2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full show July 24 01:51:02

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. It's a stunning winter's Wednesday, isn't it? Hope you're getting out in some of that sunshine now. Have you seen the new primary school curriculum?

The idea is no more rubbish being taught in classrooms, just facts. Now, I really like this, but will the teachers stick to the script or will political creativity continue to infect our classrooms? Pruka, the Education Minister, she'll join me in about half an hour's time. And there's a new report that's poured cold water on Peter Dutton's nuclear energy proposal.

And this report reckons that Australia will not get our hands on these nuclear reactors until the late 2040s. Is that true? I'll interrogate that. And the Brisbane Olympics talk about the Clayton's games they're planning in Queensland.

It is shaping up to be a national embarrassment. Jump on 2GB.com if you want to see what the main stadium is going to look like. A dead set looks as rudimentary as Belmore Oval. Can this Olympics be saved? We'll dive into that after 4.30. Lots to give away too. $200 of free fuel and anatomical pillow from the Rockdale Mattress Factory too. Right now, 21 degrees at Ashfield and 21 at Anningrove.

First, the Albanese government has folded. They've reinstated the ASIO boss, Mike Burgess, to the National Security Committee and it was always very bizarre why he was removed in the first place. Olivia Kaisley, she broke this story on Sky News and she joins us. Olivia, g'day. Hey, how are you? I'm good, thank you. What can you tell us about this?

Well, look, this is a pretty major backflip. So what I've learned is that the ASIO Director General, Mike Burgess, he's basically been reinstated as a permanent member of the National Security Committee. And this is a group that's really important. It consults on the national security matters, the most sort of urgent and high risk matters. And at the time, it was

super controversial that his role had been diluted in the first place. So what we're seeing today is a pretty major backflip. And more than that, I've obtained an FOI essentially showing that he was removed from this permanent position in January of last year. So that was just six months

into the Albanese government. And ultimately, there has been concern in the intelligence communities within Australia of that decision in the first place. What was the justification for removing the head of ASIO from the National Security Committee? It makes no sense. How did they justify it?

Well, we'll remember that Labor never confirmed this happened in the first place. So they cited national security matters as being the reason why they couldn't confirm whether Mike Burgess's position had been diluted. So there's been no confirmation on, you know, the official government channels. However, I've confirmed independently through very senior sources that this did indeed happen. And this FOI does show that...

irrespective of the reason, we don't know why, that this role was diluted. It seems strange though, don't you think? You're sitting there around the National Security Committee of Cabinet, you're trying to get briefings on all things about keeping Australians safe from both domestic and foreign enemies. Domestic enemies being the remit of ASIO and you don't have the bloke in charge of the agency in the room. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And under the change, I'm told that he was only kind of consulting on a case-by-case basis. And this was a significant change from how things operated under the former coalition government. So at the time, the head of both ACO and ACES, so that's the big organisation that looks after the intelligence services, they were both permanent members. So they were giving classified advice on issues affecting security and sovereignty all the time.

Hmm. It's a very, it's a very strange move. What have the federal government said about the fact that they've reinstated him? Have they said anything about it? Look, I've had no, uh, official confirmation on the record, uh, but privately, uh, I'm, uh,

being told that there is support for this. As we know, we're in an increasingly precarious security situation. I mean, even in recent weeks, we've seen two alleged Russian spies being arrested. It is a cause for concern more generally. And so I think it's being received as a common sense decision. Great story. Thank you for coming on, Olivia. I appreciate it.

My pleasure. Thank you. That's Olivia Kaisley. She broke the story on Sky News 131873. Geez, they do some strange things, the Albanese government. It's what it's been, 18 months, and now they've reinstated Mike Burgess. High time, don't you reckon? Well, have you seen the new AEMO report? Yep, this is the Energy Market Operator, and it's just released its quarterly energy dynamics report.

And winter weather has led to wind generation and hydro generation falling off a cliff. So listen to these stats. In the June 2024 quarter, low wind speeds reduced rainfall in the southern regions. So decreases in electricity supplied. So a 20% drop in wind generation. An 18% drop in pumped hydro.

So you know what filled the void? You know what's kept the lights on, kept our heaters on, kept our hospitals going? Gas up 16% and black coal up 7%. And that was thanks to Queensland's black coal-fired generators producing electricity at a rate of knots.

So the CEO of AEMO, Daniel Westerman, he said that colder weather has driven a new record for total electricity demand. And very clearly, very clearly, it was gas and it was coal that got us out of the you-know-what. It's extraordinary, right? We're building all these offshore wind farms and proposing wind farms on beautiful arable land. Yet when we need it, when there is a record for total electricity demand...

In a cold winter in the middle of the year in Australia, wind, the generation drops 20% and hydro drops 18%. What are we spending on snowy hydro 2.0 at the moment? Well, Peter Dutton, he's been pretty, well, it's understandable when he simply says we can't continue on this path. We can't continue a situation that Labor has us on of a renewables-only policy because, as we know, your power prices are just going to keep going up under this Prime Minister.

We also know that we're going to see blackouts and brownouts. We don't want a California-type situation in our country where there are scheduled blackouts and brownouts because businesses just won't stay here. High energy use businesses won't compete. They can't manufacture in an environment like that. They go to Malaysia or they'll go to Wyoming or somewhere else in the world where they can get reliable and cheaper energy.

So not just that, but 23% higher our power bills have been. 23% higher than the quarter before.

of 2023, this time last year. So much for the $300 we're getting off, the $275 that Chris Bowen promised us before the last election, right? It is all hogwash. 131873. Well, Kamala Harris, she's opened up a lead on Donald Trump in the US presidential race. And this is according to a Reuters Ipsos poll.

So there's a two percentage point lead. Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump. And the poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday. And it followed both the Republican National Convention where Trump, of course, was nominated. And after Biden announced he was leaving the race and Harris was to be endorsed. So Harris, whose campaign says she's secure the Democratic nomination now, so it's done.

She led Trump 44% to 42% in the national poll. It's very, very interesting, isn't it? And other polls have her within the margin of error. So while some say, oh, well, fait accompli, Donald Trump will become the next president, I still believe he will. I still believe he will be elected president of the United States in November. Clearly, Kamala Harris is telling a story to the people of the United States that they're buying at this point.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Now, I feel like I'm the only one stating the obvious with Rose Hill Racecourse, that the plans to turn it into 25,000 apartments, they are premature and they are riddled with problems. And I think the spin around the selling off of Rose Hill Racecourse has been amateur and unfair too. Unfair for the racing industry,

And unfair for the members of the Australian Turf Club, the members who own the asset that is Rose Hill Racecourse. Rose Hill is theirs and theirs only to sell. The members of the ATC. But I've got some more information on where all this is at. And Chris Minns isn't going to like this.

But the issue that needs to be settled is this. How much money can selling Rose Hill and building apartments deliver for the ATC and the thoroughbred industry as a whole? How much money can this thing raise? The problem is nobody can answer this properly. Some say, oh, it could be as high as sort of $6 or $7 billion. Others say, oh, no, that's fanciful. It's a lot less than this. Now, behind the scenes, there are a whole bunch of reports that have been commissioned,

to stack this up to see exactly what kind of money could be raised selling Rose Hill off and that report will then be taken to the membership to convince them to do it. But I know for a fact that developers are warning both the ATC and the government that this $5, $6, $7 billion figure, it's fanciful.

Because there is no Australian developer that has that kind of money to make an upfront payment. So forget that. No one's going to come in, hand over the cash and buy the whole site. Won't happen. So what you could have to do is sell off plots, almost like a land release program. And you stage it over a period of time because you can't flood the market with the same product. Otherwise, you'll affect the sale price. You'll be selling apartments a hell of a lot cheaper than you hope to.

So you're potentially talking sort of 10, 15, 20 years to realize the full proceeds of the sale of Rose Hill. And the way things are with building at the moment, the fundamentals of which are unlikely to change in that time, there might not be many developers willing to grab those sites anyway because they can't make money from them. So if the $6 or $7 billion to save racing by selling Rose Hill is untrue, is a furphy, is it really worth it?

Is it really worth selling it? Well, the answer is no, of course it's not. So here's my question. Why did the ATC and the Minsk government so enthusiastically go down this path where none of the work had been done? Why did they make claims of big dollar windfalls on the front page of the Telegraph and the Herald and do these big media events and talk about the closure of Rose Hill and put a date on it?

as well as, oh, we're going to open a track at Horsley Park, where none of that work had been done. Are the Premier and his team embarrassed by this? They certainly aren't talking about the sale of Rose Hill anymore, are they? Because they know what I'm saying is true. So was it New South Wales Labor so desperately trying to get a good headline on housing that they just sold the voters an empty box? Or were they sold snake oil by the ATC?

One of those is the truth, because the members of the ATC are the ones who have been, in my opinion, disrespected through this process. It is up to them what they should do with their property. Not the government, not the media, not racehorse trainers, not anybody else.

but the membership of the ATC, because they will make the decision that suits the club that they pay their fees to be a member of. That's how these things work. And if they think they're getting six, seven, five billion dollars, it ain't going to happen. So I would say this is even more dead in the water than I thought it was.

20 past 3. It's 24 past 3. 131873 is our open line number. If you want to text me, of course, 0460873873. Or you can email me, drive at 2GB.com. Just a quick reminder for anyone who wants to pay their respects to our great mate and colleague, David Thirsty Morrow. So his funeral service will be held tomorrow at 11 a.m.,

And there will be a live stream of it. We will put the link to the live stream on 2GB.com. So if you jump on the website, 2GB.com, just before 11am, you will be able to watch Thirsty's Funeral. Legend of a bloke. And I think it's important that we all come together to honour him and support his family during what is no doubt a very, very difficult time.

And David's family says, please make a donation to the Mark Hughes Foundation in Thirsty's honour. If you want it, and don't send flowers or anything like that. Just make a donation if you feel that's what you'd like to do to the Mark Hughes Foundation. And that's, of course, in honour of Thirsty's battle with brain cancer in the latter part of his life. But all the information is on our website, 2GB.com.

