The case centres around a 2022 social media post following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Greens Senator Maureen Faruqi took to X that day saying she could not mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives. Senator Hanson then hit back telling the Greens Senator to piss off back to Pakistan. 03:16 The Federal Court has now found the comments were unlawful under the Racial Discrimination Act. Ms Hansen has explained her reasons for making the comments in the first place. 03:26 I was incensed by the incredible disrespect that I felt was shown to our late Queen on the day of her death by Senator Faruqi and others. I simply wanted to call that out. 03:38 Maureen Faruqi has welcomed the decision. She says Pauline Hanson was responsible for the ultimate racist slur and essentially telling her to go back to where she came from. The One Nation leader is now considering taking the case all the way to the High Court. What else is making news this morning? Well, nurses and midwives, are you listening? You are facing a burnout epidemic, we learned today. Two-thirds say they're considering leaving the healthcare industry. That's according to a new report from the University of Sydney. They've surveyed more than 2,000 nurses and midwives in New South Wales. 04:13 Their research has found workers are struggling to balance the high-intensity duties with the demands of parenting. 70% of nurses and midwives say they can't replenish their energy completely between shifts. 04:27 Almost half say they're actively looking for other work. And the burnout is also impacting patients. 44% of workers say they need to take shortcuts in patient care because of time and understaffing. 04:41 Sarah is a single mother and a registered nurse. She's told the Sydney Morning Herald, the current system doesn't work very well for a lot of people. Nurses do get burnout after years of shift work and a lack of flexibility. The report author Josh Healey says nurses and midwives want more control over their work. He says they want to be able to swap shifts, change start or finish times and job share. So you tell me if you're a nurse or a midwife, Is that on your list or are there other concerns on your mind this morning? 05:12 Also coming up today, voters continue to flock to One Nation. We've got another poll out today from Redbridge. We've also got Angus Taylor asking questions of Anthony Albanese over his private dinner with the son of a Chinese billionaire. An Aussie hero has made history. Charlie Virko has broken a world record just weeks after rescuing a woman from a shark attack. And if you love the castle, what about the castle live on stage? The Aussie film is coming to a stage near you, depending on where you live. 05:44 And yes, there'll be all your favourites, including Daryl Kerrigan and Dennis DiNuto. I'll tell you about the stage play that's coming from Working Dog and the Michael Castle group. And it is going to feature one of the greatest stories told of all time, the castle. You're listening to Ben Fordham on 2GB. It is July 28. And on this day, it was a big day for builders. 06:07 Here's your only hint. 06:14 If you think you know the answer, you can text it through right now. 0460 873 873. The answer's coming up on this day. 06:26 Like what you're hearing? Make sure you've subscribed to Ben Fordham. 06:32 I need to confess something. I almost missed the start of the show today. Like I arrived in the studio with about one and a half seconds to spare. I went downstairs during the 5.30 news with Roger the dog so Roger could have a bit of a whiz. 06:49 And I was looking at my phone and I thought, no, I'm okay here. I've got a couple of minutes. And then the elevator hit level one here, 2GB Central. And when the doors opened, I heard Josh Bryant doing the weather. 07:02 I went, hang on a moment. 07:03 That sounds like it's the start of the show. And I made it just in time. So, Roger, we'll need to leave ourselves more time next time. The Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen has a fight on her hands. Today could be her last in the job. Labor MPs are moving to replace her as leader in a spill this morning. Her deputy Ben Carroll has declared himself as a runner. Nine ministers and MPs have told the Premier she's lost majority support. 07:31 And they're urging her to step down. Jacinta Allen has declared she'll fight it out. She's been struggling in the polls, but with the November election just four months away, she's under a lot of pressure. 07:44 So... 07:45 She could force the party through a month-long process involving a vote involving the membership, not just the parliamentary Labor Party, but Labor members in Victoria. No one wants that in the Labor Party in Victoria. Let's see whether they can force Jacinta out today, but she seems to be staring them down. And it was an interesting conversation yesterday by all reports in her office, because a team went in and said, look, you need to stand down from your job and give someone else a go. And she said, no, I'm not going. And by the way, now you need to stand down from yours and they've refused to leave theirs. 08:21 The standoff continues in Victoria. 08:25 This is Ben Fordham Live with Sydney's Best Breakfast on 2GB873. 08:31 Two of Australia's most senior union figures are stepping down. Sally McManus and Michelle O'Neill are departing the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the ACTU. 08:41 The pair are the longest serving leaders since 1969. The duo believes a fresh team is needed to deal with new challenges. They've announced they'll be departing in coming months to make way for a new leadership team. Sally McManus has been the face of the ACTU for nearly a decade. Her time as secretary will come to an end in August. 09:02 And Michelle O'Neill has served as president of the ACTU. She will depart later in the year. 09:09 And voters are still turning to One Nation in large numbers. New research has revealed what's driving the orange wave. Pauline Hanson is the major drawcard. But according to Redbridge, the majority of voters will support One Nation just to go against the major parties. 16% of people say... A strong mood for change is the key reason they want to back Pauline. 14% say her authenticity is what's driving their support. 12% of voters say they share the same values as One Nation. 09:41 11% back the party due to its stance on immigration. And just 2% say they're motivated to vote for One Nation because of cost of living pressures. Redbridge director Tony Barry says Pauline's biggest asset is that her base sees her as their anti-establishment outsider. He's told the Australian Financial Review she's their wrecking ball, smashing a political model that no longer works for them. 10:08 And yesterday we revealed fresh demos polling, showing One Nation could win between 53 and 66 seats. And now the Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has responded, conceding the coalition may be forced to work with One Nation. He says if the numbers were the numbers, and we had to be in coalition with others, then of course we would be pragmatic. 10:29 But it seems not everyone... within the Liberal Party is convinced teaming up with One Nation is the answer. A senior Liberal figure says everyone is staggered at what Andrew Bragg said. They've told the Daily Telegraph it's certainly not Angus's view on things. We're already in coalition with the Nationals and that's that. The bloke needs to control himself. 10:50 Of course, the person making those comments hasn't put their name to them. And look, I don't want to get personal here, but Andrew Bragg is just stating the obvious. I don't know who this person is calling it, Andrew Bragg, saying he needs to control himself. The Liberal Party and the National Party cannot win on their own. 11:06 They cannot do it. They've only got a chance if they team up with Pauline. That is their only potential path to victory. Now, people may not like hearing that in the coalition, but if you think you can win on your own... 11:19 you need to go back to school or buy a calculator. 11:24 The numbers don't add up. 11:31 A media influencer is taking on the Prime Minister. We're being told today her name is Hannah Ferguson. She's going to run as an independent candidate against Anthony Albanese at the next election. They'll go head-to-head in the inner-west seat of Grendler. the founder of the media brand Cheek Media, has announced the decision. She says it's time for change, telling her followers on social media, I believe we deserve better representation. I'm not here to play politics. 12:01 This is just another reason Australians are fed up with the political party machinery. My intention is to keep running local events, keep listening to feedback and keep learning from my community. So Hannah Ferguson getting ready to take on Anthony Albanese, she says, in his seat at the next federal election. 12:21 And the boss of Greyhound Racing in New South Wales has been hospitalised. Steve Griffin had to be pulled to shore by fellow surfers on Sunday in Cronulla. It's believed he suffered a major medical episode and went into cardiac arrest. A off-duty nurse and off-duty lifeguard were nearby. They conducted CPR until paramedics arrived. And the CEO of Greyhound Racing New South Wales had lost consciousness... 12:48 But the work of those there proved critical. The Daily Telegraph says he's now recovering from the episode and remains in the best of care. 12:59 A sports update. 13:00 Elevate your drive with Lexus of Parramatta. Enjoy exclusive owner benefits, personalised finance solutions and the signature Lexus experience. Start your journey to amazing with Lexus of Parramatta. 13:12 More gold for Australia at the Commonwealth Games. Spiro Christopoulos, good morning. 13:17 Good morning, Ben. It's hard to keep up at the moment because there's been gold, gold and more gold for us in Glasgow this morning. We've just had the men's 800 metres freestyle final wrap up and the Aussies have clean swept the podium. Sam Short claiming gold. His coach, Dean Boxall, one of the most animated figures in Australian swimming, was up and about watching it unfold. We had Ben Godeman's take home the silver and Matthew Galea finishing with the bronze. And moments before that race, We won our first medal at the track and field with Rose Davies from Newcastle making history. 13:48 She took out the women's 10,000 metres and this is the moment that Bruce McEvaney called the closing stages of the race. 13:54 This has been a race of a lifetime. She's going to do, Rose Davies, what no Australian has ever done before. A female has won the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games. 