2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full Show August 5th 01:50:23

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. I hope the start to your week has been okay. It's a great old day in Sydney town, but nonetheless, there's plenty to talk about. Now, the sale and the development of Rose Hill Racecourse, I've got some info. It's hit yet another hurdle.

So not only is a turf club not going to get anywhere near the $5 billion it was promised, it will take 10 years for a much smaller amount of money to be paid, but the train station the whole thing hinges on has massive, massive problems. I'll explain all of this very shortly.

Here's another one. Do you think that non-union members should have to pay dues if they benefit from wage rises after unions have negotiated those wage rises? Do you think people should have to pay union fees...

If they're non-members, will the Rail and Bus Union have got the New South Wales Labor Party to agree to this? I'll speak to the union very shortly. And have you ever had a situation where a squatter has lived in a place long enough and then they've ended up owning it? You ever heard of this before? Well, it's happened in Guymere. We'll find out what the laws are that allow this to happen. Right now, 16 degrees in Curl Curl and 16 at Moorbank.

It's eight and a half past three, 131-873 is the open line number. You can email me, drive at 2GB.com or of course the text line 0460-873-873. But check your share portfolios, check your superannuation balance because it has been absolute carnage on the markets today. And it was fears of a recession in the United States that has led to massive drops in our market here in Australia.

On last check, we just checked a couple of minutes ago, the ASX is down as well as the All Lords. So the ASX is down 3.23%. The All Lords down 3.29%, just an hour, well, a little under an hour before the close. That is bad, bad reading. David Bassanese, he's the Chief Economist at Beta Shares. He's on the line now. David, g'day. Good to be with you, Chris. That's a tough day out for traders.

Yeah, it is. Look, it's reflecting what's happened on Wall Street on Friday and Thursday. And look, as you point out, I mean, markets have gone from cheering the prospect of interest rate cuts by the US central bank to now, because growth was slowing and inflation was coming down, to now fearing that maybe growth is slowing too much and it could be tipping into recession.

I think it's probably overdone, but, I mean, that's sort of what's driving markets at the moment. A US recession, what has sparked the idea that the US could fall into a recession? Yeah, well, they got their monthly employment report on Friday and that, look, the employment was still growing. It just didn't grow as much as expected. But probably more importantly, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%. And, you know,

It's triggered what's been called in the US, I don't want to get too technical, but there's a little rule of thumb in the US where if the unemployment rate goes up by half a percent within a year, historically at least it's tended to go higher and the economy's tipped into recession. So people are fretting that, oh, well, it's gone up by that half a percent. So historically maybe we're on the cusp of going into recession. But I think COVID has thrown a lot of these rules out the window. It was so disruptive recently.

that things that we used to think would cause recession so far haven't. This may, but I don't think it will. But that's really what the trigger has been is that weak employment report on Friday. So any talk of a recession in the United States, in your view, seems premature. If it's not, David, and the US does slip into recession, what happens to our market here in Australia?

Well, there's an adage in the markets that if the US sneezes, we catch cold. And, you know, every time the US does go into recession, I mean, at a minimum, the market will probably drop a lot further, maybe 20%, maybe even 30%. You know, in recessions, it can drop up to 50%, depending on how deep they are. And that will obviously affect...

both our economy, economic growth, and the share market. So, you know, more downside in the share market and, you know, a flow through to our economy as well if the US does go into recession. I mean, the upside would be that, you know, debate about when and if the RBA will cut rates will quickly change to, you know, how quickly they can cut rates. And the good news is we do have some ammunition up our sleeve, if need be,

both here and in the US. Both central banks can cut rates quite significantly if need be. And inflation's coming down, certainly in the US, so the central bank there I don't think has any barrier to cutting rates aggressively if need be. Speaking of, they make their decision tomorrow, the Reserve Bank here in Australia. What do you think?

Well, I think after the inflation numbers last week, which were better than feared, that there was a low probability that they would go. And I think the volatility on Wall Street and the market today just makes that even lower probability. So I think rates will be safely on hold tomorrow. And yes, the mortgage holders can breathe a sigh of relief for a while longer. You're a good man. Thank you for coming on.

No worries. Great to be with you.

Well, a bit closer to home, Chris Minns and his government have ordered New South Wales public servants. Work from home is over. They've been told to come back to the office from tomorrow, five days a week. So this is as a result of a memorandum that's been sent to all departments on Monday afternoon. And it's being reported in the Daily Telegraph. And it's advising that working from home privileges have been revoked.

So all public servants need to come back into the office. And this is as a result of businesses across the CBD struggling to get people in because they're working from home. You've got hospitality businesses, small businesses and the like, all struggling because specifically Monday and Friday, you've just got lots of public servants who flood the CBD. Well, they're not there anymore, are they? So this memorandum says this.