Now, just on the text line, read Rose Hill. Kim says, Chris, construction of Rose Hill started in 1883. This is our racing heritage. It must be protected and it wouldn't happen if it was indigenous heritage. I agree with that, Kim. Noel says, Chris, surely the redevelopment of Parramatta Road would be a much more viable option than the Rose Hill race course proposal. I agree with that too, Noel. It's dying for a redevelopment, which would include residential. And from what?

Broadway to sort of Auburn, even further than that. Silverwater. You could put a stack of new homes on it, couldn't you? And really revitalise the precinct, make it mixed use. I think that's a great idea, Noel. Pete says, Chris, regarding Rose Hill, I'm sure if you need a quick poll to see who wants it to remain, that a massive population would say redevelop it as soon as possible. There's not many people I know that even like horse racing at all, and I think it's cruel.

Well, Pete, how about we do a quick poll about who wants to redevelop your house? Pete, you want to put your house up for redevelopment, 50, 60, 100 apartments? Because the problem is, Pete, it's capitalism. We have a free market in which ownership is important. Property ownership is important. And it's not publicly owned, Rose Hill, Pete. It's owned by the members of the Australian Turf Club. They will make the decision about whether or not it is redeveloped.

How about we redevelop the Sydney Cricket Ground? There you go. That's Crownland. That's owned by... But no one's talking about that. That's what Gay Waterhouse said, and she's right. There's no vote of members.

about redeveloping the Sydney Cricket Ground, because that would be a farce to do something like that, then what is the difference with Rose Hill? If the membership decide, you know what, this stacks up and this is really good for us and we want to sell it and build apartments, then that is the membership's right because it is their asset, their property to sell, not Chris Minzer's, not the newspapers, not the radio stations, not the TV stations.

Nobody else. It is the membership's decision about whether this goes ahead or not. And from what I'm hearing, the reports that are coming in about how much they can realistically make out of selling this, well, it doesn't look pretty. 131873 Ian has called in from Pendle Hill. Hello, Ian.

Yeah, g'day Chris. Just on the Rose Hill set up, I've got a couple of friends that are members down there and they for a start won't be voting to sell it off. But the other thing you've got to remember is its location. On one end of it, you've got a decommissioned oil refinery and the other end you've got the James Harding site. Both of those areas are contaminated and

and you'd have to have a remission of the land there to clean that up, which would cost an absolute fortune. And then if you built the units there, you're overlooking the... What's the name? The metro line where they're going to have all the carriages stored and all that, where the old speedway was. The old speedway, yes. Yeah. It then overlooks the M4 freeway, so that's not giving you a good outlook. And the...

And the only road in and out is James Roos Drive. Well, that's right. So to its south, it's got the M4. To its west, it's got James Roos Drive. To its north, it's got the Parramatta River. And as you said, it's got the old factory there to its east. So it's pretty restricted, Ian.

Well, it's only restricted, but would you want to bring your kids up on contaminated land? Yeah. Look, to be honest, Ian, I've probably, you know, in the course... Look, I don't really... Look, that doesn't bother me, because in the course of living in a city, you're going to engage in contaminated land somewhere, aren't you? Well, not necessarily. I mean, it's because they'd have to remediate it and...

an absolute fortune for both of those areas. The oil refinery, for instance, that's contaminated with the petrochemicals that were produced down there. James Hardy's got asbestos all through it. And then James Ruth's Drive, that's an absolute car park during peak hour. You can't get in or out anywhere. I don't know. I take your point. I take your point absolutely, Ian. And I know that Bill Berger is a big developer down there. They own a whole bunch of sites just...

off Rose Hill Racecourse. They've been trying to develop it for years and years and years, but they come up against the same problem. So I don't know how somehow all of a sudden they're going to be magically solved. Ian, I've got to run, but I really appreciate your call. Let's go to Stuart at Bass Hill. Hello, Stuart.

Yeah, the thing that you were saying about the Turf Club members should be making the choice, just think of how much money that the government has poured into the horse racing industry, and I'm sure they would have benefited from all the money that the government's poured into it. So I think the government should be allowed to have some say. Well, you could say that about anything, couldn't you, Stuart?

Well, when you look at your previous caller talked about the speedway, they virtually got kicked off the land. And only when everybody screamed and ranted that we won't have a speedway in Sydney, they built the new one. Yeah. Well, if you look at a lot of other sports, they're trying to get money. The government can have a say, Stuart. They can put their hand in their pocket and acquire it themselves, compulsory acquire it. But they won't, will they? Well, then maybe they should stop taxing the, then they should stop taxing the betting. Yeah.

get their hand out of that pocket and let them keep their money if they don't want to be involved. Alright Stuart, I don't quite take your point but I allow you to express it nonetheless. Let's check the news headlines.

In the newsroom, Josh Bright, G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. A driver has died in a two-vehicle crash on Sydney's northern beaches. The driver of the second vehicle has been taken to hospital for assessment following the collision at Motovale. New data from the Australian Energy Market Operator shows a rise in wholesale power prices due to a lack of wind and hydro energy and a rise in demand in the colder weather.

Federal police say they've finalised their investigation into allegations a witness provided false testimony to the Robodet Royal Commission, but say there is not sufficient evidence to prove the person intended to mislead. And the RSPCA in Tasmania says its website crashed due to the rush of people looking to adopt more than 250

50 dogs after a large-scale breeding facility was shut down. In sport, team chef to mission Anna Mears will later today announce Australia's flag bearer for Saturday morning's Paris opening ceremony. Champion paddler Jessica Fox remains the favourite. We'll have more news in sport at four. Thanks Josh. Coming up I'll speak to Prukar, the New South Wales Education Minister. They've overhauled the primary school curriculum but can they really keep politics out of the classroom? I'll ask the Minister next.

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The phrases common sense and the government in one sentence, but I think the education department and the Minister Prukar, I think they've done a great thing in their overhaul of the primary school curriculum. It's refreshingly excellent, to be honest. So I had a look through. If I can summarise the substance of the changes, I would say this. It is basically giving children from five to 12 years old fundamental knowledge and facts.

math, science, geography, history, English, art, whole range of other subjects, students will have to know a set of facts to pass their exams. Then when they get to high school, they can look at more critical thinking, nuance, context and the rest of it. But at least our 12-year-olds will all strive to have a shared knowledge about life and society, something that we can all work from, right? And I reckon would...

hold them in good stead to become good and prosperous adults in our society the thing is in the part of the i suppose skepticism around it is that may be the curriculum that's been issued but will our teachers exercise their own political creativity in the classroom when they're teaching our kids well education minister prukar is with me to discuss minister thanks for your time thanks chris so you're calling this effectively explicit teaching as in hey kid

You need to know this if you want to pass your test. Is that right? Yeah, this is about knowledge. This new set of syllabuses in this curriculum is about what are the core bits of knowledge that our kids need to learn, what concepts do they need to grasp in order to go on to the next concept and

we are mandating in all of our schools, our public schools in New South Wales in particular, using this curriculum to explicitly teach. So as you said, the critical thinking and inquiry-based thinking, that can only really start if there's a knowledge base to start with. So this is about what the core bits of content we need our kids to grasp are. Is this an admission that we've been getting it wrong?

Look, I think it's an admission that this curriculum is actually based on the evidence of what works. And, you know, to their credit, the previous government started this overhaul of the curriculum. And the review showed that our old curriculum or the current one we're phasing out is just too crowded and

left too much for interpretation was actually harder for teachers to use as a tool. This will actually arm our teachers with the tool of the explicit knowledge. So I had a quick flick through it. So I note that climate, energy and electricity will be taught to primary school kids in what way?

I mean, in an age-appropriate way, that is just the fact and the knowledge of what needs to... how electricity is made, how we get energy to power our homes. Those will be the examples that will be age-appropriate at all times. This really is a knowledge-based curriculum that is...

is really built on facts and actually based on the science of how little brains learn, the cognitive way that they grasp information. Just on the climate situation, is there going to be a discussion of climate change in primary school? Well, there'll be no politics in the classroom. And to be honest, this new curriculum leaves little room for that. Is that possible, though? If you tell, I don't know, an eight-year-old, hey, listen, climate change is the greatest threat to humanity that we're facing at the moment.

Is that not politicisation in some people's minds? Well, really, the discussion in the classroom based on the knowledge base of the curriculum will be more about what is climate, basic concepts that lead to the next concept. It's not at all about anything other than the basic knowledge to move on to the next concept. Because one big issue that I've got at the moment, I've been speaking to, and you know, Pri, you've got...

children yourself and as you know Henry's getting a little bit older you think okay well we've got to start thinking about primary school and I speak to friends of mine who've got their kids in primary school and they say to say to me that climate anxiety is a real thing where there are children being taught that humans are going to be extinct in a couple of decades I

I can guarantee you, Chris and parents listening, that the most important thing in this curriculum is hands down the literacy of our young people, starting with the development of the phonics of how to read and write. What about transgenderism, sexuality, that sort of thing? There's nothing like that in the PBHP curriculum from K to 6.

It's all age-appropriate stuff about how your body works, the skeletal system, how to move your body for your well-being and your physical health, and age-appropriate PDHPA content. So nothing about sexuality at all?

from K to 6? There's nothing like that. It's obviously, of course, when you get to Year 5 and Year 6, there is age-appropriate lessons about puberty and what that means, you know, when your body changes as a young boy or a young girl, but nothing that is not age-appropriate. What about a young non-binary person?

No, I mean, it's very basic knowledge about the way the body works. What about compulsory civics and citizenship content? I like this. So teaching kids about voting in our democratic system, but I'm also interested in Australian history. And I am bringing up the controversial stuff because inevitably somebody will ask about it.

So, Australian history, you've got Aboriginal cultures as well as the arrival of the First Fleet. You say this is a fact-based discussion, so there will be no sort of value placed on either end of it, Aboriginal history or the First Fleet. It's just going to be a balanced view? Is that the hope from the department? Yeah.

I mean, the curriculum makes it very clear that it's content-based, it's knowledge-based, it is the facts of history. And in fact, that's more explicit in this curriculum, arming teachers with that knowledge

with that tool to be more explicit. Just on the Australian history stuff, because ultimately you can't control what the teachers say. And you've got to... There was a teacher at Daly Chill Public, I think a couple of years back, that said stolen generation was a beat-up and the real reason children were taken from their families was bad, lazy parenting. And then in the same breath, you've got...

a teacher at Kiama Public who were forcing kids to say sorry in songs about stealing Aboriginal children. How do you ensure that the curriculum is taught how it is supposed to be taught?