14:06 That call on Channel 7, Ben, and you've got to love Bruce McIverney and the passion that he calls with. But well done to Rose Davies, 26 years old. As I mentioned, she's a Nova Castrian and plenty of other highlights this morning. Gold in the gymnastics for Kate McDonald, bronze for James Hardy and plenty more gold in the pool. And we'll bring you all the action from Glasgow throughout the morning. We'll also have some rugby league later on. We will, Ben. Drama at the West Tigers. Adam Dewey, their star playmaker, will return to training today after sitting out last weekend's game. But it appears there's drama in Tigertown. And Benji Marshall has a bit of a battle on his hands at the moment. 14:40 Like what you're hearing? Make sure you've subscribed to Ben Fordham. 14:47 Just on Pauline Hanson, Anthony makes a fair point. He says on the text line, is Pauline Hanson running candidates in all seats? Who are the One Nation candidates? 14:58 Name two. 15:01 Hmm, well, I can name Pauline Hanson. I can name Barnaby Joyce. I can name Malcolm Roberts. He's in the Senate. 15:11 But I know what you're getting at. 15:13 And Anthony says, who is your local One Nation candidate exactly? Well, I'd have absolutely no idea. And that'll be the challenge for Pauline Hanson. She needs to field candidates. 15:25 Sydney's best breakfast. 15:27 2GB. 15:29 There are explosive new details about an Australian Islamic State fighter. Dr Jihad is in prison in Iraq and is among a group of Australian men wanting to come to Australia. But it's now been revealed he's linked to one of the most dangerous female terror cells within ISIS. Dr Jihad married into the family of Kadra Esa. 15:52 an alleged ISIS commander. She's accused of leading a brutal female battalion. It enforced strict Sharia law and carried out violent punishments. Essa remains on the run with a multi-million dollar FBI bounty on her head. And that's over her alleged role in the kidnapping of two American children. The revelation comes just days after The Australian confirmed Dr Jihad is alive. The Perth-born doctor fled Australia more than a decade ago to join ISIS. 16:25 10 News has now uncovered an old interview where he denies being a fighter. 16:30 I came to do my job and I did my job and I was known to be a doctor for children. I was not a soldier. 16:36 That's Dr Jihad. He claims he travelled to Syria to work as a paediatrician. 16:41 But somehow along the way he earned the nickname Dr Jihad. 16:46 Let's see if he gets his wish and he's able to follow the ISIS brides back down under. 16:53 Sydney's best breakfast. 16:54 2G. 16:57 Angus Taylor is keeping the pressure on Anthony Albanese. He says the PM still has questions to answer about a private dinner with the son of a Chinese billionaire. Mr Albanese attended a fundraising dinner at the Harbourside Mansion of Felix Lee last week. The $40 million property where the dinner was held is the subject of a security claim by the Australian Tax Office. 17:18 But Albo has attempted to act like there's nothing to see here. 17:22 I want to ask you, PM, about the reports in the Nine newspapers over recent days about a private fundraising dinner. Firstly, did you attend a dinner at the home of Felix Lee in Point Piper? I attend lots of functions. What about this one? I attend lots of functions in lots of places, including last night right here. What about this dinner in Point Piper? I attend lots of functions in lots of places. Why don't you want to answer that? Well, I do. You've just said that that occurred. You know, that's fine. 17:50 He's repeatedly sidestepped any information forthcoming about that dinner. Angus Taylor says the PM needs to come clean. He says there are questions to answer on this dinner. He hasn't answered them. The Nationals leader Matt Canavan has echoed those calls. He says the private dinner stinks. 18:07 And witnesses claim the Australian Federal Police attended the Harbourside Mansion the day before the dinner. 18:13 They say officers from the Prime Minister's protection team were checking over the property. 18:19 It's understood they discussed which entry and exit were the best for the PM's comm car to use. But the Prime Minister's team has told the Australian Financial Review they did not discuss security arrangements. 18:32 So what was the AFP doing at the address the day before the dinner? 18:37 if they weren't discussing security? 18:40 Asking what's on the menu? 18:43 Checking out the wine cellar? 18:45 Or just looking at the view? 18:47 News you can trust. 18:49 Opinions that matter. 18:51 Now, Ben Fordham comments. 18:55 So who's in the firing line if One Nation hits their target at the next federal election? The latest Demos poll predicts One Nation could form government with the coalition. Labor could win between 60 and 72 seats. One Nation could pick up between 53 and 66. And the coalition could secure 11 to 22. 19:17 And this morning we're taking a deeper dive into the polling to see who's facing the sack on election day. 19:23 Four ministers in Anthony Albanese's government are in danger of losing their seats to One Nation. In Eden Manero, the Emergency Management Minister Christy McBain trails One Nation 52 to 48. In Ballarat, the Infrastructure Minister Catherine King is locked in a 50-50 battle with One Nation. The Energy Minister Chris Bowen leads One Nation by just two points in McMahon and the Resources Minister Madeleine King holds the same lead in Brand. One Labor Minister is behind, one is tied and two are barely ahead. 19:59 And that's just the Labor Ministers. And on the Liberal side, Angus Taylor could potentially lose Hume and Andrew Hastie could lose Canning. But when you go through all 150 electorates, that's only the beginning. In Cook, Scott Morrison's former seat, the Liberals don't even make the final two. 20:18 The model has One Nation defeating Labor 55 to 45. 20:24 In the seat held by senior Liberal Dan Tehan, One Nation wins 58-42 against an other candidate. The Liberals are eliminated before the final count. And the damage stretches deep into Nationals territory. In Queensland, David Littleproud's seat falls to One Nation based on this modelling, 59-41. The former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack loses too, 58-42. 20:51 And it's not just bad news for the Coalition and the Labor Party. The independents also take a hit based on the demos modelling. Monique Ryan would lose to the Coalition 57% to 43%. Andrew Gee loses to One Nation 60-40. Helen Haynes loses to One Nation 55-45. 21:12 That's the picture from the new seat-by-seat modelling by Demos, based on more than 9,300 responses. The Demos projection gives Labor 68 seats, One Nation 60, the Coalition 13, the Greens 3 and others 6. 21:29 One Nation and the Coalition together would have 73 seats, three short of a majority. Labor and the Greens would have 71. That means the remaining independents could decide who governs Australia. And the voter movements explain why the Coalition is in so much trouble. Only 56% of people who voted for the Coalition at the last election now say they'd do the same again. Only 56%. A staggering 39% have moved to One Nation. 21:58 Labor retains 69% of its previous voters, while 17% have moved to One Nation. That's still a large number. 17% of Labor voters at the last election switching to Pauline Hanson. 22:12 And what about this? The One Nation leader retains 97% of her support. 22:19 So those are the numbers that we find really interesting. 97% of One Nation voters are sticking with Pauline. 69% of Labor voters are remaining loyal to Albo. Only 56% of Liberal voters are staying solid with Angus. 22:34 It's a political earthquake playing out in real time. 22:40 And this is modelling not 150 individual seat poles, but the warning is clear, four government ministers at risk, senior Liberals and Nationals could be wiped out, and Pauline Hanson may be able to govern. 22:54 It's a long shot, but if the projections played out, and if her numbers held steady or climbed even higher, she could be the next Prime Minister. 23:04 Sydney's best breakfast. 23:06 2GB. 23:09 Intercepted calls, private detectives, black ops, death threats, secret recordings and car bombs. The new corruption hearings into the Liberal Party are going to have it all. Counsel Assisting the Commission, Dr Peggy Dwyer SC, set the tone on the start of day one, declaring money in politics has the potential to corrupt... which was probably the understatement of the day. And minutes later, we were hearing that fugitive property boss John Nassif paid almost $1 million in dodgy political donations to members of the Liberal Party to eliminate other members of the Liberal Party. 23:45 We heard that Nassif's business, Top Place, paid more than $900,000 to a lobbying company controlled by Liberal operatives for work that never existed. 23:55 Liberal reformers Christian Ellis, Jeremy Greenwood and Charles Perrottet are accused of accepting funds from John Nassif to damage the career of former MP David Elliott and the building commissioner David Chandler. ICAC heard that Ellis, Greenwood and Perrottet used code names for the now wanted man John Nassif. They used to call him Concord. And this is John Nassif caught on a secret recording. He's talking about what he's planning to do to the building commissioner, David Chandler. He indicates that his girl, Eleni Pedernos, was about to become the minister for fair trading and the building cop would soon be looking for a new job. 24:34 I'm going to step on his neck and strip him from his job. Just give me two months because the consumer, a fair minister, she's going to be my girl and the fair trading minister, she's going to be one of my girls too, you know? So I'm going to f*** sideways. 24:50 John Nassif said, I'm going to F him sideways, talking about David Chandler. And a few months later, his wish came true. Eleni Pedernos became the minister. And what are the chances? David Chandler immediately quit as the building commissioner. 25:04 Now, Kelly Sloan was not yet in politics when all of this was happening, allegedly, but she is the Liberal leader in New South Wales and she's with us live in the studio. Kelly Sloan, good morning. 25:14 Good morning. 25:15 Have you spoken to Eleni Peternos? 25:17 I gave her a call yesterday just to let her know what was happening. Eleni's on maternity leave. She's been checked out of this. But, you know, these were allegations. Eleni has not been named as a subject of interest by the ICAC. 25:33 The Assistant Commissioner yesterday described the boastings of John Nassif and it has to be proven whether there was any substance to it. 25:42 Yeah, John Nassif was bragging about having government influence and getting development approval sorted fast and he said about Eleni Pedernos that she's my girl. She denies any wrongdoing, does she? 25:53 Well, look, the allegations were made and the Commissioner herself, the Assistant Commissioner, said that it is yet to be determined whether this was serendipitous, whether it was just wishful thinking by Nassif, and these were opening statements. 