2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full show July 2nd. 01:50:55

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Clinton Maynard filling in for Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon. Tuesday the 2nd of July it is. Clinton Maynard here for Chris O'Keefe this week. Patches of blue sky across some parts of our city but the northern beaches...

has been absolutely hammered by rain. There is a severe storm warning current for Sydney, a warning of severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding. Some roads have been affected by that flash flooding as well. The city's north along with the central coast are subject to this warning. 131873 is our number. Let us know if you see dangers on the road this afternoon. On the program today, we'll keep you up to date with what's happening in federal parliament and with Senator Fatima Payman.

She may well quit the Labor Party by the end of the program. Senator Payman, as you know, says she's been exiled by Labor. She is now reflecting on her future. If she resigns from Labor, she should also resign from the Senate, but she's under no obligation to do so. She may well continue to serve as an independent. We'll keep you up to date on that. And a push is being launched today to encourage parents to wait longer before they allow their kids a mobile phone.

And I want to hear from you throughout the program. If you see something you think we need to know about, give me a call 131 873. If you have a news tip, 0460 873 873. Drive on 2GB. Seen something? Send a text 0460 873 873. Eight past three as we go to where counter-terrorism police are providing an update of the stabbing that occurred at Sydney University this morning. A 14-year-old boy.

is alleged to be the person who stabbed a 22-year-old man. Now, that man was taken to RPA, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, in a serious but stable condition. A short time later, the 14-year-old presented to the same hospital covered in blood. Reportedly, he was wearing an army-style cadet uniform.

The Assistant Commissioner, Mark Walton, is currently speaking. He says there is no further ongoing threat. So firstly, I'd like to indicate that there is no ongoing threat as a result of the incident that occurred this morning. At 8:36 this morning, emergency services were called to Sydney University where a 22-year-old student had been stabbed in the neck. And that stabbing, it was with a kitchen knife.

There was a young person that fled the scene dressed in camouflage Defence Force uniform and a knife was recovered at the scene. The suspect caught a bus and shortly after presented at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he has been treated for cuts to the hand and is currently undergoing a mental health assessment.

He has been identified as a 14-year-old male who lives in the inner west. The New South Wales Joint Counterterrorism Committee are investigating the matter. A motive or ideology, importantly, has not been determined at this time. As the matter is under investigation and the person of interest is a 14-year-old, I'm unable to provide many comments about the matter at this time.

I would however like to indicate that here in New South Wales nationally and internationally there are concerns about youth being radicalised in the online environment. They are embracing violent extremist ideologies and moving towards violence. The Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton who heads up the counter-terrorism force in New South Wales. So what's important to note there is there's not an ongoing threat.

The 14-year-old presented to hospital covered in blood. Now, no motive has been established and he won't speculate on that yet, but critical to point out that he noted that there is an issue in our city with ongoing radicalisation. As more news comes to hand, we'll bring it to you. Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873.

It's 11 past three, some very heavy rain. There is a severe storm warning that applies for Sydney's north and east of the central coast. Dave's been on the road. G'day, Dave. Hey, Clint, how you going, mate? Good, mate. What have you been through?

What's it like now? What's it like now, mate? Okay, the worst you've ever seen. Good on you, Dave. Hugo's in Palm Beach. Hello, Hugo. What's it like where you are?

Well, it's clearing now, but it was absolutely torrential from half past 11 till about half past or quarter past one. I've never seen rain like it. The road, Baranjeri Road at Kirill Bay is now totally blocked off in both directions. The water would be two feet deep. It's very difficult to get through. You can only get through it by half a mile an hour.

The buses, when the buses were coming down about three quarters of an hour ago, they were just using half of the road, or using the whole road, but just swinging like an S. Oh, okay. The water was just flowing like a river. It was incredible. Sydney does not handle heavy rain well at all. Thanks for letting us know about that, Hugo. I'm looking at the radar now.

The heaviest of the rain has now moved away, but there is still rain across much of the north from Terry Hills and all the way up to the central coast, including even as far north as Wyong as well. The severe storm warning is current. Most of Sydney at the moment is clear. There is some rain as well to the south of Sydney, which is over Wollongong and Port Kembla. But just be warned, it may well be difficult, particularly if you're on the northern beaches.

on the roads this afternoon. 131 873 is our number. If you see something we need to know about, let us know. You can send a text message, 0460 873 873. The supermarket chains are coming under more pressure to do the right thing by us. And also suppliers and farmers. We all know we're being ripped off. The price of groceries has increased in the past 12 months by 10%. But inflation, even when inflation increased last week, CPI is 4%.

for the 12 months. The three chains control 74% of the market, so Aldi, Coles, Woolies, but Aldi itself is tiny in comparison to Woolworths and Coles. The government just last week announced a new regime of fines, and in the end, those fines may well be built into future prices. Well, today, the coalition has fired a shot across the bowels of the supermarket chains.

Peter Dutton and David Littleproud, the Nationals leader, have confirmed if they win the election, they will pass legislation for divestiture powers. This is a deterrent. It is a deterrent to make sure they work within the regulatory guide rails. In this country, the big three supermarkets control 74% of the gross market. In the UK and US, their big three control around 30 to 40% of the market.

So we have market concentration and we are hearing the harrowing evidence from farmers who have been mistreated by supermarkets because they are the market.

That's not a fair market and government should only get involved in markets when there is not fairness. David Littleproud, the Nationals leader. So what this means, if supermarket chains and hardware stores as well, if they break competition laws, regulators would have the power to break up the chains. Now, how that actually works in practice, that needs to be clarified. But they could be forced to sell off particular outlets or a number of their stores, which

The idea is to create competition. The opposition says supermarkets would only be broken up if a court can prove there's benefit to consumers and there also must be public interest because there is concern that if the supermarkets are broken up,

People could lose jobs. Remember, Coles and Woolworths, and Aldi to a lesser extent, are some of our biggest employers. I just wonder whether it can work, because even if you're forcing a company to, say, sell off 10 supermarkets, unless there's a real third player in the market and a fourth player, well, the lack of competition is not going to bring prices down. We need more competition. We need actually a really big chain of

to open up. And I note even the Retail Association. Earlier this year, when this was first mentioned by the Nationals, they actually suggested it could lead to higher grocery prices. So it's not simple. And that's where David Littleproud says that it needs to be in the public interest, and David will join us in the program after five. He says it's a threat.

He says it's a deterrent. Hopefully it works. What we really need is a third player and even a fourth player. 131873. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Well, the Liberals have finally seen sense and they have decided not to split with the Nationals in state parliament. It would be electoral suicide. Over what? It's a catfight.

Much of this fight was over some dissatisfaction with Mark Speakman's leadership of the Coalition and, from what I understand, a very small number of people in the Nationals. Whatever you think about Mark Speakman, he's a good man, but the Liberals also have few choices. It seems that Dominic Perrottet has been a key here to achieving a peace deal. He's been a facilitator between different Liberals and Nationals. And honestly, I believe he's a loss to New South Wales politics. It's my understanding he'll be resigning soon. And I think that's disappointing because he's been wasted on the backbench.

But there's also some suggestions, others played a role in here, and I'll speak to Mark Speakman after 3.30. But the bottom line is here, we've had the same side of politics warring over pretty much nothing for days now. Disunity in politics is death. Mark Speakman, after addressing the Liberal Party room meeting this morning where Liberals were called to this urgent gathering, he released a statement jointly with Dougal Saunders.

And the statement says,

The Honourable Wes Fang, MLC, has been removed from his shadow assistant ministerial roles. Our job and our common objective is to hold this bad government to account with a strong alternative. And then Mark has spoken publicly and he'll join me after 3.30. The bottom line is, though, this is an internal fight that the public wouldn't actually care about. The public, it's born out of Mark Speakman visiting Wagga Wagga and Wes being upset about that because he wasn't told. And Wes

Wes Fang lives in Wagga Wagga. He's actually not the MP for Wagga, or he's an Upper House MP. But effectively, it's his patch. And this has been happening with other national MPs as well, and they haven't been happy about it. But in the end, all it does is divert attention away from real policy matters, the coalition fighting amongst themselves. They're no chance of winning the next election if this sort of behaviour continues. Chris Minns will be the favourite for the next election. But it must be remembered, he holds government

with a minority. So he relies on independents, the likes of Alex Greenwich, for support to get legislation through. So the coalition is not without hope.

But if they keep fighting like this, they'll have no hope. Mark Speakman will join me after 3.30. 23 past 3, 0460 873873 for your text messages. On the Nationals and the Coalition's plan at a federal level to break up supermarkets if they breach competition laws, Billy says the major problem from having a fourth player in the supermarket war is property prices and leases.

There's not a lot of space. Spot on, Billy. And what actually happens, the big supermarket chains, they buy up all the land near some of their outlets to prevent other operators entering the market. Now, under competition law, that may well end up being illegal under a coalition government, and then they'd be able to exercise these powers. 131873 is our number. The counter-terrorism police have now wrapped up their press conference following this stabbing incident at Sydney University. Our reporter Josh Bryant has been there. G'day, Josh.

Good afternoon, Clinton. The Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton has said there is no ongoing threat. Do we know exactly what's occurred today?

Yes, so what police know at this stage is that a 22-year-old student was stabbed in the neck with what police say was a kitchen knife in this incident this morning. That 22-year-old has been taken to hospital, was taken in a serious but stable condition, but police believe that his injuries are not life-threatening and so they are hoping that he will be well enough to speak with them. The

The Assistant Commissioner wasn't sure if that had occurred just yet, but seemed confident that the injuries weren't life-threatening. Now, a 14-year-old was arrested at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital nearby a short time after the stabbing. Currently assisting with inquiries, no charges have been laid. Police weren't going into too much detail about the teenager except to say that the teenager was known to police. Now, at this stage, no...

A terrorism incident has been declared formally. The investigation is still ongoing. The police did say...

They don't believe there is a religious ideology here, but they did talk about the possibility of what they called an unclear or mixed ideology as they investigate what the possible motive for the stabbing was. The fact that the counter-terrorism police have been investigating this and the point that Mark Walton actually made that we need to be aware of radicalisation, that does indicate that there is something here.