Well, I suppose what can I do, Chris, if you're asking as education ministers, we can roll out a curriculum that is very clear, that makes it very without interpretation, very clear that these are the explicit requirements

bits of knowledge that are required to be imparted. And can I just say the lion's share of our incredible teachers in our classrooms, they want that. They want that tool to be able to use. Mm-hmm.

All right, Minister, I really appreciate you jumping on. I think it's a wonderful step in the right direction and I'm sure there'll be stuff at the margins. There's always stuff at the margins, but ultimately, if we can just get back to basics, because when it comes to literacy, when it comes to numeracy, our kids in New South Wales have a very, very long way to go. So this is a step in the right direction, I reckon. Thanks very much.

Thanks, Chris. That's Minister Prukar. 131873, what do you make of it all? Do you trust that our teachers will do the right thing and follow the curriculum as it was designed to be followed? Or do you still think there will be some ideology and some politics seep its way into our primary school system?

I'm extremely supportive of the New South Wales government going down this path. I reckon it is absolutely the right thing to do. But you tell me, 131873. It's 12 minutes to four, 131873. I'll get to all your calls about the curriculum, the primary school curriculum overhaul in a second. But you might have heard this in the news with Josh Bryant and, of course, in the traffic with Steve Carline. But a man has died following a two-vehicle crash in

on Pitwater Road at Mona Vale this afternoon. So the driver of one of the vehicles, a man, was trapped inside the vehicle and despite efforts was unable to be revived. And it was a two-car crash. The driver of the other vehicle has been taken to hospital for assessment.

So Northern Beaches Police Area Command are commencing an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash. If anybody has dash cam footage or witnessed a crash, go and contact local police because they'd like to hear from you. But a driver, unfortunately, has passed away on Pitwater Road at Mona Vale after a two-car crash this afternoon. And I've just got a text before. They do believe that Pitwater Road is back open. 131873.

Well, here's an interesting one. So this story is being reported in the ABC of all places. But Brazilian sharp-nosed sharks have tested positive for cocaine. So you've got sharks in Brazil high on cocaine, according to a new study. So scientists studied 13 sharks off the coast of Brazil and they detected the drug in all 13 of them.

And the study, which was published in the Science of the Tidal Environment, reported traces of the drugs were found in the shark's livers and muscles. And it is the first to find the presence of cocaine in sharks. And researchers say concentrations were as much as 100 times higher than previously reported for other aquatic creatures. So cocaine sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Gee whiz, you wouldn't want to be in the water if there was a shark rolling around on cocaine, would you? 131873. Now, how good is it finding a bit of cash in a pocket? You know when you pick up a jacket or a blouse or a coat or whatever it is, and you put your hand in the pocket and you go, oh, that's $20. Well, what about this bloke? So there's a guy in Riverston who has found a $10,000 scratchy in his bedside drawer.

So you had no idea it was there. It was a $1 treasure chest instant scratch it. A dollar scratchy, right? And he scratched it when he pulled it out of the bedside drawer.

And he won $10,000. So he told the lot this, quote, this is unreal. It's funny, I received the ticket as a birthday present a couple of months ago. I didn't think much of it at the time, so I just stashed it away. I never really expected to win anything. I've only ever won a couple of dollars here and then. Little did I know that I was sitting on $10,000. I was doing a clean out last weekend and I discovered the ticket in my bedside drawer still unscratched.

And then when I finally scratched it, I couldn't believe my eyes. It'll be going straight to my home renovation fund. Thank you very much. Have you ever found a bit of treasure, a little bit of gold, 131873? Maybe you got, I don't know, a hand-me-down or a family heirloom. You didn't think much of it. Then you got it valued, like on Antec's Roadshow, and went, wowee, this is worth a few dollars. Give us a call. Can you top $10,000 on a scratchy in your bedside drawer?

Live on 2GB. Have your say. 131 873. Siv's called in from Rouse Hill. Hello, Siv. What do you make of the classroom overhaul, the syllabus overhaul? G'day, Chris. Well, first of all, that previous story, I don't think the most I've won on a scratchy is enough to get an ice cream. I think that's about as far as I've gone. It's usually enough to buy another scratchy, isn't it?

I think so, yes. Look, just on this overhaul, look, I think I agree it's a step in the right direction, but I think the big thing I want to hit on is a question you raised earlier. Can we trust...

the teaching fraternity to stick to the facts. And I think that is something that's really important. Whether that's going to happen in the next however long it is or whether we're going to have to even reform the teaching fraternity, I think is a bigger question. So yes, it's great that they've reformed the whole thing and they've looked at the rear and they said, actually, we need to go back to the facts. But can we trust the teaching fraternity to stick to the facts and to take the politics out of the classroom? I think that is yet to be seen.

Yeah, I think it's yet to be seen too, Siv, and I don't think you can do it in all circumstances, but I appreciate your calls. Go to Samantha in Penrith. Hello, Samantha. Hey, how are you? Good, thank you, Samantha. That's good. Yeah, just a couple of things. Firstly, it's great that the curriculum has changed and they're improving it, but working in the classroom myself, they're not getting through the content. There's

There is way too much content. There are schools out there that can't even afford to buy the new books that are part of the curriculum. You've got schools that are actually doing fundraising to buy the new texts that are involved in the curriculum. But then at the same time, you have Scott's College who are building a million dollar library

80 million. Library. 80 million. $80 million library. It's a Scottish baronial castle, Samantha. Yeah. We've got to get the text. I was having this exact conversation with a friend of mine this morning, and if Scots can afford, and good luck to them, it's their money. If they want to spend an $80 million Scottish baronial castle for their library, so be it. But I think that means they've probably got enough money to...

run their school on their own steam, thus the taxpayer money could be redirected to public school somewhere? Yes, exactly. And you've got classrooms who are not supported. You might have a teacher, but there are kids in there that need extra support, who need teacher aid support. The RFF support that the teachers have had, they're losing it all because the government has taken out one money, a lot of money from one bucket to pay the teachers a pay rise.

But that money has come from somewhere else out of the DET pocket. All right, Samantha. Well, keep doing the good work you're doing. I know it's a difficult job. It's very, very clear it's a difficult job. I'm pleased that you got that big pay rise, but I'll tell you what it is. It is very, very hard fronting up every day as a teacher. 131873, it's 5 to 4. Now, there's an ADF exercise called Exercise Pitch Black underway right now in Darwin, Australia.

But there looks to have been an emergency incident. So Richard Miles, the Defence Minister, he's just put this out. ADF personnel have responded to an emergency incident involving an international participant during Exercise Pitch Black. Well, we'll figure out exactly what's happened there and we'll bring you that after the four o'clock news. But it looks like there's been an incident with the ADF and an exercise in Darwin.

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 four. Thank you for your company on this Wednesday afternoon. 131 873 is our open line number. You can text me 0460 873 873 or email me drive at 2gb.com. Coming up, there's a new report out and it pours cold water on the idea that Australia could get nuclear reactors, the small modular ones at least,

Anytime soon we are looking at the late 2040s. What does that mean for Peter Dutton's plan? We'll interrogate that. As well as this, what do you think about the 2032 Brisbane Olympics? It feels like it is looking like the Clayton's Games. Now, I'll check in with Neil Breen. He's got the latest news and it ain't pretty. I think that the Queenslanders may well embarrass the rest of the country.

The inside word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. All right, we've got some more information about what has occurred here in Exercise Pitch Black. It is a Defence Force exercise around Darwin. So it's ongoing at the moment and it's been going since the 12th of July and will continue until the 2nd of August. Now, Exercise Pitch Black 24, it's held every two years.

And 20 nations are participating with 140 aircraft from right around the world with a little close to four and a half thousand Defence Force personnel from all those different countries participating in this exercise. And it is being conducted from RAAF base in Darwin and the RAAF base Tyndall.

in the Northern Territory. Now, what we know so far is it is likely, or it feels like anyway, an Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. So the Typhoon aircraft from the Italian Air Force has crashed in the Douglas-Daily region. And there was a successful ejection by the Italian pilot, and he was picked up by an Australian pilot

helicopter by the looks of things and airlifted to Royal Darwin Hospital and he landed safely and the reports are that the pilot is safe and well. So the Douglas Daly region is sort of just west of Darwin and

The Defence Force or the Defence spokesperson has said this. Defence can confirm an international participant in Exercise Pitch Black 24 is safe and well. That's good news. After ejecting from their aircraft this morning during flying operations, ADF personnel responded immediately and professionally to an aircraft emergency in the exercise area and coordinated recovery of the pilot,

with a search and rescue helicopter. Well, it would have been. There wouldn't have been much around where he ejected himself from his aircraft. The exercise participant...

Made immediate contact with aircrew in the area via radio following their ejection. And the pilot arrived at hospital by helicopter at about 1.30pm local time. And all flying for the remainder of the day has been cancelled. Defence will provide further updates when available. So it looks like everybody's okay. But the Italian aircraft, there was an issue there. The typhoon, the Eurofighter typhoon, there's been some sort of issue there.

The pilot has ejected. He's okay after an RAAF helicopter picked him up and took him to hospital. 131873, that looks like a very, very close call. Drive with Chris O'Keefe on to GB. Now, it's funny. On today of all days, I think we should probably be getting behind or at least being curious about any new energy plan that's going to provide us with rock-solid reliable fuel

that doesn't add to our carbon footprint. Because isn't that the goal at the end of the day? Keeping the lights on and reducing emissions? And reliable baselight power that is environmentally safe. So we had today a report out by AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, and they've almost said that renewable energy, well, it hasn't worked all that well, not this winter anyway, because the wind wasn't blowing and the rain was everywhere except the pump hydro stations.

So our energy prices have shot up 23% compared with last year, just in the June quarter. So in the June quarter, 23% our energy prices have gone up. And by state, year-on-year prices increased in New South Wales by $173.

South Australia, 135. Tasmania, 131. Victoria, 127. And this was because there was a 20% reduction in available wind generation, because it wasn't windy, an 18% reduction in pumped hydro, because there wasn't enough electricity being generated from the pumped hydro. And the only thing that saved us was gas that went up 16% and black coal by 7%.