26:06 It's going to be impossible for me to make a running commentary of the matters of ICAC and there is procedural fairness that should be accorded to all. 26:15 Sure, but has Eleni Pedernos given you some understanding that, hey, don't worry about it, boss, I'm going to be okay here, I haven't done anything wrong? 26:21 I haven't spoken about the detail of the allegations with anybody. 26:26 I checked in with Eleni. I let her know that we would be putting out a statement saying that she's on maternity leave and the inquiry has to run its due course. 26:35 John Nassif made it sound like he was calling the shots and pulling the strings in the Liberal Party. 26:40 He was boasting about a lot of stuff. It was pretty awful listening yesterday, I have to say. This is a property developer that's fled the country. The accusations surround some backroom operatives in the Liberal Party. This was, as you said, before my time. Honestly, I'm learning about it as everyone else is. 26:57 Okay, have a listen to this. This is John Nassif claiming to have his hands on the state government that at the time was run by Dominic Perrottet and Gladys Berejiklian. 27:07 No jokes. I've got my hand on the state government, and you're going to see changes. You're going to see the AI approves for me, like... Like every second week, one DA approvals. 27:19 You're going to see DA approvals for me every second week. As you point out, the council assisting says ICAC will consider whether Nassif's predictions were wishful thinking or the result of paying Charles Perrottet and others. It's important to make this clear. The former Premier Dominic Perrottet is not named as the subject in any allegations, but... Another Perrottet, John Claude, is getting a mention. A text exchange between Liberal operatives shows funds being passed between Catholic schools, New South Wales and a lobbying firm. And Jeremy Greenwood said, hey, so, you know, I'm good to you and help you and give you all your filthy schools money. 27:55 John Claude Perrottet replied, don't put that in writing. Jeremy Greenwood then replied, it deletes. 28:02 Does that sound like grubby behaviour to you? 28:05 Yeah, look, the whole thing was intensely uncomfortable listening. I wish ICAC the very best in rooting out any corruption. At the moment, these are allegations and opening statements. We've got eight weeks. So we just have to listen to this. But, you know, Ben, my job is not to be distracted by this. It's going to be to get on with the job. And yesterday when this was unravelling, I was... I was at a metro stop in the morning chatting to commuters in Crow's Nest. At lunch, I was announcing a policy with James Griffin around AI. 28:35 And in the afternoon, I was at Moorpark Golf Course looking at this sort of disgraceful carve-up of Australia's most popular golf course. That is going to be my job, to get on with that, to front up where I need to, but to make sure that I'm doing what people expect me to do as opposition leader, and that is to announce policies that will improve their lives. 28:55 And as you know, they expect you to answer the tough questions when they're on the table, which is what you're doing right now. ICAC has heard that John Nassif sought to use Dominic Perrottet's brothers to influence government decisions. And here's John Nassif chatting to John-Claude Perrottet during coronavirus lockdowns. 29:12 How are you managing with all of these, I guess, lockdowns on... Mate, do you believe this s***, mate? I've been freaking to your brothers every day, but... 29:20 Absolute joke, isn't it? She is out of this place. Out of control. Time for a regime change. 29:34 I don't know where she gets her power from. She's lost it. She's lost it. 29:38 That's John Claude Perrottet. Construction sites were locked down at the time because of the virus and the then Treasurer's brother was saying presumably about Gladys Berejiklian, time for a regime change. She's lost it. She's lost it. You wonder who these people think they are, having conversations like that. 29:55 Yeah, this is the antithesis of the values of the party that I lead. It's the antithesis of my values, Ben. But these are all allegations yet to be proven. And these were opening statements. This was conjecture. We don't know whether this was a lot of boasting by some individuals who thought they had more influence or whether there is something more to it. I cannot speculate on that. I have to let the ICAC do its work. 30:19 The Liberal leader Kelly Sloan is our guest. Your shadow Attorney-General Damien Shooterhope has stepped down after being called to give evidence and earlier this month you told Mark Levy on 2GB, Damien Shooterhope is a man of great integrity. I hope he'll be returning to my shadow cabinet. Do you stand by those comments? 30:36 Yeah, I do. He is a man of integrity and he's a team player, which is why he stepped down. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He is assisting the inquiry. But you have to remember, he's part of my leadership team, he's the leader in the upper house, he's the shadow attorney general. So he's our guy in charge of commenting on ICAC. It was not really workable for him to be in that role while the hearings continue. 30:58 ICAC wants to talk to Damien Tudor Hope's son, James, but James Tudor Hope is refusing to appear before the inquiry. Shouldn't everyone front up and answer these questions? 31:07 I would encourage anyone in my team to front up and support the inquiry. I support the work of the ICAC. And they need to be a very loud reminder to people who are seeking to do the wrong thing to subvert justice that there are eyes on them. But look, I can't make comment about individuals. I really can't. 31:28 I'll just make the point, though. Charles Perrottet is not turning up. John Claude Perrottet is not turning up. Christian Ellis isn't turning up. Jeremy Greenwood isn't turning up and James Tudor Hope isn't turning up. And as Liberal leader, you're saying you should be fronting up. If you are past or present Liberal members and there are questions to answer at ICAC, you should front up and tell the truth. 31:47 I think everyone should front up. Can I just say these are people I don't know. They're not members of the Liberal Party. I'm not responsible for them. These are questions for them and that's a question for the ICAC. 31:57 I want to ask you a few other things. You've got an announcement to make right now that aims to make our streets safer. You're introducing new laws to Parliament to give police more powers when it comes to their knife wanding operations. 32:09 That's right. The current knife wanding, so this is where police do, what's the equivalent of random breath testing? You might just sort of wand people, make sure that they're not carrying weapons. A review showed that out of 296 weapons were discovered in a very brief review of this. So the reality is we have weapons out there and in that review they found knuckle dusters, they found flip knives, they found axes, they found tasers. We need to go further with this. We need to be able to wand anytime, anywhere, like you would do with random breath testing. 32:40 But at the moment, we're in this bureaucratic situation where police have to do a whole lot of paperwork for a 24-hour designation in certain spots. I say we need to go further than that, and the Liberals and the Nationals would. We would introduce legislation, and we hope the government would support it to take this further. 32:57 Okay, so you like Jack's Law, but you want it anywhere, anytime. 33:01 That's right. Our laws in New South Wales don't go as far as Jack's law in Queensland. We would like to take it further now. And this was a recommendation by the state coroner after the Bondi Junction stabbings. She said this should be explored anytime, anywhere without a designation. And that's exactly what we should be doing. 33:21 And on one other issue, a new requirement forcing police chaplains to name the officers who use their services and divulge private information has decimated their ranks, according to Mark Morrie in the Daily Telegraph. The volunteer chaplain, Michael George, resigned yesterday, just a couple of weeks after warning the police minister and the police commissioner that these conditions were unworkable. So in the new contracts, they say, upon request, contracted chaplains will now be required to disclose the full names of members who have used their service. They'll also demand that if a chaplain identifies any psychological distress, workplace conflict, trauma exposure, fitness of duty concerns or health conditions or even financial hardship, they must provide relevant information to an officer's manager. 34:05 I've contacted the Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon this morning, Kelly Sloan, and said to him in a message, ''The police chaplain's situation doesn't sound good. Surely cops should be able to talk to them privately.'' 34:17 Absolutely. I woke up and I was absolutely outraged by this. If we were elected, we would overturn it. And what's more, we would expand the chaplaincy service. What this amounts to is spying on our police officers at times when they are vulnerable. We need to give them every support. I'm sick of this big brother stuff, whether it's this government introducing union spy powers so unions can spy on our businesses. Now they want to spy on our cops when they're trying to do their job. It's unacceptable. 34:45 It also flies in the face of all of the messaging that we share in 2026 around encouraging people to speak up when they've got problems. Now people will be thinking, should I go to the police chaplain or maybe not because he's going to go to the boss about it. 34:57 Exactly. And if you're a Catholic and you go to church and you seek the confidence of your priest, that is a holy... 35:05 wholly packed, right? And you can trust that it means you're able to talk. Some people want to talk to their faith leader as opposed to some sort of psychologist in a white room with a couch. And they should be able to do that without fear or favour, particularly our frontline cops who face trauma every day. I think of the police officers I saw at Bondi and what they went through. If they wanted to seek the help and assistance of a chaplain, a padre, whatever their faith... then let's give them the freedom to do that. 35:35 They need our support, not us spying on them. 35:37 Well said and good luck today. It's going to be a difficult few weeks for you and I do appreciate you turning up today. We didn't know whether you'd be fronting up considering what's happening at ICAC. We appreciate your time. 35:46 I'll always front up. Thank you. 35:47 Kelly Sloan, the Liberal leader in New South Wales, live on 2GB Breakfast. And the weather, sunny with light winds and humidity's 94% at the moment. Nine degrees on the coast, climbing to 21. And right now it's five in Sydney's west with a top of 22%. 