Absolutely. And he did stress at various points that he was raising a broader point and not talking about the specifics of the case when he was talking about the threat, as we don't know at this stage exactly what role it has played. But as you say, the Assistant Commissioner, a very strong calling, the internet a toxic environment for some people and reminding particularly parents, teachers, anyone who has teenagers in particular problems

that you need to be alert to what teenagers may be accessing online as there is that threat that they can sort of fall down the rabbit hole and be led into these sort of areas of radicalisation. And often at times, as you said, talking about the mixed or the uncertain is just sort of...

into these various ideas which aren't necessarily cohesive or related in a direct way, but just sort of lead them to these more dangerous ideas. Would it be likely charges could be laid later this afternoon? They didn't give any indication on if and or when charges will be laid. Very clear that this investigation is still ongoing and they're still getting all of that information together. It remains to be seen

if and when any charges will be laid over the stabbing. But obviously those investigations are still underway. OK, thank you, Josh. We'll cross back to you if there's any developments later this afternoon. So that 14-year-old boy actually handed himself in to hospital covered in blood. The 22-year-old victim was stabbed in the neck, is not suffering life-threatening injuries. It is being investigated by the Counterterrorism Squad. However, there is no ongoing threat.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. 131873 and you can have your say for less with Amazing. Don't pay too much for your mobile plan. Break free from your expensive telco and escape to better value with the Escape Plan by Amazing. Very heavy rain over the past couple of hours on the northern beaches. What have you seen, Marty? Mate, I've just left Palm Beach just after 3 o'clock and heading south. And the...

part of the uh baron jerry road at carril bay that was impassable as hugo was alerting to that's now cleared so um for most cars that's that's quite possible now okay well that's good news thanks for letting us know about that marty the severe storm warning is still in place now it applies to sydney's northern suburbs but also much of the central coast including gosford and woi woi and just having a look at the radar at the moment there are still showers across

Much of the north from Avalon and then up towards the coast includes Terrigal, Gosford and then parts of Wyong. Most of Sydney's drive from where I am at the moment, just looking out to the western suburbs, there's plenty of blue sky, but it looks like this rain is going to hang around. And certainly for the forecast, it's going to rain for the rest of the week. On the text line 0460 873 873, talking about supermarket power.

and the coalition announcing if they win the election, they'll introduce legislation to give the regulators the power to break supermarkets up if they breach competition laws. And I just should note that...

And I'll talk to David Littleproud about this later in the program, the Nationals leader. There has been opposition from even from unions, from workers' representatives, some employer groups as well, concerned that if these laws were actually used, they could cost jobs and they could see grocery prices increase. Bottom line is, we know as the customers, we are being ripped off because grocery prices have gone up by more than 10% over the course of the last year.

Thank you, Peter.

We all just had a laugh in regards to the new code. Honestly, you have no idea the power they have. The buyers are paid extremely well. So it negates any emotional connection. So the buyers, the ones that actually do the deals with the producers, who are really at the centre of arranging where our food and where our groceries come from, you're saying, Steve, they don't

build a relationship with their suppliers so it means in the end if the suppliers aren't willing to effectively bend over and comply with the tough conditions they just move on to the next one

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And with all the latest, good afternoon, Rhiann Solomon-Marin. Good afternoon, Clinton. A 14-year-old boy is undergoing a mental health assessment after being arrested over a stabbing at Sydney University. Police say he's known to them and the Joint Counterterrorism Team is helping investigate.

Part of Sydney's northern beaches have been hit by a short but intense thunderstorm. Residents are being warned to be wary of flooding on some roads. A bushwalker has been rescued from a track in the southern highlands. The 69-year-old was treated for mild hypothermia and a small cut to his face when he was found. And scientists have discovered a type of moss on Mars which can tolerate temperatures of negative 196 degrees as well as the type of radiation that's found on the planet.

In sport, Mariners midfielder Max Ballard is leaving the A-League men's champions. The 23-year-old has had another season left on his contract but has been released to pursue an overseas opportunity. And Clinton, there'll be more news at four. Thank you, Rhiannon. At the moment across Sydney, 15 degrees. Later in the program, I'm going to talk about a campaign to give parents the power to empower them to say no to their kids.

when they ask for a mobile phone. Roz says,

and then they're not to be used during school hours either. Good luck with that, Ros. My children do have mobile phones now that they're in high school. I don't think I've ever seen them actually have a conversation on their mobile phone. It's Clinton Maynard filling in for Chris O'Keefe. Chris is back with you next Monday afternoon. Qantas has confirmed that 70% of their early morning flights are actually leaving, taking off from airports around the country ahead of schedule. I read about this in The Telegraph today. The reason for this is they've changed the time that

people are boarding their planes. So passengers for domestic flights are now getting on board 737s 30 minutes before takeoff instead of what was the standard 22. But the result in that is the flights are taking off on time and in the case of the early morning flights, 70% are actually leaving ahead of

of schedule. I just wonder whether you're a domestic passenger, whether you're happy about that. Now, personally, I prefer to be on the plane as soon as I possibly can be. So 30 minutes would be great for me, but 22 minutes, it's starting to cut it a little bit fine. I think in the end, if it means Qantas is actually improving its on-time performance, that's a good thing. On the text line, uh,

Harry says, for the new shopping centres, Woolies and Coles actually restrict and stop third-party supermarkets getting space. Well, in many cases, Harry, Coles and Woolies actually own some of those smaller shopping centres.

Drive on 2GB. Seen something? Send a text. 0460 873 873. The civil war that's been threatening to tear apart the New South Wales Coalition is over. Certainly for now. This morning was a meeting of Liberal Party MPs and after negotiations over the past couple of days, they're not splitting with the National Party. The anger stemmed over Wes Fang's attack on the Coalition leader, Mark Speakman, questioning his leadership.

And this grew out of Mr. Fang's anger that Mr. Speakman didn't tell him that he was visiting his hometown of Wagga Wagga. Look, it seems like to me to be a petty dispute, which turned nasty. Mark Speakman joins us on the program. Thank you for your time, Mark. Hi, Clint. How are you? Good, mate. Was there the legitimate chance that the coalition would have been dissolved? Oh,

Oh look, I think common sense has prevailed. The problem was Wes's behaviour was completely unacceptable. If you're a member of a team, you've got to support the team and not in a public way dump on the leader or dump on your coalition partner.

I've made multiple attempts to try to get that Facebook post taken down straight away and for Wes to apologise or for action to be taken to reprimand or sanction him. It didn't happen, and in the end, I had to exercise my opposition leader's...

prerogative and call out bad behaviour but we've sorted out differences on that WES is removed, we are a strong coalition and I think we're a united force and now we get onto our real job which is there to argue for the people of New South Wales focused on cost of living, health education, frontline services, infrastructure all the problems that this

Government is making worse here in New South Wales and put this skirmish to one side. Which is what's important, but you released a statement late Friday afternoon that you were removing Wes Fang from those shadow assistant positions. Dougald Saunders, the Nationals leader, then released a statement saying that you didn't have the right. Now, Dougald Saunders wasn't standing with you at the press conference today and he has actually said that he stands by his...

decision. Do you still have a relationship with Dougal Saunders? Oh, absolutely. Look, he's not with me at my press conference today because he's in Dubbo and it's a bit hard for him to get down to Sydney for a press conference straight after a Liberal Party room meeting. We have had a really good relationship in the last 15 months. It's been constructive and collaborative and I'm confident that will continue. But West Fang is gone. I've indicated the standards that I require of

MPs. I don't want to descend into what we see from this Labor government. We've got Joe Halen with Jules to the boys, Yasmin Catley misleading Parliament, Tim Crafterthorpe having found to be breaching public trust, Anthony to Adam only sacked for calling the Police Commissioner a liar after we put pressure on in question time. I mean, there's a whole litany of poor behaviour by Labor and I want to make clear to my coalition MPs that I won't tolerate that. But with the way that Dougal reacted last week on Friday, wasn't that undermining your position?

Well, I think the important point is now that we've agreed that Wes is gone. I have called out bad behaviour. I've made it very clear what I expect. Now we put that skirmish to one side and get on to the real reason we've been elected, which is not to have these sorts of skirmishes, but to serve the people of New South Wales. So on real issues. We're in a cost-of-living crisis. Yeah, they're the real issues. We are facing a cost-of-living crisis.

and people aren't concerned about politicians' egos. They're concerned about making their family budgets balance. They're concerned about the deterioration in health and education services and traffic congestion. You name it, there are plenty of problems that we can be talking about, and that's my focus. But, yeah, what Wes thinks about your travel arrangements in the end of the general punter doesn't really matter, but issues, for instance, like renewables, do. Now...

Now, we know there are differences between some Liberal MPs and some Nationals MPs on an issue like renewable energy. What's going to happen, say, six months down the track in the joint party room when one of those policies comes up to debate? Are we going to go through this again on an issue that's actually going to be more important to everyday people?

Well, look, it's important when you're part of a team that you get to a team position and that's what we've largely done in New South Wales. I think we had a pretty good coalition in New South Wales between the Libs and the Nats. It's been the strongest in the country and that's what I hope will continue.

Now, Mr Fang is not penalised financially with this because the assistant shadow positions don't carry extra money, but his position as a deputy whip in the upper house does. Why is he remaining there? Why haven't you removed him from that job? Well, I don't have the power to do that. The whip positions are elected by particular party rooms. It's not a joint party room?

So, yes, it's the joint Liberal National Party room that elects him to that. I do have the power to remove him from a shadow ministry or a shadow assistant ministry. I wish that had happened sooner. It didn't, but that's now been cleared up and we move on. Because if he was removed from that position, I think he would lose more than $20,000 a year. Then he'd actually feel like he's done something wrong. I know for a fact he's not happy today.

Well, look, this is not a matter of whether he's happy or unhappy or pots of money. This is about teamwork and standards. And if you want to be part of a coalition team, you have to go with the team. And if he wants to have all sorts of insults and pejoratives about his Liberal colleagues and me, that's not team play. That's not a standard. It's not how I personally – it doesn't matter what I personally feel about it. I'm not personally affronted.

It's about meeting community expectations that instead of name-calling against each other, we're getting on with focusing on the real issues. We departed from that standard and there are consequences. Reports today that Dominic Perrottet basically brokered the deal. Is that correct?

No, that's not correct. Certainly, I think Dom made some phone calls, as did a number of senior Liberals. We had to make it clear to our National Party colleagues that this was unacceptable behaviour, where's that to go? And those phone calls were made. But in the end, Dougal and I had a number of civil but direct conversations that have resolved the issue.

Because both the newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Telegraph, are running stories that he brokered the deal. It's an exclusive with the Telegraph that's just being published at the moment as well, saying that Dom was at the centre of all this. Well, look, I've seen a clip of Dom being interviewed by one of those papers, and he doesn't characterise it that way. I know that some senior Liberals were very concerned. Might not be a bad thing, mind you.

Oh, look, I welcome the backing. Basically, I had the backing of the party room to call out Wes's behaviour, to confirm that we Liberals have an important role in regional New South Wales, that we're committed to the coalition, but Wes is gone. One last question for you, Mark, and I appreciate you fronting up on what is a challenging day for the coalition. Have you spoken to Wes Fang yet? And when you next have a joint party room meeting, if you haven't spoken to him yet, what are you going to say to him?

