2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full show July 25 01:50:58

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. I hope you're enjoying your Thursday. It's a beautiful one. Jeez, it's nice and warm too. Maybe a little bit of a taste of what spring has to offer. Still a little bit away, isn't it, spring anyway? Have you noticed that some scientists are being very earnest in their view that nuclear energy does not and will not have a social licence to operate in Australia?

Yet these same scientists seem to think that offshore wind farms have this mythical social license. Well, how? How does nuclear not have it and the wind farms do? I'll dive into that one because it makes very little sense to me. And here's another one. Whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer? It was supposed to be end of day stuff, wasn't it? This big hole in the ozone layer. Well, I'll give you an update on that because it's fascinating stuff scientifically.

And Sydney schools, looks like a couple of Sydney schools, have lost their students' NAPLAN tests. So the kids go away to do these NAPLAN tests and they disappear. I'll speak to a nine-year-old, a year nine girl, sorry, who's had hers disappear. Right now, 21 at Hornsby and 22 at Guildford.

It's eight and a half past three, 131. 873 is that open line number. You can email me, drive at 2GB.com or the text line 0460 873 873. I want to kick off here with some stuff that's occurring in Sydney's decent suburbs. It's pretty concerning, to be honest, and quite dramatic. So two men in balaclavas, allegedly armed with guns. So two guys, balaclavas, allegedly armed with guns.

were caught acting suspiciously near the home of John Ibrahim. Now, they have now been arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station where they are assisting with inquiries. Nine News reporter, Masilia Ailey, is there and she joins me on the line. Masilia, what's the latest on this one?

Good afternoon, Chris. Yeah, we've got a 20-year-old and a 24-year-old currently at Waverley Police Station where they are expected to be charged. So police gave us an update a short time ago and they've given us a little bit more information onto what happened this morning. They say it was around 8.20, a neighbour on the street reported a man wearing a balaclava and carrying a gun near the home of...

John Ibrahim, as you mentioned. And there was also another man who was inside a car. Police say that they...

Got there within minutes and that's when a pursuit began. The men in an SUV making their way to Old South Head Road at Bellevue Hill and that's where police managed to stop them. They then arrested the driver of the car, the 20-year-old, but the 24-year-old passenger managed to briefly run away from them and he went on to hide in the front yard of a woman's home where he was later found and that's where they were arrested.

Is it just accidental that he was out the front of John Ibrahim's home or do they think at this point that there was a reason for that? Look, police are being pretty tight-lipped about this and they say that they are looking into all the lines of inquiry. But we did ask him whether this man was seen to be hovering, because it's quite a long street, whether he was seen to be hovering down the bottom near John Ibrahim's home and

you know, ultimately they said yes. But they did say that, you know what, this is a beautiful street, it's got amazing views and it's decked out with mansions. So there's obviously a whole lot of motives as to why these men might have been here. But, you know, you're also looking into the very high likely reason that he was hovering in front of Johnny Brahim's home and that's where he was ultimately spotted. Macilia Eilly, I really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Thank you. That's Nine News reporter, Macilia Eiley there. And she does a very good job for Nine News. You'll see her report on the news at six o'clock tonight. But isn't that interesting? A 20 year old, a 24 year old expected to be charged by police. They're right now at Waverley Police Station.

with allegedly armed with guns acting suspiciously in Dover Heights near the home of the King of the Cross, John Ibrahim, 131873. Now, I told you on Monday that the Labor federal government, well, it was only a matter of time until they significantly hardened their language towards Israel in coming months. And they're doing this as we get closer to the election. Excuse me. Now, I've been proven right, and it's only been proven right after a few days.

So Foreign Minister Penny Wong has decided to slap seven Israeli individuals and one entity, a youth group called Hilltop Youth, with Magnitsky-style financial sanctions. Now, these sanctions allow the Australian government to revoke visas, ban travel, and seize property for individuals who might try to hide assets in Australia. Now, Penny Wong said the individuals had been involved in violent attacks on Palestinians. They're all Israelis.

including beatings, sexual assault and torture, which resulted in serious injury and in some cases, death. Now, this begs two questions in my mind, right? So the first one is, will this really make any difference to achieving peace in the Middle East? Surely not. Clearly, the financial sanctions against Russia haven't helped an iota.

The second question is, they've imposed these kinds of sanctions on Hamas terrorists, the leader of Hezbollah, the worst of the worst. So does Penny Wong think these Israelis are as bad as those well-known terrorists? Fair question, especially when you consider the government has never sanctioned anybody from China involved in the human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet or Hong Kong.

It just goes to my mind that this is nothing but public relations for the Albanese government to try to win back some votes from people who are upset with their dealings with the Israeli government. Now, Senator James Patterson, he's the shadow minister for Home Affairs. He's on the line. Senator, thanks for your time. Good to be with you. These are pretty sort of thin, these sanctions, aren't they?

I think your editorial is spot on. This is about domestic politics and it's about internal Labor politics. The reason why the Labor Party is doing this is that they're worried about seats in Western Sydney and they're worried about appeasing the left of their party, who are increasingly vehemently anti-Israel. We saw that with Fatima Payman, but she's not alone in her views. There are others in the Labor caucus who share it. And I think our foreign policy priorities are being driven by base domestic politics. That's exactly what's happening, isn't it?

That's all it is. They're just worried about Watson. They're worried about Tony Burke's seat. They're worried about Jason Clare's seat, and that's the sum total of it.

It's very hard to see any other plausible explanation, particularly when one of the arguments the government is citing in favour of doing this is that we are doing so in concert and we're following our like-minded partners, countries like the United States and the United Kingdom and Canada and the European Union. The problem with that, as you pointed out, is all of those like-minded partners have also used Magnitsky-style sanctions to sanction Chinese government officials to

for their involvement in human rights abuses in Xinjiang or Tibet or Hong Kong, and we haven't done so. And it's even worse than that. Penny Wong, when she was in opposition, called on the then Morrison government to sanction Chinese government officials for what they've done in Xinjiang. And yet two years into government, we're not following our allies and we're not following Penny Wong's advice from opposition, and they have to explain why that's the case. Hizbut Tahir. That's an Islamic group. The UK has sanctioned and listed a Hizbut Tahir,

to hear as a terrorist organisation? Our Home Affairs Minister, Claire O'Neill, said, no, no one's doing that. Why? I'm very disappointed and concerned by that. I think the government needs to look again at this case and seek further advice about whether or not they meet the threshold in Australia because I think there's a face value case they have met that threshold. Included in the criteria for listing a terrorist organisation in Australia is fostering, encouraging and inciting people to engage in terrorism and

And Hizlbut Tahrir has done that. I mean, they put out a media release in Arabic immediately after the 7th of October where they congratulated the attacks by Hamas on Israel and they encouraged the armies of the Muslim world to follow through and back up Hamas by attacking Israel. Now, if that's not incitement to terrorism, I don't know what is. Senator, I appreciate your time as always. Thanks, Chris. As James Patterson, Liberal Senator and Shadow Home Affairs Minister 131873, you can see it. You can see through this, right?

It's transparent as it could possibly be. It's all about trying to save seats in parts of Sydney and Melbourne, sanctioning these settler Israelis. It's certainly not going to solve the conflict in Gaza. Now, as I told you yesterday, Anthony Albanese will reshuffle his cabinet Sunday. We broke that yesterday afternoon.

And he has today, the Prime Minister, confirmed this with the retirement of both Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor. Now, I've had enough to do with Linda Burney over the years, both in Canberra and in New South Wales Parliament, that I can say hand on heart about Linda Burney. She is a fundamentally decent human being.

Sure, the voice didn't work out, but Linda Burney has dedicated her life to improving the lot of Aboriginal Australians, and for that she should be praised and commended. Two people who have made an outstanding contribution to our government and to our country are standing with me here today in Linda Burney and Brennan O'Connor. I am proud to call them my friends. I'm proud...

to have witnessed firsthand their passion for this nation, their determination to leave the country better for their contribution as members of parliament and as ministers. Now, Senator Nambajimpa Pryor, she echoed both the Prime Minister and my sentiments there about Linda Burney, at least. And she said this, quote,

While we have often differed in our views of how to best end Indigenous disadvantage, Minister Burney's career has been driven by a burning desire to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

When the day comes that Indigenous Australians have the same life expectations as every other Australian, it will be in part due to Minister Birney's dedication in area of politics filled with difficult and harrowing realities. All class. Senator Jacinta Nambajimba-Price there. But what does all of this mean, right? So Linda Birney and Brendan O'Connor, they're out. So who's in?

Now, there are at least two cabinet spots up for grabs now heading into the next election, either late this year or early next year. As I told you yesterday, Andrew Giles, he'll be moved from immigration. He'll stay, of course, in the ministry, but he will be moved from immigration. And there's some talk, too, that Claire O'Neill will be shifted from Home Affairs. Now, I've been told the two potential options for Home Affairs if Claire O'Neill is moved aside. These are the two options.

Tony Burke, who did it before under Kevin Rudd, Mark Two. You know, he was the architect of the anybody who comes here by boat will never ever be granted residency or citizenship to Australia. That was Tony Burke, whether he believes it or not, I don't know. And Mark Butler. Now, there is chat about Mark Butler and Claire O'Neill just doing a simple swap. So you have Claire O'Neill taking health and Mark Butler taking health.

Home Affairs. I've been vocal. I reckon Mark Butler is one of the best performers in the Albanese government. Great communicator and seemingly someone who can get things done. You don't see a whole lot of problems in the federal health space, do you? Because Butler does a good job. Now, I'm told on pretty good authority, Jenny McAllister, she's a senator and the wife of John Graham, the roads minister here in New South Wales, just to add. She's likely to be elevated into cabinet, Jenny McAllister.