36:02 Mostly sunny on Wednesday and Thursday. 36:05 You're listening to the Ben Fordham Podcast and now Ben Fordham Comments. 36:13 Well, there's a new battlefront in the fight for women's only spaces. And as we explained to you on Friday, it's a pole dancing studio on the Gold Coast. The owner, Gnomes Whitney, is facing a potential $30,000 damages payout. And she started a crowdfunding page to pay for all the legal bills. 36:32 What a nightmare. All because she wanted women to learn and practice pole dancing in a women's only environment. She's hardly an outlaw. She runs a pole dancing studio. A whole bunch of women have now come forward supporting Gnomes Whitney. And we'll tell you what they've had to say in a moment. We'll also let you know how to find her on Give, Send, Go. That's the crowdfunding website if you'd like to support her legal battle. But first, here's a reminder of what landed gnomes in trouble. 37:02 We held for free trial classes. They're a 30-minute little snippet. I had a full class of... new members to the space to pole dancing including a mother and daughter team in that group and my complainant came along enjoyed their free class and openly disclosed halfway through the class they identified as a woman. It was only one shared email where I did explain we were unable to accommodate the trans community and then yeah two days later it was in with QHRC and now it's off to QCAP. 37:31 Yeah, so she's going through the tribunals and the legal process at the moment. That's Gnomes Whitney, the boss of Queens of Pole on the Gold Coast. So just recapping, her studio is a female-only environment. It states that on the website. A transgender person attended a free trial. They disclosed midway through they were biologically male. Staff say some women became visibly uncertain. The transgender person then applied for membership. Gnomes sent back a polite no. 38:00 And the wannabe polled answer has now lodged a complaint with the Queensland Human Rights Commission. Gnomes is being sued for $30,000. 38:09 I have a small business. I have a young family. You know, there's a lot. There's a lot weighing in on this. I mean, blissfully unaware that I needed an exemption to run my business. I've been running my business for nine years and at no point... Did anyone I'd ever worked with ever say to me, you know, you need an exemption, you're not allowed to run the business that you are. And I guess maybe that's what's influenced all the other studios on the Gold Coast to now accept women, women identifying or all genders. We're the last one left on the Gold Coast that females can come to. 38:39 So since our conversation with gnomes on Friday, the Australian newspaper has continued its excellent coverage of this case. Women's Rights Network Australia says women should not face complaints, legal proceedings or financial ruin for providing female-only services. Yet this is becoming an increasingly common consequence of the law as it currently stands. Those concerns are similar over at the Women's Forum Australia Group. They say female-only spaces exist because women and girls have legitimate needs for privacy and safety. 39:11 Laws that undermine those spaces while penalising the women who provide them are failing women. 39:17 And the Lesbian Action Group is also making noise. They say for many women, particularly survivors of male violence and abuse, knowing that only women are present is fundamental to feeling safe. That environment is immediately destroyed when a man enters the space. Women-only fitness and movement classes are places where women build confidence. They improve their physical and mental well-being, recover from trauma, from friendships and simply... Enjoying being themselves free from the male gaze. The threat of crippling financial penalties and years of litigation has the potential to destroy a successful business. 39:54 It could end up with a chilling message to every other woman considering providing female-only services. 40:03 So on this one, we are with the Lesbian Action Group. We agree with them wholeheartedly and the other women's groups who've come out in support of gnomes. The law needs to change. This is a man-made problem. In fact, it was a female-made problem because it was the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard who amended the Sex Discrimination Act in 2013. The then PM added gender identity and intersex status as protected attributes... And Julia Gillard removed definitions for man and woman. 40:34 She now admits she never anticipated any of these consequences. 40:38 The issues you're referring to were not raised by anyone because they simply weren't a matter of public discourse the way they are today. So it was a different time. 40:49 Well, it sounds like Julia Gillard now realises there is a problem. The changes have caused unintended consequences that are now punishing women. So Anthony Albanese, he should fix Labor's mistake. 41:01 Isn't that what we do when we stuff something up? 41:06 And if you want to support Gnomes Whitney in her legal battle, she's just launched her own crowdfunding page. It's on a website called Give, Send, Go. All you need to do is search Gnomes Whitney Give. 41:21 If you search Gnomes Whitney Give, it'll pop up. N-O-M-E-S. That's Gnomes. N-O-M-E-S. Gnomes Whitney Give. And so far, people have chipped in more than $7,000. We'll check in with Gnomes later this week. Sydney's best breakfast. 41:42 2GB. 41:44 Well, we've had a small win. An idea thought up by our award-winning traffic reporter, Will Bottom, is gaining traction. Will has been off work after an issue with his appendix. Five weeks ago, he presented to Westmead Hospital with a severe pain in his chest and stomach. He arrived at the hospital 10.30am on a Sunday. He was checked over by the nurses and underwent several tests. But it wasn't until 17 hours later that he finally got a bed. We raised the issue with the Premier Chris Minns and Wilbur shared his idea on how the government could improve the experience for patients waiting in the ED. 42:21 Rather than having the standard chairs like they do, they can maybe replace some of the chairs with some of the recliner chairs. And you can put your feet up like Grandpa and at least have a bit of a rest and it'll be somewhat comfortable. I know it's not a bed, but it's sort of like a middle ground and finds a bit of a solution to it. 42:36 That was Wilbur with Chris Minns on the 24th of June. Fast forward a few weeks. Wilbur's landed back in the emergency department. With sharp, jolting pains, I think, that might be associated with when he had his appendix taken out. So, Wilbur, we're thinking of you, mate, and this time around, he had to wait 26 hours for a bed. 42:56 So, what's happened to his idea for the odd recliner chair in the waiting room? Ryan Park, the Health Minister, is on the line. Good morning to you, Minister. 43:05 Good morning, Ben. What do you make of Wilbur's idea? 43:09 Well, I think it's a very good idea and we are now seriously looking at what we can do across our busy EDs at places like Westmead and others. to install these types of chairs we've just got to make sure that it doesn't reduce the capacity of the ed but the reality is for many people you can undergo interventions and health interventions whilst you're in one of these reclining chairs and it brings a level of comfort for people when they're in ed and it's an example of The things you learn when you're out and about after Wilbur talked about it, I went and had a look at a number of EDs just to lay out to see how we could do this. 43:49 And I've asked Health to see in those busy EDs whether we can get some chairs that are recliner that don't necessarily allow us to or don't allow an issue where we lose capacity in the ED itself. So we're actively looking at it and I hope he's starting to feel better. But just as importantly, from our perspective, thanks for the feedback. 44:09 Yeah, well, they do have them in some other hospitals. We heard from someone this morning at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital and it's relatively new. They've got the recliner chairs there. Not that you fill the whole waiting room with recliner chairs, but you can have a bit of a mix so that those people who are in the most pain can lie down a little bit. 44:26 Yeah, Ben, sometimes what clinicians will do is allow people to continue to get their treatment in a waiting area. And sometimes that's a lot more comfortable in a recliner. It's not always. It depends on what it is. I know I've had my son in an ED over the last 12 months. he was treated in the waiting room just in a normal chair because it wouldn't have been appropriate given what he was in there for to have a recliner but if you're talking about where people are uncomfortable particularly abdominal issues where taking a little bit of weight off that person makes a real difference the type of illness that Wilbur presented for we want to have a look at what we can do in in relation to that it doesn't mean that we don't just focus stop focusing on additional beds and additional staff though that's From my perspective, this isn't about replacing one for the other. 45:15 This is about having a look at, in those busy EDs, how we make life a little bit more comfortable when people present with those types of illnesses. 45:22 And aren't they busy? Michelle from Wagga Wagga told us this morning that the bloke next to her in the waiting room arrived on Sunday night at 7.40pm. He came via ambulance experiencing acute pain after having a knee replacement. It's now nearly 8am on Tuesday morning. More than 36 hours later, he's still waiting for a bed. 45:43 Yeah, they're busy. I'm going to check on that because I want to make sure that that person's had a level of intervention with the clinical staff along the way. That does seem a little bit unusual for that hospital. But you're right, Ben, we are now in the busiest three to four weeks of the state's hospital system as we're in the middle of the winter period. Last week we had days, Ben, where we had close to, it's unbelievable, but close to 10,000 emergency department patients. presentation so in a busy ED like Westmead that you talked about earlier we had 1500 people go to Westmead last week to access the emergency department now that is massive it puts big strain on our system and that's why we're doing everything we can to particularly increase staff but in places like Westmead we're also increasing the bed base yeah what can you do to decrease the number of people turning up because of cold and flu Yeah, well, we need a couple of things. 