Look, I did speak to him before he was dismissed last week to have a go to try to resolve the issue, which was unsuccessful. I haven't had a conversation with him there. But look, my job is to put ruffled feathers aside and to work in the interest of the people of New South Wales. So I want a professional and productive relationship with all my colleagues and indeed with the crossbench and people on the other side. And that's one of the reasons I went to Wagga. We need to start focusing on policy. Thank you, Mr. Speakman. Absolutely. Thanks, Clint. The Opposition Leader, Mark Speakman.

13 to 4, that severe storm warning for Sydney's north but also the central coast is still current. So it hasn't been lifted yet. Looking at the radar again though, it looks like the showers are moving further to the northwest. So most of Sydney's northern beaches at the moment.

is dry. This message though from Andrew who lives in Mona Vale, my rain gauge is showing 76 millilitres of rain since 6am so there's been a lot of rain obviously on the northern beaches. Good on you Andrew, thank you for your message. Now feedback on my discussion with Mark Speakman and the fight between the Liberals and the Nationals and look the bottom line to all this is

they're really fighting over not a lot, OK? And disunity will cause the end of any prospect of the coalition winning the next election. And while it's all happy families today, Dougal Saunders wasn't standing next to Mark Speakman and hugging him. I mean, he does represent Dubbo, so he's in the bush.

But I've heard some of Dougal's comments today, and he still wasn't particularly glowing of what's transpired over the last couple of days. So there's still a lot of tension there. And they're going to face bigger issues in the next 12 months on other policy matters. The Koala Park...

Thank you.

Some feedback on this. Theo says, Mark Speakman, the coalition, have handed Chris Minns the next election. In-house fighting does not occur overnight. Mr Speakman has no charisma. He doesn't come across as authentic. He seems to be nervous and unsure and with no substance. I think he's authentic. He's just he's quite a conservative character with his public presentation.

Theo says, I was a Liberal voter, but Chris Minns has grown in the role and connects far better with the average Joe. I think Chris Minns is doing reasonably well, but I think we've got to remember with the Labor government, they're not actually putting forward a lot of big picture policies.

They've been in power for 12 months. What have they actually done so far? They've certainly called a lot of inquiries into various problems within government. Yes, they have given substantial pay rises to some sectors of the public service, including teachers, and they have announced housing reforms. They actually haven't built houses themselves, and maybe that's not the role of the government anyway. They've provided changes to zoning laws around train stations, and the Planning Minister, Paul Scully, will join me in the next hour of the program...

But at the moment, you'd say it's a government with a fairly narrow policy agenda. And that's fine. If that's what people want, they've made it clear they're not going to be an infrastructure government. They're going to be about helping public sector workers.

But at the moment, they don't have a very secure hold on power in Parliament. So it actually wouldn't take a lot for the coalition to win an election. It's not a majority government. But the way the coalition have been carrying on, they actually don't have much hope of that. Still on these issues, Albie says Mr. Speakman's a dead man walking. He was useless in government as Attorney General. Increasing penalties with no minimums. Well, Labor does that as well. Meaning courts completely ignore them.

There's nothing going on for him and they have no respect for coalition partners. And this one from Bill, Mark Speakman should go, not Wes Fang. Speakman was rude going into Mr Fang's electorate without notification. And as a few of our listeners have pointed out, he also did not notify the local Wagga Wagga party branch that he was making a visit to Wagga Wagga either. Look, the Nationals tell me that this has been an ongoing problem within the coalition for quite some time, that National MPs,

are upset when either a shadow minister or the leader visits their area and doesn't tell them. Okay, so it seems like a bit of an administration issue to me. It's not a big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal from the public's point of view.

but certainly it's turned into a significant big deal. Well, today the banking watchdog has issued a sanction to the ANZ Bank for continuing to charge or for failing to refund fees for deceased estates and also failing to respond to the representatives of deceased estates within the required timeframe. Interestingly, I've had quite a few calls to my overnight program about this very problem. A few

A few weeks ago, I had a call from one of our older listeners who has been battling with one of the big banks for about five years to close her husband's bank account. Her husband died five years ago, and the bank has put her through the ringer in terms of providing identification, proof of death. And she was in her 80s, and she really battled. And it's taken five years to actually be able to close the bank account.

Well, this matter relates to issues along those lines. The Banking Code Compliance Committee Chairman

says the decision to name ANZ for its non-compliance reflected the seriousness of the bank's breaches. He says,

and found last year that six Australian banks, including the big four, have charged fees for services no longer provided on deceased estates. It's actually an important issue because you're talking about people who are going through an emotional loss,

turmoil in their family lives and the last thing they need is for the banks to make it harder for them. It's Clinton Maynard filling in for Chris O'Keefe. Now I mentioned that Mark Speakman had not told the local Wagga Wagga Liberal Party branch that he was visiting Wagga. Well the Liberals tell me no, no, they were fully aware. In fact I've just been sent a photo of Mark Speakman

pictured with the local Liberal Party. So the local Liberals knew, but certainly the local Nationals and Wes Fang didn't know. 131873. Hello, Brian. Yes. Hello, Clinton. You're doing a great job. Thanks, mate. I agree wholeheartedly with you. He is too left of centre, poor speakman. Did he not speak against the nuclear idea of Mr Dutton's? He hasn't yet. He certainly hasn't thrown support behind it yet.

Thank you. Yes, exactly. Now, we've got him and now we've got Christofoli who's going to go into Queensland. We think he's going to win. He's against the Newt. What are these Liberals trying to do? If you can't vote for Pauline Hanson, I'm very conservative. I will vote for the Nationals if I had a chance. I can't. I live in East Sydney and...

I can't vote for the Nationals, but they should be on an all-season ticket for my money because they're coming up with the ideas. Who won the no vote for us? Jacinta Price, National. There you go, Brian. Well, look, on David Christopher Lee in Queensland, I think his position at the moment on energy is he doesn't want to rock the boat in the lead-up to the Queensland election. Every single poll indicates that he will be the Premier at the end of the year.

And I don't think he wants to throw his support behind Peter Dutton's plan because it could lose him some votes because it is such a controversial issue. So I think he just wants to play it safe. Once he's in power, you might find that he does support the coalition position. Now, at the moment, Mark Speakman is playing his cards close to his chest. He hasn't outlined exactly what the plan is.

is yet. Hey, thank you for your call. We do have some funny listeners on the text line 0460 873 873. Marcus says, perhaps the New South Wales Liberals need to bring Andrew Constance back to be the leader. Haha, only joking. Well, stranger things have happened. Andrew Constance is attempting a political comeback. And I suspect Andrew Constance will be in federal parliament after the next election.

He is running in the seat of Gilmore, which is on the south coast of New South Wales. And when he ran at the last election, he was only knocked over by the Labor candidate, who's now the sitting MP, by a few hundred votes. There wasn't a lot in it. Why I think he'll win that seat, and I know that he's a controversial figure in New South Wales, why I think he'll win that seat,

is because he does have a lot of popularity on the south coast, and a lot of that relates to standing up to the former government on bushfire matters. But the other reason is the wind farm.

The wind farm that Chris Bowen announced for the Illawarra, whatever you think of it 20 kilometres out to sea, it is unpopular with a lot of locals on the south coast. I think that policy alone will be enough for Andrew Constance to win the seat. If he only needed a few hundred votes, more than what he had at the last election, there's the few hundred votes. Because there he was a couple of weeks ago standing in Kiama saying that he would be voting against a wind farm.

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Now back to Drive with Clinton Maynard on Sydney's 2GB. Great to be with you this Tuesday afternoon for the Drive Home, 7 past 4, 131 873. If you see something on the roads driving home we need to know about it, let us know. Send me a text message as well, 0460 873 873. The severe storm warning that had been issued for Sydney's northern suburbs

and also Gosford and the Central Coast. That severe storm warning has now been lifted. The Weather Bureau tell us the immediate threat of severe thunderstorms has passed.

The situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings will be issued as necessary. Very heavy rain on the northern beaches and we've heard from you over the first hour of the program about that. I'm having a look at the radar now. There's still some showers across the north and again there's some showers including some heavy showers out to sea around Stanmore Park to the south.

But for the bulk of Sydney, it's dry at the moment. Looks like that's going to be a wet couple of days. If you'd like to have your say, 131 873 is our number. The Prime Minister has elected not to fly to the United States this month to attend the NATO meeting in Washington. And it has been rare since the PM has been in power that he's missed an opportunity for an overseas trip. But I've got to say, credit to the Prime Minister here, he's made the right call.

But I think what this does, it points to something else that's on his mind. From next Tuesday, NATO will hold its summit to mark its 75th anniversary. And Mr Albanese was expected to attend. We're not a full member, but we're a member of the so-called Pacific Four, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. So NATO is effectively a block of European countries and North America. But we are often invited along as a bit of a hang on.

The Defence Minister, Richard Marles, will attend instead. The organisers are disappointed. The word is that Albo's decided that he won't go because of cost of living issues at home, that they're more important. And he's certainly right about that.

But really, what this is about is the fact there's an election around the corner. That's the reality. And I personally think the chances of an election this year are disappearing by the day. The fact inflation went up last week, the fact that there is a very real prospect of interest rates rising in August means surely Albo would have a death warrant to take Labor to an election this year.

The longer things go, maybe it gets better, although issues might start stacking up against him. But the last thing he needs is more criticism of his international travel. When he attended NATO in 2022 and then again last year, he was hammered from pillar to post. The number of trips he took in a short space of time was completely over the top.

And with the fight over energy, with inflation not coming down yet, with interest rates' chance of going up, the last thing he needs for his electoral chances is a hammering over travel. So I don't think there's any way he's going to be travelling overseas this year. With every single decision I think the PM makes in the next 12 months, it's all going to be about winning the next election. The chances of Airbus Albo taking off again, I think, are very slim.

Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. I mentioned before the news, I think Andrew Constance, the former New South Wales Transport Minister, is a very good chance of being elected to Parliament at the federal election. He's running for the South Coast seat of Gilmore and he narrowly missed out at the last election. And I simply think the fact that

Wind power, wind farms are not popular on the south coast and Chris Bowen has announced the plan for the major wind farm in the Illawarra. I think that'll be enough to get him over the line. He only fell short by a few hundred votes last time. Brad listens to us on the south coast and he says at present the local community is filthy with the green Labor-led council here and the federal government. I think the local feeling with the transition about the feelings about the local council will then translate into a federal vote.

So even though Andrew Constance may not be popular in Sydney with those who are driving on our roads paying tolls and those using trains and buses, he is reasonably popular on the south coast. It's 11 past four. Yesterday we spoke on the program to the Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Look, I think certainly Jim Chalmers is a nice enough bloke.

