2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full show July 22 01:51:30

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. Lots on this Monday. Hope it's treating you OK. Now, we will continue our coverage of Joe Biden's decision to quit the race for re-election for president. And I want to get an idea of who Kamala Harris is. Now, she will likely be the candidate taking on Donald Trump. But what do we know about her and what will her impact be for us here in Australia?

There's also been an almighty blow up in the world of horse racing. Gay Waterhouse has effectively said there needs to be change at the top of Racing NSW. Which means the CEO Peter Volandi's right. Well, I'll tell you about that in a sec, it's extraordinary.

Plus Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus will join me in the studio. They've got a cracker of a tour underway. I'm looking forward to that chat with one of the greats of Aussie rock, the Hoodoo Gurus. How good. Lots to give away too. We'll give away that $1,000 for guests the Olympian. We didn't get to on Friday because of that big tech outage we had. But that $1,000, I've still got it to give away. I've got a family pass to Featherdale and $200 of free fuel too. Right now, 19 at Bankstown and 18 at Wombrill.

It's eight and a half past three, 131 873 is that open line number. The text line is up and going 0460 873 873. Or of course you can email me drive at 2gb.com. Now Hall of Fame trainer Gay Waterhouse has used her appearance at the Rose Hill Parliamentary Inquiry. So there's an inquiry underway at the moment in New South Wales Parliament to...

investigate and interrogate the sale of Rose Hill Racecourse. Anyway, so it was Gay Waterhouse and John O'Shea. Gay Waterhouse, though, she used her appearance to call for a change in leadership at Racing NSW. Now, it was the Animal Justice Party MP, Emma Hurst, so she's sitting on the committee, and she said...

whether or not it was time for a new CEO within Racing NSW. And Gay Waterhouse said, look, I think there's time for change and we wouldn't be here today if there wasn't because things aren't right in the state of Denmark. That's your problem. There are things that are very, very wrong here and we have to, well, we have to address them. That's why we're here today.

Now, Gay Waterhouse said she is incensed by the idea of Rose Hill Racecourse being sold off to developers. Like everybody in racing, I'm incensed at the attempt to sell Rose Hill and hijack, meaning steal, the proceeds. I'm infuriated by the mendacity of the ATC board and associates, but I exclude from criticism board members Tim Hale and Carolyn Searcy.

who have behaved more than fairly, having members' interests at heart. We would not be here today to discuss selling the cricket ground, the SCG, or Bondi Beach, but yet we're here to discuss the sale of Rose Hill. The parallel business case is Harold Park, which was located in Glebe in inner Sydney, and which in 1970 attracted bigger crowds than even on the coldest, wettest day at Golden Slipper Day in Rose Hill.

Harold Park was sold to secure Trotting Industries' future. Now, zero crowds attend headquarters at Menangle. Similarly, in Melton, replaced Moonee Valley in Victoria, and the same result. So tragic. Now, to be completely honest, I've been very sceptical of this sale of Rose Hill. I feel like I'm one of the only lone voices in the media who is sceptical about it, but...

That's by the by. I just always thought it was extremely premature for both the ATC, Peter McGoran, the chairman, and the men's government, including the premier, to stand there saying that this is going to happen when the process hadn't been conducted yet. And the whole thing lives and dies on the vote of the Australian Turf Club membership.

Nobody's consulted with the membership yet. They haven't voted on it. So if they have not given you the go-ahead as members to sell off Rose Hill Racecourse, how can you stand there with the government and say, this is our intention, this is what we're going to do? Anyway, Gay Waterhouse and John O'Shea, some pretty serious trainers. And I don't particularly care what happens to Rose Hill. I'm a racing fan, but...

That's up to the membership because the membership are the ones that own the track. It's their voice and their voice only that matter, right? 131873. Well, the biggest story in the world today is President Biden's decision to pull out of the election race. So early this morning, Biden released a statement, if you missed it, and the statement said this. It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president.

That's Joe Biden saying, I'm quitting the race, baby. It leaves his Vice President, Kamala Harris. So she's clearly the favourite now to lead the Democrats. Her statement, she said this...

Over the past year, I've travelled across the country talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election and that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party and unite our nation to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.

So how are things playing out in the United States? Jonathan Kersley is Nine News' US correspondent. He's live in Washington, D.C. Jono, how are things going? Chris, what a momentous day in American history. Just when you thought this presidential campaign had had enough twists and turns for a Hollywood movie script, well, it's just been delivered a whole other one altogether. As you mentioned, Joe Biden bowing out today, handing over his

He wants to hand over to Kamala Harris. That's going to be a matter for the Democratic Convention in Chicago next month. But this is a huge sign. Joe Biden had been battered from pillar to post for the better part of the last three weeks after that disastrous debate performance. And finally, the pressure simply became too much. There were 35 or so congressional Democrats

calling on him to step aside. It was expected in the days ahead that number was going to be 100 and there were going to be loud voices for the likes of Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer going public with their concerns. So US President Joe Biden has essentially fallen on his sword and said that he will bow out of the race and endorse Kamala Harris. The Democratic Party wants a

seamless move ahead of that convention. They want this to look like a party united rather than the disunity that we've seen over the course of the last few weeks. It is going to be a crucial fight to take on Donald Trump and right now it is firming up for Kamala Harris will be the one to take on that challenge. Joe Biden, would you be a bit filthy that Barack Obama, the guy that you served with as vice president for all those years, effectively stabbed you in the back?

Essentially what you had was during the course of Barack Obama's presidency was this picture and image of a bromance between the two. They would often share a joke and laugh. Videos would be shared around. Recently, in the last week or so, we heard talk that Obama was talking to his allies, saying that Joe Biden's path to victory was diminishing.

That was the clearest sign yet. This was essentially being run the democratic chain of command. Chuck Schumer talking to Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, talking to Joe Biden about her concerns. And then it was leaked that Barack Obama was telling allies that essentially Joe Biden's chances of winning

were next to slim to none. So this was a huge move. And they'd been reporting even just in the couple of hours before Joe Biden made this announcement that Biden had been digging in because of this grudge that it was being reported he has with Barack Obama over this pressure on him to bow out of the race. But last night, Joe Biden, with family, made this decision in order to, I suppose he says, for the good of the country, bow out of the race.

That was the only way forward, unfortunately, for President Biden. John O'Kersley, I've been enjoying your coverage. Thanks so much. Always good to talk to you. This is 2GB, Chris. That's Jonathan Kersley, Nine News' US correspondent. Live, local, on 2GB. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Now, just on Kamala Harris, there are some potential issues around a Kamala Harris presidency for us here in Australia. I've been thinking about this.

Harris seems to be the kind of person that says one thing and then does another. And for our country here in Australia that relies on a rock-solid relationship with the United States, this worries me. One example, when Kamala Harris was San Francisco District Attorney, she vowed not to ever seek the death penalty. She's a District Attorney in San Francisco. She gets promoted to California's Attorney General.

and then started to argue that the death penalty should stand. Say one thing, do another. She said America has a deep and dark history of using the power of the prosecutor as an instrument of injustice. This was her big thing, right? That the power of the prosecutor was being used as an instrument of injustice.

Yet in practice, she fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that have been secured through official misconduct that have been proven. And that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors. Kamala Harris opposed a bill requiring her office to investigate shootings involving police officers.

Instrument of injustice, remember? And she refused to support statewide standards regulating the use of body-worn cameras by police officers. All the while, she was saying that black people and poor people were being unfairly dealt with by police. Do one thing, say another. And even when evidence is so overwhelming, she has refused to change course in some instances.

There was an electrician with no criminal record who was charged with sexually abusing his stepdaughter. Now, the case largely hinged on the stepdaughter's testimony. But after he was convicted, the stepfather, the judge discovered that the prosecutor had unlawfully held back potential evidence, including medical reports indicating that the stepdaughter had been repeatedly untruthful with law enforcement and evidence from lawyers

her own mother, that described her as a pathological liar who lives her lies. Yet Kamala Harris refused to drop the case and this guy is serving 70 years jail still. Kamala Harris also defended a man's conviction for murder, even though judges found that a prosecutor presented false testimony at the trial. And she only relented after a video received national attention that embarrassed her.

Don't forget, Kamala Harris tried to beat Joe Biden as a Democratic candidate in 2020. She was a terrible candidate. She dropped out two months early and was polling at just 3% nationally. She wasn't even the favoured candidate in her home state of California.

And her history of policy inconsistencies, questionable prosecutorial decisions and political missteps suggests a leadership style that may not align with Australia's expectations of reliability and principled democracy. Especially when we rely on the United States for so much. Now, I'm no great Donald Trump fan, but at least we know what we're going to get. We've already dealt with it for four years.

Kamala Harris is a leading light of identity politics and the obsession of identity politics within the Democratic Party. Forget about pronouns and microaggressions when it comes to Kamala Harris, she leaves nothing to chance. Good afternoon. I want to welcome these leaders for coming in to have this very important discussion about some of the most pressing issues of our time.

I am Kamala Harris. My pronouns are she and her. I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit. Yes, my pronouns are she and her. I am Kamala Harris. The most pressing issues of our time. When it comes to pressing issues of our time, what about Ukraine?

Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So basically that's wrong. Look, good to know, Kamala. Thank you for that. Anyway, the reports out of the United States are the Democrats are concerned that Harris will also lose the election.

But she's a woman and she's a black woman, so they can't possibly replace her. It would go against everything the Democrats stand for. And that is precisely the problem, isn't it? Equality of opportunity is critical in our society. It goes without saying everybody should have equal opportunity to be the best versions of themselves. But the colour of someone's skin, their gender, it should have nothing to do with whether or not someone should be the leader of the free world.

And to be honest, when it comes to both Trump and Harris, to borrow a phrase from Malcolm Turnbull, I think it's fair to say that Australia, at least both candidates, should be contemplated with dread. If I was American, I'd be voting for Robert F. Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he's an independent. He might be a bit mad, but seriously.