46:43 One, we need people to go and get their vaccination. That's critical. We don't need the level of people coming to our EDs presenting because they've got cold and flu symptoms when they could go and get vaccination. And they need to also, if it's not an emergency, then use that 1-800-022-2222 health direct line. 47:02 That's a Medicare-related line. People can access healthcare without going to the ED if it's urgent. So we'll continue to invest, and it's on my accountability and my job and my responsibility to make sure that I invest in beds and staff and services. That's on me, and that's what we'll continue to do. But we do need the community to play its part, and one of the things they can do, particularly this time of year, is go and get vaccinated. And if it's not an emergency, ring that 1-800-022-2222 health direct line. 47:30 1-800-022-2222. Ryan Park, thank you so much for your time. 47:36 Thanks a lot, Ben. He's the New South Wales Health Minister. That number again, 1-800-022-2222. So the plea to the community is to get vaccinated and phone Health Direct for non-life-threatening conditions. You don't have to call 000 if it's not an emergency. You shouldn't call 000 if it's not an emergency and you shouldn't be going straight to the ED if you don't really need to. HealthDirect, 1-800-022-2222. 48:07 Right now, seven minutes to eight o'clock, you're with Ben Fordham on 2GB. And we've found our dumb crook of the week. 48:15 What you want, what you want, what you gonna do? When you share it down. 48:27 This comes from 7 News. Northbridge mother blames brushed turkey and health drink for alleged drink driving crash, despite allegedly blowing more than six times the legal limit. Natasha Jansen had to be pulled from her flipped Mercedes in August last year, but still denies she was drunk behind the wheel. 48:46 The 50-year-old has fronted Hornsby Court on Monday after crashing her Mercedes-Benz at Northbridge in Sydney's North last year, just around the corner from her home. She revealed that she was on her way back from getting cake supplies for baking for her kids' school fare. 49:01 Janssen claimed a brushed turkey, ran across the road, causing her to smash into a parked ute and then flip her car. 49:11 Bloody brushed turkeys. 49:13 They get you every time, don't they? 49:16 A roadside breath test allegedly recorded a reading of 0.3. That's for Natasha, not the brush turkey. 49:24 Natasha's lawyer, Michael Bowe, argued this was not due to alcohol, despite a vodka bottle being found in Janssen's handbag. Oh, no. 49:34 She says the bottle belonged to her husband. All right. 49:38 Oh, but hang on. Her DNA was allegedly on it. Oh, Natasha. 49:43 You're having a shocker. Only weeks before the crash, she was found not guilty of a separate drink-driving charge after falling asleep on the way to school pick-up. 49:55 You have officially had a Barry Crocker. 49:58 Natasha Jansen. 50:00 She's back in court in October, and she's our Dumb Crook of the Week. 50:05 Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to the Ben Fordham Live podcast through Apple and Spotify. 50:12 Now, we want to bring the money for media scandal back into the spotlight. Millions of dollars of taxpayers' money is being diverted from your pocket to part pay thousands of journalists. It's called the Journalism Assistance Fund. 50:27 It's being run out of the office of the Communications Minister, Annika Wells, and media companies receive $39,000 for each full-time equivalent journalist over three years paid as a wage subsidy. However, there's very few media organisations talking about it, maybe because they are on the receiving end of this so-called assistance bill. 184 newsrooms snapped up more than $67 million in just 28 days. Australia's biggest media companies have been cashing in. Nine Entertainment, $16 million. 50:59 Seven run by Kerry Stokes, $11 million. 51:03 And Australian Community Media, 6 million. They publish the Canberra Times, the Newcastle Herald, the Illawarra Mercury. And Peter Van Onselen, the political editor at Daily Mail Australia, has been covering this case. He says the danger here is the damage this arrangement does to public trust. He's live in our studio. Political editor at Daily Mail Australia, Peter Van Onselen, good morning to you. 51:28 G'day Ben, good to be with you. 51:29 I can't believe how much coverage this has not received. 51:33 Until you realise who's getting the money and why would they want to talk about it. They want the money. And look, I understand that in the context of the tough media environment. We all know how the fourth estate's faring at the moment. But it is ironic that it doesn't get coverage from organisations getting it. When those very same organisations, when you find other equivalents, whether it's in politics or business, they are all over it like a rash. Whereas on this one, it's just crickets. 52:01 I love people investing in media. I think it's great when people invest in media. But when it's coming from the government and when they're funding journalists who cover federal politics, that just seems... 52:11 Weird to me. At the very least, the perception of it is something that I think, as you pointed out in your introduction, is a loss of trust and confidence in the coverage that's being had by those journalists because of the perception. Not necessarily a reality of changing how they cover things, but the perception isn't good. And as you say, we all know the media's got in a sort of tough spot in the modern era, but... I also have a problem But then there's no guarantees. 52:58 It doesn't guarantee that jobs get kept, for example. So once the money's taken, that's it. Journalists can continue to be made redundant. And that's one of the things that we saw happen at nine. They took the money and then it was recently when this was getting exposed that they also then announced a whole bunch of editorial cuts. 53:16 And it's not like it's means tested. It's not like they're saying, oh, well, hang on a moment. Nine Entertainment, seven, Kerry Stokes, you don't need this funding. We'll give it to some independent media organisation out there. And it was first in Best Dressed. So they had a window of about a year for people to apply for the funding. It vanished within 28 days. 53:34 Yeah, it was the equivalent of walking into the middle of a mall and just throwing money in the air. Whoever's there gets it and gets as much as they can. And also there was some double and triple dipping as well by the big players because they have various media entities under the conglomerate of what is, I guess, nine or seven. And as a result, they were able to then not only get one sort of set of shares of this, but they were able to distribute it across the various arms of their business. It's got a bad smell, doesn't it? It does. And look, and there's a problem with the smaller players as well. One of them, I can't remember their name now, but they got about $120,000, but they don't even exist anymore. 54:07 So presumably at the timing of getting this, they must have known that they were on the skids, but they at least helped, you know, get that extra 120 on the way through. And now there are no journalists there because there's no organisations. 54:17 I'm almost getting a bit tired myself of this comparison, but I need to use it on this one. If this was Scott Morrison and he was handing out money to media, what do you reckon Albo's reaction would be? 54:27 Oh, you can only imagine. The attacks that would be coming his way by organisations that didn't get the funding. It was limited to organisations owned by Australians. So, for example... The Guardian didn't get it. Obviously, Daily Mail didn't either. 54:42 News Corp didn't get it. News Corp certainly didn't get it. But you could imagine what The Guardian would be saying if Scott Morrison did this and you had huge sums, millions going to both seven and nine, for example, the argument would be that the fix is in. 54:55 Where's the transparency? Because we've been inviting the Communications Minister, Annika Wells, on air to chat about this. We haven't been able to lock in an interview. They're not responding to all of our messages. Surely the Minister should just front up and explain, look, media's doing it tough and that's why we've been forthcoming with this funding. 55:11 Of course she should. Maybe she's too busy, her and her husband, heading off on a ski trip or to the AFL grand final or something like that. Or maybe she's following in Albo's footsteps and has some expensive dinner with a son of a Chinese billionaire. I don't know. She has other things in her diary, Ben, rather than fronting up about her most important portfolio of communications. 55:31 PVO is with us. Peter Van Onselen, political editor at Daily Mail Australia. You can read his work on the Daily Mail website. You mentioned Felix Lee, the son of the Chinese billionaire and the secret dinner with the Prime Minister last Monday night. He doesn't want to talk about it too much, Albo. 55:45 No, and he gets grumpy when he does get questioned about it. David Spears tried to get a few details, but he wouldn't talk about it. It's... All sides of politics have done a version of this over many, many years. A lot of the politicians don't like it because they have to spend so much time doing fundraising for their political party. But it's the prostitution of democracy. That's what it is. And we can't guarantee that they're selling influence. That might be considered defamatory. But they're certainly selling access. And it's just not a good look. Your average Australian can't like it. 56:16 How angry would Anthony Albanese be that he put himself or someone put him in this position when he's turned up at this home and the ATO has got a hold over the house? The parents allegedly owe $270 million to the ATO. Allegations that the father was pumping billions through the Star Casino. 56:34 Albo surely would be furious that whoever's doing his advancing didn't say we should not go to this house. 56:39 Exactly right. I'm actually amazed that they didn't have their due diligence across this beforehand to avoid putting the PM in this position. It made me wonder how often similar mistakes get made, whether we're talking about the PM's diary or whether we're talking about public policy decision making. If there's that lack of forethought, then you wonder how that applies to other aspects of government. 57:02 The other big political story today is in Victoria, Jacinta Allen with a fight on her hands. So Deputy Ben Carroll has declared his intention to run for the leadership. Nine ministers and MPs have told the Premier she's lost majority support in the Labor caucus. And so there's going to be a meeting this morning. What do we think is going to happen to Jacinta Allen? 