But as Treasurer, and we'll include the Prime Minister on this, does he quite understand what's happening in the real world with the cost of living and the impact of the tax cuts? Just closely looking at the tax cuts, what it actually means for us, and that analysis has been released that shows they'll be effectively wiped out because of bracket creep within two to three years. If you're paid $50,000 a year, you'll receive an extra $929 over the course of the year. So it's a pay rise of 1.8%.

If you make $100,000 a year, an extra $2,179 a year. That's a pay rise of 2.1%. If you're paid $150,000, it's effectively an extra $3,700 a year. So they're pay increases in a way, take-home pay increases, but they are tiny overall. And does that really do much to alleviate your cost of living pressures? For instance, when you're paying more for public transport, as you are in Sydney this week, when you're paying more to use our toll roads.

Let's look at the 2.4% reward for someone on $150,000. How does that really help when inflation was up by 4% as of last week? That 4% number took in a 5.2% jump in housing costs, 7.4% increase in rents, 6.5% increase in electricity bills, 9.3% rise in fuel.

Now, they're everyday items. We spend money on those things every week. So does effectively a 2% increase in your take-home pay make all that much difference? Tax cuts look good in a press release, but do they really make a difference to your back pocket? And I see this right across the economy at the moment. The federal government says they're making us better off financially, but at the same time, effectively, we are seeing price hikes.

Have a look at other prices that are going up. The cost of passports, the 10-year passport, as of yesterday, increased to $398. In 2023, they were $325. They've gone up 22%. How is that justifiable? If you're on $50,000 a year, the tax cut's about $17 a week. But if you want to get a new passport, it'll take you more than a month to be any better off. It doesn't stop at passports. How about this in the Telegraph?

households struggling amid a cost-of-living crisis are facing skyrocketing NBN prices, so broadband, with hikes of $120 a year on internet plans compared to offers that were available only eight months ago. From this month, major telcos are expected to push up their more affordable NBN plans, so this is the 25 megabits per second plan, and the faster 50 plans. They're expected to increase those by $5 a month, less than a year after households were hit with a similar hike

which is bringing the total increase of between 10 to 13% since October. Telstra is due to raise their prices of the fast plans from $100 to $105. Their 25 plan will increase from $85 to $89. Aussie Broadband, I've heard good things about Aussie Broadband lately, but their two plans will increase by $4 each to $79 and $89.

Now, the NBN is the federal government. Yes, their services are then resold by Telstra Optus Aussie Broadband.

But it's that wholesale cost that is set by the government, the NBN, that's feeding it to those higher prices. Now, we asked the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, to join us on the program. She declined. She wasn't available. But she did issue a statement. She says,

The government understands that Australians are struggling with cost of living, which is why we scrapped the Coalition's NBN pricing plan that would have hiked prices by inflation plus 3% on some products. She says under the Coalition's pricing plan, every single wholesale broadband product would be more expensive by the 1st of July this year than what it is now. Well, that's all well and good, but I don't think an explanation of, hey, we're not as bad as the other mob...

is good enough when you're still increasing prices. And again, this is the government that's increasing prices. The government controls the national broadband network. And yet there are pressures on government businesses as well. You can't escape that. But internet connection is no longer a luxury. We all need it now. You can't conduct your everyday business. You can't contact a corporation about a problem with your power bill without being connected to the internet. So it's now an essential part of life.

Joining me on the program is the Shadow Communications Minister, David Coleman. Thank you for your time, David. Good to be with you. Why do you think the government signed off? Because in the end, it's the government's behind the NBN. Why did they sign off on these price increases? That is a fantastic question, Clinton, and I guess only Michelle Rowland can answer that because when the price increase happened, she literally described it as great news for consumers. That is a direct quote. And since October...

we've seen price increases of up to 14% on these different plans, minimum of about 9%, 10%, but up to 14%. And the government said that was great news for consumers and also said that the NBN's proposal would mean a 4%.

So it's a complete disconnect with reality, to be honest. And, you know, it's Australian families that are paying the price. But in fairness to the NBN, the people who run the NBN and the government behind the NBN, they would be experiencing higher costs themselves. Isn't it fair that they simply pass those costs on?

Well, what they've done here, Clinton, actually, is structure the price increases so that they hit the lowest cost plans the most. And there's a thing called the CVC charge, which is now being charged on each individual who has an NBN 25 or a 50 plan. And what that's meant in practice is...

they've got the telcos, you know, increasing those costs on the 25 and 50 plans. So it's a deliberate strategy. And what the government, I think, wants to do is push people up onto higher cost plans or higher speed plans so they can say they've increased the speeds of the NBN. But the people who are actually paying for it are the majority of families. Because on these two plans, Quinton, there's about 6 million families

are on either the 25 or the 50. Not everyone can afford the 100 or the 500 or the super fast plans. And they're the ones who are getting smashed by this. Are those higher plans? Would there be bigger margins for NBN there as well?

I'm not entirely sure on that. You'd have to put that to NBN. But what NBN has done here, though, Clinton, and what the government has said is great news for consumers, is a structure that is designed to increase prices the most online.

on the lowest cost plans. And that is wrong. It is not what any government should be doing. It's not what a Labor government should be doing. And you've got 68% of all families, about 6 million of the NBN's customers, on these plans. I mean, you know, you've got things going from $69 to $79, from $79 to $89, from $95 to $105. And that's over a year, that's $120. And who at the moment...

has $120 spare dollars in their pocket. There will be people that message me over the next 10 minutes, I suspect, who will say, well, don't bother with the NBN, then.

Just use your phone, but you can't these days, can you? Well, look, some people are switching away from the NBN because of the price increases. So we're actually seeing, outside of what they call greenfields, which is new housing developments, we're seeing declines in NBN customers. And a big reason are these price increases. But what are people using the mobile network? Because the reality is, in this day and age...

you can't be disconnected because you've got other services that you can't do most of your business these days with the government without being connected in some way. Oh, yeah, totally. So people aren't disconnecting entirely, but what some people are doing is getting 5G at home. So you can get a modem at home for 5G and it's usually a bit cheaper than the NBN. The difference didn't used to be that much, but now the difference is quite significant. So quite a lot of people are saying, well, look, I can't afford...

the government's higher prices. I can't afford Anthony Albanese's price increases on the NBN and I'm going to get the 5G product. So as I said, yeah, outside of new housing developments, the NBN is actually losing customers. But for those 6 million customers that remain on these two plans, it's a significant impost. Well, in the end, this is an issue for the government. They are the NBN. It's one of the

the corporations that hasn't been privatised yet so they've got control of it. Thank you for your time, David. Thanks, Payton. David Coleman, who's the Shadow Communications Minister. How much are you paying and have you received notification, whether you're with Optus, Vodafone, Aussie, Broadband, Telstra, whoever, have you received notification that your bill is going to go up?

My Optus bill has gone up in the last three months, to think about it. Now, the NBN is owned 100% by the government, and yes, they have higher costs. We're in an inflationary environment. You can't escape that. However, given the government says they're concerned about cost of living issues, that's why Albo's not going overseas, and I applaud him for that decision, this actually is a cost of living issue they could control. What's your experience at the moment? Let me know, 131873.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. I do have a $200 gift voucher to give away for Bailey Nelson today for our Tuesday tip. If you see something while you're out and about, let me know about it. It could be incident on the roads. It could be some hot news that you have. 131873 is my number. Bailey Nelson here to shake up the eyewear business with high-quality frames without the designer price tag. Bolt-built eye tests available in every store. Visit them for your eyewear needs.

You can send me text messages as well, 0460 873 873. Tony says, letting you know my Telstra internet went up by $5 a month only a few years ago. I've just been given the letter. Thanks, Tony. Ben, you're on the roads at the moment. What have you seen, mate? Hello, Ben. You there? Yes, Ben. Windsor Road and Roxburgh Park Road, mate, northbound at Balcombe Hills.

There's some form of a prang, but all I can make out from here is firetruck and towies everywhere. Okay, just one car, do you think? Uh...

I don't even know if it's a car. It could be a pedestrian, mate. It doesn't look like there's too many smashed up cars around. Okay, okay. But the emergency services are there. It's Borkham Hills, Windsor Road. I tell you what, we're going to send you out the Bailey Nelson gift card. It's a $200 gift card for our Tuesday tip of the week. We'll get some more details in our traffic report with Dennis shortly. That's Borkham Hills, Windsor Road. Take some care there.

25 past four. If you're just tuning in for the first time and you missed the first part of our program, just recapping the major news of the day. A 22-year-old man is in hospital after being stabbed in the neck. He was attacked on the grounds of Sydney University this morning. A 14-year-old boy is being questioned about this. Now, the 14-year-old, police tell us, himself presented to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital covered in blood.

He was treated to cuts to his hands. He's undergoing a mental health assessment. No charges have been laid. But the counter-terrorism police squad is investigating this case. They say they don't yet have a motive. An ideology has not been identified. They say there's no indication this boy has any interest in the Jewish community, for instance. But he is known to police. The 14-year-old is also known to government agencies. No charges have been laid at this stage.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. I'm getting lots of feedback about NBN prices going up and I'll come to those in a moment. But Jason's just telling me about cost of living. Taking my kids to the movies for what they call tight ass Tuesday when the movie tickets are much cheaper. Event cinemas though, Jason tells us, wants $9.95 each for a frozen Coke.

Yeah, the tip is if you're going to the movies, Jason, don't have the frozen cake, maybe bring your own popcorn as well. 131873 NBN charges are going up and the retailers, Optus, Telstra, Vodafone, etc. will pass those on. What are you experiencing? G'day, Simon. Hey, how are you doing? Good, mate.

You're kidding me. Yeah.

So my price, my internet dropped from $199 a month for like a really high-speed plan down to $110 a month. So with the system that you use, what was it called again? It's called Opticom. So basically, when you have a whole lot of like sort of new apartment buildings, some of them are choosing not to go with NBN code and they're using private providers. And is it just as fast, do you find? Yeah.

Okay, that's fast. So what are you paying a month now?

I'm paying $110. Okay. And that's unlimited data. Okay, that's not bad. Okay. So I'm good on you. Thank you for letting us know about that system as well. I'm on a medium speed plan. I'm paying a little over, I think it's $91 a month for Optus. That's unlimited data as well. And that includes, you know, the reality is most of us stream TV services these days. We don't.

generally use an antenna based service we have one TV hooked up to an antenna but the rest of our viewing comes through the Foxtel box that I have and our Foxtel box is connected to the NBN and the service we have is pretty good we're paying about $90 a month through Optus good on you Simon hello Stephen

Hello, Clinton. What's your experience with NBN at the moment? Well, I don't have an experience with NBN. I've never had it. I don't have it. I don't need it. Okay. I simply have a mobile SIM share plan with Telstra where I have four SIM cards, one in my phone, one in my wife's, one in my father's at his house, and one at home here in a router, and I use 5G wireless. So can you run a TV from that?