Have a look at the other two. It's 25 and a half past three. Well, if you're in the car, just be aware school zones are back in force for term three. And I know many kids are having pupil free days while the teachers get their act together ahead of another term. But you are reminded to slow down because those 40 an hour, 40 kilometer an hour speed zones, even if the kids aren't in class, you will still get pinched. They are still enforceable. So from today,

School zones are back in force, and generally that's in from 8 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 4 p.m. So even though some kids don't go back to school tomorrow, just be aware. Just be aware. You do not want to get a speeding fine in a school zone. It is not pretty. Yes, the Olympia. Or at your home of the Olympics. We couldn't do this on Friday because we couldn't do much on Friday, unfortunately.

The blue screen of death, if you missed it, paralyzed us in a big, big way here on Drive. But we got through, we delivered you the information. But what we couldn't deliver you was the final $1,000 in our guest, the Olympian giveaway. So your first clue, the West Australian swam the anchor leg when Australia won the 4x100 metre medley relay in Moscow.

So it was a 4x100 medley relay in Moscow and the West Aussie swam the anchor leak when Australia won the men's 4x100 metre medley relay in Moscow. So you'll get another clue after four o'clock and your cue to call after five o'clock. Guess the Olympian, Paris, opening ceremony on Friday.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Just on the sale of Rose Hill Racecourse, if you're just jumping in the car, Gay Waterhouse has effectively said that change is needed at the top of Racing NSW. Now, the CEO of Racing NSW is Peter Volandis.

So you don't hear that often, do you? But Gay Waterhouse at a parliamentary inquiry said just that. She said she's incensed at it. And John O'Shea, he didn't sort of reflect on Peter Volandes' tenure as the CEO of Racing NSW, but he was furious at the idea that you would sell Rose Hill Racecourse.

What do you think? 131873, should Rose Hill be sold or do you agree with Gay Waterhouse? Arnie's called in. Hello, Arnie. Arnie, you with me? Hello.

Hello, can you hear me? I've got you, Arnie. What do you think of the Sala Rose Hill? Look, I think it's the dumbest idea ever. Parramatta's supposed to be our second largest city. If you're going to keep taking amenities away, we're going to have issues. All these people that are going to live there, apparently, what are they going to do for entertainment? It's also used for many other events, events,

you know, fundraisers and what have you, and there's catering facilities. I think what they should do is incorporate maybe a tower or two. I think there's enough land there. And keep the racecourse. Well, there's parts of it where you can build apartments. No question. It's about... Correct. But for the government, the government's sitting there going, well, if we're going to spend a little over a billion dollars to realign the new train line that's going to Parramatta to put a new train station at Rose Hill...

We want the whole box and dice. We want the whole 25,000 unit suburb to make it worth our while. Well, why not increase the zoning around the station as opposed to just take over the racecourse? Well, Arnie, I agree. And you know what? We can all have a conversation about it. But do you not think that this whole thing's been premature from day one? Do you not think that unless the members say, yeah, all right, we're ready to do this, it's really just a moot point?

Of course. 100%. There's ulterior motives there, mate. That's for sure. All right, Arnie. Enjoy your afternoon. I appreciate your call. 131873. I've been saying it from day one. And we broke the story. Don't forget, I rang into Money News to say that this was going to happen at the back end of last year. It was sort of December last year, I think. November or December last year when they announced it. And I said at the time, this is way premature.

We have, there is nobody that's even gone to Racing NSW or gone to the ATC membership and said, this is how much money you can make from developing it. They haven't even got those metrics in place yet. That work is still being done. So how on earth can you then announce that this is what you intend to do at the back end of last year without having any evidence to justify it? Just the whole thing seems very, very strange to me. Let's check the news headlines.

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

In the newsroom, Josh Bryan. G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Joe Biden has been a great friend of Australia after the US president dropped out of the race to run for a second term, endorsing Kamala Harris as the new Democratic candidate. An investigation is underway after a man presented to a Central West hospital with four gunshot wounds to his elbow and thigh. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. A man has been charged with committing an act of indecency accused of harassing a

fellow passenger on a flight from Dubai to Australia. And an Australian inventor hopes his new design for a helmet could reduce the effects of concussion in sport. It's designed to better absorb the impact of tackles. In sport, after complaining of shortness of breath after a win over North Melbourne, Carlton Ruckman, Tom DeKoenig, has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. He's also had surgery on a fractured foot and will miss the rest of the AFL season.

We'll have more news in Sport at 4. Thanks, Josh. Keith's called in from Narellan. Keith, what do you think of the sale of Rose Hill?

G'day, mate. I think it's a bit of a farce. Why don't they sell Canterbury or Warwick Farm? They've both got railway stations right next to them. Yeah, Warwick Farm, you can't do that because the Inglis family has just invested a stack of money into a wonderful facility out there for the new horse sale yards. And Canterbury, I don't know what happened with Canterbury, Keith. That was always the plan to sell. That's the one that makes the most sense to me, but I think...

The issue with Canterbury is that it's just nowhere near as big as Rose Hill, so it won't raise sort of the big bucks. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. You've still got room there to build at least 10 blocks of units. Easy. Yeah, well, just not the 25,000 that I think they're probably hoping to get. Good on you, Keith. I appreciate your call. Jim's at Bowerall. Final one. Hello, Jim.

G'day, Chris. How are you? I'm well, thanks, Jim. What are you making? Good, good, mate. I think Chris Minns would sell anyone his grandmother for a headline. Fair think of him. I mean, who'd sell Roseville Rosecourse? I mean, in their right mind. I mean, it's an absolute iconic place, and who wants to do that? I mean, they've got enough land out there to do anything else they want to do, and they want to take away all the heritage in the Parramatta and everything else.

Good on you, Jim. There's a lot of people that I think feel the same about Rose Hill itself, but I'll just say this. Wait and see what the membership do. If the membership get a free and honest vote on this thing, well, I've said from day one, good luck. 131873. Coming up, there's this Uber Eats-style...

illegal cannabis network operating around Sydney and it's quite extraordinary. Now Jeremy Buckingham from the Legalised Cannabis Party will join me to talk about it and he reckons it is proof positive as to why cannabis should be made legal. I disagree but we'll have it out 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. Well, have you heard of this website? It's called LeafedOut.com. LeafedOut.com. Incredible story in the Daily Telegraph. It's about a giant illegal cannabis business. It's like the Uber Eats of marijuana and it's running through this website, LeafedOut.com. So you sign up and within minutes, you've got weed being delivered to your front door.

So the Daily Telegraph asked the New South Wales police, how on earth is this allowed to operate? And they said this, quote, Now, this website, look.

I don't know how easy it is for the police just to see who's selling what, but maybe because it's cannabis, I don't know, it's not dealt with as seriously. 131873, what should be done about this? But you pull up the website and you should see the number of people buying marijuana in Sydney. Extraordinary. Jeremy Buckingham is the legalised cannabis party. He's in the New South Wales Parliament. And unsurprisingly, he reckons this is the reason why marijuana needs to be legalised because...

People are doing it anyway. Jeremy's on the line. G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. How are you, mate? I'm all right. Leafedout.com. For people that don't know anything about it, and I didn't until I read this story in the telly this morning, can you explain it?

Yeah, well, it's a portal, an online portal that operates in other jurisdictions where cannabis is legal, like the United States. And people in Australia are availing themselves of that website to basically order up cannabis, like an Uber eats a menu log to their door. So people can get online. They say, I want to buy cannabis. And a dealer...

lines them up with a bag of cannabis and it's delivered to their door within an hour or two. It's a model that is used in Germany and the United States and Canada and people in Australia are using it here. So the telly have done a bit of analysis on this. So 70 individual cannabis suppliers across Sydney, Parramatta, Newtown, Mona Vale, Bondi, Ride, Rockdale, Hurstville, just to name a few. How widespread is this?

It's everywhere because cannabis is the number one illicit drug used in Australia. 15% of Australians regularly use cannabis. And for numbers, that means about 750,000 people just in Sydney use cannabis regularly. So it's a vast market worth billions of dollars.

And if you look at the graphic in the telly story, the whole of Sydney is just covered in cannabis because it is the drug of choice for Australians. It always has been. It always will be. And the police have given up on policing it. They've recognised that they're just saying to people, you know, don't do it anymore, but they've given up on policing it.

The time has come to stop wasting money on policing what is a relatively benign recreation for a lot of Australians, legalise it, tax it and take it out of the hands of the criminals. Now, you were telling me off air that you've heard stories about drug dealers delivering cannabis via drones.

Yes, that happens. And what we see is these delivery services, they may deliver other drugs. That's one of the problems with an illegal cannabis regime, that the people that are delivering cannabis may well be delivering other drugs, other products,

that are far more damaging. And that's one of the reasons we need to take it out of the hands of criminals who are delivering it by drones, who are using young people. They're giving kids on a BMX 50 bucks to do a runaround and throw a bag of pot over the fence, but they could be delivering other things. So that's one of the reasons to take it out of the hands of criminals, to regulate it, legalise it, make sure it's only used by adults

So this vast amount of money, and we are talking about billions of dollars. The Premier, Chris Minns, estimates that the war on cannabis is costing us billions of dollars. Take that money out of the hands of the criminals because once they've got that money, they're importing ice, they're importing cocaine, they're importing drugs. It's the start-up model. We need to take it out of the

I understand, but that's not necessarily the case. It sounds good, right? Logic tells you that it works, but you look at Canada, right? Or different states in the United States where you regulate marijuana

And there are that many, the overheads for people when you come in terms of licensing agreements and all the red tape and all the green tape, pardon the pun, that goes with getting a marijuana license to cultivate and then sell this stuff legally. It just means it's too expensive and people just buy it on the black market anyway because it's cheaper to get.

Well, that's true. So what's the point of making it legal then? Well, that's why I'm running a regulation of cannabis inquiry through the parliament at the moment because we want to get the model right. So you regulate it to make it safer. You regulate it to make sure it's not in the hands of criminals or kids. But you don't over-regulate it to the point where people just throw their hands up and grow their own or get it from the black market. Because this is what's happening with cigarettes, right? People are just getting the chop-chop stuff or the illegal cigarettes...

under the counter at their local tobacconist and they're not paying any tax on it. So what would make you think that the criminal gangs would not just make it cheaper and therefore continue their market share?