Now, AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said this, quote, Look, I'm not anti-renewables by any means. The more the merrier. But I am pro-cheap bills and I am pro-keeping the lights on. And I think the evidence is clear, isn't it?

The government's renewables-heavy approach is driving up our power bills. For the time being, anyway. That is the only conclusion you can come to. And our power bills are so high, we're getting $300 of our own money, mind you, to subsidise them.

Anyway, this news comes on the same day that the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering have released a report saying small modular nuclear reactors are not a realistic option for Australia until the late 2040s. And they said this, the least risky option would be for Australia to procure these small modular reactors once several models have been established and are proven and operational in other OECD countries.

Alternatively, Australia could choose to enter the small modular reactor market at an earlier premature market stage of development, but that would carry a significant financial cost and technical risk.

So for a nuclear energy industry in Australia to be considered, federal and state moratoria on nuclear power would need to be lifted, a national nuclear regulator established and an appropriately skilled workforce to be grown. In addition, small modular reactors will not succeed without broad social acceptance of the technology over their entire life cycle. Well, Peter Dutton, he was pretty firm on his response to the report. We've done analysis and we've spoken to

experts. Our analysis is that we can have nuclear into the system 2035 to 2037 in the first two sites and then we continue to roll it out from there. So just to be clear, when people talk about the phase-in period for nuclear power, you've then got to ask the government, well, what's the phase-in period for your baseload power? So our argument is that if you've got 90%

of base load power, predominantly coal, going out of the system over the next decade, what replaces it? Our argument is that you need renewables, you need a lot of gas, and you need nuclear into the mid-2030s to 2040s. That's Peter Dutton. So Dr Catherine Woodthorpe, she's the president of the Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering, and she's on the line for us. Doctor, thank you for your time.

Hi there. So small modular reactors, is it effectively that the technology is just not there yet?

Correct. It's just in development. These things are at a kind of prototype stage, but there isn't one that's available. If you went to any of the people who are developing them and said, can I have one? And they'd go, well, yeah, you can go on the list, but we don't know when we can give it to you and we don't know how much it's going to cost. So they will be part of the mix down the road. But right now, you couldn't actually put them in because you don't know when.

which one, how much, or when they could actually be built. Okay. Because Peter Dutton, he's just looking for the more traditional reactors, isn't he? They've had both. They said in amongst that seven that two would be SMRs. So to our understanding, there are at least two SMRs that they're considering in their mix. Yeah, but in the first instance, it was the traditional reactors, I think.

Well, then in terms of timing, traditional nuclear power is well established. There's a lot of nuclear power stations around the world. But to start from scratch building one with zero capability in-house in Australia, it's not going to happen in the next 10 years. It's just practically impossible. I noticed that NuScale Power in the United States, they're pretty confident they can get one up and running sort of in the next...

Six years-ish in the US. I know China and Russia, they say at least, have successfully built these operational small modular reactors. Has no one been able to nail it at scale yet?

No one's nailed it. So the Russians and Chinese have one each, and they're still not at sort of full operational capacity. NuScale are absolutely one of the frontrunners. They have a license or whatever the right word is. They have approvals in the U.S. from their atomic energy agency, but they still haven't actually started building one yet.

and theirs are still at this development stage. With the traditional reactors, the idea is it for them to go, say, Liddell Power Station or Araring here in New South Wales and plug into the existing grid. As the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, do you see some merit in that?

Again, when you come down to the practical engineering of it, you've got to decommission a whole coal-fired power station first before you can plug back into that grid. And then if you look at how power stations are built around the world, again, in countries that have expertise...

and capability already in-house like the UK, France, US. France is doing them a bit more quickly, but the latest one in the UK has taken, it'll be by the time it finishes, 25 years. The latest one in the US, 19 years. So that's from the building point. That doesn't include all the bits of we've got to get the moratorium lifted, as you mentioned in your preamble. That's not how it works.

You've got two Houses of Parliament? Well, it's not that hard. Two chambers, you reckon? Well, if we go to the Australian people, if Peter Dutton goes to the Australian people and has an unlikely win on the basis of Australia wants nuclear power, I think he's got a mandate from the people, doesn't he?

He'd still need the upper house and no government has held both houses in recent history. Yeah, if he got both houses, he could do that, but it's unlikely. And then how he would get together a coalition of senators in the upper house to go along with it.

You know, that's a political issue. I'm only actually talking about the technical issues. I can talk about the politics and trust me, it's... We talk about the social licence, talk about that. Because a lot of... And I'm interested to hear your view on this. Because many people say, well, we've got Lucas Heights. That's been operating for a very long period of time without much problem.

Yeah, it's also not a power station. It's very, very small by comparison. It produces in an operational sense, it'll produce medical radio pharmaceuticals. Most of it is research level stuff. So it's very tiny compared to what you would need to build as a power station. And if you look at waste, you know, in terms of social license, we still haven't found a place to put that waste from Lucas Heights. However hard we try,

We get as far as determining that it'll be in X place and then people locally go, well, actually, no, we don't want that. Go to the high court and it gets thrown out again. So we haven't actually got somewhere to put that waste, just that small, low-grade, medium-grade waste that we already have. The Finns have figured it out, haven't they?

The Finns have, but they went about it in a very different way. The Finns started from the ground up working with communities to work out who might want it as opposed to telling a community you're going to have it. Why can't we do that? Well, we could try, but it's not... You're very negative about this, Doctor. I'm only negative in the... Very, very negative. I'm just a practical person. Let's talk about practicality, right?

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. They'll need to be on 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. 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.

Not really. I lived in the UK next to Sellafield for many years very comfortably, so I've got no – there is no angle. All we've done is look at – and it's not me, it's been a group of experts that have looked at it purely from a technical, economic and practical point of view. Nothing more than that. All right, Doctor. I appreciate you coming on and explaining it anyway. Thanks so much. Pleasure. Thank you. Bye. That's Dr Catherine Woodthorpe. She's the president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences –

And engineering, 131873. What did you make of that? 22 past four. So I'm just doing a little bit of reading about Dr. Catherine Woodthorpe. She's the president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Clearly a very accomplished woman and a very accomplished professional.

She's big on renewable energy. So it looks like she's on the board of the race for 2030, which they say that their mission statement is accelerating the transition to reliable, affordable, clean energy.

For 2030. So she's on the board of that, the doctor. So, you know, when I said there might be an angle, you know what I was getting at. And I did say that everything felt a bit negative, didn't it? We've got to just poo-poo the nuclear thing. Well, the small modular reactor point that the engineers made was a fair enough one. But you can't tell me that, oh, well, you haven't got a social licence for nuclear, but you've definitely got one for an offshore wind farm. That makes no sense at all. Peter's at Chatswood. Hello, Peter.

Hey, Chris, the doctor needs to speak to actually engineers because I've seen six feasibility studies where experienced engineers say building that offshore wind farm off the south coast is actually an engineering impossibility because of the complexity of the project means no one could accurately estimate the cost. The cost of building, because it doesn't matter,

you have to anchor those things somewhere into the bottom of the sea. And one variable people like her overlook is the strength of the East Coast current. And anyone who watched Finding Nemo knows how strong that current is. And that's just one complexity.

And the second point is, if they ever fluked the building of that offshore wind farm, it is more than likely the asset would be uninsurable because there is no way of actually factoring the risk of damage to those things. Peter, I'm just... Look, listen, I've spoken to...

People in government, both in the federal and state government, I've spoken to people who know everything there is to know about renewable energy and these wind farms. Nobody is convinced that just...

from a technical point of view, they can figure out a way to do it. The offshore wind farm, especially the one off the Illawarra because it's going to be right on the edge of the continental shelf. So you're looking at floating wind turbines double the size of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as if, Peter, I've got to keep going. Richard's at Malabar. Hello, Richard.

A great interview, and I was with the professor. Was she? Doctor, yes. Yeah, the doctor. I was with her looking at the SMRs. Yes, there might be an issue of technologies coming on. But then when she started talking about social licence, and she made a couple of statements about they'd have to get the Senate and the House of Representatives. Well, with all due respects, if Peter Dutton,

is accepted by the Australian people at the next election and he gets a majority in the House of Representatives, he doesn't need the Senate. Yes, he'd be nice if he could because all he needs to do is invoke the Defence Act as the late Ben Shipley did when he wanted the Snowy Hydro scheme. Yes, it'd be good to have consensus, but if he has it on Commonwealth land, they can go all the way to the High Court and they will lose. Martial law, Richard. Invoke it. Good on you. 131873. John's in Hornsby. Hello, John.

G'day, how you going? Good, thank you, John. Yeah, she talks about social licence. What about the social licence for the farmers that are getting screwed over with the wind farms, the transmission lines, the solar panels and all the other crap there? And then you've got the national parks and everything else, deforestation in Queensland, where they're putting in the wind farms through the top of ranges and stuff like that. You know, the woman is talking through her, the place where the sun don't shine. John, here's one for you, right?

You know how we talk about, oh, we've got to make sure it's all about the environment. And we're shooting Brumbies in the Kosciuszko National Park right now. Shooting them because of the damage they do to the grasslands and everything. You know what they don't tell you? For Snowy 2.0, they are ripping great swathes of the Kosciuszko National Park up to chuck transmission lines down.

Yeah, of course they are. I mean, this is just it. The whole thing is just our control with the way they're doing it. And they don't really give a bugger about inner city little what's-her-names that, you know, oh, we've got to have this green planet. They're going to rape the planet to turn around and do it. Well, they actually can't even achieve it. Most geologists say there's not enough of the rare earth minerals that they need to do what they want to do in the earth's crust.

So I don't know how they're going to do it. I want to ban mining, but they need to mine for copper, you know, and all the other stuff. But let's ban mining. Good on you. It's crazy, mate. Good on you, John. I've got to run to the news, but well said. 131873.

Josh Bryant, G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. Parramatta has advised the NRL's Integrity Unit of charges laid against one of its women's team members. NRLW player Kate Fallon has been charged accused of assaulting a 17-year-old in Sydney's east during an argument over food delivery. One person is dead, another has been taken to hospital for assessment after a two-car collision at

Mona Vale on Sydney's northern beaches. Changes to the New South Wales primary school curriculum are being described as the biggest change to the syllabus in decades and the cost of housing and other budget pressures are being blamed for drops in birth rates in Australia. New South Wales seeing its biggest decline in decades. In sport, the Raiders are welcoming home club favourite Mal Meninga. He's taking up a mentoring type role with the Green Machine. We'll have more news in sport at five.