Yes, we watch Netflix through that. Okay. I have 300 gig of data in my allowance for about $120 a month. I reckon on my mobile phone I would use 30 tops, which leaves 270 that either dies at the end of the month if I don't use it, or I use it instead of NBN. Because if you're watching telly, that's obviously fairly intense when it comes to using those data packs, but you've got plenty. Yeah.

It is. I mean, we watch Foxtel like you through a satellite, and that doesn't cost anything. Our Foxtel comes through the NBN. We're getting it through the broadband now. Okay. Well, we have satellite, but I don't have any dropouts. That's perfectly fine. I get 4K like everybody else. But my wife watches a lot of Netflix. We watch a bit of Prime, a bit of Optus TV, and whatever else we need. I run Siri. It runs our Googles on nests on our bedside tables, everything we need.

And generally the 5G is a bit cheaper. I tell you what, for giving us the tip on the 5G, we are going to go and send you to the Midnight Oil movie that's in cinemas this week. It's Midnight Oil's The Hardest Line.

It's in cinemas from Thursday and, of course, for 45 years, Midnight Oil has been shaping modern Australia. They tell their story for the first time on film. So I tell you what, Stephen, you are going to have a great time maybe taking your wife to go and see the Midnight Oil film. And I actually might go and see it myself.

Let's check our news headlines. It's Good Afternoon. Rhiannon Solomon-Marron. Good afternoon, Clinton. Police don't believe a stabbing at the University of Sydney was religiously motivated. A 14-year-old is being questioned by officers after a 22-year-old was knifed in the neck.

Images of a blue Toyota Camry have been released as detectives continue to investigate a fatal hit and run at Melanbar. The search is continuing for the vehicle which struck and killed the 79-year-old. ANZ is being sanctioned by the banking industry's compliance monitor for failing to stop or refund fees for deceased estates. And a new study suggests 60% of people aged between 18 and 26 would rather text than talk on the phone.

In sport, there's been a major move in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors champion, Clay Thompson, poised to join the Dallas Mavericks. The three-year deal is worth a reported $75 million. And Clinton, there'll be more news at five. Thank you, Rhiannon. On the NBN pricing issues, Ron says the Opticom system, which is what one of our callers just mentioned in a unit building, they basically sell the building infrastructure to the Opticom company, but it takes away your ability to choose the internet provider.

So I guess you've got to go along with what the whole building through Opticom decides. Thanks for that information, Ron. Mary says, my Telstra NBN plan has gone up effective yesterday. Tracy says, we're running 5G internet at the Oaks. NBN Wi-Fi was no good in our area.

and it has two Netflix TVs, mobiles running, Alexa, no dramas. We, and this is very exciting, we bought a fridge two weeks ago. We've got a brand new fridge and it's a pretty fancy one. In fact, I had to actually rip apart part of the kitchen to fit the fridge in.

Even has the water thing at the front. But anyway, it's a Hisense fridge. It's connected to Wi-Fi. Now, it's not one of those ones where you can get a recipe from the fridge. But my wife, I suppose I could download it as well. My wife has an app on her phone for the fridge. And she can now get notifications whenever the fridge door opens. So, for instance, if I'm supposedly on a diet and I'm opening the fridge a little too often...

Cass, my wife, will actually get a notification that, uh-uh, fridge door just opened. 131873, and of course, you can have your safer less with Amazium. Don't pay too much for your mobile plan. Break free from your expensive telco and escape to better value with the Escape Plan by Amazium. It's Clinton Maynard filling in for Chris O'Keefe. Chris is back on Monday. An international design competition has been launched today that will shape how our city is going to look in the future.

The government's developing a pattern book design system for new developments. So what is pattern book? Well, you might call them standardised designs, off-the-shelf designs for buildings that could be approved quickly. And the whole idea is that developers can then get on with their plans quickly. That would address the housing shortage. I do have some concerns with this system and hopefully the Planning Minister, Paul Scully, can put my mind at ease. Mr Scully joins us. Good afternoon, Minister.

G'day, Clinton. Thanks for having me on the program. Pattern book designs. What is a pattern book? Well, a pattern book's not a new thing. In fact, the first pattern book that we're aware of in New South Wales was actually in Mrs Macquarie's library. And it's basically a book of patterns of designs that are easily replicable and buildable.

that are aimed at delivering more homes. There's been a huge number of them through time in New South Wales. They've worked in the past. They've come up with some of the buildings that Sydney are synonymous with, and we're looking at replicating that for mid-rise buildings. So what sort of buildings would they apply to? Are these the buildings that are going to be around train stations?

Oh, so this could apply anywhere. What we're looking at is the terrace homes and mid-rise, so the sort of the three-storey apartment, mid-rise apartment buildings. And in the past, these have been often used for single dwellings, and you can see them right the way through. In fact, the New South Wales government architect went through the history of it today, and some of them were on display and on sale at the

fifth floor of David Jones in Sydney for a while. So this is not a new thing, but we're applying this to terrace housing where it's been applied before, but also to mid-rise apartments.

This is what concerns me a little, Paul. Are we going to end up with a city that has the same looking buildings, building after building looks the same? And then that might be okay now because the architecture designs that we sign off on now through this competition may be wonderful. But as you know, fashion goes in and out. What happens if we have all these buildings that look the same and then in 10 years time, we deem that to be a fairly ugly fashion?

Well, let's just say we've got about 3.8 million dwellings across Sydney. Even if you were to put 100,000 in there, this is not going to be a huge rows and rows of patterns of identical streets. But cities evolve and change through time as well. But some of the earliest pattern books, the buildings still exist or there's been variations of them. So, for instance, some of your terrace houses in and around Surrey Hills and Pannington and other parts...

are based on designs that came out of the original patent books but were adjusted to Sydney conditions as they evolved through time. And we've got to remember, too, this isn't just a Sydney design competition. This is a New South Wales-wide design competition. So I think the risk here...

of having streets lined with exactly the same thing is pretty small. But the prospect of these being part and parcel of our housing future and getting more people into more homes more quickly is a real prospect. So can you give us a guarantee on this one, Minister, that we're not going to end up like some sort of eastern block country where you've got these high-rise towers that look like a piece of the concrete jungle?

No, well, this is actually dealing with the missing middle, what's referred to as the missing middle. So over the last sort of century, we've actually got less diverse housing types now than what we did 100 years ago. So at the moment, you'll see that there tends to be either really tall towers or single dwellings.

And that's why we're looking at the terraces and the mid-rise apartment buildings so that we can get that bit of housing to burst in. Because diverse housing gives options, it gives choice, it gives people an opportunity through all stages of their lives to stay in neighbourhoods and suburbs that they've grown to love or they've contributed to. Yesterday, the government also, when you were part of this announcement, identifying I think it's more than 40 sites across Sydney in the state. That's correct.

that are going to be used for public housing, how many houses actually directly are you going to be building there?

Well, this is part of the government, the budget announcement that we had around 30,000 homes that will be on the surplus public land, not all of it public housing, but there will be a proportion that is sociable and affordable housing. Some of it will be market housing. But what we did was we sat down and did the hard work of going through and looking where there might be surplus government land that's not needed by, say, the transport department or schools or some other government agency

And could it be better used for housing? Yes. Well, let's put that on the list for a pipeline of land that comes through, particularly focused on infill areas rather than greenfield alone, that we can continue the rollout of housing. So this is part of looking at every aspect of the housing supply chain to make sure that we're doing all that we can as a government to get more people into homes more quickly. So as part of that National Housing Accord,

there's a goal of 75,000 new homes per year. Of that 75,000, how many does the government actually end up building? Well, it will vary depending on the site, but we've got Lancombe who is doing some work with build-to-rent pilots and key worker housing and build-to-rent areas, as well as the homes that they are able to get onto the market. We've committed to 8,200 in the budget, 8,200 homes

new social homes over the next four years. We've committed to also repairing and getting back to the market a whole bunch of social homes as well. We've got some changes in planning, law changes that have freed up and rezoned a whole heap of areas around train stations with some more areas to come. We've made dual occupancies and semi-detached dwellings

permissible in 124 local government areas across the state. We've got affordable housing bonus schemes. Uh, we're, we're looking at a government guarantee around financing so that we can get construction underway more quickly. We're doing an extraordinary amount as a government, uh, to, uh, to make sure that we, we can say that, uh, we're pulling every possible lever, uh, to get homes out of the ground. Paul, I've got a couple of messages just coming on text line from our listeners. If I can ask them, uh,

This one from Mark, and he says, he says it's a great idea to standardise building choices, but local councils still override the state government with their own rules. He says it's taken 14 months for a DA for a standard build. Does the minister really know why there's that administration blockage there?

Look, I can absolutely understand the frustration of a 14-month on a standard build. And that's why the patent book, with the designs that come with the patent book, comes a faster approval pathway. So you get an accelerated approval pathway that allows those builders to get them building faster, to get more homes out of the ground more quickly. That's the advantage of the patent book design. That works hand in glove with one another.

This one from Paul as well. Why is waste management not deemed an essential service with the Department of Planning when they're looking at high-density areas?

Look, we're looking at ways of improving things and waste management is an important part of it. And we do have some challenges with waste management in the future in New South Wales. It's an unavoidable part of your day-to-day existence is you end up with whether it's food scraps or whether it's packaging waste. And Minister Sharpe, through the Environment Portfolio, is doing a lot of work on how we can improve that. There's work going on at the...

federal level and through all of the old council of Australian governments, essentially the ministerial working groups to look at ways we can improve that and councils are on board with that as well because we know that we have to address that to reduce our waste because we're running out of, or we'll run out of more quickly if we don't

suitable landfill sites. It was my concern that the patent books would mean that we end up with a lot of houses or buildings that look the same. But Anthony on our text line minister is making the point, I don't care what it looks like as long as we have cheaper places to live. Look, that's the bottom line, isn't it? We have the most expensive city in the country and it's one of the most expensive in the world.

Yeah, well, recently we... Demographer survey... Demographia survey, sorry. Once again, for the 15th year of 16, ranked us in the top three of the least affordable cities on the planet. Now, that's not a ranking anyone in Sydney wants. That's not a ranking anyone in Sydney can tolerate. It's why we're losing so many young people. That's why this patent book...

is aimed at not only getting well-designed homes, but also modest, simple, affordable and attractive homes. And that's why we've opened this up to architects nationally, architects and students domestically, as well as internationally, to get some of the best minds working on this. And I think we're going to see some really exciting designs

coming out of this process and it'll really add to Sydney like it's done in the past. These are the sorts of things where a good architect will be able to put a stamp on the face of Sydney. I hope we get it right because we don't want to have ugliness in the future. Thank you, Paul.