Well, because people, if the price is right, people will opt for the legal option rather than face a criminal sanction. And so what we're seeing with vapes, with tobacco, with cannabis, is this over-regulation, this prohibitionist model that just forces the markets

hands billions of dollars to criminals. What we need to do is get it right in terms of regulation, and we can look to other jurisdictions, Germany, Canada, the United States, Mexico, that have moved to legalisation their...

got an appropriate regime to make sure that it's quality, that it's safe, it's not in the hands of kids and there's education about it rather than just forcing it into the dark. And really, they're just not doing anything. Over the last 40 years, there has been no decline or no increase in cannabis use in Australia. It's just flatlined at about 15%. It's a recreation Australians use. It's time to legalise it and take it out of the dark. Jeremy Buckingham, I appreciate your time as always. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks, Chris. The head of the Legalised Cannabis Party here in New South Wales, Jeremy Buckingham. Now, I'll just read you one paragraph here on the Daily Telly. One of the cannabis dealers nicknamed Mick Juana, and he's got Ronald McDonald as his profile picture, and he was selling a variety of illegal cannabis products on this leafed-out website, including Purple Skunk, Laughing Buddha, Memory Loss and Fruit Punch.

1,500 reviews he's got, and he boasts a five-star rating. 1,500 reviews. So, you know, that's at least 1,500 people that have bought it off him.

you know, just out in the open. Maybe Jeremy Buckingham's onto something, but you see what happens in Canada and the US. You have the legal system, which is 20, 30% more expensive than the illegal system. Well, you tell me, what product are these people going to buy? The cheap stuff or the expensive stuff? They don't care what's legal or what's not. It's a quarter to four. It's 11 minutes to four. Now, UTS has done a study, and so they've done it in conjunction with the University of New South Wales.

And those two educational institutions have found that Sydney's housing market will remain unaffordable until at least the 2030s. Thanks, Scoop. The studies found that having a stable and regular income is no longer enough to comfortably enter the housing market anywhere in Sydney and that there is nowhere in Greater Sydney someone on a median part-time or full-time income can afford to buy property.

Instead, income supplements such as existing wealth or significant cash gifts from family would be needed to buy and afford mortgage repayments. So 2030s, they reckon, until somebody on a median part-time or full-time income could afford to buy. And they reckon 2031, by the time that we get our housing pipeline sorted, but still.

What's affordable? What's the definition of affordable? A million bucks? Because, you know, by 2031, you'll be paying a million dollars for a two-bedroom unit without any stress, wouldn't you? Easy, probably more. A million dollars depending on where you are. 131873. Now, as usual, we're on the hunt for our Tuesday tip tomorrow, so you've got to send me your best news tips. Drive at 2GB.com. Because this week I've got a double pass to see The Woman in Black.

The Woman in Black. It's an original stage play starring John Waters and Daniel McPherson. And it's at the Theatre Royal Sydney next week. So if you want a book, thewomaninblack.com.au. Otherwise, if you've got a news tip, driveat2gb.com. A little bit of gossip. Doesn't matter what it is. If it's a rippy news story, driveat2gb.com. Best news tip ever.

wins tickets to The Woman in Black. They reckon it's outstanding. Now, there's a loophole at the moment that's being reported in The Guardian in Australia's tax law, which in effect subsidises the price of luxury utes, such as the Ram and Chevrolet SUVs. And that loophole costs taxpayers, I think, $250 million a year in foregone revenue. So this is research from the Australia Institute. They're a greeny sort of labour-linked institute.

But it centres in the luxury car tax, which was introduced in 2000 for imported cars. The idea was to protect the domestic industry, albeit the domestic industry has well and truly died since then. But the tax still exists, of course.

So the luxury car tax must be paid on the sale of all imported cars valued above a certain threshold, which this financial year is just over 80 grand. And it's 33% they charge you to the value of the car above that $80,000. So for some reason, Rams and Chevrolet SUVs are exempt, are exempt. Now, the Australia Institute wants them to be exempt

of course, put in the tax bucket because these guys haven't seen a tax that they don't like. The luxury car tax shouldn't exist full stop. Just because you're bringing in or importing a car doesn't mean you should pay 33% tax on top of a certain threshold. What? Because you can afford a nice car, you should pay a little more money? If the whole justification for the tax was to exist to protect the domestic industry, well, how did that go?

Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. Now, just on the debate to legalise cannabis there with Jeremy Buckingham and this website, leafedout.com, which effectively is the Uber Eats of marijuana being used by around 70 marijuana dealers just in Sydney. Rob's called in from Kalara. Hello, Rob. G'day, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Rob.

Mate, if there's an issue that has got me fired up or an issue that hasn't got me fired up in a while, it's certainly this one. Jeremy, I think he must be using some of the product that he's promoting so well. What's going to stop a 12 or 13-year-old accessing this website and getting marijuana delivered to their house? Yeah, nothing. But I suppose what stops a 12 or 13-year-old accessing it now in the traditional method from drug dealers, Rob?

Yeah, yeah, fair enough. So we're going to do our law enforcement or actually going to impose laws based on the ones who are committing the crimes so that the idiots are running the asylum. Is that what you're telling me? Yeah, mate, I reckon it's a, I don't know what to say. You know, the police clearly have given up on enforcing marijuana misdemeanors. Do you agree?

Well, I'd hate to say yes because it's throwing our hands in the air and I hope that hasn't happened. The legalised cannabis party, one of the good things or one of the smart things they've done is kept the name LCP because when the next one will legalise crack cocaine, they don't have to change the name of the party to do that. It's still the LCP. Yeah, well, the Greens want to go that way. Good on you, Rob. Appreciate your call. 131873. Dayton's at Connells Point. Hello, Dayton.

Chris, they can legalise weed or cannabis, etc. But with all the tax that the government loves, they'll still be undercut by the criminal organisation. They won't stop anything. And the value, the cost to produce versus cost to sell is relatively low for the

organisations so they'll still be undercutting. Doesn't matter how much tax they put on. I agree with you wholeheartedly, Dayton, and that is what is being experienced right now in the United States and Canada who've already gone down this path. I've got to run. It's five to four. Four o'clock news is coming up very shortly with Josh Bryant. On the other side of that, we'll check in with Professor Simon Jackman from the US Study Centre because I want to know what a Kamala Harris presidency means for Australia.

I want to get to know what Kamala Harris is all about, given she is the likely Democratic candidate for President of the United States. It'll be an interesting chat. I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement.

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

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past four. Thank you for your company on this Monday afternoon. 131 873, of course, is our open line number. The text line is 0460 873 873. Or you can email me drive at 2GB.com. We're going to dive into who is Kamala Harris and what would a Kamala Harris presidency mean for Australia?

But more importantly, can she beat Donald Trump? We'll speak to Professor Simon Jackman soon. I've also got my second clue in Guest the Olympian. That's coming up. And strata fees and building defects. Well, they're pushing Aussies out of their homes because the cost of insurance and strata is just astronomical at the moment. Drive it to GB.com if you've got any stories you want to share with us.

The inside word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Well, here's an interesting story in the Sydney Morning Herald. Police are looking for 16 people after violent attacks on city's trains and buses. So there are attacks on teenagers and the elderly with hammers and broken bottles, sexual violence, even dragging a woman toward the tracks.

And there are 16 people who've committed such offences being sought by New South Wales Police right now. Now, it's being dubbed Operation Waratah. So the first incident is on a train between Town Hall and Rhodes where a man of African appearance allegedly exposed himself inappropriately on the train. That occurred February 1. There's a second one at Bondi Junction

And police were told a man and a woman allegedly assaulted another man at Bondi Junction railway station. The victim didn't know the assailants. They are looking for a woman. She had face masks at the bottom of her chin. Another guy looks like he's sort of Asian or Latino. He was with her. At Surrey Hills, a man allegedly assaulted three people at a light rail stop on Devonshire Street.

One guy assaulting three people. That was December 10th last year. And it goes on and on and on. It's terrible, right? I don't know why people think that they can use our public transport network to perpetrate these kind of crimes.

If you want to see the photos of all these people that police are looking for, they are on the Sydney Morning Herald website. So that is Operation Waratah. 16 people are being sought by police after random and sometimes violent attacks on our trains and our buses.

Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Now let's go back to US politics because it's going to be a big week, big, big week. President Joe Biden, he's bowed out of the race for re-election. I said a couple of weeks ago that I thought this was fait accompli and not being fully a fait with the mechanics of the Democratic Party or US politics.

I think common sense and logic told you this was the ultimate and obvious end for Joe Biden's presidency. His debate performance was a disaster. It's led to chaos within the Democratic Party, and he's been isolating with COVID. But you just knew with Joe Biden, right? If you can't win, you aren't going to be endorsed.

And while he was endorsed sort of officially, and he was going to be endorsed officially as a Democratic candidate, he wasn't endorsed privately by members of his own party. And in politics, something that I've learned is that winning is all that matters. You have their support as long as you are successful. And electorally successful is how they define that. So Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the top job.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have given their endorsement for Kamala Harris. Barack Obama, well, he's not offered an endorsement for Harris. So it is not yet confirmed that Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee. That will be decided at the party's national convention next month. So the polling will be one thing, but when you do a bit of Googling of Kamala Harris, she's got a habit of saying some pretty weird stuff.

You've got a lot of snippets from her speeches that have gone viral on social media. Now, here's one of my favourites. This one's called The Passage of Time. The governor and I, and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time.

So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs. And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children. What is she talking about? Did anyone understand what that was or what she was talking about? It's bizarre.

Also, she's got Kamala Harris this habit of repeating the same lines, and lines she apparently thinks are brilliant and hilarious. But have a listen to this. This is her go-to joke about Gen Z. And let me just tell you, I love Gen Z. I don't know if some people, you know, I love Gen Z. So, okay, for the older adults, this is going to be a humbling thing I'm about to share with you. If someone is 18 years old today...

They were born in 2005. I love Gen Z. I love Gen Z. It will be a humbling moment for some of us to realize that anyone who is 18 now was born in 2005. I love Gen Z. I love Gen Z. So...