57:21 You'd have to assume she will lose the numbers because the momentum, even if the supporters of Ben Carroll are overstating their numbers, they're doing it to build momentum. And you would have to think by the time of the meeting, that momentum is there, particularly after that news poll with her dissatisfaction rating moving into the 70s. It's literally the worst dissatisfaction in the history of news poll across state or federal politics. I've never seen anything like it. 57:44 If only they'd kept the Commonwealth Games, she'd have a distraction right now. She could say, don't worry about politics, we're focused on the Victoria Commonwealth Games, but instead they're in Glasgow. Always good to get your expertise and we'll read your stuff at Daily Mail Australia. Thanks, Ben, good to be here. PVO, Peter Van Onselen. 58:00 bringing you the best at breakfast. This is Ben Fordham live on Sydney's 2GB. 58:07 Thank you for joining us. The number to call 131873. Coming up some sad news from Carly Simon and I'm also going to give you an update on the court case involving Ben Robert Smith and we'll also have news for fans of the castle. 58:23 But first, members of the New South Wales Police Force are angry this morning about an issue with one of their main support services. A new requirement has been introduced involving contracted chaplains naming police officers who use their services. They're supposed to provide confidential support to police officers during difficult times, but a new clause in their contracts has thrown this privacy out the window to a degree. They're now obliged to name officers who use their services upon request. 58:57 And this move has gone down like a lead balloon. Many chaplains have now resigned in protest. Michael George, one of the volunteers who's quit in the last 24 hours, has told the Daily Telegraph the new conditions are unworkable. Dean Smith is the New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner. He's on the line. Deputy Commissioner, good morning. 59:18 Good morning, Ben. It sounds like these new guidelines need a rework. 59:24 Look, thanks, Ben, for the opportunity to speak on this issue. 59:28 It only relates to incidents where there are mass casualty events, such as Bondi, which we've been involved in, where multiple officers from multiple areas attend incidents, and they... 59:44 are required to provide only the names of the officers that they interact with. There is no detail that is required. It does not impact day-to-day activities or the provision of support services via the chaplaincy program. It is when we have the convergence of a number of officers that come together on those mass casualty events. So we have an obligation to make sure that our officers get the right support at the right time. 60:12 So is it made clear in the new contracts that this only applies to mass casualty events? 60:18 So in relation to the tender process, the contract itself is still in regards to a negotiated position between whoever submits for the tender. 60:29 It is in the tender around those events that are required for disclosure. 60:35 You can see why the chaplains are concerned here, Deputy Commissioner, because it says, upon request, contracted chaplains will now be required to disclose the full names of members who've used the chaplaincy service. The new contracts also demand if a chaplain identifies any psychological distress, workplace conflict, trauma, exposure, fitness of duty concerns, health conditions or financial hardship, they must provide relevant information to an officer's manager. That sounds very broad. 61:06 In terms of the wording of it, that is certainly not the intention, Ben, at all. We support the chaplaincy service, which has been with us for over 50 years. They play a very important role along with all of our other support services, and we want to make sure that our chaplaincy service is strong and make sure that we meet our obligations as well. 61:26 OK, just to be clear, if a police officer has a private conversation with a chaplain, that can remain private? 61:32 Absolutely, Ben. There is nothing that changes there. There is only a requirement if there is a disclosure that is a mandatory disclosure where that officer may need other professional intervention to support them. And that's what our main focus is here. It is not about breaching any confidence in regards to pastoral care or conversations which happen each and every day with our chaplaincy service. This is about just making sure that where we have mass casualty events, where we have large scale responsive police officers, that we capture the names of individuals and officers who attend to make sure that we don't miss anybody and we're able to provide them the support that they need at the time that they need it. 62:15 All right. It sounds like you've got a little bit of work to do to communicate what's happening with the rank and file and certainly some of the chaplains. So that'll be on your agenda, no doubt, for today. 62:24 Absolutely, Ben. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much. Thank you, Ben. Dean Smith, the New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner. He seems to be saying the police officers and the chaplains have got nothing to worry about. But as I said, when you read what we've read in the Daily Telegraph, you can understand why people would be concerned because it sounds like chaplains have to give up information that's been shared with them privately. 62:48 Sydney's best breakfast. 62:50 2GB.com. 62:52 There are new developments in the case of Ben Robert Smith. The former SAS soldier has been granted a bail variation so he can move from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. A Sydney court has approved the move so he can be closer to his family. The Victoria Cross recipient is facing five counts of war crime murder. It's alleged he took part in the killings of five unarmed men while he was deployed in Afghanistan. Ben Robert Smith continues to deny any wrongdoing. And he remains subject to strict bail conditions. He can't leave Australia. He can't even leave Queensland unless it involves this case. 63:27 The decorated soldier is not permitted to approach anyone he served with. 63:32 And the 47-year-old is expected to return to court on the 1st of September. 63:39 Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to the Ben Fordham Live podcast through Apple and Spotify. 63:46 Mark Levy's coming up after nine o'clock with Mornings, and I'm just going to share with you a few messages we've received about the Money for Media scheme by Anthony Albanese on our way to Levy. We spoke to Peter Van Onselen earlier, and Steve says, how useless are the Libs? They should be ripping into Labor over the media bribe. So much ammunition, and time and time again, the Libs don't go for it. Kerry said, how good is PVO? Just summed it up superbly. The prostitution of democracy. Thank you for the interview. 64:17 Levy's coming up after nine. Good morning. Morning to you, Ben. 64:20 I think we've got a busy morning ahead of us with everything that's happening down in Victoria. Jacinta Allen, the ICAC inquiry continuing into the Liberal donation scandal. That's a mess. Kelly Sloan, she's inherited this mess and she's got to sort of navigate her way through it. I thought she was very good with you this morning, the way in which she handled it. And Ben, another issue that you and I have been talking about is homelessness. We love Reverend Bill Cruz and the work that he does looking after those who are sleeping rough on I don't think I've ever seen as many people as I have at the moment in the CBD of Sydney who are sleeping rough. 64:50 Paul Nicolau, this is a pet peeve of his. He wants to get these people into housing and get a roof over their heads. So we'll tackle that this morning with Paul. 64:58 Right, yeah. So I have noticed more of those little camps being set up around the place, including in the Prime Minister's electorate of Grainler. What else is coming up this morning? 65:08 James Patterson's going to jump on. I'm... A little bit like a couple of your listeners there, Ben. There are so many issues for the Liberals to seize upon at the moment, and it's all right for you and me to get on the radio and talk about it. But where's Angus Taylor? Where's all of his Liberal Party colleagues who should be going for the jugular on this? So James Patterson's agreed to come on, the Senator and Shadow Minister for Defence. 65:28 We'll be listening after nine. Thanks, Benny. Mark Levy is coming up. Our number, 131873. Right now, 11 minutes to nine o'clock. Now, this is sad news. The singer and songwriter Carly Simon has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. 65:44 You're so vain. You probably think this song is about you. You're so vain. 66:00 Her incredible career has spanned many decades. She's won a number of awards, including the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1972. Carly Simon says, I've been learning how to live with Parkinson's. It's taken me some time to understand the diagnosis. 66:16 It's different for everyone and it can be unpredictable. Some days I'm so tired I can't move at all. On others it gives me a little bit of room to move, to think, to work and feel like myself. 66:30 She's known for her hit songs like You're So Vain, Let the River Run and Nobody Does It Better. 66:45 Though sometimes I wish someone would. 66:53 You're listening to Sydney's Best Breakfast. And now, the US Report. 66:58 We're at a mass shooting in Seattle. Three people have been killed and a number of people are injured, including a boy who is only two years old. Harley Carnes, good morning. 67:11 Yeah, this started the way a lot of shootings do, with two people shooting at each other. 67:17 Young people, evidently. 67:19 And one of them is in custody, the other they're looking for. Three people dead, as you mentioned, four injured, and they're in the hospital after the shooting at the Seattle Center. What this was, this was a great event. This is one of the most popular events. It's called Bite of Seattle, in which... Restaurants and eateries from all over the area bring their wares to the streets. And for three days, people have a food festival. 67:50 And it's a wonderful thing. Thousands and thousands of people go to it. Families come. It's all near the space needle. And then suddenly gunshots were heard about 6 o'clock last night. 68:02 One attendee said the scene turned into pure chaos. Well, of course it did. People were panicking and running. You got your children with you. You don't want anything bad to happen. And so you start looking for cover. One two-year-old, one little child, as you point out, couldn't find cover. And he's injured. 