Thanks very much, Clinton. Appreciate your time.

even if they end up being cheap. We don't want to create the slums of the 2040s. It's nine to five. A bit of a surprise in rugby league today. News that the Cowboys halfback, according to the Daily Telegraph, could join the Sydney Roosters, Chad Townsend. Now, Chad Townsend won a premiership with Cronulla in 2016, but he's with being with the Roosters, the Cowboys, for the last three seasons. The Roosters apparently are looking for an experienced half to guide some of their young players, including Sam Walker. Luke Keery is heading off to the

He's actually going to play with the Catalan Dragons this

in France. So the roost is apparently interested in Chad Townsend. Good luck to him. He's a really good bloke. On the text line regarding development in Sydney, Chris says, unfortunately the slums of the 2040s have already been created. Just go and have a look at Rouse Hill and look at some of the buildings there. Look, it is an area of high development. A lot of that's got to do with the metro train line. I have been to the Rouse Hill Shopping Centre in recent times though, Chris. I actually really like the shopping centre. I think it looks really good. 131873. Hello, Elizabeth.

Oh, hi, good afternoon. I was wondering about the minister talking about popping all these extra houses on top, on top, on top. I wonder whether children are going to go to school. It's a very good question. I've actually asked the... The schools are already full. Yeah, I've asked the Education Minister, Pru Kar, about that in the last couple of weeks because the government does not want to extend the city, the urban sprawl, any further. No. And the reason they don't want to do that...

There is space out. There is space out. But the reason they don't want to do that is they've got to spend money on train lines, hospitals, roads and schools. Look, Peru Car told me a couple of weeks ago they are very mindful of that and they will be looking to expand schools. The problem we get with... On what land? They'll have to go up. They'll have to go up. If you've been to Parramatta in recent times, the new school there in Parramatta is up. I think that's going to be the future. It's going to be kids learning in towers, Elizabeth.

Yes. Unless I'm going to SACS and, you know, that's okay. But when are they going to build those schools? Well, that's the big question, Elizabeth. And the bottom line is governments cannot be called out because they always are. When they approve new housing developments, they need the infrastructure to be planned and built at the same time, if not before.

And if we're going to fill in the city, if we're going to put all the new migrants, if we're going to put the booming population in the inner suburbs, there needs to be not just the waste services that we touched on before. There needs to be schools. There needs to be hospitals. And yes, there are existing schools and hospitals, but they're going to need to be a lot bigger. Thank you for your call, Elizabeth. 131873. Angus says, question for the minister. And sorry, we couldn't reach this one. What's the ratio of press releases sent out versus homes built?

under the Planning Minister's leadership. They're certainly very good at announcements, the State Government. Look, in the end, the Government doesn't have the money themselves to build the houses. They do have a social media, a social media, a social housing strategy,

But in the end, they need to create the conditions to encourage development, quality development, not buildings that are going to fall down. We've had too much of that in the past. They've got to create those conditions. But in the end, it's going to be up to property developers and the private world, the private sector, to actually finance these developments.

This message from a former Blue Mountains councillor. How can governments be serious about unlocking land for the market when councils have pockets of residential land in between houses that they own?

and pay rates on rather than selling to people to build houses on to increase their rate basis. This former Blue Mountains councillor, who doesn't want to be named publicly, says there are many of these sites in the Blue Mountains. I've actually noticed in my area, in the south as well, many blocks between existing houses, houses that have stood there for decades and decades and decades, that are just sitting there vacant.

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

Now back to Drive with Clinton Maynard on Sydney's 2GB. 7 past 5, 131 873. Difficulties on the northern beaches this afternoon, particularly on the roads after some very heavy rain a few hours ago. The severe storm warning has been lifted and

Clear skies at the moment. It's likely to rain a little bit this evening and into tomorrow, but some of those roads have been cut off by flash flooding. You've heard Dennis throughout the last couple of hours tell you about that, so take care, particularly as the sun goes down across Sydney. If you'd like to send a text message, 0460 873 873. A 14-year-old boy is in custody. He's undergoing a mental health assessment.

Following a stabbing at Sydney University earlier today, a 22-year-old student was stabbed in the neck. Now, he's in RPA, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is in a stable condition. He's not suffering life-threatening injuries, but he was stabbed in the neck.

Now, the motivation for this attack is not yet known and the 14-year-old boy hasn't been charged, but counter-terrorism police are investigating. This is the Assistant Commissioner, Mark Walton. He has been identified as a 14-year-old male who lives in the inner west. The New South Wales Joint Counter-Terrorism Committee are investigating the matter. A motive or ideology, importantly, has not been determined at this time.

As the matter is under investigation and the person of interest is a 14 year old, I'm unable to provide many comments about the matter at this time. I would however like to indicate that here in New South Wales nationally and internationally there are concerns about youth being radicalised in the online environment.

They are embracing violent extremist ideologies and moving towards violence. I urge parents that are aware, that should be aware of this risk to their children, we ask that everyone should be concerned about this and reach out to authorities if they are concerned about the consumption of extremist ideologies.

There are multi-agency support programs in New South Wales to assist families to respond to youth and adults who have shown an interest in violent extremism.

The Department of Community Services manages the Step Together program, which is designed to assist families and others in obtaining assistance. That can be accessed by the Department of Community Justice's website. Mark Walton, the Assistant Commissioner, who looks after counter-terrorism. Now, he spoke there about radicalisation, but he said there was no ongoing threat. But there are issues of ideology here at play.

The ideology that may be related to this young person's activity is unknown, but I would say it's likely to be categorised as mixed and unclear ideology. It's certainly not a religiously related ideology. The boy has not yet been charged. If that occurs this evening, we'll certainly let you know. Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873.

Ten past five, the coalition, federal coalition, has today announced a get tough policy on supermarkets and I should add hardware stores as well. If they are caught breaking competition laws under a future coalition government, they could well face up being broken up. David Littleproud is the leader of the National Party and can explain how this policy is going to work. Thank you for your time, David.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Divestiture. How does a divestiture policy work if supermarkets are found to be doing the wrong thing?

Yeah, so it's a scaling penalty. And what we're saying is we start with infringement notices, whereby if there's evidence, we will give an infringement from the ACCC, who will give these infringements up to $2 million. The government in the Emerson inquiry would only go to $187,800, which effectively Coles and Woolworths would pull out any till in Sydney tomorrow to pay for it. So then if it gets more egregious,

determined not by the ACCC, but the ACCC took the supermarket to court, then the penalties that could be imposed is $10 million or 10% of their turnover, or in the most egregious cases where there are safeguards that we put in place, the court could determine that some of their stores in a geographical area or depending on the circumstance could force them to sell

some of those properties to another competitor, a smaller competitor, to increase competition. So it's a last resort. It's there as a deterrent. It's not us going to walk in and we're going to break the supermarkets up tomorrow. It's simply saying stick within the regulatory guidewells. When you control 74% of the grocery market, the big three here in Australia, the UK and US, their big three control about 30%, 40%. They are the market.

So we just need fairness and transparency from the farm gate to your plate. And if the supermarkets are doing the right thing, they have nothing to fear. But there is a deterrent if they do. They know that there could be a divestiture power imposed by a court on them. How would that actually work, though, in practice? I think Coles has more than 1,500 outlets, Woolworths even more. Does the court then say, OK, we don't have enough competition in the southern suburbs of Sydney, so Woolworths, you have to sell 10 outlets?

No, no, they have to be in breach of the Act. So it's not just someone walks in and says, we want to break you up to create more competition. They've earned their lawful right to be able to trade in that market. But if they take advantage and abuse that power of the market concentration that's there in our supermarkets,

and it's seen as egregious. And in a particular case, they may say, well, a store that they own in one geographical area, and so long as it doesn't lose jobs out of it and there's another competitor that can take it up and it would increase competition, then the court could find that they would ask them to do the best of that. So it's in certain circumstances...

It's not something that'll be wheeled out every day and it's a deterrent. And it's like criminal law. What we do in criminal law is we send people to jail and we send them as a last resort. We don't want them in jail, but we use jail as the deterrent. We're using big fines, bigger fines than what Anthony Albanese is prepared to do to actually change the culture. And the other exciting thing that we put in this is we're calling it a supermarket commissioner. Now, what they will do is they're an independent body that will make these assessments that a farmer could go to and say,

I've been wrong by the supermarket. They can actually have a look at it and either try and work it out, conciliate it with the supermarket they wanted to. But what we find is that many of these farmers fear retribution because the supermarkets control all the market. So they could then make a recommendation to the ACCC to investigate and hide their identity so that the ACCC would investigate the claim. And that way it's free, it's independent,

And there's just fairness, and it'll just change the culture. And if you do that with scaling penalties up to $2 million rather than $187,000, then what you'll see is a change in culture. And that's what we want, is we're just saying fair, transparent prices from the farm gate to your plate. Everyone's getting a fair hand from the farm gate to the consumer. If there's a commensurate drop in a price at the farm gate, you should see that as a check-in. It should be passed on. But how do we...

This may work to an extent, but you mentioned what happens in the UK where there's four, five, six major players, a much bigger population, mind you. How do you create an environment where we can encourage an Aldi? You mentioned the 73%, 74% figure for the three chains, but Aldi is quite small in comparison to Coles and Woolies. How do you create a big third and fourth player in this country to really provide competition? That's a really good question. And the challenge around that is our population size.

And that makes us unattractive. So what we're saying is that's going to take time to build that scale, that capacity. But in the meantime, when there is that market concentration, we just need the regulatory guide rails to protect everybody to make sure there's no abuse of the market power. So that's why Eldies come along and they're now slowly building. We've got a lot of independents through IGAs and food works.

that are slowly building up, but we don't want them decimated. And sometimes we're seeing the land banking by these big supermarkets in suburbs and even in country areas. Can you get around that? Would land banking be a breach? Exactly. That's where if you can show an egregious use of their powers, then that may be one that the ACCC could take

to a federal court for it to determine and force them to sell individual property. And they've been seen to be land banking, particularly to try and squeeze out smaller players. And that's anti-competitive in terms of their market power overriding an independent player. So that's where we're trying to get the balance and improve competition, knowing that's going to take time, but protecting everybody all the way through. Just on the flip side, David, I've got a statement here.

From the Australian Retailers Association, and I know they said a similar thing when you raised this at the start of the year, but they say it's a poorly conceived idea that could escalate grocery prices for consumers. They say large supermarkets operate with high fixed costs and an intricate supply chain. The most likely outcome of any forced divestment would be to disrupt the economies of scale that retailers have painstakingly built. So they say this would actually hurt cost of living. Prices would go up.