Think about this. Okay, first of all, it's going to be humbling for many of us when you remember or realize that someone who is 18 now was born in 2005. I have to tell you, I'd love Gen Z.

Yes, I know, but I love Gen Z. It just goes on and on and on. Yes, we know the joke, Kamala. We know it. And it wasn't funny the first time, but she goes to all these events and continues to say it. It's very strange. And what about this one? You're talking about someone who will be potentially the president and the leader of the free world. And this is her take on the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So basically that's wrong. Basically that's wrong. Okay. So who is Kamala Harris? And what would a Kamala Harris presidency mean for the United States, Australia and the world?

Well, her record as vice president, it's pretty patchy. So she was put in charge when Joe Biden first came to office to solve the US border crisis. You know how she solved it? Anywhere between 5 and 10 million illegal immigrants have gushed into America through the southern border in the time they've been in government.

Just think about that. Five to 10 million illegal immigrants. Cities overwhelmed and the Democrats well and truly on the nose. And don't forget, she's had a crack at this before, right, Kamala Harris? She ran against Joe Biden for the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election. But it didn't go very well.

She pulled out two months before because she was polling nationally just 3% of the vote. So how on earth do they think she can win now? Well, Professor Simon Jackman is from the US Studies Centre at Sydney University and hopefully he can shed some light on this. Simon, g'day. G'day. Can she win? No.

Yeah, I think she can, because I think there's a ton of people who are desperate not to see Donald Trump become president. So we politics is always about contrasts. The Biden Trump contrast wasn't a good one. I think Democrats right now, collectively, you can almost hear from this distance the sigh of relief.

that they've moved on from Biden. And can she reactivate the same coalition that got Biden just over the line in 2020? That's what it's about. I think the fact that she is a she, puts abortion and reproductive rights back at the top of the ticket, emphasises the contrast with both Trump and Vance on this issue.

And that plays very well for Democrats. And the last thing is she's a minority woman. She identifies as African-American. Her dad's Jamaican. Her mom was Indian. That's going to also help drive turnout among the base of the party who are

have been very demobilised by low-energy Joe Biden. So all that bodes well. And so, yes, she absolutely has a shot, but boy, oh, boy, it's a big mountain to climb, and she absolutely comes with some negatives. Yeah, she certainly does, but that doesn't mean she can't win. What I thought was interesting, and we were talking about this in the office...

The Democratic Party couldn't possibly tell Kamala Harris, say, hey, I know you've been vice president for all these years, but can you hop out of the road? Because I know you're a female and you're a person of color. Can you hop out of the road, please? Because we've got someone else who we think is better and that person's a bloke and probably white.

No, no, no way. That would have been, you talk about a crisis inside the party, that would have been a crisis inside the party, right? And you look at the people that are coming out to endorse the Progressive Caucus, AOC, you're looking at the Congressional Black Caucus, Jim Clyburn, who saved Biden's bacon in South Carolina back in 2020. That base of the party, that that

core of the Democratic Party are the first out of the blocs to endorse Harris. And they were also signaling privately and sometimes not so privately, if you don't endorse Harris, you're going to have a huge fight on your hands at the convention. And so I think this is probably the easiest option, the most straightforward thing for Dems to do, given the crisis they had with Biden's candidacy. Is she any good?

Would she make a good president? Yeah, look, I think she would. Why? The track record, being vice president is awful. It's one of the most awful jobs in US politics. The HBO series Veep gave us a little bit of a comedic insight into how miserable a job it is. And

Being asked to solve the immigration crisis was a bit of a hospital pass, frankly, from the boss, from Biden. I saw her in the Bay Area when I used to live in the United States. Her first elected office was being district attorney of San Francisco. Then she went on to become attorney general for the state of California before becoming a U.S. senator for the state of California. She performed well.

quite admirably and confidently in those roles as a prosecutor, then as setting, you know, statewide policy. She had to deal with some of the issues around illegal immigration once she got up to state level as Attorney General. She actually does have some runs on the board there. She is a goofy speaker at times, absolutely. And I think, though, being off the cuff and just being a natural person for some of these politicians, it doesn't come naturally. And I think that's what your grabs earlier were picking up.

What about here in Australia? What can we expect from a potential President Harris and should we be concerned or is it a better prospect in your view than a President Trump, Mark Too? Look, the funny thing about the Australia-US relationship, at a government-to-government, officials-to-officials level, there's an awful lot of continuity because we are so enmeshed in each other's systems, particularly Australia.

in defense, in intelligence sharing, in law enforcement. There's an awful lot that you can change who the boss is, but the governments and the officials, the bureaucrats are just getting on with the job. So that's the good news. The bad news is that Trump is just so volatile and everybody's just...

sort of got this huge puzzle minus and waiting for... I can remember the first Trump administration, you know, our diplomats in Washington just didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth next and would we be the next alliance partner to cop it? And, of course, we remember the phone call with Malcolm Turnbull on the resettlement deal for refugees here going into the US. But Australia actually got through it through some extremely creative diplomacy efforts

thank you, Joe Hockey, but thank you, a large cast supporting Joe Hockey. It was a full-court press from Rupert Murdoch through to Greg Norlin and everyone in between managing those four years. I think with Democrats, it's just way more predictable. I think there's particularly Biden, who was a foreign policy specialist. He really understood the importance of the AUKUS arrangement, of how important it was to show a bit more attention to the alliances out there.

this side of the Pacific. It's not just the NATO being the number one alliance that the US care about. Now, Harris just doesn't have that experience. And I think to cut to the chase, who is a VP? Will that person be a foreign policy specialist? And in particular, if she is elected, who will be her Secretary of State? Who will be her Secretary of Defense? Because opposition

But operationally, those are the touch points for Australian governments with the United States. They're the parts of the US government we're doing the heavy lifting with. And who's in those chairs can sometimes matter way more than the president because so much is tracking with a bit of direction from the president. But the actual transaction is happening far below. Simon Jackman, let's hope that Kevin Rudd can play golf.

Down at Mar-a-Lago and swing the nine iron. Good on you. I appreciate you coming on. Blame everyone else if it goes poorly. That's Simon Jackman, Professor and CEO of the US Study Centre at the University of Sydney. 131873, 22 past four. It's 25 past four. Now, I thought this was interesting. So there's a half a billion dollar overhaul of the Opal card system.

So here's some things. It's called Opal Next Gen, and it's monetizing our public transport ticketing system. They're calling it aging. It doesn't feel like it went in that long ago, but it did. So concert goers, if you've got a concert, you know how they say, oh, well, you've got free public transport with your concert ticket. Well, you will be able to use the ticket QR code that gets you into the event to tap on and off on the train.

So that'll make it easier. While people with concession fares will find them easier to access if this half a billion dollar upgrade fully happens. So the new app technology will enable passengers to plan journeys on different types of public transport, buses, trains, trams. And it's two years after the overhaul was announced. You've got 41 companies interested in vying to work on the upgrade.

But they are still worried about whether the whole thing will go ahead. So Josh Murray, the Secretary of Transport for New South Wales, reckons that the Opel technology will give us more flexibility in how we use public transport. But he's one of the concession card holders. So at present, if you're a concession card holder...

You cannot get discounted fares if you use a bank card or contactless payment. You have to have the Opal card itself. Forget this. A quarter of all trips on New South Wales public transport are people who are concession card holders. And you need your Opal card. You can't just use Apple Pay or your Apple Watch or just your good old bank card, 131873. Well, NASA's made an interesting discovery. It's called NASA's Curiosity rover.

And the New York Post is saying that it's been a mind-blowing discovery that's been made on Mars. Yellowish green crystals of pure sulfur. And they've never been seen before on Earth, on Mars, sorry. And yet NASA's Curiosity has found it. So they're saying it's a groundbreaking find because Curiosity drove over a pile of rocks. One of the rocks cracked open and

And they probed it, this NASA Curiosity rover, probed the rock on Mars and found this stuff. And it's believed to have been formed by water three billion years ago. So clearly a strange but very interesting find for the scientists at NASA. Pure sulphur on Mars.

We all know that clearly it's been some sort of habitable planet at some point, but just how habitable and what was there, obviously, humankind is desperate to find out. $1,000 with Guess the Olympian. So here's your second clue. I gave you the first in the three o'clock hour. The reason we're doing this, by the way, if you're just jumping in the car or just turning us on is...

due the blue screen of death outage on Friday, where the world went down from that CrowdStrike outage, a software update taking out half the world's infrastructure. Well, we weren't immune here at 2GB, so we weren't able to give the $1,000 away. So we're doing it this afternoon. Your second clue. This swimmer was part of the Mean Machine, taking home a silver medal in the Los Angeles Games of 1984.

This swimmer was part of the Mean Machine, taking home a silver medal in Los Angeles in 1984. You got the first clue, now you've got the second clue. After the five o'clock news, you will get your cue to call. $1,000 up for grabs.

Josh Bryant, get up. Good afternoon again, Chris. Joe Biden is urging fellow Democrats to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the top job after announcing that he is withdrawing from the presidential race. Flowers have been laid at a train station in Sydney's south as a community reels from the death of a father and a two-year-old girl. Two pedestrians have been taken to hospital in stable conditions...

after they were struck by a car at Zedland. And commuters are being reminded that light rail services are disrupted until after six this evening due to industrial action. In sports, Storm forward Joe Chan has entered an early guilty plea after being charged with making a careless high tackle on Roosters rival Victor Radley. He'll miss the next two games. We'll have more news in sport at five.

Good on you, Josh. Thank you for that. Now, if you've had issues with strata fees, if you've downsized or you live in an apartment block and you're doing the maths on, okay, what can I afford? Well, have you noticed that your strata fees have exploded after you've moved in? Because there's plenty of people now who are looking at selling their units because they just can't afford the fees. If you're in that boat, give us a call 131873. We'll dive into it 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. Now, are your strata fees going through the roof? Because I know that Premier Chris Minns wants to build more apartments, even though we haven't seen many of them. He wants to build 377,000 new homes in the next five years. It won't happen. But this city is riddled with buildings that have got structural defects. And with the building commissioner, Mr Chandler,

His definition of what a defect is, well, he set the bar very, very low. And have a listen to this young couple story. So Josh Stubing and Emily Abbey, they bought a one-bedroom unit in Kellyville Ridge, and they bought it seven years ago. And their quarterly strata fees, they bought the unit, one better, $600. That was their quarterly strata fees. That's reasonable.