68:22 So I hope that he's going to be OK. Yeah, the two-year-old boy is in a stable condition. And Harley, you've got a gas station worker or a petrol station worker, as we'd call them, who's had to be rescued from right up on the top of the station sign where they tell you the prices. 68:38 What was he doing up there? 68:41 Well, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun. I'll tell you what. The gas station worker or petrol station worker, Wilmington, Illinois, he was doing maintenance on the sign. 68:51 This was a petro gas station. They're big truck stops. So they have really tall signs. So you can see them from way down the road. If the truck slowed down, pulled in there and fell up. Of course, cars go there too. It's 130 feet tall. He was up there inside the sign. It's that big doing his work. And the cherry picker that he used to get him up there, a boom lift, if you will, malfunctioned. I guess it sagged back down a couple of stories and he couldn't get down. 69:21 He was stuck up there. 69:23 So they had to send for a replacement boom lift all the way from Joliet, which is about half an hour away. Long wait if you're up there and you've been up there for hours. State police escorted it there because it was... that kind of serious situation. The guy was not hurt, but he was hot, he was sweaty, he was thirsty, tired, and he was ready to go home. So they let him do that. Oh my gosh, what a mess. It wouldn't be any fun to be stuck up there, you know? 69:49 No, I reckon he'd be just a little bit embarrassed, Holly. 69:55 Well, yeah, either that or just angry. I want to go home. You know, this is ridiculous. Give me a better lift next time. It'd be my argument to the boss. You give me this piece of garbage that put me up there 130 feet up and left me there. 70:10 Let's get it fixed. 70:12 At least he survived to tell the story. We'll catch you on ground zero tomorrow, Harley. Talk to you soon. All right. Thanks a lot. I'll see you. Harley Carnes in the United States of America at 21 minutes after six. Now, did you get the Oz alert? At 2 p.m. yesterday, you should have heard this. 70:30 It was coming through on your mobile phone. 70:33 I got it. It's the first nationwide trial of Australia's new warning system. It'll be deployed to prepare people for fires and floods and terror incidents and health emergencies. The federal government say they're happy with the trial. Did anyone not get the message? 70:49 We all seem to get the message around here apart from Maddy Warden from the 2GB breakfast team. Hello Maddy. 70:56 Hey Ben, how are you going? 70:56 You didn't get the Aus alert? 70:58 I did not, no. 70:59 Why not? 71:00 I have no idea. I was sitting out in the back garden at home and my housemate came home and he was like, the Oz Alert's about to go off. I said, oh, how exciting. 71:10 We sat there and we waited and then it hit 2pm. His went off. I looked down at my phone. Nothing. 71:15 Pretty disappointing for you. 71:17 Yeah, I was disappointed. 71:17 Because it's a big moment. We'll all remember where we were when we got the message. 71:21 Yeah, 100%. The Oz Alert. 71:23 Do you remember where you were on Monday, July 27, 2026 and your kids will ask you, Mum, do you remember it? 71:30 And I'll be like, well, I wasn't a part of it. 71:32 No, I was in the backyard and it didn't come through to me. 71:36 Do you need to check your phone or something? 71:38 I don't know. I was hotspotting to my laptop, so I don't know if that might interfere with it. 71:42 Do you know what it might be? It might be that you're from Walgett. 71:45 Yeah, potentially. 71:46 It might just be arriving in a few months or something like that. The delay. 71:50 Thank you, Maddie. Thanks, Ben. Maddie Warden, did anyone else miss out? Thousands of Aussies are reporting hearing nothing. That could be because their phone is too old or their software is classed as not supported. The Emergency Minister, Christy McBain, says people should not be alarmed if they didn't get the alert. She says this is just another tool in the tool bag of emergency service organisations. We're really excited that we now have this in Australia. 72:16 You're listening to Sydney's Best Breakfast. Ben Fordham Live. And now, the Business Report. 72:24 Economic carnage on the horizon, not what Positive Pete wants to hear. New Treasury forecasts have warned of inflation surging past 7% in a worst-case scenario. And Peter Switzer from switzer.com.au joins us now with his analysis. Hi there, Switz. 72:39 Yeah, hi, mate. Yeah, so Treasury has spoken to Treasurer Jim Chalmers and said... If this Iran war continues and oil gets to $200 a barrel, it's currently at $100. 72:52 They're worried about the Houthis joining into the attacks on the Red Sea. And if Trump can't get a negotiation sorted out, basically what we're going to see is oil prices going up and up and up, increasing the chances of a recession. You've also got Russia that's banned diesel exports. And also because of the war, strategic reserves around the world have come down. So that's the scenario. 73:18 No one thinks this is the case, Ben, so positive people will tell them the truth. But if Trump can't get Iran to come to the table to talk peace, then this problem could get worse and we could see a recession driven by the war and higher oil prices. And those markets? 73:36 Yeah, the markets are reasonably positive, Ben, because of the news that Donald Trump said there's going to be a sort of a 10-day strike on hostilities. The Dow was up 262 points. The local market was down 23. The Aus dollar was 69.9 US cents, Ben, and I was recording at 2 o'clock yesterday for my TV show, and Charlie Aitken from Regal Partners had his mobile phone on, so it went off right in the middle of the interview. 74:05 At least it's working. Switz, we'll catch you tomorrow. Cheers, mate. We've got a note from Helen. She's raising the alarm about the Reserve Bank's decision to ban businesses putting surcharges on debit and credit cards. She says just wait until these changes come in in October. They're stopping businesses from charging the 1.6% fee to the customer to cover the bank charges. No large or small business is going to wear that. What will happen is businesses will put their prices up and they're within their rights to do so. Helen is on the line right now. 74:36 Hi, Helen. 74:37 Hi, how are you going, Ben? 74:38 Good. You've got a bit of involvement in retail, do you? 74:43 Oh, look, I just have a small market store, but again, very small business. I don't have a big profit margin, but a majority of people are using card now, and that 1.6% surcharge that I am charged by Square or through the bank... 75:01 to the customer, I have that set so that I get that back. But people are no longer allowed to do that. So, for example, Woolies and Coles don't charge it. I think they wear that, but they probably get a very good deal from the banks. We're not in that position. 75:18 Aldi do charge a very small fee. 75:21 I think it's a 50 cent fee or something for every transaction. Now, I can't see them wearing that either. That's a lot of money if you have three or 4,000 people through one store in a day. 75:31 And won't the most consumers be welcoming it though initially because they're thinking, well, I'm saving money here. I'm not being hit with the surcharge. 75:41 Well, yeah, basically what's going to happen is that I'm charging the 1.6%. I can't do that anymore. You go down to your local club that uses that system and charges you that fee and make you buy a $30 stake. 75:58 and it comes up as $30.45. 76:02 Well, now, do you think they're going to charge you $30.45 to put the stake up? They're going to put it up to $32. 76:08 Right. 76:09 So prices will rise further. 76:13 Well, that's the way I see it, because I can't afford to wear... It might not sound like a lot of money, but... No, no, I'm sure it all adds up. 76:22 Yeah, well, I've been into, I've checked my bank account and then four local businesses here in Sussex Inlet, they charge that fee, like your local, you know, coffee shops and that type thing. 76:36 I don't know how they can afford to wear that cost. 76:39 Well, Helen, I'm glad you've raised it with us because we haven't spent a lot of time talking about it. So let me test the water right now with others. And I'm reading here from a recent story in the Australian Financial Review. Credit card customers risk being slugged with higher fees and interest rates by the major banks as they scramble to plug a revenue hole created by the RBA's decision to end controversial surcharging on debit and credit cards. And Helen's making the point that if someone's got to pay, it's going to end up being the customer. 77:09 The UK Report for Kelly Country. Our expert tailors can create the perfect made-to-measure suit or trouser for men or women at affordable prices. Book a fitting online at Kelly Country. 77:21 Oh, I hate these stories. A funeral director has been caught hiding bodies, and as we know, they have one job. 77:29 And two choices, they can either cremate people or bury people, but this is not what has been happening. And Adam Gilchrist has got the shocking story for us. Hi there, Adam. 77:38 Hi, Ben. Yeah, you're right. It's either doing the decent thing, which we kind of expect, don't we? It's that thing of putting your loved ones or the remains of your loved ones in the hands of these people, or it's doing the wrong thing. And in this case... Yeah, the owner of a funeral director is up in Hull in northeast of England. Robert Bush was absolutely doing the wrong thing. He has admitted 67 offences. So we're now at the stage where there's a court hearing and a sentencing hearing, which will go on for five days. And they've gone through already 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, theft from charities as well in the process that sometimes... 78:13 People were having collections. Their money was meant to go to a certain charity, often a loved one's chosen charity, an appropriate charity, and it did not happen on quite a few cases. And he only really got rumbled because he went away and put the keys to his funeral parlour in the hands of some colleagues from another place. 78:32 He told them specifically, don't have any bodies delivered, which kind of rumbled and they thought, why not? I mean, that's what you do. After all, the funeral directors, they did bring back a body and then found 29 bodies that were lying around. Some they reckon had been there years, certainly in the court case, at least one year. And also at one stage when the police were called, they found what they thought was a little baby bird in the bag. And it turned out to be a baby with its tags from the hospital. Oh, my Lord. Grim as anything. 79:03 And obviously he's going to get the book thrown at him over the next five days. 79:07 Let's hope so. And you've got school students being encouraged to do work experience. 