And maybe to Jed Carney from Victoria. Now, that is because both Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor are from the Labor left faction in New South Wales and Victoria. And the rules dictate the replacements must be from the same factions from the same state. So you've got to understand this about Labor, right? Labor cabinets have nothing to do with talent or merit. The rules are the factions and the states get a certain number of positions.

So it doesn't matter how bad or how good you are. What matters is within Labor is what faction you are in and who is in front of you in the line in that faction. So ultimately it means this. The Albanese government, his cabinet, it will be changing as he heads to the next election. But is it enough to save their electoral prospects? What do you reckon? 131873 can shuffling around the chairs...

Can it fix Anthony Albanese's problems? Does it make a fresh team make it more likely he will be re-elected at the next election? Or do you think he is just on the downward spiral and that cannot be arrested? 131873. It's coming up to 25 past three. There's a developing story out of Europe. So more than 50 flights have been diverted away from Frankfurt Airport. And guess why?

Climate activists have reportedly glued themselves to a taxiway. Why would you do this? It's the sixth busiest airport in Europe, Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Main one. It's the main airport in Germany. And there's going to be plenty of people flying to Paris, I would have thought, for the Olympic Games going via Frankfurt.

So I hope they bought travel insurance. So 50 flights diverted away from Frankfurt Airport. It's happening just now. Climate activists gluing themselves to a taxiway. Well, you know, I won't say what I'm thinking. 131873.

KFC. Now, I warned that this would happen because we spoke about this earlier in the year, didn't we, with artificial intelligence. I'm doing a lot of reading and listening to podcasts around artificial intelligence. I find it fascinating to see where the world is going. But Wendy's, which is a big takeaway food chain over in the States, they started using artificial intelligence technology.

drive-thru people. So instead of people that have AI, take your order and process it for you. What's happening here in Australia? I said that would happen. So KFC has confirmed it is trialling a controversial new drive-thru feature. And five Sydney outlets are now using the artificial intelligence to take customer orders at drive-thru booths in a bid to, quote, elevate the restaurant experience for both customers and team members. No, no, no. The only thing you're elevating

is computers over human beings, and the team members are the ones going to get the chop, KFC. And I know Ben Fordham was talking about this this morning. So you're seeing the AI drive-through booths at South Penrith, Wetherill Park, Mount Druitt, Minto,

and French's Forest. And I saw Tom Saker on 7 News last night. He went and had a look at it, and it was a complete debacle. He could hardly get an order through. The orders were wrong, yada, yada, yada. If you've used so far the artificial intelligence KFC drive-through, give us a call, 131 873. President Joe Biden, he has formally stood down as the Democratic nominee for the upcoming election.

And it's funny, isn't it, in politics? A week ago, Joe Biden was, no, no, I'm sticking the course, I'm staying the course, I've got to beat Donald Trump. I'll beat him once, I'll beat him again. And now he's out. So Joe Biden said the only way he'd step aside if the Lord Almighty told him to, just turns out the Lord Almighty was Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. In recent weeks, it's become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavour. I believe, I reckon as President...

my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future, all married at a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. So I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. All right, President Biden, look, 52 years in public life, you've got to give it to him. That is a big, big stint, isn't it? Big, big stint. But it sounds like more than enough to me.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Here's Jason on the text line. Chris, the cabinet reshuffle for Albo will be akin to shining a piece of dog poo. That's a bit harsh. It might look better, but it still smells and is a piece of dog poo. Good on you, Jason. Maria's in Penrith. Hello, Maria. Hi there, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Maria.

I just would like to say that as far as I'm concerned, I think Anthony Albanese is the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had. And he can swap ministers from one portfolio to another. That's not going to actually change him as a Prime Minister.

Alright Maria, that's very direct and you're more than entitled to your opinion. I'm sure many share it within the community. You have a lovely afternoon. Rosalie's at Pennant Hills. Rosalie's called in about these climate activists gluing themselves to a runway at Frankfurt Airport. Hello Rosalie.

Rosalie, they drive me mental. I just, I don't want to think too much about it because it just really gets under my skin how selfish these people are.

Yes, thoughtless. So don't look after them. Let them sit in their own mess. Good on you, Rosalie. You have a lovely afternoon. 131873. Look, you've got to get them up at some point because you've got to land the plane. You can't land the planes on top of the protesters. As much as some people might say, sure, that's just the outcome of you being on the run. No, we can't do that. We can't do that.

But how do they get on the runway to begin with? There's a question that I'd like answered. But anyway, whether they do it on the M5, whether they do it on the Anzac Bridge, whether they do it on George Street or it's on a taxiway in Frankfurt Airport, what I can absolutely guarantee you is every single time they do it, they lose more and more people supporting their cause. Let's check the news headlines.

A news update. With great gas deals for your home, there's a bright side to winter. Call Energy Australia today on 133466. Conditions apply.

Josh Bright, G'day. Good afternoon Chris. Police are still piecing together what two armed men were doing in a street in Sydney's east before they were arrested after a short chase in Bondi. A truck driver has died after his truck fell into the water while he was boarding a vehicle ferry on the north coast. Trains have now resumed between Ingleburn and Campbelltown after earlier mechanical issues and a

Small fire with a train at Minto. And a team of scientists, as well as Heritage NSW and members of the public, have helped confirm the resting place of a coastal freighter that was lost in one of the nation's worst post-war maritime disasters. MV Noongar sank in a storm 55 years ago. In Sport, Melbourne's storm coach says...

Craig Bellamy says he expects Cameron Munster to be keen to return as he prepares to make his comeback from a groin injury against the Eels tomorrow night. We'll have more news and sport at four. Thanks, Josh. I've just got Steve on the line. Hello, Steve. How you going, mate? Good, mate. You seen something on the road, have you? Yeah, on the M7 northbound near Elizabeth Drive. Concrete tuck rolled over. Blocking both lanes. Spilt all its load and everything?

I don't know if there's anything come out. I'm going southbound, so I couldn't see that bit. Good on you, Steve. I appreciate the heads up. So the M7 northbound just near Elizabeth Drive looks like a concrete truck with the big mixer on the back by the sounds has rolled over, blocking traffic. For Tudor's Timing, Steve Carline.

All I wanted in retirement was to feel confident with my money. So I picked an income account with my industry super fund. Now I take enough for day-to-day things, splash out when I fancy, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. It's 24 minutes to four. Now, here's a question for you. If you've got kids or grandkids who've sat the NAPLAN tests, the compulsory tests that all the kids have to do, did they get some strange-looking results back? Because we've uncovered that some students' exam papers, they've been lost. They've gone missing.

Missing completely. A year nine student named Georgia, she's been in touch with us here, driveit2gb.com, and she goes to Holsworthy High School in our southwest. Now, Georgia's best subject is generally writing. Writing is Georgia's best subject. But when she got her marks back from her writing exam from NAPLAN, she was at the bottom of the scale. So she got one of the worst results she could possibly get.

And at the bottom of the results page, it said this, quote, Well, Georgia knows that's not true. She was sitting there. She did the test.

Anyway, 131873, if this has happened to you, because we asked both the Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, and the New South Wales Minister, Pru Carr, about this. And Pru Carr's office told us they're aware of at least one student missing a result from Holsworthy High, but they couldn't give us a reason or explain where George's exam paper has gone.

And in fact, we've been told Nessa, who run NAPLAN, said this student's word count was zero. They've stuffed this up very clearly. 14-year-old Georgia, she's on the line for us now, and her dad Bill's there too. Georgia, g'day. Hello. Now, you definitely did this test.

Yeah, I remember clearly what I wrote about. And also we had to write about a window and it was an imaginative text. So you had to write about a window. That was the question, was it? Yeah. Okay. And how long did you spend? How many words did you roughly do? I'm not too sure. I'll say about 46 paragraphs I did. And I finished it right until the last minute and I hit submit on it with all my writing there. Okay.

So I'm having a look at your results that you've got here. And it's right at the very bottom of the scale. And a whole bunch of your other NAPLAN tests, you're at the very top of the scale. So clearly something's amiss here.

Yeah, I found it really, really weird since all my other ones were at the top and then I went to see my year advisor about it and then he got onto it straight away, went to our NAPLAN coordinator and then she came to me during my last period and she said that the teachers don't get the results until a few weeks later because this time we get our results before the teachers. Wow.

Did you know immediately something was wrong or did you get a bit of a shock when you saw you performed so poorly in writing according to the results? I got a bit of a shock and then I noticed down at the bottom of the comment and then I found it really, really weird how I sat there forever putting my best effort into it and then it didn't get recognised. Do you do this on computer, do you, Georgia?

Yeah, we did it all online. At the start of it, like normally at the start of each test, we would have a few hiccups and then they'll get resolved straight away. And then, yeah. Was there any hiccups on the writing test, technically? I'm pretty sure there was a hiccup for me on the writing test. I remember there was for one test. They could just bring back pen and paper, Georgia.

Yeah. Then you definitely know it's saved. So where are you now? What's your year advisor said to you? And what's the NAPLAN coordinator for Holsworthy High? Are they trying to get to the bottom of it for you?

They are trying to get to the bottom of it for me. So they're waiting for the NAPLAN results to come in and then they're going to try and do something. Have any of your classmates had the same experience? I'm not too sure about classmates, but I have heard from the NAPLAN coordinator that I'm not the only one.

Okay. So you're not the only one at Holsworthy High. I wonder if this is a more broad issue. Georgia, I really appreciate you coming on and explaining this to us and your dad, Bill, for sending us the email on your behalf. Please keep us up to date because we've alerted both Jason Clare, given it is a national test, the Federal Education Minister, but New South Wales Education Minister too, Prue Carr, because...

Obviously, Nessa is involved too. So I think there's some sort of remit with the New South Wales government there. So everyone who should know, knows. The problem that we've got is they don't think it's that big a deal for some reason. It's a big deal to you, right? Yeah. Okay. Let's see if we can fix it, okay?