Now, seven years later, their quarterly fees are up to $3,500 and it's all thanks to defects in these buildings. So they're forced to pay for rectification work. They've got to replace illegal cladding, even though that cladding never caught on fire here in New South Wales, which is the threat of it. Josh and Emily are having to rent another place in the meantime and they are spending $3,500 a quarter.

And they reckon their monthly expenses are so high, they may as well own a $1 million house. Reminder, they own a one-bedroom unit in Kellyville Ridge. I feel for these guys because when you do the maths as to what you can afford and what are we going to have to pay when we buy this property, if you live in a unit, well, just like your council rates or your water bills or whatever it is, strata fees are part of the mathematical equation. And if you've got a $600 a quarter quote,

You're not thinking it's going to go up to $3,500 in seven years. Well, Samantha Rees is the Director of Australian Apartment Advocacy and she's on the line for us. Samantha, thanks for your time. Hi, Chris. Are you seeing people having to sell because they just can't afford the strata fees? No.

Well, in fact, I had a lady this morning from Melbourne exactly say that to me, that she was desperate. She's already paid $12,000 for defect repairs. And we know that's just the tip of the iceberg. And she knows that if she sells, she's going to sell for a substantial amount less than what she paid for that apartment. But she just can't afford to stay in. And, you know, that's diabolical. We're talking about people on the verge of suicide when that kind of thing happens.

So how much more are people paying in strata fees when they've got to pay for these structural defects and rectifications? And when it comes to the defects, Samantha, how significant are they? So we're talking about $70,000 to $100,000 per apartment, depending upon the size of the complex. But basically what we're seeing is critical issues such as the concrete not being strong enough,

the Rio not being the right kind of strength. These are the waterproofing, which only costs 1% of the construction costs, Chris, but always people get it wrong. These kinds of things, when you're looking to rectify them, are very, very expensive. And I feel for this couple too, this is their first purchase, right? Like, how would you want to do doing your first purchase and suddenly you're already behind in terms of mortgage repayment, levies, and that affects your credit rating too.

With the waterproofing, because it's not just the waterproofing that needs rectification. You've got to pull the tiles up and then it's just a never-ending drama. I've had that happen to us.

What would be your advice to apartments? Yeah, balconies are a shocker. That happened to my mum and dad. Balconies. And balconies are also not draining properly. So when it rains, the water runs into your apartment rather than draining. Like, how long have we been building apartments for and we still can't get it right? Like, we really can, quite frankly. Here in New South Wales, I know that the building commissioner, Mr Chandler, he's been on the case with all these dodgy builders and defects. But a lot of the builders and developers that I speak to now say that,

The classification of what, because I suppose it's almost been an overcorrection, the classification of what a defect is, is so low now that it could just be basic wear and tear.

So for our perspective, what's actually been happening, and we've actually spoken to Minister Chantabong and there's new legislation coming out, is that the Department of Fair Trading was inspecting about 60% of the engineer plans for apartments and they're not going back to look until 18 months later. And by then, everything is covered. So the new legislation going through will actually inspect at critical points during

the construction phase, including waterproofing. So consequently, we actually feel there's going to be a level of higher confidence. But don't forget, the property sector, you know, the developers have been actually self-certifying for 20 years. So for 20 years, they've been left alone.

And that's why we are in the mess that we're in. So New South Wales has championed the rest of Australia. We're certainly putting pressure on other states to actually, you know, follow suit. The private certification system was probably one of the gravest errors we made in terms of the standards of our apartments, wouldn't you think? Absolutely, 100%. Because they were council-run for a long time and publicly run for a long time.

Correct. And certainly our biggest concern, Chris, is that once you get above four storeys, there's no home warranty insurance. Of course. Right? So we've got builders like Icon who are still building in Sydney, but they've closed the ABM for other buildings. And consequently, those owners, I've got one building where they're facing $9 million worth of defects.

Now, what kind of person thinks that's okay? I don't think it's okay. And at the end of the day, those builders have to lie in bed straight, don't they? They do. And then you've got the insurance levies, I suppose, Samantha, and a lot of them don't have problems lying in bed straight, mind you.

But then you've got the insurance levies, though. And because of the reinsurers and the insurance pool more generally, people who don't have issues in their apartment block will see their strata fees going up and their insurance fees going up because there's defects in someone else's apartment block around the corner.

Well, also don't forget bushfires and flooding, right? So insurance has gone up across the board because of those acts of Mother Nature. But certainly when I spoke to an insurer the other day and I said to him, on what basis do you insure a building? What is the quality that you work at on? He said a 6 out of 10. So those insurance companies, when they look at a new apartment building, they're saying that their apartment building is a 6 out of 10.

Now, with inspections during construction, we should be able to say to that insurance company, this is an 8.5 or a 9 out of 10, and that should reduce the actual insurance levies as well. So at the end of the day, there's been a shortfall of consumer protection for apartment owners. We've got 2.5 million Australians who live in apartments Australia-wide, and yet, you know, we obviously know the men's government is championing that we need 377,000 more homes, and the majority of those are going to be apartments.

So we do need to start making sure that we actually place

greater consumer protection on apartments and not just for house and land. Samantha, I really appreciate your time. And just before I let you go, isn't that part of the problem that we've got six out of 10 in terms of quality of build or eight out of 10? Shouldn't just the basics, you know, you can have all the bells and whistles and the inclusions and the tapware and the nice seats, whatever it is. But when you're talking about the foundations and the building itself, we're in Australia, shouldn't they all be 10 out of 10?

Absolutely. And, you know, it can be done. But everyone's just turned a blind eye, Chris. So now we are no longer doing that. Samantha Rees, I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Oh, Chris, it's been a pleasure. Thank you. That's Samantha Rees. She's the director of the Australian Apartment Advocacy Group. Advocacy Group. 131873. Give us a call. I want to know how much your strata fees have increased.

If you talk to Josh and Emily, their quarterly strata fees when they buy the one-bedroom unit in Kellyville Ridge seven years ago was $600. Now it's $3,500 a quarter because of all the rectification work that they've needed to pay for thanks to defects in the building. You tell me your stories, 131873. It's 13 minutes to five. Well, a lawyer has been caught using balloons to smuggle tobacco into a prison.

And he was going into that prison to visit an inmate as their legal representative. So Christy Lee Howell, she I should say, she was arrested July 2 on the same day that she arrived at Park Lee Correctional Centre. 43 years old, Christy Lee Howell, she appeared at Blacktown Local Court and her barrister, Lang Goodsell, said she would plead guilty to unlawfully bringing 106 grams of tobacco into the prison.

So she's entered not guilty to two drug supply charges, which cover allegations she brought 18 grams of methamphetamine and three grams of cocaine into Parkley Correctional Centre. So it's been adjourned until August 16, but he told Christy Lee Howe's lawyers that, look, you need more time.

We need more time. So she said nothing as she left court. She's on bail and she's currently barred from attending any prison or being in contact with the Parklea inmate she was visiting on the day of her arrest, 131873. Well, the Wallabies looked to strengthen. They weren't very good against Georgia on Saturday, were they? But still, wins a win and it was a weaker side. But the Wallabies are set to strengthen.

Our squad with international reinforcements. And we're looking at Will Skelton. Of course, he's played a lot of test rugby. Second rower, Will Skelton. And winger, Marika Korobeti. If you follow Rugby League, you would have heard of Marika Korobeti, former Storm winger. He's doing wonderful things in rugby union. This is ahead of the game against South Africa, the Springboks, next month, which will be a big, big ask, given the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup. Just gone.

So Joe Schmidt has selected solely domestic-based players for his first three test victories, two against Wales and one against Georgia. But with the Springboks coming to Brisbane on August 10, and of course we've got to play the All Blacks too, it looks like we will be getting a few of our...

some international experience and some of our superstars who are playing in competitions overseas. So Joe Schmidt is using the Matt Gitto rule to go get Corrobetti and Skelton back in the gold of the Wallabies.

Well, we didn't get to do this on Friday, so my final family pass to Featherdale Wildlife Park is up for grabs. If you want to go to Featherdale Wildlife Park, give me a call 131873 and you've got to tell me what animal this is.

It's an easy one, isn't it? All right. What animal is that? 131873. The winner is going to Featherdale. The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Now, just on strata levies, Darren's called in from Cronulla. Hello, Darren. Hello. How are you? I'm good, thank you. How are your strata fees?

Okay, I purchased the unit in 2019 and at the time the strata bill for the quarter was $1,670. Now it's now $7,400 a quarter. Where was the unit, Darren?

It's in Cronulla. And not only is it $7,400, I can't even live in there because of the defects. My wife and I have had to move out. We moved out in December 2021. So our unit's sitting vacant since December 2021. Has it been condemned? It's been deemed uninhabitable by NCAT, but it's just very slow and no one wants to do anything. The other owners don't want to do anything to fix the problem.

And as a result, we've got no power to the unit because the water is actually leaking into our electrical box and our electrical. So Strata's turned our power off. So it's not even our choice to move out. Is anyone else living in the unit block? Yes, but because we're on the top level, it doesn't affect anyone else.

Right. So where to from here then, Darren? I don't know. It's just a long, frustrating process and these strata bills just keep going up and we're forced to keep paying them even though our unit's been deemed uninhabitable and strata's turned our power off. What are you...

What are you going to do? Are you going to get the defect fixed and hopefully get back in there or what's the plan? Well, we're hoping so at some stage to get it fixed. Yeah, right. But it's just a long process. No one wants to do anything because it doesn't affect them. Yeah, sure. So there's no urgency. Well, 2021, you've been out of there three years, Darren. That's a massive, massive hit. Yeah.

All the best with it, Darren. If you want to give me some of the details over to the guys on the desk and maybe we can look into it a little further for you, okay? Sure, okay. Thank you so much. Good on you, Darren. Peter's at Wollongong. Hello, Peter. Hello, Chris. How are you going, mate? Good, thank you, Peter. What's your story?