Good on you, Josh. 131873. Coming up, I'll speak to Neil Breen because there is nobody who knows more about the Olympics than Breeny. And secondly, he is all over the debacle that is the 2032 Brisbane Games. Have you seen the latest drawings of what the Olympic Stadium is going to look like up there? It looks like a local running track. It is embarrassing. I'll get the lowdown from Breeny next.

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. MUSIC

Just two sweeps away from the Olympics in Paris. And you know it's going to be a fantastic event. You can see the facilities are just top-notch. And how could it not be in the city of love? Well, in four years' time, too, we'll have the Los Angeles Olympics, and we know the Yanks go big when it comes to big events. And no one does big events better than Los Angeles. It's the home of Hollywood. And then four years after that, where are we going? Briz Vegas. Ha, ha, ha.

What do we know so far about the Brisbane Olympics? Right now, there is no plan for where the opening ceremony will be held or where the athletics will be held. None. They don't know where. There is no main stadium yet. We don't know where the athletics will take place or where the opening ceremony of the Brisbane 2032 Games are going to be held. That is extraordinarily, extraordinarily embarrassing.

We've got a new slogan, though. So Brisbane's 2032 president, he's the president of the Olympic Games here in Australia, right? His name's Andrew Laveris. He's a big flying, sort of big shot CEO. And he's revealed, well, we don't know where the events are going to be taking place, but we've got a new marketing slogan. You ready? Do you like it, ladies and gentlemen? Shine brightest together. Wow. I wonder how much they paid for that. What about marketing team or...

marketing company was paid millions and millions of dollars to come up with shine brightest together maybe come up with a place to hold the opening ceremony

And you've got to see... I'll put this render up on the website, 2GB.com, but you've got to see the render of the mooted stadium called CUSAC. So it's the Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre. It's also known as the QE2, or the old ANZ Stadium. They played there, the Brisbane Broncos, when Lang Park or Suncorp Stadium was being redeveloped. So you'll know it well. Anyway, it's just an old athletics track. And there's this bizarre plan to redo it and make it the main stadium. And seriously...

Have a look at it, 2GB.com, because it looks like A.S. Marks on Anzac Parade. All the old showgrounds at the Easter show. Emily, one of our producers, said, Brookvale overlooks better than that. Well, our colleague and good friend, Neil Breen, he's the authority when it comes to the Olympics and certainly the Brisbane Olympics. He's on the line for us. Breeny, g'day. G'day, Chris.

A.S. Marks, do you reckon it's better than... Well, it's almost better. It's almost better. Chris, I could talk all day about the Brisbane Olympics. The listeners will know that I spent three years up there recently on 4BC. So I was there through the whole thing, Brisbane winning the beard and then the whole kerfuffle afterwards. And the story of the Brisbane...

Olympics is that 10 years ago the Lord Mayors of South East Queensland got together to make a play for the Olympics not yeah yeah get the event but as an infrastructure play the the population's exploding we need roads rail more airport runways all sorts of things that will support an Olympic Games now I'll say all that's fallen by the wayside because none of that's happening

And what we've got three years on since we were told by Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, Brisbane's got the Olympics, is the whole thing's been bogged down in politics and it's a farce. So Brisbane got the games because the IOC had this new austerity measure. They didn't want any more Rios or Athens where there were dead stadiums and people did their backsides financially. And so it was all about, oh, we need to find a place that will use existing stadiums and

and have an olympics there no one wanted to do it because we had tokyo poor old tokyo sort of lost their games to cover but they still had them then there's paris and there's la and john coates wanted australia to have another olympics so what he does he gets john o'neill the former boss of the australian rugby union the chairman of star casinos who's fallen by the wayside gets

Gets him to facilitate a meeting with himself and Thomas Bach and Anastasia Palaszczuk, the former Queensland Premier, who's not keen on the Olympics, right? Let's have a meeting. They convince Palaszczuk to go for the Olympics. She goes for it, believing it'll win her 10 years more worth of governments in Queensland because the public will go crazy.

And then they come up with this Olympics that was going to cost $5 billion US dollars and revenue, sorry, $5 billion Australian dollars, $3.5 billion US with revenues of $5 billion exactly matched to the dollar. And that they were going to spend, get this Chris, $750 million Australian dollars total on venues.

$750 million. Yes, yes. And that was the document that was given to the world in Tokyo. Well, of course, Queensland, Brisbane gets the games and the government quickly realises, hang on a second, the original proposition was opening ceremony at a Dunup Sun Corp and the athletics at Carrara on the Gold Coast where the 2018 Commonwealth Games athletics were.

Then Palaszczuk says, no, I'm going to do the GABA, knock down, rebuild the billion dollars. And we found out recently that that was just written down on a piece of paper. There was no feasibility study. Then they realised it would cost two and a half billion. Then Scott Morrison supported the Olympics because he needed votes in Queensland ahead of that election. But the new Albanese government wasn't that team. So they said, we don't want to touch the GABA because they lost all those seats to the Greens in and around that area. I know this sounds so complicated, right?

But that's what's happened. And they've ended up with, OK, we'll get a feasibility study done. We'll get rid of the Gabba, Stephen Miles, when he became Premier. Let's go to Victoria Park, this feasibility study said, which is near the city and build a 60,000-seat stadium with the roof. Then he says, no, we won't do that. We're going to do up Kiwi 2. And that's the model that you've seen now, this done-up Kiwi 2. There's no swimming venue. There's no athletics venue, unless that gets...

There's no sign off on upgrades. There's nothing, Chris. So we don't know where we're swimming. We don't know where we're running. We don't know where we're opening the Olympics. And then you've got this Andrew Laveris in Paris at the moment declaring Brisbane is not a hillbilly town. Well, you could have fooled me.

And he says it's ahead of schedule. It's not ahead of anything. Like, seriously, Chris, it's really, really embarrassing. And I'm surprised. See, the IOC, here they are in Paris now. Okay, I turned on a current affair last couple of nights. And there's Ali Langdon and there's the Arc de Triomphe and here's the, you know, Eiffel Tower. And look at the Palace de Versailles where they're going to have the equestrian. Well, Brisbane's going to have the equestrian.

at the showgrounds, and they've got that written down as an existing venue. Now, the Brisbane showgrounds has got two grandstands, Chris. Now, Don Bradman famously made his test debut at that ground, the showground in Brisbane, and the two grandstands were built before he made his debut. Mate, you can't make it up, mate.

You know, so what Albanese did was he said, we want to cap our expenditure. We don't want to, you know, cost blowout. The CFMEU hold us to ransom. We're not going to touch anything we do with the Gabba. We will build this thing called Brisbane Live, which will host the swimming and then become a concert venue in the Brisbane CBD, 18,000 seats. So they said, we're going to build it on a suspension level above the Roma Street rail station.

Then they worked out, well, hang on, if you did that, it would probably cost $4 or $5 billion. So they've scrapped that. That's gone. Well, when are we going to get a plan? Because obviously we've got a Queensland election. Before I let you go, Bernie, we've got a Queensland election in a couple of months' time. When are we going to get a plan? And is it just up to Chris Ofuli, the LNP leader in Queensland, who's likely to win in a landslide? Is it just a matter of him saying, you know what, we've got the things now. We can't embarrass ourselves.

That's what's got to happen. So that election's in October. Both sides of politics agreed to put the Olympics on the shelf until after that election because it's so on the nose. The people of Queensland don't want it, mate. I'm telling you, Chris, they don't want the Olympic Games. That's why the whole thing's turned into a kerfuffle. So what's...

So what they'll do is, Christopher, he'll probably win that election. He's just going to then have to say, I'm sorry, Queensland, but we're going to have to spend big money. Otherwise, the world's going to look at us after LA and Paris and go, wow, what a debacle that was. Hey, the other thing is, don't forget the Olympics in Brisbane are on in July. It's winter. That's not too bad in Queensland. Oh, yeah, but it's not great. That's about all that's going good in Queensland at the moment. Good on you, Brady. I'll let you go.

Anyway, I'm fired up, Chris. You can tell. Appreciate that. That's Neil Breen, member of the Continuous Call team and a colleague here at 2GV. I told you, he knows everything there is to know about the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, and it is scary. The Queenslanders going to let the rest of us down. Where is Greystains? That's it, Queensland. Where is Auckland? That's it, Queensland. Where is Nullarboy? That's it, Queensland.

Just a bit of rugby league news. Mal Meninga is officially returning to the Canberra Raiders. Big Mal. He's the 13th immortal and Raider number 76. He won, I think, three premierships with the Canberra Raiders in 166 club matches. He was head coach too from 97 to 2001. And he will rejoin the Canberra Raiders in

recruitment, retention, mentoring, pathways, engagement with stakeholders and promotion of the Raiders brand as a club ambassador. So big Mal, he's decided to give the Titans the flick and going back to the green machine. Good luck to him. Matt Arthur, Brad Arthur's young bloke. He's seen as a pretty handy prospect when it comes to a hooker. Well,

Newcastle is now favourite to sign Brad Arthur's son, Matt Arthur, because he's decided to leave Parramatta upset at the way that his father was treated. So Parramatta Eels CEO Jim Sarantinos, he said that Matt Arthur will be allowed to leave on compassionate grounds.

And while we would love to see him stay at the Eels, we understand the unique circumstances involved with his request and our decision to grant permission to negotiate with other clubs is based on compassionate grounds, i.e. sorry we sacked your dad, we'll let you go. Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Now, just on the Clayton's Games, also known as the Brisbane 2032 Olympics...

I was just having a look at some stuff when we were doing research for this piece. And so the 2016 Rio Games, right? That cost US $23 billion.

Went over 289% overrun. The 2020-12 Olympic Games in London cost almost $17 billion US. That was 76% over budget. Tokyo was $14 billion, 128% over budget. The next comes in Barcelona, 92. $12 billion, 266% over budget.