Okay, thank you for having me. No, thank you, Georgia. Well done. Very, very well done. 14 years old there, Georgia from Holesworthy High, works her bum off, sits there and does the writing test as she's asked and all the anxiety that comes with the NAPLAN tests and the thing goes missing when she presses submit. See, what's wrong with just...

A pad, a paper, an envelope. It gets marked and you get your results. Now, oh, we've got all these fails. So we've got to have all this technology, this fancy technology to ensure that it's streamlined. And then Georgia submits it and...

NAPLAN reckons, oh, sorry, you didn't even do the exam. Of course you'd feel miffed about that. 131873 if you, your children or your grandchildren have had the same experience. It's 18 to 4. It's 14 minutes to 4. Here's an interesting one, Ryan. So if you listen to the very popular Joe Rogan podcast, you'll be interested in this because the birth of human consciousness, scientists believe...

may have a direct link with the consumption

It's true. So scientists have looked into this, right? And Joe Rogan's been sort of popularizing. It was some people saying it's pseudoscience, but scientists themselves have now said, you know what? This makes sense. So the theory is called this. It's called the stoned ape theory. Yeah, stay with me. Now, scientists have analyzed dozens of studies involving psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

and consciousness. And it found that the fungi, the magic mushrooms, increased connectivity between networks in the frontal brain region associated with expressive language, decision-making, and memory.

So the conclusion they've come to is that pre-human hominids, effectively apes, well, they started eating magic mushrooms 6 million years ago. And through the evolution process, those magic mushrooms have somehow evolved

kicked human beings into what we now know as consciousness. And it's the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru that has done this work, and they have found that psilocybin stimulated the central nervous system, leading to an increased sense of consciousness. Isn't it interesting? Now, the stoned ape theory has been around for many years, and now you've got a group of scientists who've looked into it and said, you know what?

There's something in this. There is something in this. So our ancestors, six million years ago, decided to munch on some magic mushies. And now six million years later, here we are, making decisions, coming up with art, being creative, all thanks, supposedly, to the influence of psilocybin. Medical researchers are doing a lot of work into psilocybin too to see whether or not it can

or at least treat depression, anxiety, other PTSD, other mental health issues. So whether or not that becomes more mainstream is yet to be seen. But I thought that was a fascinating bit of science. Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873.

Well, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has addressed a joint sitting of Congress in the United States. And he's a divisive figure, isn't he, Benjamin Netanyahu? Not just in the United States, but in Israel as well. And polls in Israel itself show that Benjamin Netanyahu, their Prime Minister, he is deeply unpopular. And there were plenty of Democrats who boycotted the speech by Benjamin Netanyahu.

including Kamala Harris, current vice president. She said, look, it wasn't a boycott. It was just a scheduling clash. But the reaction to his speech was a bit mixed. I remember when Bibi was in Sydney a number of years ago, and I have never seen a motorcade like it. I saw it when Joe Biden was here, when he was vice president. When he was vice president, Joe Biden was here, and the motorcade was significant.

But to motorcade when Benjamin Netanyahu was here, that was absolutely something else. So Nancy Pelosi, she said that Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary involved and honoured with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States. Whereas Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, he said he was all for it, he loved it. And the House stands with Israel in its fight for survival.

So his speech got 50 standing ovations, if you can believe it, and Israel's Prime Minister, he called on the world to stand up to Iran. We meet today at a crossroads of history. Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran's axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It's a clash between barbarism and civilization.

It's a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life. For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win, they lose.

That's Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at Congress in the United States. There was protest, as you'd expect, outside the Capitol in the US. And it's fascinating to see all this play out. It is. Benjamin Netanyahu, unpopular in his own country, unpopular across the world, yet in Congress receiving a reception like that. But it was 50-50 because many people didn't even bother showing up. Regardless, love him or hate him,

Netanyahu, he's certainly a decent orator, isn't he? Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. Now, there is a federal government inquiry underway into the future of Australian music and Australia's live music industry. So this is the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts. And they heard evidence from a whole bunch of people

that said that there are major issues in Australia when it comes to the live music industry.

And here's one quote from a participant. If we want an Australian industry in 10 years, we need to acknowledge that our small music venues, they are the soil from which our artists grow. And if that soil dies, no seeds can come from that. And that's a direct shot at nimbyism and people complaining about live music occurring in pubs and clubs. And as soon as those complaints occur,

are justified by councils or state governments, those live music venues then shut down and there will be no industry. And there will be no industry. And while internationally you get your Taylor Swifts and your Ed Sheerans and all the rest of it, but what about Australian live music? What has happened to it? I've spoken to it about this many, many times on this program. And it concerns me that who's going to be the next Hoodoo Gurus?

or cold chisel, or midnight oil. Are we going to be, have we got the infrastructure set up now and the system set up now to ensure that our young musos have a chance of cracking it? Australian musos, rather than just importing music from overseas.

So this committee is travelling all around Australia at the moment. It will be ongoing for a number of weeks. Jump on the parliamentary website if you're in the music industry and you want to have your say.

Speaking of Australian music, I noticed that the AFL decided to book Katy Perry. Now, Katy Perry's a big name, right, for their grand final pre-match entertainment in Melbourne for the AFL. But surely there's some Aussies that could be promoted on such a massive, massive stage. Katy Perry's great.

But the NRL does the same, I'm sure. I think it's important to back Aussie music when we can, especially on big moments like that. 1-3-1-8-7-3. 4 o'clock news is coming up very shortly with Josh Bryant. On the other side of that, I'll speak to John Doraghy. He's a councillor at Wollongong and a former football player himself in rugby league because the community in Wollongong is continuing to rally against these wind farms and

And I've had some scientists suggest to me that there is a social licence to build wind farms, but not one to build nuclear power plants. Are we sure of that? I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement.

Visit compareyourretirement.com today. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past four. Thank you for your company on this Thursday afternoon. Give us a call, 131 873. You can text me if you'd like, 0460 873 873 or email me, drive at 2GB.com. Lots coming up. John Dorehy, he's a councillor in Wollongong, former rugby league player with Western Suburbs and Illawarra. And he is...

really anti the wind farms that are proposed off the coast of Wollongong. And I want to get to the bottom of whether or not the community actually thinks there is a social licence for these wind farms to be built, but nuclear power, there's not. We'll find out next. The inside word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, before I get to that, there's just been some breaking news out of the federal court. Tiff Genders is across this for Nine News. It's in relation to the herbicide Roundup and whether or not it is carcinogenic. Tiff Genders, g'day. Good afternoon, Chris. What do we know?

Well, there was a class action against the makers of this weed killer roundup, which has been used for 50 years by farmers, gardeners, even by local councils. And this action was brought by a Northern Territory man who suffers from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He used this spray almost every day of his working life and argued on behalf of hundreds of people that his cancer had been caused by

by this herbicide. Now, there was a trial in the federal court and it was up to Justice Michael Lee to decide whether use of an exposure to Roundup is capable of causing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans. Just a short time ago, we got that judgment and it was found while the science is not all one way, it couldn't be proven to the court satisfaction that Roundup

is carcinogenic. So it hasn't gone the plaintiff's way as it has, interestingly, in some similar cases in America. If it had gone their way, it would have opened the floodgates for compensation for hundreds of

up to 800 very sick people, so they must be really devastated by this judgment. The makers of Roundup, on the other hand, have always stood by their weed killer and said that it continues to be...

uh safe and used as uh you know the top choice by many people around the world these are the dangers of these class actions tiff and i'm sure you see them all the time when they do go down in a federal court there is a lot and lot of people that these uh these class actions can let down because they all join up right tiff i appreciate you coming on thanks so much

No problem. That's Tiff Genders from Nine News. So the case was launched by Morris Blackburn. They've got a pretty good record, to be honest. And the active ingredient glyphosate...

Their argument was it caused the cancer of more than 800 Australian non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. But Justice Michael Lees, you heard there with Tiff Genders, said there is not enough current evidence to say that glyphosate in Roundup is carcinogenic and capable of causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans. Now...

Roundup's producer, Masanto, that was brought up by Bayer in 2018 and they've always stated that glyphosate-based herbicides have been rigorously tested in hundreds of studies and safe to use as directed. Now often it's

No win, no fee for Morris Blackburn. So that's a tough old day for them. But even harder for the 800 Australian non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients who had joined it. 131 873. Melanie's called in from Liverpool. You've seen something on the roads, Melanie.

Yeah, a shipping container, a truck carrying a shipping container. The rear wheels have come off the shipping container and it's on Norellon Road heading towards Camden, walking one lane. So has it come loose? Is it on the road or is it just... It's half on the truck, half on the road. All right, Melanie, I appreciate that. Hey, by the way, great call. An anatomic aligned pillow coming your way from the Rockdale Mattress Factory, okay?

Thanks so much. No, you're very welcome. And it's Australia's first natural ventilated and adjustable pillow valued at $219. Rockdownmatrassfactory.com.au. Just repeating that a shipping container has come loose on the back of a truck. Norellon Road at Norellon. So if you can see that or you're in and around it, please be careful.

Please be careful because there will be potential for that thing to fall off the back of the truck and cause all sorts of trouble. Now, this time yesterday, you would have heard me speaking about energy because the Australian Energy Market Operators quarterly report confirmed that in my eyes, we cannot rely solely on renewables. Renewables right now are unreliable and they're making our power prices more expensive.

Right? We'll get there eventually, but we're not there yet. Now, I spoke with Dr. Catherine Woodthorpe about this. She's the president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. So she's, you know, engineers. It's all about facts and figures. And her organization released a report pouring cold water, though, on Peter Dutton's nuclear plan. So when I spoke to Dr. Woodthorpe, not only did she say the nuclear was essentially a dud prospect for Australia...