Well, I am a strata owner on a complex unit. And the last 10 years, we had a terrible, terrible run on mismanagement. And the place was so run down, water came into my unit while I was there. So the day after, I complained to the strata. They said, who's in charge of the...

of the complex there. Who's responsible for something goes wrong? Oh, we're all responsible, he said. Excuse me, he said. What do you mean? I'm responsible too? Yeah, we're all responsible. How come I had water in my unit last night and no one said nothing to me? Anyway, at the meeting, I asked the strata and what's called the...

The chairman said, I want to know who's responsible. I pay my fees and I want to know who's responsible for looking after the complex. Well, Peter, it sounds like everybody's in the same boat where, you know, you've got a strata committee, so you've just got to get to them. I appreciate your call, Peter. I'm just running out of time. I'm sorry. 131873. Hey, Teresa, you're on the line from Peekhurst.

Yes, I am. Hi, Chris. How are you? I emailed you on Friday. Oh, thank you, Teresa. Hey, just quick. It's about Foxtel. You did. You were the Foxtel person, were you, Teresa? Hey, listen, what bird is this? It's an easy one, isn't it?

It's a kookaburra. It is a kookaburra. It's a laughing kookaburra, it sounds like to her. Good on you, Teresa. You've got to fit that out a lot. Wildlife Park, I've got a family pass coming your way so you can take your granddaughter, Skye, I'm told. Enjoy it. It's five to five. Now, I thought this was interesting today. I don't know if it'll work, but these modular homes, so they're effectively being made in factories and they can just be driven on the back of trucks and put up

with less than 12 weeks notice so they can be constructed in factories within less than 12 weeks before being transported and then installed wherever they've got to go now these are the modular housing task force that's come up with these and you're looking at thousands of them and the first sites of the trial to receive these rapid build homes will be Wollongong and Lake Macquarie

And they'll be up and ready to go early next year. So this is part of the Minns government's trial to tackle the housing crisis, 131873. Coming up after the five o'clock news, Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus is in the studio. I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement.

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

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven past five. Thank you for your company on this Monday afternoon. 131873 is our open line number. Text line 0460873873 or of course email drive at 2GB.com. Coming up, I've got $1,000 to give away in guests, the Olympian and Dave Faulkner, the lead man, the front man of Hoodoo Gurus, the Aussie rock legends.

Dave Faulkner will join me live in the studio. Their new tour tickets, they're selling like hotcakes. Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Very interesting report in the Sydney Morning Herald last week. Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues, they're starting to sharpen their language against Israel. Have you noticed this? Sir Paul Sarkar...

He reported this and he said, quote, Wong and her cabinet colleagues are gradually toughening the government stance towards Israel as Labor MPs push for bold denouncements of the Israeli government. And this is according to three government sources. And it included summoning the Israeli ambassador last month to warn of the consequences of a war with Lebanon. Like the Israelis don't know what the consequences of a war with Lebanon would be like.

The sources also told the Herald that there was ongoing pressure inside the government to financially sanction Israeli settlers or companies that supported settlements in the West Bank. And this is something that Melbourne MP Julian Hill advocated earlier this year. And, you know, I'm sure Paul Saccale's on the money here. And I reckon the reason is Labor is just simply terrified of the Muslim vote, abandoning them...

in key seats here in Western Sydney and Victoria. And I think that they've prioritised that vote over potential support of Israel. Now, Israel, of course, an Australian ally,

She's gone on, when I say she, the Foreign Minister Penny Wong has gone on multiple anti-Israel Twitter posting sprees over the last week or so. And one criticised Israel's vote in their parliament, which was against the establishment of a Palestinian state. The other against Israel's operations in Gaza. And Penny Wong, well, clearly she's feeling the heat. And clearly the Labor government is feeling the heat. And...

would I say abandoning their support of Israel? I don't know if they're abandoning it, but certainly they're softening it. And I'm predicting that Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong will significantly escalate this criticism of Israel in coming months because I think that their priority number one is getting the Muslim population back on side in the lead up to any election. The government's polling badly. You had the Fatima payment debacle.

So clearly domestic considerations are outweighing our relationship with our ally, Israel. But I reckon there might be a problem with Labor's new status strategy, and that problem is Donald J. Trump. Did you see what he had to say about Hamas on Friday? And the entire world, I tell you this, we want our hostages back, and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price.

We've got Kamala Harris about to be the new Democratic candidate. Trump is still leading in all the polls, but Anthony Albanese, I don't think Donald Trump cares about Jason Clare or Tony Burke's seats, unfortunately, because if Trump wins, I reckon the president is going to go pretty well right in behind the Israelis. So Labor might think bagging Israel will help them in Western Sydney, but might do a bit of damage in Washington, D.C.,

First with the news only in Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Tim's called in from Lansvale, 131873. Tim, you've seen something on the roads. Yeah, mate, the Meccano said all traffic lights in all directions are out. Heavy traffic at this time of the day, building up quickly. Everyone's honking their horns and everyone's trying to tippy-toe to get through, but it's absolute chaos. So all the lights at the Meccano said are out. All.

All the way to the Meccano, mate. I ran the gauntlet, mate. I ran the gauntlet and I got through. But I tell you what, I wouldn't want to be back in the pack because you'd be there for a while. All right, Tim. Any coppers there? No one, mate. No traffic authority, no police. Just all out and quite bad. All right. Thank you, Tim. I appreciate your call. Thank you for giving us a heads up on that one. So that's Tim at the Meccano set.

Hume Highway and Woodville Road. They're at Fairfield, sort of Lansvale way. Traffic chaos, according to Tim. No police there on site. So if you're there, just know, if you're coming through the Meccano set, the traffic lights are out. Be patient. Keep your wits about you because the gauntlet will be exactly what that is. 131873. Well, there's been an update to the Liverpool City Council drama. So, of course, the state government is threatening...

to sack Liverpool City Council and delay the council elections for all the voters in that area. Now, this is a result of an Office of Local Government report that I had my say on last week that I thought the allegations of were not explosive, as some are liking to report. They were fairly thin in many cases. But ultimately, they deserve a public inquiry. My view was pretty simple. That public inquiry...

The consequence of that is not sacking a council before those allegations have been tested in that public inquiry, nor delaying or suspending the democratic process for people to vote in a council election. I thought that was overreach in the extreme. Anyway...

Ron Honig, the local government minister and the state government have come out and said our intention is to sack Liverpool Council and delay the election as a result of this report. So you know what Liverpool Council's done? They have just voted to commence legal proceedings against the men's government in the Supreme Court. The mayor of Liverpool City Council who's at the centre of all this, Ned Manoon's on the line. Mayor, thanks for your time. Thanks, Chris. So you want an injunction, do you?

Yes, we've had senior counsel advice that clearly states that the New South Wales government has acted unlawfully and have denied the people in that report procedural fairness.

Okay, and when you say the people in that report, that's members of Liverpool City Council, correct? So I'm the only person mentioned very briefly in a 50-page report. I probably make up maybe half a page. The rest of it is about council staff who had no warning that they were going to be mentioned in the report and were never, not once, spoken to by the investigators. Okay.

Okay. So, and your view from senior counsel is, or the advice from senior counsel is that is a what? A denial of procedural fairness.

100%. This is just an absolute joke. They're going out there and conducting themselves like a dictatorship. At least if you've accused someone, have a fair go. Give that person an opportunity to respond. A staff member should not have to wait for a public inquiry for them to be able to clear their names. And at the end of the day, it's not fair for them. And it's not fair for the community that's going to cop this from Labour just going out there and acting like they used to do. Like when Eddie Obeid was around...

abusing government power and this is just another example of the same old labour that we had back in the previous term. I know you came on this program last week and we discussed this at length but any court proceedings what will that cost ratepayers?

So we've got an estimate at the moment that we think it could be around $150,000. It's going to cost $800,000 to cancel the election alone. On top of that, we have to pay for the public inquiry. So this process is probably going to cost ratepayers around $1.5 million if the government continues along that path.

Have you heard anything from the minister, Ron Honing? Oh no, he said that it was his intention to suspend council and delay the election. Have you heard anything from Minister Honing as to whether or not he'll action that?

All we heard is when you spoke to him and you rightly so asked him the questions, we haven't heard from him since. Our report, we're going out to him. So the first thing that we're doing is we're writing to him today asking him to withdraw the threat of sacking council and public inquiry. Should he not do that, then we will go out there and seek an injunction. Ultimately, this is about procedural fairness. It's about the right thing to do and for the community. Why is the community...

get dragged into this. They can have a go at me as a Liberal any day they want, but the reality is Labour does not want to have a strong Liberal voice in this area. Let the people choose if I haven't been a good mayor or not. Let the people choose if they think Liverpool Council is dysfunctional. Three months ago, the Labour government gave myself and the Council an award for business excellence in local government. LAUGHTER

Three months ago, they gave us an award. And I'll laugh. I'm going to send you a picture, Chris. I thought, you know, we're joking around. Actually, I'm wearing it over my neck at the moment, right? It's an absolute joke. This is just a Labor hijab on a Liberal mayor. It's never been done before. They have never issued ever, no government in New South Wales has issued an interim report on a council, especially 50 days out from an election. I did notice the Acting Chief Executive, Jason Breton. Is that his name?

Correct, yes. Okay, so Jason Breton, he was in that report. Effectively, the allegation was that Jason Breton had a company and he could have been potentially moonlighting. And the basis of that allegation was...

an active website but was the business active mayor mate number one he doesn't have a company um number two no it has not been active and had even asked that question he could have easily provided his tax returns and said hey i've never had i've never had i haven't had a dollar coming to this company i think he said to me 24 since 2014 it's that simple it doesn't need a public inquiry and it doesn't need one and a half million dollars of ray pay's money to for him to prove that he wasn't moonlighting

Whoever was in the office of local government that did the investigating, like FedIncome, the whole thing is extremely thin. Now, you've said you're open to the public inquiry, right? Yeah, look, the issues that are in that report, when you look at it, if that little thing there, you take a page out on Jason Brennan. The other staff members that I mentioned in there, there's nothing in the report. They've padded this report out to make it 50 pages so it sounds like there's something in it, and we have ripped through it all. The senior council has gone through it, right?