Paris this year is costing the best part of $9 billion. And Sydney 2000 is the seventh most expensive Olympics ever held at $5.2 billion US dollars. And the Sydney Games was 90% over budget. What about the Chinese? 2008 Beijing, $8.2 billion. And they only went over budget by 2% according to the Communist Party of China. Take that, make that what you will. Dean's in Botany. Hello, Dean.

Hi, Chris. Look, in regards to the Brisbane Olympics, it sounds like an episode of Utopia. You know, the Brisbane make big announcement of the Olympics, of what they're going to build, and then the pollies put on their hard hats and the high heels and take all the media in and they all stand there and nod their heads. But nothing gets built in the end. It's bad. I just hope they don't embarrass the country.

Well, that's right. Look, obviously, I don't think Australia can afford the Olympics at this stage. I think the Olympics need to change overall where you can divide it between two neighbouring countries like Australia and New Zealand. But, you know, once again, all the pollies nodding and saying, yeah, we can afford it, we can afford it. But when it comes to build these things, they all backtrack and they can't be done. Yeah. All right, Dean, appreciate that. Peter's at Gosford. Hello, Peter.

Chris, I am an ideas man, okay? The opening ceremony in Brisbane, okay? We've got a few financial problems, so we're going down Caxton Street. It gets better, Chris. Okay, it gets better, okay? We're going to have the Australian Olympic team come out, okay?

Except for the New South Wales Olympians, okay? We're going to come out last. And we're going to do something different, okay? We're going to have a non-Olympian carrying the flag. Poor Gallant. How good would it be? Gallant carrying the flag. It's so cool. How would that go? The world would just, they would never see anything. Don't worry about money, finances, okay? Okay, let's put Queensland on the map. Good idea, Pete.

Hey Pete, I've got a pillow coming your way. I think you might need it. It's the Anatomic Align Pillow from the Rockdale Mattress Factory. Australia's first natural, ventilated and adjustable pillow. It's valued at $219. The rockdallematressfactory.com.au. The opening ceremony right down the guts of Caxton Street.

It'd be fun. Five to five. Now, there's a whole bunch of nurses who are walking off the job tomorrow at a major Sydney hospital. After the five o'clock news with Josh Bryant, I'll tell you where and I'll speak to one of the nurses. And you can understand why, because...

Some of their demands, I reckon, are more than reasonable. And I'll also give you a bit of intel into the cabinet reshuffle that Anthony Albanese is planning, likely to happen in the next few days. Minister Andrew Giles, well, I don't think he'll be in immigration much longer.

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 past five. Thank you for your company on this Wednesday afternoon. 131873 is that open line number. You can text me 0460 873 873 or of course the email address drive at 2gb.com. Why are a few of our nurses walking off the job

at one of our major hospitals here in Sydney. I'll speak to one of the nurses and some of the demands, quite frankly, are more than fair. Deb Knight will join me in the studio to give me an update on how the market's fared and preview money news. And of course, Mark Levy with Wide World of Sport. First with the news only in Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

It's eight past five. Now, a man allegedly stabbed by a 15-year-old boy at Concord last week, well, it's believed to have been a drug deal gone wrong.

And the man stabbed has been identified as a Taiwanese national. This story in the Daily Telegraph. So the drug deal gone wrong is alleged to be the catalyst for a stabbing murder that claimed the man of a life in his 30s and has landed a 15-year-old boy in a jail cell. So this guy is Chi Liao, and he died out the front of a multi-million dollar home in Concord,

early Saturday morning, allegedly stabbed by a 15-year-old boy, and it will be alleged by police, the pair met up for a drug deal on Spring Street in Concord at 12.30am, and this was supposedly on CCTV footage, before the team pulled out a knife and began chasing Mr Liao. And he stabbed Mr Liao in the chest, allegedly, causing...

fatal injury. So he was charged with murder, this 15-year-old boy. He's faced paramount at Children's Court and he has not applied for bail.

Police didn't know who he was, the victim, for a long, long time, but it is understood that he is a Taiwanese national, a father of one, and only moved to Australia recently. 131873. A plane with 19 people on board has slipped off the runway and crashed at Nepal airport. And this is in Kathmandu, of course. So it happened a couple of hours ago, and it was trying to take off from the airport.

and the plane belongs to domestic Suraya Airline, and it was heading from Kathmandu to a resort town in Nepal. It's not clear if there were any casualties, but it slipped off the airway, and emergency crews were working to retrieve people from the aircraft. So we'll keep you up to date on what's happened there, 131873. If you missed it a little earlier, there's been an incident at a major ADF airport

exercise in Darwin. It's called exercise pitch black. And it's a whole bunch. I think it's 24 nationalities, all their air forces and a whole bunch of their defense force personnel, close to 5,000, are in Darwin for this exercise.

exercise that occurs every two years. Now, the Italian pilot has ejected himself from the plane, landed in a remote part of Northern Australia, and it was an RAAF helicopter that has gone in and managed to retrieve him. The pilot, the Italian pilot, thankfully, he's been taken to Darwin Base Hospital. He is okay. So extraordinary that nobody was hurt, uh,

In that incident, unclear what's happened to the plane itself, but the ADF say that the exercise, there will be no flying occurring for the next 24 hours. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Now, I've been on the phone and I know a few others have reported this too, but a reshuffle is about to occur in the Prime Minister's Cabinet.

And I think the Prime Minister might be in a bit of trouble, and I'll explain why. There are usually a couple of reasons that a Prime Minister shuffles the deck chairs of a government's cabinet. And the first is to get the best possible team in place for an election campaign, because you don't want any weaknesses going into an election campaign. The second reason is to shore up your own support by promoting colleagues who are your supporters.

And the third is a chance to demote or shuffle people away from portfolios that are causing your government problems. Now, I reckon there's a mixture of all three in Anthony Albanese's upcoming reshuffle.

And everybody that I've spoken to believes that Andrew Giles will no longer be the immigration minister. I think he even knows that. Andrew Giles will no longer be the immigration minister in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle in the Albanese government, likely to occur as early as Sunday. But here's something else that I found a little interesting that I picked up in my conversations today. There is currently a deep concern from Anthony Albanese's colleagues that

that the Prime Minister does not have a plan or a strategy to see Labor's electoral prospects improve. They feel like he's just kind of muddling away towards an election either late this year or more likely early next year, and then just hoping for the best. And there is some polling doing the rounds that shows that Labor is at risk of losing as many as 10 seats. Not all of them to Peter Dutton's coalition, but if Anthony Albanese's Labor, an incumbent government...

only in their first term after so long out, loses 10 seats at its first crack at re-election. Well, that is Wyala wipeout stuff for Alba. So to claim government in his own right, Labor needs 75 seats. Losing 10 of them would take him to 67. So he'd have to deal with an unwieldy and very large crossbench of Teals, Greens and maybe even other independents.

However, they are more likely to skew to Albanese than they are to Dutton. The Libs need 20 seats or something to win government in their outright. That will not happen. To win government outright, they need 20 seats. You can't see it happening unless something drastically changes. But if Labor loses 10, which is what this polling says, there is talk within the ALP that is enough to mark the end of Albanese's leadership. And then there would be an expectation within caucus and within cabinet that

that Anthony and Albanese would have to hand over the leadership of the Labor Party and, in effect, the prime ministership during the course of the next term. Now, there are very few people that know electoral mathematics better than Albo. Trust me on that. And he fights. He fights very hard, tooth and nail. However, he will know in his heart of hearts these polls are just not good enough.

And whether or not our South's supporting Prime Minister can pull a rabbit out of his hat remains to be seen. But maybe it's not thin ice at the moment for Albo, but the glacier is melting. Trust me on that one. Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. It's 14 and a half past five. Now, yesterday I spoke about the statewide rallies being held in New South Wales, which

Because nurses say that they want a pay rise, and fair enough. So tomorrow, Ramsey Healthcare nurses and midwives from St George Private Hospital, they're walking off the job for three hours at St George Private, and that's as part of industrial action. The three-hour work stoppage will result in many operating theatres being closed, and

And their union will slap work bans on for overtime too. Now, Deanna Hayes, she's a nurse at St George Private and she's also the hospital branch secretary. And she's on the line for us. Deanna, thanks for your time. Hi. Hi. Thanks for having me. No, you're very welcome. So why the strike?

Well, we've been bargaining with Ramsey for 16 months now. We've had, I think it's 10 or 11 bargaining meetings and Ramsey will still not budge on their pay offer that they've offered us at the moment and they're not budging on a lot of the conditions that we've been asking to be improved at Ramsey Healthcare. So what are they offering you?

They're offering us 11% over three years, which is below inflation. It's below the cost of living and the cost of living increases that we've had particularly in Sydney. And it's below the public system. It's also below other healthcare providers and it's way below Queensland, Ramsey Health and also Victoria when they get their pay rise as well. That's 3.6% a year. It doesn't quite feel enough. What do you guys want?

We're asking for 18 over three years, so six each year. Okay. So you're a fair way off each other, aren't you? We are, we are. And Ramsey have improved their offer from their initial offer. That was 9%. And now all they will come up to is 11% and they won't budge on that. And we think 18% is more than reasonable. So how's this going to impact on patients then, Deanna?

You mean the actual strike? Yeah, the industrial action itself. The industrial action. Well, obviously we never wanted to get to industrial action. We are doing this because we care about our patients, because we worry about our conditions and we worry that...

people are leaving Ramsey to go to other health that pays a better wage. But the actual strike tomorrow is not going to impact on the safety of patient care. We're still going to have a couple of theatres still running in the operating theatres if there's any emergencies. There'll be people there to cover that. There'll be enough skeleton staff on the ward to make sure that

The patients are safe. But we need to show Ramsey that we mean business, that we really need them to improve their offer. What about women who are expecting to give birth tomorrow at St George Private if midwives are walking off?

Yeah, well, again, there will be midwives still on the ward as well as midwives out the front. There won't be any birthing mothers that are at risk because there will be enough staff to cover them, but they won't be having any elective inductions during that time. Deanna, I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Good luck. Okay, thank you very much. That's Deanna Hayes. She's a nurse at St George Private Hospital. So if you've got elective surgery booked at St George Private tomorrow or...

The off chance, you know, your partner or you yourself, you're pregnant and you're due to go to St. George Hospital tomorrow to give birth to your baby. Just beware, three-hour work stoppages and overtime bans in place at St. George Private Hospital. Ramsey offering 3.6% a year and what?