But she said that it didn't have a social licence. But the offshore wind farms off the coast of Wollongong did have a social licence. Is there a social licence for offshore wind farms? It depends, but I believe so. So you're positive about the offshore wind farms. Can you float them off the continental shelf? They will be difficult to go off the continental shelf. So as an engineer, you could probably put the pen through that, right?

No. Oh, being off the continental shelf, yes. Yes, it's too difficult to have them. So the one off the coast of the Illawarra, which is proposed for off the continental shelf, we can probably put a pen through it, correct? It's proposed to be just on the edge of the continental shelf, if I recall correctly. And there's a social licence for that? That is yet to be proven. Okay, but you think there is, and it's not for nuclear?

There's definitely not for nuclear at the moment. How do you know that? I'm just saying that's a barrier. I'm not the one who's going to go out and find that out. I'm just saying that is a barrier that they will have to overcome if we can't even find out where to put the waste from our medical nuclear facility. I take that on board. It just feels to me that you've got a bit of an angle with this report. That's all.

So is there a social licence for wind farms? We've been throwing it around the office today, you know, just because we report on it here and I'm majorly sceptical about the things, it doesn't mean that there's not. So is there a social licence in the Illawarra or in the Hunter for these offshore wind farms?

Now, we've spoken to thousands of you who are against them, and the fight is on. It's ramping up down there. So there's another big event happening on Sunday, if you're keen on getting along. But John Dorohy is a Wollongong councillor, and he's running for mayor, representing the Liberal Party. He's on the line for us. John, thanks for your time.

Yeah, hi, Chris. Lovely to talk to you and your listeners. I appreciate you coming on. So these offshore wind farms, and we spoke to Dr Catherine Woodthorpe. She said Peter Dutton's idea of nuclear power, it does not have a social licence, but the offshore wind farm between, you know, the north of the Illawarra to as far south as sort of Kiama, that's got one. Do you agree? Yeah.

Not particularly, no. Sorry, Chris. Why do you think... What is this about, then? I know that the renewable advocates want to see this staff built, but what are you picking up in the community?

Oh, it's a varied response, that's for sure. The challenge for me, though, is that Wollongong, Greater Wollongong, if you want to call it that, you know, it's the most beautiful city in New South Wales to live, work and play. We're blessed with stunning natural beauty, pristine beaches, majestic mountains. We've got it all. But offshore wind turbines, they...

For us here, many of the locals, it poses a significant environmental risk to marine life, ecosystems, etc. So never mind the viewing sight lines. For the people that I noticed there was the community consultation went out and I think 65% were negative, opposed the offshore wind farms. Correct. You're dubious about them, aren't you?

I am, Chris, and the reason being that I don't think the engagement with

or the reaction from government has been what it could or should be. The challenge is, you know, if you really want to put something in that they suggest is economically viable, then why not put out all the facts and figures? You know, we have a federal member down here in Stephen Jones, who's the Assistant Finance Minister, and

um you know you can't even get the financials from him his department to say that this is a good thing or it's not a good thing so where are we at this is the point right and this has been my point the entire time we first talked about it when a bloke fronted me at the boat show down at darling harbour and said you got to check this one out at port stevens and now one popped up in the illawarra and off we went if you were going to put

wind turbines, double the height of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, hundreds of them off the coast of Wollongong. I reckon that's a big deal and one the community would want to have a say in. Absolutely correct. Yeah, look, the challenge is that it's not just Wollongong. As you said earlier,

It goes all the way down to Kiama, as far as sightlines are concerned, and it goes all the way up to at least Cronulla. So, you know, Sydney's affected. Shellhaven could be affected as well, as much as Kiama and Shell Harbour will be. So, you know, the high installation costs, the maintenance costs, the impact on our economy affecting tourism and fishing industries and the like...

Have they been adequately considered? I'm not so sure. They're claiming thousands of jobs. Do you buy it? I think it'll be equal. Thousands of jobs lost versus thousands of jobs gained. Okay. And to be honest, let's just say it'd be nice to see some facts and figures around this stuff. Hey, John, just before I let you go, Labor's Tanya Brown. She's also running for mayor. She's pro-wind farms, is she?

I wonder why. Yeah, sure. She's with Labor. You've got to follow the Labor ticket. You know, we've got people on ours that are for and others are against, such as I am. But, you know, it really does come down to what the cost...

versus benefit is, you know, the sustainability long-term. And at the end of the day, we've got alternatives. At the moment, let's work for a better, sustainable future. And importantly, get it right first and make it better. And as you said earlier, you know, there's other options. Let's wait for those. It's the kid in the lolly shop. I want it now. I want it now. But it doesn't necessarily run right. Good on you, John. Appreciate you coming on. All the best.

Thank you, Chris. All the best. That's John Dorrehy. He's a councillor at Wollongong running on the Liberal ticket to be the mayor of Wollongong. And Paul said, Chris, great to hear Joe Cool on the radio. It is Joe Cool. John Dorrehy, famous rugby league player for both Illawarra and Western Suburbs. Hell of a talent. 131873, social licence for offshore wind farms. I just think for something of this magnitude, you can't just say, oh, no, no, we're putting it in. No, no, no, no, no.

The community needs to be consulted properly on this. And I mean going to a vote. That is the democratic process. If we're having a vote on nuclear energy, as in Peter Dutton's plan, then surely we have a vote on putting wind turbines double the size of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, hundreds and hundreds of them, off the coast of Wollongong and Newcastle.

Surely that is worthy of a vote. What do you think? 131873. So if you live in the Liverpool area, I've been talking about the Office of Local Government's report into Liverpool Council and the Minister, Ron Honig, writing a letter to Mayor Ned Mnoon and the Council advising them of his intention to sack the Council and install an administrator. Now,

The council has decided to vote to take this to court. So the court matter has been adjourned to tomorrow or Monday, despite urgency. So that's what the government's doing. They're seeking an adjournment. They're not ready for this. The report is embarrassing. It is. And the people that put it together, they've clearly, it's just, it is embarrassing.

Anyway, I've had a look at the summons that the Liverpool City Council has sent to both the Minister Ron Honing. He has been asked to provide evidence in court for this injunction to stop the council being sacked and the election being suspended or delayed. And that's due in September. So effectively...

Democracy has been, the intention is, suspended in Liverpool because of, quote, dysfunction and maladministration. They're the allegations from the Office of Local Government. You go through the report, very hard to see how they stack up, those allegations. Regardless, you've got to test them. So they're holding a public inquiry to test the allegations. Test the allegations. If it comes back that...

You know, it's crook as rookwood, Liverpool Council, then sack the council. But you don't do that. You don't suspend the democratic process, the Labor government of a liberal council, just because of what a couple of investigators have said in the office of local government. They're not the police. They're not ICAC. You know, this is just an interim report. Hey, can you guys need to have a look at this more thoroughly? That's it.

Anyway, what is interesting, though, now they're all in court and running for cover. And Ron Honig, he's a barrister, don't forget. He should know better than the way he's acted thus far. He's blinked. It was supposed to be sacked today, Liverpool Council. He's decided, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that. We're going to give you another seven days until we make our minds up, the government. While the Office of Local Government has removed the report into Liverpool City Council from the website.

So maybe they're not backing their report so significantly as they once were. Again, I don't care if the council sacked or not. I don't care. But you don't do it unless you've got evidence to justify a decision like that. A lot of people live in the Liverpool City Council area and they deserve, and are entitled, to have their say as to who their councillors are in an elected representative democracy. That's how we work. It's not a kangaroo court.

The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Tracey's at Kingsgrove. Tracey, you've seen something on the roads now. Yeah, I just came through the M8 tunnel and there looks like a Uber Eats or similar delivery driver or rider on his bicycle riding through the M8 tunnel. So drivers should just keep an eye out for him. Oh no, which way is he going?

Westbound. Westbound on the M8. So westbound on the M8. Was it a pedal one? Was it pedal power or do you think it was one of those electric ones? Pedal power, for sure. Good on you, Tracey. Right, if you're in the M8 tunnel heading westbound, just yell out to the Uber Eats bloke that you can't ride your bike through the tunnels of Sydney. The WestConnex guys will be on to him. The Transurban guys that administer it, they'll be on to him.

So there is a cyclist in the M8 tunnel heading westbound, 131873. If you are waiting on a kebab or whatever it is, you might be waiting a little while. Rob's at Nowra. Hello, Rob. G'day, Chris. How are you going? Good, thanks. You want to talk about the wind farms?

Good, mate. Yeah, just a quick one. I asked questions of our local MP down here, Fiona Phillips, member for Gilmore, and I asked six specific questions about the costings for the wind farm off Wollongong and those related to the wind farm itself plus the infrastructure on land and land acquisition. All I was given was a direction to the report

And that was all, nothing else. So I pushed it further and I have a letter from her. I can read you two small paragraphs which cover the costings, if you like, which I believe are still commercial in confidence. But did you want me to read those paragraphs? Yeah, go for it, mate, briefly.

OK. Specifically in relation to the costings, with relation to your question about the costings, the Commonwealth is... Sorry, the cost to the Commonwealth is nothing. The companies will pay to build the offshore wind farms and the amount will be determined for what they are allowed to build once the environmental approvals and feasibility licences...

are in place. The cost of all offshore wind activities, including conducting environmental studies, building wind towers and ultimately decommissioning or recycling infrastructure, are the responsibility of a licence holder. And finally, to ensure the taxpayers are protected, the Australian government requires financial security from the developer. This is to ensure that the costs and expenses related to offshore infrastructure liabilities, such as the cost of decommissioning, are paid by the industry and not the government.

So that sort of covers it, I suppose. Good on you, Rob. I really appreciate that. Thank you for sharing that. It's not unsurprising if you are going to privatise things like this, then it would not be a cost to the taxpayer. But the cost to the taxpayer will be what we need to install in terms of backup generation when the wind's not blowing. And I just... Anyway. Stephen's at Gladesville. Hello, Stephen.