And we're now going through, Jason used to be a detective chief inspector. So he's now going through this and saying, wow, look at the flaws of this. It's one of the worst investigations, inverted commas, that he's ever seen. Mayor, before I let you go, the senior council who Liverpool City Council is engaging, can you tell us who that is? Yeah, Tim, I think his name is Tim Robertson. Tim Robertson it is. Tim Robertson. All right. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate you coming on.

No, good on you, Chris. Thank you. That's Ned Mnoon, the mayor of Liverpool City Council. I just think it's very strange. And it says in that report that everyone's saying he's explosive. That's how it's being reported anyway. It's explosive. Well, the active chief executive, Jason Bretton, who's a former police officer of some repute, mind you, said that there's an allegation that he could have been potentially moonlighting because there was a website the investigators found that were linked to a company that he used to own.

The company hasn't been active for the best part of a decade and he hasn't taken a cent. The acting chief executive wasn't asked by the investigators, hey, what's the go here? You know, talk about an investigation. The Office of Local Government, fair dinkum, 131873, 19 past five. It's 23 and a half past three, 131873, I want to hear your view on this one. Do you, your children, your grandchildren use synthetic sports pitchers?

131873, if you've got a synthetic pitch in your suburb, then is it good or is it bad? Because with all the games of footy and soccer and netball that people have missed this winter because of all the wet weather, there's been a bit of controversy because councils are now looking at installing these all-weather synthetic pitches. And one of them's at Callan Park in Roselle and Lilliefield. So the Inner West Council wants to spend $8 million on

on an all-weather pitch, and they want to install it at the home of Balmain Football Club. So Balmain Football Club has 3,000 players registered to play soccer. 3,000! It's one of the largest community football clubs in Australia. Now, the Mayor Darcy Byrne, he wants it to happen, but it's met a bit of backlash. I wouldn't have thought that synthetic pitches, all-weather synthetic pitches, are controversial. 131873, though, because...

The backlash is on environmental, health and general community interest grounds. And there are complaints that you don't put synthetic fields in a heritage landscape, meaning in Callan Park. But persistent wet weather has turned the natural grass fields into mud pits. And in my strong opinion, I reckon sporting grounds exist to play sports on, not to defend as a heritage proposition. Anyway, synthetic pitches offer a solution to this problem, don't they?

They're engineered to withstand heavy use, adverse weather, and ensure a consistent playing surface, whether it's hot or cold, winter or summer. And unlike natural grass, synthetic turf, it remains firm and safe in terms of injuries too. So slips and doing ACLs and the like, it's not as big an issue. But the one that I thought was interesting, the charge that synthetic all-weather sporting pitches...

are unsafe or somehow hazardous to one's health. Now, I thought that they do meet stringent safety standards. In other countries, you're not allowed to install them, but here in Australia, supposedly they meet stringent safety standards and they are regularly tested to ensure they pose no harm to users. And cork is often used now instead of rubber as the infill, so it doesn't get as hot in summer.

There was an independent review by the New South Wales chief scientist published in 2022 that did not identify major health risks associated with synthetic turf. But still, some are arguing they are not safe. You've got the Greens. She's a member for Balmain, Kobe Shetty. She seems opposed to it, even though there's 180 of them around New South Wales. There's one in Westleigh Park at Hornsby. There was opposition to that too.

And the opposition there said that synthetic pitches are like PFAS, the forever chemicals, and we risk leaving a legacy of environmental and health issues across Sydney's open spaces. Now, is that not hyperbole? You know, they're just synthetic pitches for people to play soccer and footy or whatever on.

And in places like Callan Park, where the debate rages on, I think finding a balance between preserving heritage and meeting community needs is a pretty simple one. And a synthetic pitch for kids to play soccer on, well, it doesn't impact heritage. It's not unsafe for people's health. They're just a practical, sustainable solution for getting kids off their iPads and Xboxes and playing sport.

And they can do that without the weather calling the shots every week. 131873. Is there a downside to this thing, the synthetic pictures? Or do you believe that they risk people's health, like the Greens, Kobe Shetty and others? Call me, 131873. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB.

Now there's a man who's been charged after another man was left fighting for his life in hospital following a stabbing in our western suburbs. This was in Fairfield Heights.

So it was last night, 45 years old. He suffered stab wounds to the shoulder and the back at a function centre on the boulevard at Fairfield Heights. A 20-year-old man turned himself into Fairfield Police Station on Monday morning. He was arrested. He was charged with wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. And the 45-year-old guy was rushed to Liverpool Hospital. He's in a critical but stable condition.

So if you've got any information on that, call Crimestoppers. But a 20-year-old man has been charged and arrested at Fairfield Police Station. Phil's called in from Winston Hills to talk about these synthetic pitches. Hello, Phil. Oh, good day, mate. How are you? I'm good, thank you. What do they like?

Look, they're not bad. And I'll just elaborate. We went over to Phuket, the Phuket Soccer Club, and there's an under... There's a... Under fives. There's an over 50s...

which is six a side, and then there's the professionals. And the only problem was, when it does bucket down rain in that area, was the drainage. And they made the pitch unplayable, basically, because the drainage wasn't done right. And there's one other little issue that on those pitches, if you do a slide down,

I suppose, a kick into the goal, they tend to give you a burn, not a, you know what I mean? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Not like turf. Yeah, so it's almost like a carpet burn.

Yeah, basically, like a carpet burn, yeah. But otherwise, they had four fields and that was a great sort of five days when we spent over there with professional soccer players from all over the world. I've got to keep running. I appreciate your call. I'm going to go to Barry at Chatswood. Barry, g'day. How are you, Chris? Good, Barry. I'm against them.

Against them, because you ever been tackled on one of those? No, I've never even stepped foot on one. It's like falling on concrete. It's worse. You need real grass as a cushion. Is that any different to the cricket pitches in the old ovals? Oh, cricket pitches are just as bad with the turf all dried up, yes. They take a good chunk out of you. I'm a testament to that. Yeah.

I've played official turf tennis. That's different. It's not the same. All right, Barry. Appreciate that. Scott's in Anningrove. Scott, g'day. Yeah, g'day, Chris. The Greens are out of control with these councillors opposing these synthetic pitches. There's one Green councillor in Hills and she's against anything going with synthetic pitches. My kids play on them almost exclusively for their soccer and...

Guess what? The two matches that they were playing on proper turf got called off because of rain. So I feel sorry for all the kids who are in the district association competitions who have had so many games called off this winter. So it's got to be all on board synthetic. Good on you. So Scott, your kids actually, even with all the rain that we've had, have been playing, have they?

They've been playing when it's been on synthetic, even when we had that massive downpour back in April one night where it rained over 100 mils. They'll be playing the next morning. Hey, Scott, good on you. And that's a great call. I've got a prize for you too. It's a Spinal Design Atomic Align Pillow. Anatomic Align Pillow, I should say, from the Rockdale Mattress Factory. That's coming your way, Scott.

Oh, fantastic. Thanks very much, Chris. You're very welcome. And the Spinal Design Anatomic Align Pillow from the Rockdale Mattress Factory, Australia's first natural, ventilated and adjustable pillow. It's valued at $219. Visit rockdallematressfactory.com.au. A news update. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-grade delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT. ♪

Josh Bright, g'day. Good afternoon, Chris. Liverpool Council has voted in favour of starting legal proceedings against the state government if they don't back down on a threat to appoint an administrator while an inquiry is held into council. There's been mixed reaction among voters in the United States to Joe Biden's announcement that he will no longer run for re-election as the Democratic candidate for president. The state government wants Sydney councils to consider modular homes and

as a quick and affordable way to get housing for more people. And cyber security firm CrowdStrike says a significant number of devices that were hit by Friday's global outage are now back online and has again apologised for the disruptions that were caused. In sport, Oscar Piastri's mother admits she was overcome with emotion when the Aussies first win in the Formula One Grand Prix. He became just the fifth Australian to win an F1 race with his victory in Hungary. We'll have more news in sport at six.

Good on you, Josh. 131873. Chris says, synthetic field unsafe. I call BS. I've got 10 grandkids. They all play on synthetic. No problem. Good on you, Chris, at Kingsgrove. Mary says, they're hard as concrete and 10 degrees hotter than grass. Look at East's rugby. I forgot the...

Wallara Oval there at East's Rugby is now synthetic. Ask any of those guys about synthetic grass. They've got a play on head knocks as well. Yeah, but Mary, you can get head knocks just on the turf. Again, I'm testament to that.

But, yeah, it's an interesting debate. You're just going to see more of them pop up. For some reason, I didn't realise there are risks to people's health, even though the chief scientist in New South Wales says that is pretty well a furphy. 131873. Coming up, I'll check in with Deb Knight. She's back hosting Money News.

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.

A weather update. We'll be here to help in unexpected weather. NRMA Insurance. Well, nice day. 15 degrees in the city and 13 in our west. Tonight will be 9 in the city and 6 in our west. Tomorrow, sunny again. 20 degrees in the city tomorrow and 20 in our west.

All right, your cue to call. There it is. Call the competition line. You've had two clues. 1-300-722-873. 1-300-722-873. There's $1,000 coming someone's way. A finance update. The best gets even better. Masterton Homes Ultimate Inclusions now comes with solar. Search Masterton to realise your dream today. Well, the wonderful...

The magnificent Deb Knight is back on deck with Money News after 7 o'clock. I missed you, Deb. How are you? I'm very well. I'll take that compliment and run with it. I had a really good break. Went up to the Blue Mountains for a couple of nights just after the Blues were there. So clearly whatever was in the water worked. And then went up to Coffs for a bit of a break with the family. So it was a really nice break.

How are the markets? The market's not so good. Don't blame me. I'm not the kiss of death. I'm back. But yes, not a good start for the week. It's not much a surprise, really, because there was really poor numbers on Wall Street on Friday, which flowed through to our market today. The ASX 200 fell at the open, stayed low. In the end, it was down half a percent, or 39 points, to 7,931. Now, is it true that, you know, everyone's talking about recessions. Beyonce could save us from a recession. Well...