79:11 Yeah, a much more positive thing. And of course, work experience is very much a part of school and later school these days, and sometimes even earlier school. So just interesting three cases, three case studies that have been picked up by the BBC. Kelsey, for instance, who wanted absolutely to work in a zoo, and she just had her eyes set on that. So she got some work experience at a zoo, which confirmed that she loves animals and absolutely wants to do it. compared with Matt Madison, who wants to work in an office environment. She got to work in an office environment and said that she already wants to start there. 79:42 She's only 15, but she'd love already to be at work. Or as they, though, 100% wanted to be an auto mechanic, had some work experience at a mechanics, and thought, do you know what? It's not for me after all. And that's the point of work experience, isn't it? It's meant to give you those choices. But I think it's also an interesting report that's come out prior to these case studies that sometimes... Kids only get work experience through their parents and their parents' connections. And what they're saying is, please, employers and schools and colleges, make sure the net is spread wider so you can get a proper taste of different kinds of things. 80:17 Do you know where I did work experience? 80:20 Oh, go on. 80:21 On the Alan Jones Breakfast Radio Show. 80:25 Oh no, and look what happened to you. I know. Yeah, you see, a blessing as well as a curse. 80:30 Age 15, I did a week's work experience with Alan and I decided there and then this is what I want to do and I'm very thankful that I had that opportunity. You have a good one and we'll talk to you tomorrow. Will do, thank you. Adam Gilchrist in London. So the question is, where did you do work experience? 131873. Did you do work experience in a field that's got nothing to do with what you're doing now? 80:54 Or did you follow the path from that early experience while you're at school? I know a lot of schools don't have work experience programs these days, which I think is a shame. 81:04 Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to the Ben Fordham Live podcast through Apple and Spotify. 81:12 131873, the open line number. I love this about work experience. Michael says, I did my work experience at Kmart. Now I'm an electrician, a mechanic, and I'm a male stripper. 81:25 Three to four nights a week, private female parties. 81:39 Good luck to you, Michael. Kate says, I did work experience as a teacher and I've now been in teaching for 32 years. Love your show. 81:48 And a few other interesting work experience stories as well. You can keep them coming on the text line 0460 873 873. Kelly Sloan live in studio at 7.15. 82:02 A sports update for the very best in Italian hospitality and cuisine. Salah Dining on Sydney Harbour. Book now at ddsgroup.com.au. 82:11 Spiro Christopoulos. Morning, Ben. The capitulation of the West Tigers has to be one of the stories of the season. They spent the first 10 rounds inside the top eight. They got as high as second on the ladder. But with just six rounds remaining, they are in second last. And the latest drama in Tigertown has to do with their star player, Adam Dewey. A stunning situation. He went to the judiciary last Tuesday night. He successfully downgraded his grade two careless high tackle charge. He could play in their clash with the Raiders. But things went pear-shaped when the coach Benji Marshall revealed a positional change from the halves to the back row. 82:42 It caused a rift between the two. Benji labelled him a lazy player, and Dewey didn't like it, so he opted to sit out over the weekend. The CEO, though, Sean Millicamp, addressed the media yesterday, maintaining that Adam Dewey will return to training today and things are A-OK, but his future at the Tigers beyond 2026 looking very, very uncertain. 83:01 Will the boys kiss and make up in the comm games? 83:04 Yeah, great morning for the Aussies, Ben. We're at the top of the medal tally in Glasgow. 20 bronze, 13 silver and 26 gold. So 59 medals in total, which is just incredible. The latest to add to the medal tally, our 4x200m freestyle team. They've won gold comprising of Lani Pallister, Hannah Casey, Inners Miller and Molly O'Callaghan. And one of the other highlights on Day 3 of Action, Rose Davies winning the 10,000m in the women's event. Gold medal for her. So well done to the Aussies at the Comm Games. 83:31 Good on you, Rose, and congratulations, everyone. 83:43 I'm just having a look at the Give, Send, Go page for Gnomes Whitney. She runs the pole dancing studio and she's now been dragged into a fight with a transgender activist because she wants to have a women's only space. If you want to help her fight in court, you can just search Give Gnomes Whitney. 84:02 And I'm having a look at the donations coming in. She's now up above $8,500. So that figure is now climbing and we'll catch up with gnomes between now and Friday. Do we have any fans of the castle listening? We've got some exciting news for you. The classic Aussie film is coming to the stage. 84:21 All the iconic characters will be there. The dad, Daryl Kerrigan, young Dale, who famously dug a hole, Steve, Dale's brother, who's an ideas man, Con the kickboxer, and of course the suburban solicitor, Dennis Denuto. 84:37 In summing up, it's the constitution, it's Mabo, it's justice, it's law, it's the vibe, and, uh, No, that's it. It's the vibe. I rest my case. 84:51 Absolutely. Well said, Dennis. The film was only shot on a budget of $750,000, but it grossed more than $10 million at the box office just in Australia. And nearly 30 years after being released, the famous story will be told again. This time, Working Dog Productions has come together with the Michael Castle Group, and they're putting on the show at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne. It kicks off in March. 85:16 And that sounds like it's going to be a fantastic show, going straight to the pool room. 85:22 When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore. 85:28 This is your cue to call if you want to win a $250 voucher to Candelori's, the beautiful Italian fine dining restaurant on Horsley Drive in Smithfield. You can phone now. 85:39 The prize line number, 1300 722 873. Good luck. Book your next occasion at Candelore's Restaurant. Now, I want to say well done to an Aussie hero who's made history. Charlie Virko has broken a world record just weeks after rescuing a woman from a shark attack. The 25-year-old has won his fourth consecutive paddleboarding world championship. He's beaten the previous record by three minutes. He's completed the 52k race in shark-infested waters in Hawaii. 86:11 He's done it in four hours, 17 minutes. The record-breaking victory comes not long after Charlie's life-saving act back home. While training off Coogee Beach, he came across Leah Stewart, who'd just been attacked by a great white. 86:26 She was definitely in a very shocked state where she wasn't able to have a clear conversation and I just got her to try and grab onto the nose of my board and paddle backwards but she wasn't strong enough to hang on that way so I paddled back up to her again and got her to hang on to the drink bottle cage which worked for most of the way in but she actually went unconscious after that and I had to paddle back up to her and grab her by the arm and just hold her next to me out of the water so she could breathe and At that point, yeah, I was just saying things that didn't feel very meaningful at that point in time, going, just keep your head above water, keep breathing, you're doing a good job. 86:57 Wow, that's Charlie Verko in June describing the dramatic rescue to Luke Grant here on 2GB. And Leah Stewart survived the attack. The 34-year-old teacher has undergone five surgeries, including the amputation of an arm. So congratulations to Charlie Verko. One minute... He's risking his life for a stranger in Sydney. The next he's smashing world records in Hawaii. 87:21 Sydney's best breakfast. 87:23 2GB. 87:25 Felmer, congratulations, Felmer. You win the $250 voucher to Candelorys today. There's another one that we're giving away tomorrow. We've heard from Michelle, who's at Wagga Wagga Hospital, and she's been waiting a long time for a bed, and the man next to her has been waiting even longer. He got in on Sunday night, and he's still waiting for a bed. Michelle said, I've had the hospital director now come and see me. We have action. A thousand thank yous. I'm not priority, but the people needing beds before me are getting them right now. 87:56 It goes to show, Michelle, you should always call 2GB. 87:59 Just a little bit of history repeating. 88:02 And now on Ben Fordham Live on this day. Today is the 28th of July. It was on this day in 1914 World War I began. More than 416,000 Australian men enlisted to fight alongside Allied forces. 88:18 And the band played waltzing Matilda as we stopped to bury the slain. 88:28 We buried our men, the Turks buried theirs. 88:34 Then we started all over again. 61,000 never made it home. In 1923, construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge began. 88:44 Transparent against the blue of the sky is the greatest bridge of its kind in the world today. Built by the brains and the hands of the little boy among the great nations of the earth. 88:52 Cassie, you were first in with the correct answer. Ground was broken in North Sydney to mark the start of the project. This was our quiz question. In 1954, On the Waterfront premiered... 89:03 I could have been a contender. 89:05 I could have been somebody. 89:08 Instead of a bump. 89:11 In 1900, the hamburger was invented in the US. In 1951, Alice in Wonderland made its theatre debut. 89:19 But I don't want to go among mad people. Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here. 89:29 In 1943, IKEA was founded in Sweden. And a happy birthday to the former Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, who's turning 79 today. And on this day in 1987, Kylie Minogue released her debut single. 90:10 The locomotion went to number one in more than 11 countries. 90:14 And good morning to Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister. He's a big fan of Kylie Minogue, apparently. 90:19 It all happened on this day, the 28th of July. 90:24 And that's the podcast for today, the highlights of today's show, and we will be back again to do it all again before you know it. Now, could you be so kind as to leave a rating on our podcast, maybe a comment? If you want to give us five stars, you can give us five stars. I'm not trying to encourage you how to rate the program, but we'd love to see that. And do we check? I'd love to say that we don't. but occasionally we have a little bit of a look. So if you want to give us a rating, if you want to give us a comment, please do so, and also share this podcast with your friends. 90:57 Bye-bye.