Well, that's nonsense because all we're saying is the codes of conduct that they already adhere to, albeit voluntary, are now going to be mandatory. There's no change in regulatory costs for them to administer it. It's simply them doing their business within the confines of the law. The only time this becomes a problem for them is when they step outside the law. And if it gets to the vestiture, the court would then have to, as one of the safeguards built into this, to ensure that

that there is competition, jobs aren't lost. And if you increase competition, then you don't have that impact on prices. This is all... And when you've got the current ACCC chair that

that has also said this would be a tool in the toolkit she would like to have with supermarkets. I think self-interest of these groups above someone as eminently qualified as the current ACCC chair just demonstrates they are worried about it because there is a cultural problem and we're just making sure that they are doing the right thing. And if they do the right thing,

everything will carry on as it is. So I don't see what anyone fears in this because if they're pure as the driven snow is what they say they are, nothing to worry about. There has been some concerns, though, over the past couple of months when you floated this from unions that there could be job losses. Surely you don't want to see people lose their jobs. No.

And again, that's why we built into the safeguard that the court must take that into consideration before giving any order of divestiture, that there is increased competition, that there isn't any job losses. So that's the safeguard that we put in place. That's why it's responsible. This is just making sure that all the boxes are ticked in protecting the market, but making sure no one gets to abuse it. But if they do, there's a big stick at the end of it.

Just one more issue for you, David, and you touched on this earlier today when you were with Peter Dutton. The Senate last night passed legislation that will ban the live export of sheep. How much damage is that going to cause our farmers? And from an animal rights point of view, is it a good thing?

Well, it's going to see the senseless and horrific death of millions of sheep from other parts of the world because we cut and run. We're too gutless to stick around and to sit there and to take this on and to continue to lead the world with the best animal welfare standards in the world. There will be sheep that die from heat stress on boats from Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, because this Labor government cut and run. You'll see 3,000 jobs lost in Western Australia. So you're saying, David, sorry...

those Middle Eastern countries will just look to other exporters? - They will, they'll take it. This is about their food security and it's also about a cultural belief. They want fresh meat just like you and I do. So why are we arrogantly saying, "Oh, you can't have it." And what they have done is they've at least shown us the respect of respecting our animal welfare standards which lead the world, not just in the shipment, but also the processing. And so we've basically told them, "We don't trust you, even though you've lived up to all our standards."

And what you will see now is that our standards will be lost. We will have no influence in the world. And these animal activists, including RSPCA, who have championed this, are morally bankrupt because you are valuing the welfare and the life of the sheep of Australia above that from one of those countries.

How, if you're so moralistic aligned to this, could you do that? We made a mistake. There was an industry mistake, but we reformed it and we now lead the world. We don't work on mortalities as a success, measuring the success of a shipment. We actually now use animal welfare. We have people on those boats that,

the number of pants per minute a sheep has so that we can intervene. We measure to the millimetre the length of all the sheep is to the kilogram and we independently score each boat for the airflow that goes through it. So we work out how many sheep can go on these boats and they put on weight.

Let me tell you from Western Queensland, if you've got a beast and it's putting on weight, it's healthy and it's happy. And we're proving that and we're cutting the rain. That's not the Australian way. And these poor Western Australian farmers have been hung out to dry because Labor wanted to do a deal with the Animal Justice Party. And you'll be changing that if you win the election as well. Thank you, David. First thing I do, mate, yeah. Always good to talk to you. Thank you, mate. Thanks, mate. David Littleproud, the leader of the Nationals. I thought that was important to touch on because...

You may think that on the surface, hang on, that's a good thing. We don't want live exports of animals if we care about the animals. But think about it. From those Middle Eastern countries, if they don't buy our sheep, they're going to look to other countries who will sell them live sheep. So in the end, worldwide, the same number of sheep are going to be exported to the Middle East and then killed in the Middle East.

So as David's pointing out, from an animal cruelty point of view, it comes down to how are the sheep treated on their journey? Are they going to be treated better by Australian farmers and exporters or Ethiopian farmers and exporters? I ask you the question. 131873. 25 past five, it's our daily Hunter Valley protest update. And yes, the protests from Blockhead Australia are continuing, and that means the train lines are blocked once again.

Transport for New South Wales tells us due to safety risks related to the ongoing illegal protest activity in the rail corridor, buses will continue to replace trains overnight until a risk assessment confirms it is safe to run the trains.

Transport for New South Wales says from 7 this evening until it is safe to reopen the line tomorrow morning, buses will replace passenger trains between Newcastle and Dungog and Newcastle and Scone. Passengers need to allow for extra travel time. The Hunter line has been substantially disrupted by illegal protest activity since last Tuesday with 13 separate incidents that have stopped rail traffic.

They say it is not clear how long this illegal protest disruption will continue. We'll continue to keep passengers updated. See, the problem is particularly at night. There are people blocking the train lines. Now, in the dark, it's difficult enough as it is for a train driver to stop a train. But at night, it's almost impossible. What's going to happen if there's a train derailment? And we have magistrates who are, when these people have been arrested, and there's been about a dozen arrested over the past week...

When they appear before the courts and magistrates don't exercise their power to issue $22,000 fines or two years in jail, what's going to happen? How is that magistrate going to feel when sooner or later there's actually a major accident? Well, I shouldn't say accident because it's deliberate. And one of these trains derails. Well, it'll be on their heads. On the text line following our chat with David Littleproud about supermarkets, Sarah says David is intelligent, articulate and eloquent.

We so urgently need this in anyone who calls themselves a leader. He does speak well. Now, whether you agree with this policy or not, that remains to be seen. We'll all get a choice at the election. You've got to say, at least with the coalition, when it comes to supermarkets and now energy policies, at least they're putting forward something for us to actually make a decision about when we go to the polls.

From one of our listeners on issues of cost of living, we've been talking about NBN prices going up and supermarkets rorting us and what governments are trying to do to change that. When are governments going to do something to stop the health insurance companies, including Bupa, putting up their rates every year? We've been with them for more than 50 years. It's getting to the stage where we can't afford to be in private health care anymore. Self-funded retirees are not a bottomless pit.

Well, in the end, the government does have some control because every year when the private health insurances increase their premiums, they actually approve it. The government approves those increases and often the private health insurance companies seek a bigger premium rise than what is actually approved. But in the end, it's the government's call. One of the problems I have in healthcare is the costs of healthcare because technology keeps evolving and keeps improving in hospitals and the health system, it becomes more and more expensive.

But it's a fine balance, because if we have our listeners like you considering dropping out of private health care, it just puts more pressure on our hospitals. Well, the US President Joe Biden came out swinging against Donald Trump today. When I say came out swinging, being Sleepy Joe, he wasn't exactly forceful in how he presented his comments, but his intention today was to talk tough.

Mr Biden says a ruling by the Supreme Court on the charges that Mr Trump is facing over the January 6th Capitol riot is a terrible disservice to the nation. This is what Mr Biden's had to say. There are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law. Not even the President of the United States. Today's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed the

For all, for all practical purposes, today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. This is a fundamentally new principle, and it's a dangerous precedent.

Joe Biden. So what the Supreme Court today ruled was Donald Trump should have immunity from some acts, and it means he's almost shielded from prosecution, almost. These allegations relate to the riot, the violence we saw on the Capitol building a few years ago after the last election. The case will go back to a lower court, but it won't happen before the election. And Mr Biden's making the point, well, the case should be heard this year and decided this year so the American public understands

has all the cards on the table before they cast their votes in November. In the political way the American justice system works, the judges voted 6-3, essentially on party lines. There was a dissenting judge who said she feared for the future of democracy. To quote, for every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. And that's what Mr Biden was referring to then. It is certainly another blow to Joe Biden before the next election. Let's check our news headlines.

And it's good evening, Rhiannon Solomon-Marron. Good evening, Clinton. Counter-terrorism police are helping investigators stabbing on the University of Sydney campus, which has left a 22-year-old in hospital. A 14-year-old boy who's known to police is being questioned. The man who stole Nick Kyrgios' lime green Tesla and held his mother at gunpoint has been sentenced to four and a half years behind bars by an ACT court.

Buses will continue to replace trains overnight on the Hunter line due to ongoing protests on the rail corridor. Since last Tuesday there have been 13 separate incidents which have disrupted trains and the bird flu outbreak has forced McDonald's to temporarily change its breakfast hours. The morning menu will now end at 10.30 instead of midday due to limited egg supply. In sport the Knights have received a huge boost for Sunday's NRL clash with the Raiders. Staff fullback Caelan Ponga makes his long awaited return from a

foot injury. And Clinton, there'll be more news at six. Thank you, Rhiannon. Rhiannon just had the story of the day. Now, I hadn't heard that before. So McDonald's is suffering from this run on eggs because of the bird flu. There's actually a very small percentage of the nation's chickens that have been put down. It's less than 2%.

But the problem is we, the public, are rushing into supermarkets to stock up on eggs. The egg supply is actually not in any danger. The problem is actually us. It's a repeat of what we saw during COVID when we all ran out and bought toilet paper. We're all fearful we're not going to have enough eggs. Now, Coles and Woolworths, they've put a limit on two cartons per visit. Reality is if you're desperate for eggs and you want to buy 45 cartons, you can go supermarket hunting. Just go...

go to a different supermarket or go and eat out of the same one throughout the day and you can buy more than two cards. I'm not recommending you do that. So we're now facing a shortage of eggs because people are being silly. And the reality now is McDonald's, they can't get their hands on enough eggs. So you're not going to be able to buy a bacon and egg McMuffin after 10 o'clock in the morning.

A weather update. We'll be here to help in unexpected weather. NRMA Insurance. It's an outrage. The severe weather warning for Sydney's northern suburbs and the central coast has now been lifted, but the Weather Bureau tells us they are keeping a close eye on thunderstorm activity. Showers this evening. Tomorrow, showers increasing.

A top tomorrow of 17 degrees in the city. The showers will continue on Thursday, on Friday, and at this early stage, the forecast for the weekend, showers on Saturday and showers on Sunday. Good luck with the children's sport on Saturday. Right now in the city, 13 degrees. In the western suburbs, also 13. On 2GB Drive, sing like an angel. Shadow box went down to Santa Fe.

Well, this week we've got five double passes to give away to see the Angels live at the Factory Theatre this Saturday night. All you need to do is sing like an angel. 131873, I do need you to sing for me. What happens next? Sing the next line of this song.

Okay, so you're going to be Doc Neeson and you're going to sing the next line of that Angels classic. I've been banned by Tom and Greg and Luke, the management, from singing ever again on the radio station, so I shan't be joining you. But I want you to sing for us. 131873 and you'll be off to see the Angels this Saturday night. A finance update. You don't want me to sing, Deb Knight? I know that they're called the Angels, but Doc Neeson, Angelic, is definitely...