He's got a Beyonce. Oh, the single ladies. She will save us from a bad... The single ladies might. Well, yeah. They'll save us from a bad mood because there's been interesting study into the link between the way we're feeling financially and the music we're listening to. And, you know, tough economic times like we're facing now, we're not listening to down, gloomy music. We're listening to up,

beat songs. It's called Recession Pop and the songs that were big 15 years ago with the last economic downturn are the songs we're going to again like Beyonce, like Katy Perry, like the Black Eyed Peas. So it might be gloomy financially but we try to get our good vibes from somewhere and it's from the music we listen to. Is this about manifesting? Manifesting, that's it. Trying to get the good stuff happening somewhere. People are just about manifesting. Learnings about our manifestings. I would like to manifest a powerball please.

Thank you, Deb. Thank you. We'll hear Deb Knight after 7 o'clock on Money News, 131873. All right, Robyn's at Emu Plains. Hello, Robyn. Hello. Hello, Robyn. How are you? Good, thank you. I've got $1,000 I've got to give to you. Now, this Western Australia swimmer, he swam the anchor leg when Australia won the men's 4x100 medley relay in Moscow. He was part of the Mean Machine, taking home a silver medal in LA in 1984. Who is the Olympian?

Neil Brooks. It is Neil Brooks, Robert. $1,000 coming your way in the last and the delayed. Guess the Olympian. Congratulations. Enjoy it. Don't spend it all at once. Coming up next, Dave Faulkner, the front man for the Hoodoo Gurus in the studio. Now, is there an Aussie band with a better catalogue of hits than the Hoodoo Gurus? I don't reckon. And if there are, I'm yet to hear them. I'm 10.

The Hoodoo Gurus, what a band. And they're back on the road too. They're back to the Stone Age tour is selling out so quickly. They've announced a stack of new shows, including a must-see gig.

at one of my favourite places on earth, Selina's at the Coogee Bay Hotel in February of next year, where their main man, the legendary Dave Faulkner, is sitting alongside me here in the studio. Hey, Chris, how are you? Dave, I'm good. How are you? I'm well. I think you just played That's My Team. That wasn't... No, no. I mean, that's me singing, definitely. It's a slight rewrite of my actual song. It was a rewrite. It was one of my favourite NRL theme songs, you know.

People tell me that still to this day, you know, and they say, why don't they use it again? I mean, we did very well. We had five years, one year more than Tina. Did you? Yeah, yeah. So we have that above chalking that one up. Selina's, it's shutting down soon, you know. It is, yeah. I believe they have the plans before council are about to. Yeah, so we have a long checkered, not really checkered history, but we were there a lot back in the day and we're going back for one more go around.

What do you remember of Selina's in its heyday? It was crazy. It was heaving. You know, there's just, it was back in the days of slam dancing and, you know, crowd surfing, whatever. And it was mental. Just, it was so dangerous. I don't know how people didn't get broken limbs, but I don't think they did at our shows at least. But, you know, very much a risk. It was just crazy.

So 40 years since Stone Age Romeo's was released, and in this tour you're playing it in its entirety. That's right, yeah. Song 1 to Song 11. Why? We love that record, and it's also a bit of a moment. 40 years, that doesn't happen very often, and we just thought we'd sort of mark that occasion with a...

bit of a celebration of that and it's also a lot of people's favourite record of ours so we know that so we just thought well here's a you know one more shot hearing us play all those songs some of those songs don't get a look in on most sets because they're you know

we've got to fit in a lot of other stuff as well. So we get to do this one, Holus Bolus, and we'll also do a lot of other songs as well. We're going to do most of our whole career, basically. So it's going to be kind of a longer set than normal. So we'll fit everything in. 40 years. Have you had time to reflect on it? Do you take any time to reflect on it?

From time to time, it's crossed my mind as to what have I been doing with myself all this time. Four decades of playing music at such an elite level. And longer, actually, in my case, because I started when I was 18 before the Hoodoo Gurus, you know, back in Perth where I started out. And I had a punk band there that was kind of...

I've made a bit of a noise called the victims and yeah. So yeah, I've been a professional muso since I was 18 really and still doing it in my 60s. It's crazy. Well, lots of people say, oh, no future in being a muso. Your proof there is. Yeah, you're right. But maybe I'm the exception that proves the rule in a sense that most people are correct. It is a pretty hard thing to make a go of, especially these days, you know.

There's less money, for example, in record sales and songwriting. Those things have diminished. So those were things that helped us stay afloat at different times. And they're still useful, but ultimately it's always been playing live, and that's been our lifeblood right through anyway. Do you get tired? Yeah, a little bit. During a long tour, I'll get a bit sort of antsy after about the two-thirds of the way through, Mark, when it feels like, gee, it's been taken...

forever so far and I've got half as much forever to go you know it's kind of but after that within a week or so it's suddenly like oh it's only three quarters done now or whatever you know it starts to you know you start to count it down it's really easy but just that moment of two-thirds of the way through I always find I get a little bit of a crisis point you were talking about how you know things are a bit different for young people young musos these days and I've spoken to a whole bunch of blokes Dave Gleeson Ian Moss has been in the studio I've asked them the same question

How do young musos, because clearly there's got to be some talented bands out there. Many, many. How do they crack it these days? Well, in some ways they've got it better than we ever did because, you know, they can just do it from their bedroom or their garage, you know, just put it on the internet and, you know, hopefully, you know, create some stir and you might get people loving you in Paris or Istanbul or somewhere, you know, and we had to go there, you know, with a suitcase and hope that some would turn up and listen to us. But, you know, you can be available 24-7, you know, on the internet.

And, you know, there's no geographical restriction. So that was something. But, you know, as far as creating a, you know, getting an audience to follow you and support you financially, I guess it is down to, as always, playing live and, you know, giving people a good night out. And because I've noticed, you know, the big shows that sell out are,

the guys that we all know and love dragon cold chisel these guys yeah i mean there's a there's a certain um thing about uh you know the the great era of 80s rock in the pubs you know that's got a bit of an aura about it and some of those artists of course did really uh you know kind of learn their trade well and get delivered well live um we like to think we're one of those absolutely but but um you know there's also you know things have changed as we know like the internet

as well as, you know, I always mention this part about the flow on effect with, of course, the dating apps.

I think that's kind of the reason we don't have, you know, pubs pumping seven days a week now because in the old days, that's how you go out and meet someone. Yeah, sure. So you go to see the Hoodoo Gurus on a Monday night, you might meet a nice Hoodoo Gurus fan that you might get on with, you know, because that's the sort of person you want to meet. You had any stories? Any love stories out of Hoodoo Gurus gigs? Oh, well, we have definitely over the years, you know, people using our songs as, you know, for their weddings and stuff like that, you know, as a proposal. Someone told me, you know, like in America, he said he proposed to his wife using the words like wow wipeout, you know.

I was gone the moment I laid eyes on you. You know, they, you know, those sorts of things are definitely there. That's awesome. Well, Dave, all the best for you too, and all the best to you. And I'm sure you've still got plenty of, plenty of time up your sleeve to deliver some of the hits that I think, uh, have become part of, well, they've become iconic in Australian rock history. And, uh,

It's a pleasure to have you in the studio, mate. Thanks, Chris. Good on you. That's Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus. If you want tickets, they're on sale today. HoodooGurus.net forward slash tour. That's HoodooGurus.net forward slash tour. You'd be mad not to get tickets to their Selina's gig. How good will that be? What's my scene? Don't you know?

How good are the Hoodoo Gurus? Time to give away a bit of free fuel. It is time for the Jewel for Fuel. $200 of it thanks to Shell V-Power. Call us now, 131 873 if you want to play. On 2GB Drive, let's Jewel for Fuel. The Jewel for Fuel, $200 of free fuel thanks to Shell V-Power. Our contestants, I've got Jennifer at 5Doc. Hello, Jennifer. Hi, Chris. How are you going? I'm well, thanks. Jennifer and Matt's at French's Forest. G'day, Matt.

Hey, mate. How you going? I'm good, thank you. Matt, you're kicking us off. You ready? Oh, yeah. Sweet. Your time starts now. Which American political party does Kamala Harris belong to? Democrats. Correct. The Boomers represent Australia in which sport? Basketball. Correct. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in which year? 64. 69. True or false? South Africa has never hosted the Olympics. False. True. Lego was invented in which country? Denmark or France? Denmark. Correct. What's the addictive chemical in tobacco called?

Nicotine. Well done. Good comeback. Good, good comeback. That's four. Jennifer, you ready? Yeah, he was good. He was good, but you'll be better. You ready? I'm ready. Your time starts now. What was Princess Diana's maiden name? Anderson or Spencer? Spencer. Correct. What do you call a baby panda? Half. A cub. Which part of the body acts as a pump? Heart. Correct. Saltons of Swing is a 1978 classic from which band?

I can't think of that path. Dire Straits. In 94, which country became linked to mainland Britain by an undersea tunnel? France. Correct. Oh, Jennifer, three. I wasn't quick enough. You weren't just quite quick enough. Matt, 200 bucks of free petrol coming your way. It is the duel for fuel. We play it thanks to Shell V-Power every afternoon here on Drive.

And now, a preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street cred delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT. Mark Levy's in the studio. He's previewing Wide World of Sports coming up next. He's got his fresh merchandise jacket on.

Pronto, Sylvania, the restaurant ready to be open. How's the stress levels, champion? Oh, today's been another level. We've got soft openings tonight with just family and friends. I'm pulling my hair out. Anyway, big wide water sports coming up. Brad Fittler's with us. We'll check in with Jason Saab. The

The run home to the finals. Oscar Piastri winning over in Hungary. So many good stories tonight on Wide World of Sports. Good on you, Levy. We'll be listening. That is Mark Levy with Wide World of Sports coming up next. Now, just on the Meccano set, I'm told the police are there directing traffic at the Meccano set. The lights are out. I'll see you tomorrow at 3 p.m. Bye-bye.