Good day. On this concept of social licence to operate, I understand in the past it used to be used for corporations. So you go away from shareholder interest to stakeholder interest, so employees and customers and whatever. I have no idea what social licence to operate has to do with nuclear energy.

and wind farms. I mean, why does one have a social licence to operate and the other doesn't? I just don't understand it. Maybe one of your listeners or you can enlighten me. Well, the idea of a social licence, you can apply it from business to anything in life, really. If you're talking about a project like the offshore wind farms, so a social licence is about the legitimacy of the project, the credibility of the project and the trust that you have in the government

And the proponent of that project. So if you can tick all those boxes, then yes, the offshore wind farm has a social licence to be built and operated off the coast of Wollongong and off the coast of Newcastle. But Stephen, do you think that this project is legitimate, has credibility and has the trust of the people of the Illawarra and the Hunter? No. Then it doesn't have a social licence. Good on you, Stephen. 131873.

Josh Bryant, get up. Good afternoon, Chris. A court has dismissed a class action from users of weed killer Roundup, finding there isn't enough evidence to prove the products are carcinogenic. A man has died after his truck fell into the water while he was trying to drive onto a vehicle ferry on the state's north coast. Two helicopter pilots have been killed in a collision in Western Australia's Kimberley region.

And three quarters of girls and young women surveyed by Plan International say they've been exposed to harmful behaviour online at some point. 10% say they're experiencing it daily. In sport, Australian surfer Jack Robinson has been injured while training just days out from the start of the Olympic surfing competitions, but is expected to be fit in time for the start of competition. We'll have more news in sport at five. Thanks, Josh.

All I wanted in retirement was to feel confident with my money. So I picked an income account with my industry super fund. Now I take enough for day-to-day things, splash out when I fancy, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. Alright, are you a Northern Beaches resident? If so, give us a call because I want to address the critical issue of Mona Vale Road. We've spoken about it at length here on this program, Mona Vale Road, and tragically we've seen another life lost on our Northern Beaches roads this week. And Independent Councillor Vincent De Luca...

He's up on the Northern Beaches. He is fed up and he's submitting a motion condemning the New South Wales State Government for its, quote, unfair attacks, neglect and funding cuts. I'm pleased to say Councillor De Luca's on the line for us. Vincent, thanks for your time. Thanks, Chris. Why has this fired you up so much? I think the Northern Beaches is sick and tired of seeing the very tragic and sad and avoidable fatalities and deaths

serious crash incidents on our main roads, particularly Mona Vale Road, on a regular basis. When you look at the crash data every year since 2010, for example, on average there's serious crash incidents, up to 100, even more,

year. We've had several fatalities over the years, one involving a poor 19-year-old boy. We had a fuel tanker streaming down that killed two people. And

You know, the government previously committed money to undertake works to protect people of the Northern Beaches and in its budget, Minister Mookie decided to withdraw $340 million to finish the actual roadworks and safety improvements on Mona Vale Road.

it's been promised for a long time hasn't it we have got somewhere there though haven't we we've seen some sort of upgrade recently

The upgrade hasn't finished and unfortunately because of that $340 million being withdrawn, it remains unfinished. It is indeed an unfinished worksite. It's got sand, rocks, debris everywhere and it is unsafe. What about locals? Frustrated? Exceptionally because accidents cause

cause closures and so Mona Vale Road is regularly closed, routinely closed. They can't get to their destinations. We lost Mona Vale Hospital, we lost Manly Hospital and our only local hospital is Northern Beaches Hospital at French's Forest. So the only way to get there is via Mona Vale Road or Wakers Parkway if you live on the north of the Northern Beaches. You don't want it to be right. Yeah.

Exactly. Exactly. Councillor, do you think that there is somewhere in the future where you can convince the Minns government, given that there is not a Labor member of parliament, Cooee, from anywhere on the Northern Beaches, you can convince the Minns government to do the right thing here?

I've always found Chris Minns to be a nice and reasonable person and so I hope to appeal to that reasonableness and bring to his attention that we cannot have any more deaths. We cannot have the serious accidents that we have and regardless of people's political voting history,

He, as Premier, and indeed the entire Labor government, have a responsibility to serving the needs and interests of all constituents, regardless whether it's Liberal, Labor, Green, Kalsumpian. And you're going to wear that the Northern Beaches Tunnel will not happen, right? You'll wear that? Yes. And that's sad, too, because as you know... It's sad, but it's not unsurprising.

No. And Gladys wasn't going to do it either. She talked a big game. Perrottet talked a big game. But I think when it came to the crunch, it was never going to be built.

Well, as you know, Labor has announced a huge increased development program on the northern beaches, particularly targeted. Now, that's fine if there was the infrastructure to cope, but at the present time, we're struggling with existing development to cope with. So it's hard. If they expect us to increase development, the Labor government wants to increase it by up to 30%, 40%.

well give us the infrastructure to cope with that.

Councillor, I really appreciate you coming on. I think you guys have got to make a little bit more noise. The Northern Beaches population, you live in a beautiful part of the world. I think you're pretty content with that. But you don't really get under the skin of governments all that often, so maybe it's time you do it. Yep, definitely agree. Councillor, thank you so much for your time. That's Councillor Vincent De Luca from the Northern Beaches. If you live on the Northern Beaches, tell me, what's it like? Mona Vale Road, Wakehurst Parkway. You know, it's...

It is a difficult part of the world to get in and out of and navigate, but I'm concerned that these roads are becoming unsafe. Throw Pitwater Road in there, of course. 131873. Now, another question I want to ask you, and just send me a text on this one, 0460873873, with Katy Perry. I'm a bit anti this. Katy Perry being signed as the headline act for the AFL Grand Final. Now, I reckon...

that Australian sporting organisations have an obligation to Australian bands to showcase Australian bands at our biggest events. So who would you like to see? What Aussie band, Aussie artist would you like to see play at the AFL Grand Final in the place of Katy Perry?

Send me a text, 0460 873 873. It's 14 minutes to 5, 131 873. Well, if you're in Queensland or your kids are going to schoolies on the Gold Coast, the Queensland government has just announced pill testing will be available at schoolies on the Gold Coast this year. So the Labor Health Minister in Queensland, Shannon Fentiman, has announced that a pill testing service will be rolled out in Surfers Paradise this

If the Labor government is returned, which they won't be. And she says this, the safety initiative is free, voluntary and confidential. And it involves the testing of substances a person intends to use, i.e. drugs, providing a health intervention that aims to change a person's behaviour and reduce their harms associated with illicit drug use. The LNP, the Liberals up there in Queensland.

they're going to win. And they've said, we won't be doing it. So it won't be happening. 131873. Just on the roads on the Northern Beaches, Richard's at Narrabeen. Hello, Richard. How are you today, Chris? I'm good, thanks. Richard, how are you?

Oh, mate, the craziness we got. Mate, I'm doing that to do a subdivision in my house. I'm building my own house. And I've got 1,000 tonnes to go out. I've got to take it all the way to the central coast from Mona Vale, push it with trucks to do that. To take all the spoil and everything?

Yep, if you take it to Kimbricky, tip, $200 a tonne. So you're talking about $200,000 plus yours, truck hire, plus, plus, plus. Now, I'm not issued about that as much. I'm more issued of how many trucks would be off the road. There is at least 1,000 movements of solar trucks every day at this place down here. Yeah.

All right, Richard. And that would be all off the road. I appreciate your call and I take your point. Unfortunately, trucks are a fact of life, but we do absolutely need to try to minimise truck movements on local roads. But I was only up on the northern beaches over the weekend and, jeez, there's a lot of residential work going down. It feels like every second home is being renovated up there. Greg's at North Manly. Hello, Greg. Oh, hello. What's your view, Greg? Can I show up?

I've lived here all my life and I'm close to Pitwater Road and the size of Pitwater Road hasn't changed since I went to primary school and I started in 1962. It's a bottleneck all the way from Warrington Mall to D.Y.

on Saturday and it's not getting any better. DY is going gangbusters so I don't know what the solution is but the road's exactly the same as they were in 1962 and Motovale Road they've done a bit of work on but that's been a work in progress since I was at high school. Greg, I'd say since there's a few more people on the northern beaches since 1962.

Yeah, certainly there is. But the roads haven't changed. At least down my end, down sort of North Manly, Corkel, Harbour, they're exactly the same as when I used to get the bus to school. Good on you, Greg. I appreciate that. 131873. One of the reasons for that, I hate to break it to you, good people of the Northern Beaches, is you don't like change.

You don't want trains. You don't want buses. You don't want tunnels in some instances. You don't like change very much. I get it. It's a beautiful part of the world. And you want to protect your patch as much as you can. But ultimately, I think governments over many, many years have sort of given up 131873.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Well, Katy Perry has officially been revealed as the major star who will play before the 2024 AFL Grand Final. So she reckons she's excited. She can't wait. Yada, yada, yada. However, with Katy Perry, I was thinking, right, there right now is a nationwide inquiry into the state of live music in Australia and...

where our young Australian musos are going to be able to crack it in the big time. The only way to do that is to showcase them to our country and potentially audiences overseas. So do we really need to import Katy Perry as the AFL's entertainment or can't we find a decent Aussie band? Who would you like to see play, Shane?

I'd say the Angels play, mate. You'd like to see the Angels play before the AFL Grand Final? Yeah, legends. Why is that, Shane? Well, he's not along with us, but he's just a legend of the band, the band culture. You know, going around pubs, doing live and...

Even Michael Hutchence. NXS, yeah. God bless him. Yeah, yeah, right. These types of bands, they don't need any synthesizers. They don't need any bloody recorders to enhance their voices. No. Right? They are just talent. How good are the Angels? Good on you, Shane. She keeps no, she keeps no, she keeps no secrets from you.