But the nurses, they want 6% a year when it comes to a pay rise. They're a long, long way away from solving that one. Eighteen and a half past five. It's twenty-two and a half past five. Just an update on this crash in Kathmandu in Nepal.

So they're talking now at least 18 are dead in that plane crash. So there's a small plane that's crashed and caught fire as it sort of rolled off the tarmac, the runway there at Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. This only happened in the last hour or so, but they are now confirming 18 people are dead. I'm just looking at a photograph of the crash site. Yeah.

It looks like the fire's engulfed the entire plane and there's very little left of it. So I would say everybody on board that plane, unfortunately, may well have perished in the fire. But I'm just told the pilot has been rushed to hospital. So, you know, very sad for all those families and a terrible, terrible incident in Kathmandu. 131873. Now...

Here's a story that's just dropped on the Daily Telegraph website. And Josh Hanrahan, who's their police reporter, he's a very good reporter, he's just written this. Alleged Alameddine kingpin Masood Zakaria. So he's the Alameddine crime family, right? And this guy's name is Masood Zakaria. He's lucky to be alive. He was almost shot by a prison guard as he was escorted out of court on Monday. What? What?

So Zakaria was led out of Parramatta District Court by Corrective Services NSW officers on Monday afternoon and this was following the first day of an ongoing trial when one of the officer's rifles fired twice, the bullet only narrowly missing Zakaria's head. Wow. Well a major investigation is now underway so Corrective Services NSW has said

The unintentionally fired shots were part of a routine inspection of the officer's gun. So the shots were fired unintentionally as the officer carried out a routine inspection of their gun. Well, why are they carrying out a routine inspection of their gun while they've got someone in custody? Someone right there. Don't you do that before you go on shift or after you finish your shift up or something? So at around 3.40 p.m.,

On Monday the 22nd of July, a Corrective Services NSW officer unintentionally discharged a firearm during a routine functioning check. The incident occurred within a secure vehicle loading dock at a Parramatta Justice Precinct and it resulted to minor damage in a brick wall. No one was injured. Corrective Services investigating the incident. But Zakaria, supposedly the bullets only just missed his head.

He's facing trial for allegedly perverting the course of justice over an incident involving an Uber driver in Maryland in 2019. So, gee whiz, that would have...

That's very, very close. Way too close for comfort, of course, for Corrective Services New South Wales and this guy, Masood Zakaria. I'm just told that 2GB News has been told by Corrective Services the prisoners were safely secured in a bulletproof transport vehicle when the firearm discharged. Well, that information from Corrective Services, clearly very different to what Josh...

Hanrahan is reporting in the Daily Telegraph. 131873, regardless. Your gun shouldn't be going off in the middle of duty. Well, isn't that a very basic thing? Why is it going off? Anyway, it seems bizarre. Corrective Services, they've launched an investigation. Hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it. Inside Word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, notice Chris Reason at Channel 7 News. He was reporting this a couple of days ago, but Chinese swimmers have now been drug tested more than 600 times in 2024, way more than any other country. And swimming's global governing body, they've released all this.

So less than a week before the start of the Paris Olympics, World Aquatic has released fresh details about its anti-doping blitz. And it shows that Chinese swimmers were targeted above and beyond athletes from other countries. So our top 41 swimmers, Australia's, were tested an average of four times in 2024. Is four times enough? Four times in 2024? That's once a quarter.

Anyway, I'm sure our guys are fine. But 31 Chinese were asked to provide samples 21 times on average. Of the top 10 tested swimming countries, other than China, average was about six. So we were tested on average four times, our top 41 swimmers. Chinese, 21. Probably fair enough.

There's been a lot of cheating going on from the Chinese when it comes to swimming, hasn't it? So hopefully that means these games are clean because we're seeing with the enhanced games, all the people are allowed to take steroids and the rest of it. I'm not completely opposed to the enhanced games. People are able to take what they want to take, and if they want to make television and make some money in the interim, so be it.

It's not a great message to kids. Yeah, sure, but lots of things aren't. But with the enhanced games now trying to take a little bit of the paint and the prestige of the official Olympic Games, which are supposed to be amateur or at the very, very least semi-professional, you wouldn't want these clean athletes coming up dirty. Drive with Chris O'Keefe on to GB.

A news update. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-great delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT. ♪

In the newsroom, Josh Bryan, G'day. Good afternoon again, Chris. At least 18 people have been killed when a small plane carrying crew members and 17 technicians crashed on a runway and caught fire in Nepal. Corrective Services in New South Wales is investigating after an officer unintentionally discharged a firearm during a routine check. No one was injured, but a brick wall in a secure vehicle loading dock in Parramatta suffered minor damage.

The AFP won't be laying charges after investigating allegations a witness provided false testimony to the Robodet Royal Commission. Police say there is not enough evidence to prove the alleged offender intended to mislead the commission. And scientists say wild sharks living off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine. The substance was detected in all 13 of the animals which were tested.

Five members of the Australian women's water polo team have now tested positive to COVID. The athletes are only suffering mild symptoms and will be allowed to train if they feel well enough. We'll have more news in Sport at Six. Thanks, Josh. Just call the water polo team, the girls, the codrels or something. Seriously, why are we still talking about COVID? 131873. Coming up, Deb Knight. She'll preview money news and tell us how the market's fared.

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. A weather update. We'll be here to help in unexpected weather. NRMA Insurance. Another beautiful day, wasn't it? Right now, 16 in the city and 13 in our west. Temperatures tonight will dip to 12 in the city and 8 in our west. Tomorrow, mostly sunny. Tops of 23 degrees in the city tomorrow and 23 in the west.

A finance update. The best gets even better. Masterton Homes Ultimate Inclusions now comes with solar. Search Masterton to realise your dream today.

And Deb Knight's got money news tonight after 7 o'clock. Deb, how'd the markets go? The markets, they sort of spluttered along today, really. There was US markets closed lower overnight, so some small losses on the Australian share market. The ASX 200 down 0.1% or 7 points to 7,963. Real estate, the real estate sector led the falls off by 1.6%. But the Aussie dollar, that's the big story. The Aussies...

been sinking like an absolute stone. It's down to now under 66 US cents. It's largely because there's been really soft growth in housing data out of China. So it's been a pretty brutal eight-day sell-off for the Aussie dollar, and it's been made worse by the fact that some of our copper prices and iron ore prices have also been pretty low. So yeah, the Aussie dollar, down she goes. Speaking of Aussies, the Kiwis brew. Yes.

Choice brew. They're coming over the ditch brew. I was told that that's racist the other day. It's not racist, is it? Take off the Kiwis? Fish and chips? No. It's all said with much love, isn't it, for our Kiwi cousins? Well, you've got to be careful because... Is the blood as low? Maybe. There's so many of them here, more than ever before. Really? We've had...

Yes, 700,000 Kiwis have now flocked to Australia, 35,000 of them alone in the 11 months to May. And it's because we've got a very strong jobs market, but also changes to the citizenship. Now there's the direct pathway to permanent residency. If they get a skilled jobs visa, they can apply immediately for citizenship instead of waiting for 12 months, which is what they used to do. So

They're coming here. They love it. And who could blame them? I mean, I love New Zealand, but we're the best country on earth. They wouldn't be going to Bondi anymore.

I think they're probably... Do you reckon Bondi's been outpriced? It's a full sign at Bondi. The other Manly way, although that's where all the Brits move to as well. Yeah, and the Brazilians love Manly, don't they? Yeah, they do. There's always Brazilian tourists at Manly, always. I know, I know. Doing the... Is it capoeira? Capoeira, yeah. The dancing and the drumming and the... It's like the martial arts, isn't it? Like a... Yeah. Good food. Brazilian food. Brazilian food. So I'm a bit anti the Brazilian barbecue. What? The chicken hearts. What? Oh.

We'll just shove it up, put some satay on it. It's right. It goes down a treat. It's an offensive volume of food, the Brazilian barbecue. Yeah, but the smell. The smell is so good. Brazilian barbecue is so yummy. Not so much the next day. Good on you, Deb. Good on you. I appreciate that. That's Deb Knight with Money News coming up after 7 o'clock. Here's an interesting story in the Herald. And I know they're banging a drum that it's not going to happen.

It probably should happen at some point, and that's putting a light rail tram straight down Parramatta Road. You know, try to mirror what they've done on George Street, but straight down Parramatta Road. And, you know, you could probably do it from, I don't know, Broadway to Leichhardt, maybe even a little further.

You could go maybe up to sort of Summer Hill, Ashfield way. Maybe Ashfield because that's a good sort of interchange junction there on Parramatta Road. What do you think? 131873. Because Clover Moore is still pushing it and she's pushing it really, really hard. And she reckons...

that the long vaunted ambition to turn Parramatta Road into a pedestrian friendly tree-lined boulevard, well, she reckons it's a project whose time has come. Well, maybe so, especially if we can get some apartments built along Parramatta Road. Something needs to happen with it. And if a tram is...

I don't know. If a tram is the answer, then so be it. The problem is the men's government, they're yet to come up with an original idea when it comes to public transport. They're just building all the stuff that the New South Wales Liberal and Coalition government left for them. And that's okay.

Because they're extremely expensive projects. That is, a metro train through the city. They're opening that in a couple of weeks' time. And the metro train from the city to Parramatta. Whether or not a light rail flies, well...

I don't think it does financially at the moment, but as a good idea, I think it's a great idea. It's 22 to 6. Well, we're just two days out from the Paris Olympic Games. You'll see it, of course, live on 9 and you hear it live right here on 2GB too. So I want to tell you about some green and gold cows. Yeah, they're athletes, these cows. They're green and gold too and they're on the side of the Princess Highway near Bury.

So if you drive down the south coast, you will see green and gold cows.

And it's not just cows. There's an Eiffel Tower there with French flags. And the guys behind it are called Turf Co. And they've been spray painting these plastic cows for more than a decade. They've done Origin-themed cows, Barbie and Ken cows. And now they've got green and gold ones in the lead-up to the Olympics. Gavin Rogers is from Turf Co. He's the mastermind behind it all. He's on the line. Gav, g'day.

Yeah, Chris, how are you going? How did you come up with getting people into the spirit? What started it all?