Not appearing. He wasn't particularly angelic. It looks great. The angels are still going on. Doc's been gone for a while now, but it's great. They're still singing. What happened on the markets today? Well, it was up and down, and in the end, it finished lower. The ASX 200 eventually closed down 0.4% or 32 points. Energy stocks were the standout, the only sector finishing in the green, and the Aussie dollar gone down a smidge, buying 66.5 US cents.

Now, I read about what KFC, and I have had previously, I'm over it now, but I have had previously a KFC addiction. I've been treated successfully. Yes.

But I read about what they're doing in the Blue Mountains. Yeah, so this is a world first for KFC. And if it's successful, they will roll it out in other countries too. And I'm sure that other fast food companies will take note. But they have opened their first pop-up accommodation in the Blue Mountains. It'll be during Christmas in July. To win it, you've got to win a KFC comp. But effectively, you stay in a lodge that's decked out in the KFC colours. It's got a butler. It's got finger-lickin' chicken on tap.

And, yeah, it's accommodation and KFC wrapped up in a bow. It's either your dream or your nightmare, considering which way you like your fast food and your KFC. But it's an interesting prospect. Well, with McDonald's running out of eggs, you might as well go to KFC for some chicken. Maybe, maybe. I saw they've actually got KFC bed sheets. They've got the whole thing. They've got pictures of the colonel that look down on you in your room. It's the whole themed experience with the KFC.

You'll also be tackling the big issues in the program tonight as well. We will. We'll talk to Alan Fels, the former competition watchdog. I know that you've already been looking at the issue of the forced divestiture, which the Coalition has backed today. So we'll get a sense from Alan Fels, who's long been a supporter of this idea as to whether or not it would work. He's backed it in other sectors, not so much in the retail sector. So we'll talk to Alan on the show tonight. I've just been sent a message by our colleague, Murray Wilton. Murray usually enjoys fine dining.

But he's just sent me a message. No, he doesn't. Oh, stop. You're teasing me. It's my dream holiday. Dev Knight coming up tonight from 7 o'clock with Money News. On 2GB Drive. Sing like an angel. Shadow Marks went down to Santa Fe.

We are going to give away tickets to go and see the Angels this weekend at the Factory Theatre, but you need to sing for me. And first up today, if you can sing, is Glenn. Hello, Glenn. How you going, buddy? I'm good, mate. How are you? Good, mate. It's like for the Angels, bro. You love the Angels. Well, can you sing the next line of this? You're the king of, mate. You ain't got no doubt.

The beauty is, Glenn, you got the words right. I think there's probably some room for improvement, but you got the words right, so we're going to send you along to the Angels this weekend.

Oh, thanks, mate. It's fantastic. It's my birthday on the 6th. Oh, fantastic. We'll celebrate your birthday with the Angels. Good on you, Glenn. Angels celebrating 50 years with their new album. It's out now. It's called 99. Playing at Sydney's Factory Theatre the 6th of July. Two sets of their classic catalogue of hits plus new songs as well. If you want to see tickets...

angels.com.au. A quarter to six, 14 degrees in Sydney at the moment. I'm getting a few messages on our text line suggesting we have a Pearl Jam singing contest. Dave, Mark, sorry, it won't be happening. Bad news, if you're trying to catch a light rail service from the city, the trams heading to the inner west have been cut. There is no tram service between central and

and the John Street Square on the L1 on the Dulwich Hill line. There's a light rail vehicle, one of the trams, that's broken down at the exhibition centre, Darling Harbour. They've requested replacement buses, but they haven't arrived there. So if you're catching that light rail service,

You can't catch it from Central. It is still running between John Street Square and Dulwich Hill, but because one of the trams is actually broken down at the Exhibition Centre, you can't use the light rail there. 131873, you can have your say for less with Amazing. Don't pay too much for your mobile plan. Break free with your expensive telco and escape to better value with the Escape Plan by Amazon.

Amazing. Here is a question about phones for parents. At what age should you get your kids a smartphone? There's a group of parents from Randwick. They're beginning a new movement. It's called WaitMate. The idea is to empower parents to wait.

to perhaps not give their kids a smartphone until they're at least in high school. The idea is for children to actually have a childhood a little longer, free from the addiction. Jessica Mondoza-Roth is the co-founder of Waitmate and joins us. Hello, Jessica. Hello. Thanks for having me on the show. Tell us about how this push started.

Well, it's an interesting question. It's actually been in development for over a year. I was in the U.S. having dinner with some friends and they told me about the U.S. movement called Wait Until the Eighth, which is a similar concept. It's about empowering parents to delay giving their child a smartphone until at least the end of the eighth grade, which is the end of middle school in the U.S. Right.

And they've been going for quite a while now, and they have over 60,000 American parents who've pledged to delay giving their kid a smartphone until the end of the eighth grade. And I was really inspired by what they were doing and thought, how come we don't have this in Australia? And so we spoke about potentially opening up to Australia, but they didn't have the resources to do so. So we created our own distinct Australian movement called Wait Mate. And

And so it's really exciting that it's now actually happening a year later. And really the ground has shifted a lot in that year as well with a lot of parents being aware of the dangers of smartphones for young children. And so it's really landed really well. And the community is very receptive to this concept that we should delay giving our kids a smartphone and let them be kids for longer. Reality is a lot of us are addicted to smartphones, myself included. And...

I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing our kids to be children just a little bit longer. We waited until high school and eventually within year seven, we then gave our kids more responsibility in terms of travel.

And I know back in our day when we were kids, our mums and dads let us go and walk to school or catch the bus ourselves and they didn't have contact with us. I guess the world's changed. But how do you deal with the issue of when your kid says to you, oh yeah, but all my friends have got a phone. How do you tackle that problem?

It's a really good question. So that's exactly what Waitmate is all about. It's about parents banding together, rallying together to say, as a community, we're going to not give our kids a smartphone until at least high school. And so they're not the only one missing out. So the way it works is that once 10 parents in a single cohort

sign the pledge, then the pledge unlocks and then it's actually in effect. So parents have strength in numbers and it's not just their child that's missing out, but actually there's a whole cohort of kids in the same year who are all not getting a phone until at least high school. So then you can say to your kid, you're not the only one, but your friends, Jimmy, Ann,

And Amy and Cleo also don't have a smartphone. And so we actually connect the parents and share the name. This is just the first names of the children so that they can actually stand strong with their child and survive.

say no as long as possible so it's at least high school but we do give the option to pledge to year eight or year nine so if you want to delay even longer then then that's encouraged so it's strength in numbers if parents want to become involved in this movement to join with other like-minded parents to put a bit of pressure on their kids as well how do they become involved

Great question. So they go to weightmate.org.au and sign the pledge and then please share it with your fellow parents. We know the power of the school communities and if you can share it amongst your school community, then that helps change the culture in your community.

And I'll just mention to your previous point about year seven and kids going on the buses and traveling independently and how times have changed. It's a really good point. But what this movement is just about the smartphone. It's not about a dumb phone or a way for parents to contact their kids. It's totally fine for parents to give their kids a dumb phone that just enables them to call or

or text their parent, but we want to try and prevent kids from the addictive device in their pocket, the big screen, social media, the cameras, the selfies, the gaming, all of the things on a smartphone that just aren't really good for a child's developing brain. Let them allow their kids a little bit longer. Thank you for your time, Jessica, and good luck with the program.

Thank you so much for having me. Jessica Mendoza-Roth, the program's called Waitmates. The whole idea is strength in numbers. If at your local school you can get all your parents together and they can sign up via this website, you've then got more ability to eventually say, none of you are getting the phones.

Just type into Google Waitmate and you'll see the website there that you can sign up to. Let's give away some fuel, hey. Jewel for fuel time only. Two contestants to play. Those who answer the most questions correctly in 30 seconds have the chance to win a $200 voucher for Shell Coals Express gift thanks to Shell V-Power. So jump on the open line right now. The number is 131 873.

We were just talking to Deb Knight about the new KFC Lodge in the Blue Mountains. Paul in the text line says you'll still get only a half-filled box of large chips and a three-hour-old five-piece snack pack with two wings and two drumsticks. Probably right, Paul. My local KFC actually runs out of chicken on a regular basis and you get stuck in the drive-thru without any chicken when you get to the front. Let's play Jewel for Fuel. We have a $200 voucher thanks to Shell V-Power.

Brad, how many states are there in Australia?

Seven. Incorrect. Six. Which ingredient in bread causes it to rise? Yeast. Correct. True or false? Tim Tams originated in Australia. True. Correct. You're on two. Paddy Mills is a professional sportsman. What does he play? Pass. Basketball. And what state is Bendigo in?

Victoria. Correct. You're on three. Oh, there we go. That's your 30 seconds. Good on you, Brad. You're on three. You did pretty well. Brian, hello, mate. Hello. Your 30 seconds starts now. Pass. Okay, Rocky. Rocky Balboa. Who is Australia's new Governor-General?

Oh, that woman that I can't think of her name. That's the whole point of the quiz, Brian. Samantha Mostyn. Glasgow is the capital of which country? Scotland. Yeah, well, you're on one. Mark Butler is the federal minister of what? Um...

Have a crack. Health. Treasurer. He's the health minister. Brian, you've probably got a bit of room for improvement in your current affairs knowledge, but thanks for playing anyway. Hey, Brad, congratulations. We are going to send you out a $200 voucher of fuel thanks to Shell V-Power. Well done, buddy.

Thank you very much. And let me just say, I couldn't have answered Brian's questions either. Oh, come on. Who did Sylvester Stallone play? Well, yeah, I got Balboa, but I couldn't think of his first name. Yeah, Rocky, good on you, Brad. $200 voucher thanks to Shell V-Power on its way to you.

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. There is no question, I think the Duel for Fuel quiz is the highlight of the drive program every afternoon on TGV. Good evening, Adam Hawes. Good evening, Clinton. And it's interesting to see how the pressure can get to the contestants that they couldn't come up with it

Rocky. Who did Sylvester Stallone play? Oh my goodness, what's coming up on the Wide World of Sports? Speaking of Rocky and boxing, we've got Paul Gallen coming on, of course. He's going to chat through NRL. Some big returns from injury this week. Tommy Travojevic, Caelan Ponga, Ryan Pappenhausen, AJ Brimson. So we'll have all that for you. Josh King from the Storms joining us also. And Liam Paro, our latest world boxing champion.

Fantastic. Adam Hawes filling in for Mark Levy. Wide world of sports coming up after 6 o'clock tonight. Thank you for your message, David. David's actually just sent me a video that I'll have a look at after the show. Very wet conditions, particularly on the M1 to the central coast this evening, and there's been some accidents on the M1, so take care. The severe weather warning has been lifted for the north of Sydney, north side of the central coast, but it's still damp on the roads. Thank you for your company this Tuesday afternoon. We'll talk again tomorrow.