Hey, Frank's at Camden. Frank, who would you like to see play? ACDC. It's a long way to the top if you want to AFL. Frank Milwaukee, who do you want to play, mate? I'm hopeless. I wish I could. I'm a frustrated guitarist. You sound pretty good to me. Good on you, Frank. Let's go!

Bit of akedaka to fire them up before the AFL grand final. Roger says the AFL should definitely invest in getting Meatloaf back. Oh, stop it. Meatloaf, just no. No. Oh, it's never.

It never gets old. It never gets old. Here's a good one. Let's finish it off with a good one. This is from Brian. What about Russell Morris? Bring him back. Come and see the real thing. Come and see. Come and see the real thing. Come and see the real thing. Come and see. There's a meaning there, but the meaning there doesn't really mean. Come and see the real thing. Come and see the real thing. Come and see.

Now, this is interesting. So a 21-year-old man has been arrested and he's currently under police guard in hospital after an incident at Westfield Miranda. So police were called to a Miranda yesterday afternoon and there were reports of a man throwing bottles inside a bathroom on level one of Miranda Fair, as I know it, but Westfield Miranda.

And shoppers also reported on social media hearing an explosion in the bathroom. So the 21-year-old man was arrested. He was taken to hospital under police guard. They seized a knife, a bottle and a whole bunch of other items. But the counterterrorism unit has charged this guy, the 21-year-old.

So it's the counter-terrorism unit that's looking into this, and that makes me think that there might be more to this story. But clearly, he'll be in court at a date to be determined. 1318735 o'clock news is coming up very shortly. And remember all that talk about a hole in the ozone layer? Well, whatever happened to it, the science is fascinating.

All I wanted in retirement was to feel confident with my money. So I picked an income account with my industry super fund. Now I take enough for day-to-day things, splash out when I fancy, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past five. Thank you for your company on this Thursday afternoon. 131873 is our open line number. Text line 0460 873 873 or you can email me drive at 2gb.com. Coming up soon, we'll cross live.

To Paris, there has been more robberies and more drama on the streets of Paris, this time affecting a couple of Aussie athletes too. We'll dive into that. And a little later, the Sydney Women's Fund will join me because they're raising a whole bunch of money in crucial domestic violence appeal, in a crucial appeal. So let's get behind them. All that and more coming up. The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, do you remember when everybody was in a frenzy about the ozone layer? You know, there's a hole in the ozone layer. It was terrifying. It was the environmental scare of the 80s and 90s, wasn't it? The hole in the ozone layer. But it seems it's either fixed or it's just no longer a big deal. So once upon a time, scientists discovered this massive hole in the ozone layer.

Mainly over Antarctica and the crucial layer it shields us from UV rays that cause skin cancer, cataracts and other health issues. Now, they blamed chlorofluorocarbons, remember those? CFCs. Scientists blamed CFCs in the atmosphere for ripping a hole in the ozone layer. And those CFCs were found in aerosol cans and refrigerants.

But it was the Montreal Protocol of 1987 that was hailed as a global superhero of environmental agreements. And this was achieved, remember, during the Cold War. End of the Cold War, but still, while it was raging. And countries rallied worldwide and they phased out CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances. But according to this article on BBC Future, the ozone, the hole in the ozone layer has pretty well been fixed.

It's like we've patched it up. We've replaced CFCs with HCFCs. They're supposedly 2,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide, so there's a drama with them when it comes to climate change. But when it comes to the hole in the ozone layer, it's pretty well solved. Now, that is a great story, isn't it? Scientists reckon it will be completely healed by the 2050s. Now, why I thought this was interesting is shouldn't we be teaching our kids this?

Shouldn't we be telling our children and the next generation, hey, as a human population, we have made huge strides when it comes to doing good things for the environment, good things for the planet. It does not always have to be anxiety, human extinction and doom and gloom.

We solved acid rain. Remember that in the 90s? It was a major issue in Europe and America where acid rain, which was precipitation with high levels of sulfuric or nitric acids, and they were mainly caused by sulfur dioxide.

which was a gas that was produced when we burned coal. So there was so much pollution in the air that when it rained, the rain became acidic, acid rain. It stripped forests, it polluted lakes, it killed wildlife, rivers were a disaster. Do you hear about it anymore? Nope. Because it's pretty well sorted out. Just like we have drastically improved the water quality in Sydney Harbour,

Just like the global humpback population, humpback whales, right? They are currently increasing the population by 7 and 12% each and every year because we've effectively wiped out whaling. So can we please just give ourselves a little bit of credit and can we teach the next generation it's not all bad. Human beings have been doing and are continuing to do really good things for the climate and for the environment.

Now, we're constantly told that's not the case. Our kids are constantly told that's not the case. But just look at the hole in the ozone layer. That is proof we can do it if we want to, and we will continue to do it because we've basically fixed it. I'm just a big advocate of being positive where positivity is demanded and is earned. And in this case, it certainly is.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Well, there's drama already for the Australians in Paris. Well, how about this? Dolphins coach Michael Palfrey. So he's a swimming coach, right? He's the Australian swimming coach. He's told South Korean media he hoped world champion Kim Woo-min would defeat Australian medal hopefuls Elijah Winnington and Sam Short in the men's 400 metre freestyle.

Michael Palfrey is coaching our swimmers right now, but he wants them to lose? What's doing there? Clinton Maynard's in Paris. Hopefully he's got a little bit of info on this. What's going on here, Clinton?

This is astonishing, Chris. Good afternoon. And it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Michael Palfrey will be sent home. There will be talks later this morning involving the head coach, Rowan Brown, and Swimming Australia and the chef, Domitian Annamese, about his future. At the moment, or over the past few hours, he's actually been on the pool deck with

Australian swimmers. But yesterday, he spoke to South Korean media and he does work with Kim Woo Min away from the Olympic Games. And a lot of international athletes do train up on the Gold Coast and various facilities across the country. But come Olympic Games time...

different story. He has Australian swimmers under his control. And look, he is a champion 400-metre swimmer. But Palfrey told the media in South Korea via a conference here, he said, there will be three or four of them in the race that I think can win. I think it's going to come down to the last 100 metres. We need Wu Min to lift. And that's what I'll be saying to him.

He's got to race tough. That's what I'll be saying to him during the Olympic Games. And then he apparently ended the interview by saying, go Korea.

Now, Anna Mears has just spoken about this. She's heading up our whole team. And she says she has now spoken to Palfrey, along with the head coach as well, Rowan Taylor. And she would not elaborate on the details of that conversation other than Palfrey has now apologised. There will be further talks later this morning. Just punt him.

Well, the reason he has not been punted yet, the swimmers, they've been training and Anamir wants to talk with Rowan Taylor, the boss. They want to talk to their swimmers because they don't want them disrupted. They may, if they see their own coach, who also coaches this Korean fella, be sent back on the plane, it might really upset them. It might disrupt their preparations as far as what he just said. So that's why no call's been made yet. But don't be shocked if later today we're reporting this bloke's on the plane.

back to the Gold Coast where he comes from in Queensland. He's not the head coach? No, he's not the head coach. There are eight coaches here. There are eight coaches here and they are controlled by swimming...

Rowan Taylor is the head coach. Anna Mears says the AOC won't make the decision. They will let Swimming Australia, in consultation with her, make the decision, and she will back Swimming Australia. This is very Eddie Jones. This is very Eddie Jones. Go and coach the Wallabies and then do a Zoom meeting to coach Japan. Standing pool deck. Hey, guys, go Korea, and you're the Australian swimming coach 48 hours out from the Olympic game. Is he all right, this guy? But

But even at the World Cup, Eddie wasn't on the sidelines saying, go Japan. He might have been. He said it here. Just a quote. He said, we need Wu Min to lift. And that's what I'll be saying to him. He's got to race tough. He shouldn't be talking to the bloke at the moment. And I know I'm sounding a bit biased here, but we can do it at the Olympic Games. It's astonishing. Yeah, but that's your job. That's your job.

It's not working for Channel 9 and going, go Channel 7. What are you talking about, mate? You don't work for that. Anna Mears says she has found the swimmers to be very professional. She doesn't believe it will disrupt them, these comments. But if he manages to keep his job, it'll be because they are concerned that they don't want to put the swimmers off their game in the next couple of days. I think poor Michael Palfrey, his days as an Australian swimming coach may have come to an end with some pretty...

silly comments. Now, I've heard there's some dramas too with crime and the like, some people getting robbed. What can you tell me about that?

Look, Ed, we've been covering this throughout the last couple of days. And again, Australian Olympic team management say this is part and parcel of being in big city. Logan Martin's a BMX star. He travels all over the world on the back of his BMX. BMX is part of the Olympic Games. He has been in Brussels, Belgium, training. His van was broken into. The windows were smashed. And

and his personal items were stolen. Thankfully, his bikes weren't stolen. He's now arrived in Paris, and Anna's spoken to him. He's OK. He had those Apple AirTags in his bag. Oh, that's good. And so these bags were stolen from his van, and he found the bags dumped in a park nearby and got them back, which is good. But, well, it was stolen. But his bike and his actual equipment is OK. And, look, it's another example of what we're dealing with. You know, not just...

in Paris, but across the whole country. They are at pains, Olympic officials here are at pains to point out, look, this is the reality of being in a big city. I did notice when I was just walking through part of the media centre area here,

huge numbers of police today, like a lot more police. And I know people who've, and I've been to a few games, but quite a few people have compared the security at the moment compared to, say, Sydney, yeah, it's 24 years ago, and it is really different. It's...

It's much, much tighter than it has been in the past. So you can feel safe in Paris, but you've got to take some care. What is a drama, though, Chris, is the transport. Yeah, what's happening? And this happens at every Olympic Games. Well, how about this? Transport for the athletes. So forget about spectators, forget about media and tourists. Transport for the athletes appears to be a shambles and is regularly delayed to the point that women's hockey team were heading to their training venue. They get on board the bus...