Well, it's really a team effort. All the guys at Turf Car are behind this and our resident artist is Scott Parker and he came up with the idea about 15 years ago now. We're a 36-year-old company and Scott's been here since day one and he's a bit of a legend around the place and we never thought he could draw. And one day we decided to do this purple cow idea. We actually had a function in Tasmania in 2008 and they spoke about a purple cow so we bought one and

A few weeks later, Scott, in his inspiration, had painted this thing up and we stuck it out. And it's been a real community drawcard ever since. And there's been, I guess in that time, there's been over about 500 different themes that he's painted up. So I'm having a look at some of the photos now for the Olympic Games. And, you know, this isn't some sort of poxy effort or backyard effort. This looks professional. This looks really schmink.

Yeah, it looks, Mick. I mean, Scott and his son, Matt, Marcus, Julian, George, and all the team at Turf Co., they come up with ideas, and Scott's unbelievable. He basically drew it on the back of a beer coaster. He said his beer fridge gives him inspiration at night, and away he goes. As it does for many of us.

when he drew it, we thought there's no way we're going to pull this one off this time around. Scott, you've gone too far. But yeah, he and all the team at Turf K just found scrap timber and scrap lattice and put it all together and all of us put it out there and put it on show and it's been such a great event and one of the most popular yet, I think. I mean, there's been some good ones over the years, but

Some days it causes a few traffic issues at the front with everyone stopping. But it's been a really good one, this one. This is outstanding. So when you're going to Barrie, you go, hang on, where am I going? Oh, yeah, yeah, just up left past the Eiffel Tower. It looks really good.

Yeah, it's been funny. I mean, over the years, he's had some great Valentine's Day ones and we've had Lara Pringle pull up and get photos. We've had an ex-Prime Minister asking where Jasper's Brush is, which is his actual location south of Bury. And the Prime Minister said, at the time, oh, wow, that's where those cows are. So it's rather iconic. But easy to see, mate. They're 3km south of Bury on the highway. And there's a few spots that pull up in front of them, especially northbound. And, yeah, grab a photo and...

and go for it. I'm just looking at the Eiffel Tower. So what did you make it out of? Scrap lattice and some scrap timber, did you?

Yeah, the budget was a bit tight. I'd be here to go and buy new timber. So Scotty's mother actually had some old ladders from under her house and we had the timber lying around from some old props and I think the only thing we spent money on was a French flag. We didn't have one of those in stock. So it's all out of recycled stuff and we're trying to really get a recycled stuff and a lot of people even donate the paint to him as well. So it's a real community event. How long does it take you?

Depends. I mean, there's a lot of inspiration depending on how far he goes, but he works very hard on it. We've actually, we bought him a second set. He gets over 75 requests a year for different community themes and fundraisers and charities. So why does one out in the road, he's in his own time after work, he's doing another one. It takes him a good week. You

if he's got to do all the cows. But, yeah, it's mainly coming up with the themes with all the turf go crew. And then once the crew get a theme, and I guess Scott gives a nod that he can do it, he works pretty hard for about four or five days to get them ready. All right. Well, Gav, all the best. I really appreciate you coming on and well done getting into the Aussie spirit. Who's your favourite for the Olympics? Who's your favourite? Who are you looking forward to watching?

Mate, I just love the games. I think the last 10 years have been interesting, but I think the whole games over there in Paris, we're just looking forward to the whole lot of it. And it's just a great thing to watch. Good on you, Gav. I appreciate you coming on. All the best. Thanks, Chris. You too. Thanks, mate. That's Gavin Rogers from Turf Co. So it's in Jasper's Brush, but not far from Bury. So if you're driving down there, go and check it out. It looks fantastic.

So you've got sort of these model cows. They'd be sort of life-size, maybe not quite to scale, but not far off. And they're painted in green and gold. And then you've got the Eiffel Tower on top of them with the Olympic rings, a big sign that says Paris 2024, and then the French flag on top of it. Good on you. On you, Gavin. Good on you to everybody at Turfco. 131873, the Paris Games. Not long now.

Just got a text here. This is from John. There's a car that's been rear-ended on Centenary Drive just after the Waroona Road, Strathfield. Just after Waroona Road, sorry. Strathfield, northbound on Centenary Drive. Good on you, John. 131873, do you want $200 of free petrol? If you want $200 of free petrol and you reckon you can take someone on in the duel for fuel and win...

Call me now, 131873. It's all thanks to Shell V-Power, 131873. We'll play the Duel for Fuel next. On 2GB Drive, let's duel for fuel. We are dueling for fuel this Wednesday afternoon. $200 of it thanks to Shell V-Power, fueling your drive home. Matt's on the line. G'day, Matt. Chris, how are you, buddy? I'm outstanding, Matt. Matt's at Bellrose and over at Cobbity, I've got Paul. G'day, Paul. Hey, Chris, how are you? I'm all right, Paul. You want to start us?

Sure. Your time starts now. True or false, the band Radiohead originated in America? Correct. Meghan Markle is married to which English royal? Harry. Correct. Which car company is known for the Model 3? Pass. Tesla. Who plays Vito Corleone in The Godfather? Pass. Marlon Brando. Can an ibis fly? Yes. The Ukrainian flag has two colours. What are they? Blue and yellow. Correct. Well done, Paul.

That's a good, strong start. That's four. You ready, Matt? Yes, buddy. Thank you. Your time starts now. What are the five senses? Smell, touch, sight, hearing, puff. Taste. How many elements are on the periodic table? 118 or 125? 118. Correct. Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson belong to which band? Beach Boys. Correct. Jason Nightingale played 268 games for which club? Jason Nightingale. Roosters. Correct.

I'm thankful you didn't, were you? Jason Nightingale, legend of the St. George of the Loire Dragons. Please. Paul, $200 coming your way, all thanks to Shell V-Power. It is the jewel for fuel. We play 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 strict cred delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT.

Mark Levy's got Wide World of Sports coming up next. Levy, gypsies are made of mine. Jason Nightingale would be filthy at that rooster's place. He would. He used to do a mean coffee over there near Coggera train station too, Jason Nightingale. He said it was impossible to make money after making coffees. He goes, there's not enough coffee in the world you can make to make a quid. Especially when you're trying to emulate what he earned as a rugby league player. What did they used to call him? The awkward thing.

So that's what Gus used to call him, the awkward thing. Well, the awkward thing is a bloody good footballer. He's one of nature's gentlemen, isn't he? He's a good bloke. He's a great bloke. Great bloke. Great footballer too. How are you? Speaking good blokes. Mate, I'm very well. I've just finished off, just had it fine-tuned a few little things. We're farewelling our great mate David Morrow tomorrow morning at Coogee. So I've been invited to speak, which I'm very honoured to do. But I'm going to keep my eulogy a little bit

more upbeat and share a few stories from his time at 2GB. So I hope it goes across okay. I'm sure it will, mate. I love the bloke. I just reminded people earlier in the program, but I should do it again.

His live stream, the funeral will be live streamed for Thirsty's funeral tomorrow. And the link is on the 2GB.com website. So if you want to check it out just before 11 a.m., click on the live stream link and you can farewell Thirsty from home too if you can't make it. What's on your show tonight, Levy?

Mate, we've got a big show. We were talking last night, Gal and I, about Craig Bellamy and the Storm, and they have this ability just to turn good players into superstars of our game. And one bloke who's had a real hand in that is Frank Panisi, the general manager of football at the Melbourne Storm, and he worked under Michael Maguire with the Blues. So he'll be a special guest on the program, and we'll find out the latest on Cameron Munster.

and Melbourne's run home to the finals. Plenty of Olympic action coming up. We've got our men's rugby sevens team in action later tonight. Two pool games they'll play. We'll chat to Charlotte Caslick, who's the captain of the Australian women's rugby seven side. The Matildas, they get their campaign underway later in the week. Mark Bosnich will be here. And Canberra today announcing that Mal Meninga will be rejoining the Raiders. Hopefully it's a bit better than his political career. But he'll be there working under Ricky Stewart as sort of a

a mentoring role, recruitment, retention. So Don Ferner, the boss of the Canberra Raiders, will be a guest on the show as well. You reckon Mal's over that, people bringing it up?

And here's a question. Would anyone do it to his face? Yeah, no, he's very intimidating. He's an immortal. You can't say things like that. You know what? I retract my earlier comment, Chris. I feel bad that I said it in the first place. So you should, gentlemen. Big meow. Have I ever told you the story about what Tubby Taylor, Mark Taylor told me once, right? No. So they're over there in Canberra doing their World Club Challenge and there was a test match in the UK somewhere.

And the Canberra Raiders and the Australian Test team, they got together after one of the Test matches and the Raiders had been on the pen and ink all day. And so then the Test boys get into it too and they're having a great time. And supposedly one of the Test match players, the Australian players, the cricketers, said to Big Mal, I've always wanted to run at you. Yeah.

He goes, next thing you know. I've heard that a few times about other people. It was the great tug of war. And he missed the next test because Mal hit him in the next week.

Is this public knowledge or have you just made it public? I've heard it at a couple of sportsman's lunches, so that's okay, isn't it? Isn't it funny? And, you know, you're a knockabout like I am, Chris. Isn't it funny how when you have a couple of drinks, you just build this, all of a sudden, this confidence to say and do things that you normally wouldn't? I'm more say than do. I'm not much of a wrestler.

I don't know. You know blokes who like wrestling. I'm not into that. Don't touch me, please. I'll tell you a story just quickly. I've got a mate of mine. He just has this ability to obviously get on the drink. But, mate, D&Ms. I don't do D&Ms on a Friday night when I'm out enjoying myself.

So, look, Kurt, if you're listening, can you drop off with your deep and meaningfuls? Sort out your own issues, okay? Hey, quickly, Richard on the text line wants to know, can you explain the menu on offer at your eatery? It'll be good.

Oh, just run us through. Give us three bits. Three bits. What have you got? Oh, the calamari's beautiful. Octopus, beautiful. And the past, the fortune's past. Is it the full octopus with the dangly legs and everything? Or is it the old-fashioned strips? Well, you know what they say about an octopus with massive tentacles. That's all I'm going to say. Hooray. Bye-bye. That's Mark Levy with Wide World of Sports coming up next. I'll see you tomorrow at 3 p.m. Bye-bye.