They turn up at the rugby stadium, not their training venue. We're in Paris, not Brisbane. This isn't a one-off. It's happening all the time. We're told maybe not being taken to different venues, but delays to the point our athletes are regularly missing physio sessions, training commitments. Yeah.

So again, Anna Mears says, look, this is what happens often in Olympic Games. There are teething problems at the start. But she says she is talking to the IOC because they've got to sort it out. There are 14,000 athletes in total taking part. It's not an easy situation. But you can't have your hockey players turning up to a rugby pitch. No, you can't. Hey, Clinton, before I let you go, I heard you sampled a crepe the other day. How do they go in comparison to the creperie? Is it a creperie? Do you have a creperie in Engadine?

There's no crepe for you in Engadine, but the crepe was very good. It was very good. But that was, I had a little drama earlier. So I have been criticised for having a limited palate. And I had been to KFC and I'd been to McDonald's and I said, well, finally, I'm going to go to one of their local stores. So lob up to this place and I see a picture of a burger and there's a word cheddar. And I think, well, hang on, cheeseburger. So I've asked for the cheeseburger. It was not a cheeseburger.

It was not a cheeseburger. I'm kidding. It was some sort of... I don't know what it was. Chips and cheese and something like that. I think I'm going to go back to KFC. Don't, Clinton. Get involved in the French cuisine. It's some of the best in the world. I sampled plenty. Good on you, Clinton. Enjoy. That's Clinton Maynard. He's our Olympics reporter here at 2GB. But what about this guy? Michael Palfrey. You're an assistant coach for the Australian swimming team and you give...

A media interview pool deck to the South Korean media spruiking Kim Woo Min, a South Korean swimmer, over Elijah Winnington and Sam Short, the Australians. And then you finish up saying, go Korea. Michael, hello. 23 past five, 131873 is our open line number. Now, I've just received a notice here saying,

to point me to the fact that in a queen square tomorrow in town at the law courts building gladys beragiclian versus the independent commission against corruption judgment will be handed down at 10 15 a.m so this is the former premier ms beragiclian taking on icac and

when they made the determination that she was seriously corrupt. So she is trying to get this struck out in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the judgment tomorrow.

Now, I don't think most people in the state of New South Wales have held or given much truck at all to what ICAC had to say. They saw Gladys Berejiklian for who she was, a diligent and very hardworking Premier who did a lot right for the state of New South Wales. And I feel like a lot of people felt quite sorry for her, to be honest. Regardless, others say, you know what, ICAC did what ICAC did and the seriously corrupt TAG

Must stand. Well, that will be up to the Supreme Court with Chief Justice Bell tomorrow to hand down his judgment. Berejiklian v. The Independent Commission Against Corruption. 10.15am. First with the news. Only in Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Well, there's a cheating scandal engulfing women's soccer at the Olympics. This story in the Financial Review. Because apparently rogue coaching staff in the Canadian team, the defending champions, they allegedly sent spy drone flights over the New Zealand team's training sessions. So they're spying on them. So the Canadians, defending champions, right?

have sent, allegedly, drones up to check out what the New Zealand women's soccer team is doing on their training sessions. So it came just two days before they're supposed to play each other. And it's supposed to be a pretty spicy match. It'll be even spicier now. So the New Zealanders revealed on Tuesday they'd spotted a drone flying over their training session and they reported it to police. And it later emerged there'd been an earlier drone flight earlier in the week.

And it turns out that the Canadians are to blame. So Team Canada hastily apologised. They told the New Zealanders they were investigating the circumstances and they're blaming a Canadian football team official by the name of Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst with Canadian Soccer.

And they're calling him a rogue. And they're saying, well, it's got nothing to do with us. This bloke's a rogue. We can't help you. Sorry about that. We won't say anything that we saw in the drone footage. Well, as if. The Kiwis and the Canadian women. Gee whiz. Talk about a cheating scandal at the Olympics of all places. 131873. Now, this is a great little email I received. It's a beautiful email. And this is from Vince.

and I'm going to read it all out because I think it's a great one this Thursday afternoon to share with you all. Good afternoon, Chris. I hope you and the members of your team are well. We are. Thank you, Vince. A positive story for a Thursday afternoon, a shout-out to a young staff member at Nando's in Chatswood. My son went to purchase food this afternoon with cash, and they advised him... Nando's. They do not accept cash. The young man serving my son...

instead paid for the food with his own debit card and then allowed my son to reimburse him with cash. Now here's a twist. When my son went to check his food, he noticed that his money was in the bag as well as a packet of chips that he did not order. My son said to the young man that he forgot to take the money for the food. The young man replied to my son, the money was his and he would not accept it.

My son indicated the staff member was a young man of around 20 years of age. This is proof there is hope with the next up and coming generation. Chris, good on you, Vince.

And good on you to that young staff member, around 20 years old, at Nando's at Chatswood. I'll make sure the guys send this off to Nando's HQ too, the media team or whoever it is, just to see if we can give this young staff member, you know, Employee of the Month or Employee of the Year or just a big pat on the back because he deserves it. What a really lovely thing to do.

this Thursday afternoon. A little boy going up to Nando's at Chatswood. He only had cash. They don't accept cash. So you know what? The staff member does it for him. 131873. A news update. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-grade delivering Kia Seltos for Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Good afternoon again, Chris. A former coal miner who worked at sites in New South Wales, Queensland and WA has been awarded more than $3 million in damages by the New South Wales Dust Disease Tribunal for diseases caused by exposure to mine dust.

Police say they're still investigating why a man was in a street in Sydney's east armed with a gun. Two men were arrested after a pursuit and police operation sparked by reports from residents in Dover Heights. The Prime Minister will reshuffle his frontbench team for the first time in two years after Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor decided to retire from federal politics. And a growing number of hotels say they're cashing in on a trend known as sleep tightness.

tourism by offering rooms boasting extra offers for more sleep-deprived guests. In sport, Australian athletes are experiencing significant inconveniences because of problems with the Olympic transport system in Paris. In one example, the hockey team was taken to the main rugby stadium rather than their training venue. We'll have more news in sport at six.

Good on you, Josh. I appreciate that. 131873. Coming up, I'll check in with Deb Knight to see how the markets fared today. And I'll speak with the Sydney Women's Fund because they're trying to raise some money for a crucial domestic violence appeal. And we're going to help them out.

All I wanted in retirement was to feel confident with my money. So I picked an income account with my industry super fund. Now I take enough for day-to-day things, splash out when I fancy, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. It's 26 to 6. A weather update. We'll be here to help in unexpected weather. NRMA Insurance.

They're expecting a potential late shower this afternoon. Right now, 19 degrees in the city and 18 in the west. It was quite warm for this time of year, to be honest. Temperatures tonight will dip to 13 in the city and 12 in our west. Tomorrow, showers. Tops of 20 in the city tomorrow and 19 in the west.

Well, the winds are picking up and the clouds are thickening ahead of a significant cold front set to cross tomorrow, bringing it with a mix of rain and snow. Blizzard conditions expected above about 1,400 metres this evening.

No significant snowfalls over the last 24 hours to report. Four of the five lifts are open at Charlotte Pass. Perisher has 44 of 48 lifts open. At Threadbow, 10 of the 14 are open. And in Selwyn, five of the nine lifts are open. Ben will have another ski and snow update tomorrow morning, all thanks to Red Energy.

A finance update. Experience the magic at Masterton Homes Warwick Farm Display Village. Open every day, 9am to 5pm. With two brand new Masterton designs on display.

Deb Knight's got money news tonight after 7 o'clock. Deb, how'd the markets fare? Oh, look, it was really awful, actually. Wall Street had a shock. It was a nightmare US market. It set the dismal scene for the local share market, not just here in Australia, but all around the world. But it was red right across the boards. The ASX 200 plunged at the open. It ended at a two-week low. It was down 1.3% or 102 points to 7,861. Every single sector went backwards. Tech went down.

and discretionary stocks fell the hardest, and the dollar, the currency, continues to freefall. It's now worth just 65.5 US cents. So, yeah, the US sneezed, and we all caught a pretty awful cold. I was reading something about the Wall Street thing.

And it's about earnings out of artificial intelligence, some of these artificial intelligence companies. Are we seeing a potential dot-com bubble here? Well, that's the fear. And I mean, Tesla is the one who's driven the big losses and they reported their results after the market closed. So that's why we've seen the falls today, overnight our time in the US.

But Tesla's, you know, basically the EV sales aren't as strong as they want. Alphabet, though, the owners of Google, they also had big losses. So it's those big, the magnificent seven, as they're called, these big tech stocks. I mean, I don't think it'll be the bubble will be burst. The AI is the way of the future. And there's still, you put into perspective, though, that the NASDAQ has been breaking huge records, even with the plungers. It's still up 11% in the past six months and 22% in the past year. So it's come from big highs, but...

But it's sort of been a correction, that's for sure, on those markets. Now, did you hear me talking about Katy Perry before? I did. And I've got to say, I'm a little bit in your camp, but a little bit not. Because I reckon we've got such great Australian acts that we should be showcasing at these big events. The AFL Grand Final. It's huge. It's a top couple of sporting events that we hold in Australia each year. And Cold Chisels touring this year. You know, get Barnsley out there belting it out. I mean, Katy Perry, it's good to get the big,

international acts because it's a great way to showcase the game, not just locally, but also to get a few eyeballs from overseas. And Katy Perry is a good performer. She's great. You know, raw, get it out there. Firework, that'll go off. Absolutely go off. But I think Aussie acts, we need to showcase them too. I just feel that there is, there's a Senate inquiry going on about this.

What about Katy Perry? What about the state of the music industry in Australia? And then we've got the AFL, one of the biggest sporting organisations or organisations in the country. They go, you know, what are we going to do? We're going to get Katy Perry. And everyone's going to cheer. But I like the idea in the wake of, you know, Taylor Swift coming out here, the calls by the local artists to have local performers as the backup acts for these big names who come. Have it local.

you know, put in stone that you've got to have a local performer. Sabrina Carpenter was Taylor Swift's backup. She's drunk. No. She's pom, isn't she? No, yeah. So it would have been a great way for Taylor Swift to showcase some fantastic Aussie acts. So I think that's a really good way when you've got these big names to come out here. But, yeah, look, Katy Perry, she'll be fantastic. Better than Kiss, though. Kiss last year. Do you think Katy Perry would be better than Meat Life? Oh, I love you.

Can you turn it off? I reckon Katy Perry could beat the late great Meatloaf. I think that's a guaranteed. I think that's a dead cert. We shouldn't laugh. No, well, we should because it was awful. It was very funny.

Thank you, Deb. That's Deb Knight with Money News after 7 o'clock. 131873. By the way, it's the final Money News tonight for a few weeks too because, of course, the Olympics will kickstart with Wide World of Sports at 6pm each night. So that's it for Deb Knight. Of course, though, catch her on Current Affair. 131873.

What have we got coming up next? I'll speak to the Sydney Women's Fund. Every dollar being matched in crucial domestic violence appeal. I reckon this is an important one given everything that's gone on with domestic violence in our communities. This is a big appeal and it's one where we can do some good. Now, the domestic violence crisis we're facing at the moment, I think we can all agree, is extremely serious.

And current statistics show that 17% of women have experienced violence by a partner since the age of 15. 17%. And the rate of women killed by an intimate partner in Australia has increased 30% in the last year. Well, how can we help? It feels like it can feel a little helpless, I suppose.

But the Sydney Women's Fund is hosting a domestic violence appeal and their goal is to raise $1 million. And right now, every dollar you give is being matched. Lisa Grinham is the head of the Sydney Women's Fund and she's on the line for us. Lisa, g'day. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm really well, Lisa. Great to talk to you. So the Sydney Women's Fund, can you tell us what you do?

So we were set up about 16 years ago and with the goal of supporting Sydney's most vulnerable women. And as you rightly said, domestic violence in this city has reached crisis point. So when we saw what was unfolding, we just had to act because we are here to support women across Sydney as best we can. So we did launch this ambitious approach

So where do the donations go though? Because I know that's always one sort of people can be hesitant in donating to funds like yours. Can you tell us where they go? So we've chosen 10

10 smallish charities who we've gotten to know over many years. So basically, you know, we've checked out these charities so people can feel really, really comfortable that the money is going to where it's most needed. And we've picked a cross-section of charities. So we've got some who are working...

in the immediate need. So when women flee a violent situation, they head to a shelter. So we've got a number of shelters which are there to support and protect the women and they also provide trauma counselling to the women. We've got a couple of organisations who are helping to educate our young men around respectful relationships and consent, which we know is incredibly important.

at the moment and into the future. And then we've also got some organisations who are working to advocate for stronger and more effective policies and legislation for the future. So it's a diverse range of organisations because there isn't a one-size-fits-all when it comes to domestic violence.

It's a very, very complicated issue. And so we felt that we could best serve the women who are in this situation, women and children, in fact, by reaching out to a number of small organisations who we know are doing incredible work. So they've all been checked off by you?

Absolutely, yep. They're organisations that we have, in many cases, we've known for many, many years. So absolutely, we stand by them and we know the incredible work they're doing. So it sounds like now's the time to donate. How much have you raised so far and where can we do it?

So we've nearly raised $700,000, which is extraordinary, but we do have a goal of reaching a million. And the reason for that is that we just know that the need is so dire. So we'd love your listeners to reach in and make a donation if they can. And as you said, all donations are being matched at the moment. So if you can afford to make a $50,000 donation,

donation that will mean a hundred dollars will get to a woman and her kids and you know if you can be a bit more generous two thousand dollars becomes four thousand dollars and to make a donation you just need to head to our website which is sydneywomensfund.org.au and you'll see a section there which is to donate to the domestic violence appeal and it's just as easy as

clicking on that and making a donation. Good on you, Lisa. Hey, $100 is coming from me. I've just donated then. So if I'm going to ask my listeners to donate, I'll donate myself. Lisa, all the best with it, and I hope it's a raging success as it always is. So thank you so much.

Awesome, Chris. Thank you. That's Lisa Grinnum from the Sydney Women's Fund. So to donate, sydneywomensfund.org.au and find the domestic violence appeal. It took me two seconds. Very easy to do. Get behind it. It's something. We've got to try our best every single which way we can to slow this down and put an end to it because it is just not on. Inside word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Just on the AFL Grand Final, Bridget's called in from Narrabri. Hello, Bridget. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Bridget. What do you want to talk about? Oh, no. Well, I don't know if your listeners will remember, but the quintessential Aussie entertainers, Kath and Kim, singing Lady Bump at the AFL Grand Final in the early 2000s. Bring them back. Bring Kath and Kim back.

Absolutely. Sorry, I'm a bit out of breath. I've been in the garden. So when the organisers, you know, the AFLC, oh, and everyone they sit down, they go, righto.

Who's going to do the pre-match entertainment? We've got Kath and Kim or we've got Katy Perry. What do you reckon they're going to say? I don't know. Look, Katy Perry's great and, you know, she's the current generation and all that, but just a bit of entertainment for us older crews and crews. Good on you, Bridget. Have a good afternoon. Look at me, please. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.

Now I've got one word to say to you, Kim. Alright, do you want to win a bit of free petrol? 131873. 131873 if you want to play the duel for fuel. It's all thanks to Shell V-Power. $200 up for grabs. If you think you're up for it, 131873. We'll do it next.

On 2GB Drive, let's Jewel for Fuel. Yes, we are Jeweling for Fuel this Thursday afternoon. $200 of it all thanks to Shell V-Power, our contestants. I've got Jeff at Pennant Hills. G'day, Jeff. Hey, Chris. How you going? I'm good, thank you, Jeff. And Bill's at Manly. G'day, Bill. Hey, Chris. How you going? I'm good, thank you, Bill. Well done. You're starting us off. You ready? Yep. Your time starts now. True or false, Kenya is in Asia.

Correct. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall? 92 or 89? 89. Correct. How many metres are there in a kilometre? 1,000. Correct. What is the capital of China? Beijing. Correct. How many innings are there in a game of cricket, test cricket? Four. Correct. What is the distance around a circle called? Croman. What's that, mate?

I was going to say the conference. It is correct. Bill, six for you. That's an outstanding effort. Those questions are very easy. Hey, Geoff, you ready? Yeah, that was tough. I reckon this, I'm just having a quick look. This might be a bit harder. Sorry. Your time starts now. Which town is furthest away from Sydney, Goulburn or Wombat? Wombat. Correct. Adam Ashley Cooper played which professional sport in Australia?

Rugby union. Correct. Damon Albarn is the lead singer of which rock band? Blur or Oasis? Oasis. Blur. What country is Heathrow in? UK. Correct. What kind of animal is an albatross? A bird. Correct. Which actor portrayed Jack in the Titanic movie? Done. Gone. Bloody old French girls, Jack.

Yeah. Leo. You should have given me the first one. You still went pretty well. That was Leonardo DiCaprio, of course. Well done, Bill. $200 of free fuel coming your way. It is the Jewel for Fuel, and we do it every afternoon here on Drive.

And now, a preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-cred delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT. Adam Hawes has Wide World of Sports coming up for you next. Hawesy, I've just got some breaking news in the world of rugby league. You ready? Michael Kariannis reporting.

Daniel Saifidi from the Newcastle Knights has just completed a medical with the St George Illawarra Dragons and there are some minor issues with a shoulder injury, nothing serious. The sides remain some way apart on how much the Knights need to contribute.

But the Dragons might need to up their offer if he is to leave the Knights. There you go. What do you think? He's part of the shake-up at Newcastle. He's a good player, Daniel. So the Newcastle Knights, their salary cap's non-compliant. They're in massive trouble with their salary cap. They've got to move people on. They're going to shed some players. It'd be a good pick-up for the Dragons. They were after Utukamonu at one stage, the Red V, but they've moved on from that one. Not happening.

Yeah, yeah. Big night, actually. NRLW kicks off tonight. The Knights up against the Roosters in Newcastle. We'll speak to Joey Johns. Some big clashes there. Tameka Upton up against Isabel Kelly. The list goes on. What about Trent Barrett? He said today that he got the phone call from Jason Riles. You're not needed. Thanks for your time. They're good mates. That's a tough call to make. They've played with each other. Yeah. Long period of time. Have you got friends? Would you say that to one of your mates? Well, you've got to do what you've got to do. But I hate to break it to Baz. Like, he's had a couple of goes at it.

They've got a lot of injuries, Parramatta at the moment. Oh, yeah, but you know, Canterbury Manly, Parramatta, hello.

We've got to be brutal about these things. Yeah, fair enough. If I was Rossi, I'd do the same thing. Yeah, clean slate. I'm with you. He's got to start afresh. He'll buy him a skirner. Yeah, they'll still be mates. We've got a great interview tonight. Matt Formston is a para-surfer, 3% vision. He's part of this documentary, The Blind Sea. He's taken on Nazare, Portugal, those huge waves you can't see. Amazing, amazing story. Scary. Adam Kingsley's on as well, the GWS coach. Are you excited for the Olympics? Pumped. Let's get into it.

Good on you, Horsey. That's Adam Hawes up next with Wide World of Sports. He always laughs at me, Horsey. It can't work if I'm taking him seriously on order, if I'm taking the mickey out of him. Regardless, Wide World of Sports coming up next. That's it from me. 3 p.m. tomorrow, I'll be back. Bye-bye. Kate Sobrano in the studio, by the way. Talk then. ♪♪♪