The work from home which has been in place since 2019 should not be taken for granted or considered unlimited. The more our experience of work is shared, the more united we become. This means being physically present in our organisations. So if a public servant in the New South Wales Government wishes to work from home, they will need to get formal approval.

And they will need to give reasons to their bosses and their managers for the need for hybrid arrangements. If a public servant wishes to conduct work from outside of New South Wales, because there's stories about people working in, I don't know, the Department of Climate Change or Environment or National Parks or Planning, and they're working in Queensland. They're living in Queensland. Ridiculous. You will need, if you do that, that arrangement will need to be signed off from a headed department.

So the Secretary of the Premier's Department, Simon Draper, has said the New South Wales public sector is the largest workforce in the country. All positions play a vital role in delivering services to the community and upholding good government in New South Wales. Clearly, it's been backed by business. Sydney, Paul Nicolaou saying the Premier's decision is a good one. Now, they may have issued a determination via the Premier's office and via the Premier's department saying,

Whether the workers actually do it is another thing. Well, have you heard the latest brain fart from the Greens? If you needed any proof that they are communists and not environmentalists, they're proposing a thing called the universal basic income. Now, what does the universal basic income mean?

Well, there is a guy called Daniel Hart, and Daniel is walking the length of Australia, yep, the length of Australia, all 4,500 kilometres of it, in a bid to gather support and recognition for the universal basic income. So he's walking from the southernmost point of mainland Australia, that's Wilson's Prom, which is just on the northern shore of the Bass Strait, all the way to Cape York, far north Queensland. And he reckons it'll take him about six months.

He's not sleeping in hotels or anything. He's just sleeping in sort of random parks along the way. He's taking videos for social media talking about a universal basic income. Now, I'm all for people doing things that stretch the limits and raise money and all of that. But a universal basic income. This is what Daniel says it is.

Today's gonna be a rest day, got a mate meeting me in Bucking, so I thought I'd go over a few more details about the walk, why I'm doing it, basic income and UBI. So I'm walking the length of mainland Australia from the southernmost point

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. I'm down in Wilson's Prom, all the way up to the top of Cape York. So it's going to be about 4,500 kilometres in total. It should take me about six months. Now I'm doing the walk to raise awareness about basic income and to hopefully help UBI grow.

So basic income is regular, unconditional payments that are meant to cover an individual's basic needs. Basic Income Australia advocates for about $500 per week for every Australian adult. And UBI is a non-profit that I helped start that's crowdfunding basic income. So basically what they do is they raise money and then at the end of each month they distribute it evenly among all their users.

which right now about 150 homeless, disabled and orphaned people throughout Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. So the walk itself is self-funded, but if you would like to show financial support, consider donating to UBI. And with a bit of help, we're hoping to expand to Thailand this month, so anything you can give would be really appreciated. So Daniel's talking about a private benefactor or private organisation delivering universal basic income for a group of people in Southeast Asia, but what that they are proposing right here?

$500 a week, no questions asked, for every Australian adult. No means test, no requirement to work, doesn't matter how rich you are, how poor you are, just $500 a week. Now, there are 20 million Australian adults, right? And this idea of universal basic income of $500 a week for every Australian adult, you know how much this would cost us? $10 billion a week, or $520 billion a year. Yeah.

Half a trillion dollars. So if we adopted this idea, Australia would spend 75% of every dollar of tax and income the Commonwealth budget raises on one thing. Medicare, defence, education, high court, sport, policing, intelligence, NDIS, etc, etc. They'd have a whole $150 billion to carve up. It is a farcical idea and it is a very, very Greens idea, isn't it?

one that would not and cannot ever see the light of day in Australia. Now, some countries and provinces have tried it out over the years, though. Since 1982, Alaska has been doing it. And a lot of the people who are big proponents of the universal basic income show or point to Alaska as a reason that this can work. Now, Alaska has given each citizen an annual payment just for being alive, anywhere from between $1,000 to $2,000 a year.

And it comes from the Alaska Permanent Fund. That is a state-owned investment fund, and it's financed by oil revenues. So the more money Alaska makes from oil and mining leases, the more they give to their citizens. So in 2016, a study by the University of Alaska has found that poverty in the state of Alaska has declined by 20%, the rate of obesity by as much as 5%, and the health of newborns has increased significantly.

significantly because parents can afford better care problem with pointing to alaska is sort of the shining light as to why universal basic income is a good idea or works there are 550 000 alaskan adults we're talking about 20 million adult aussies and there's a payment of a couple of grand a year depending on the price of oil not 500 bucks a week for nothing

So what do you make of all this? 131873. Is universal basic income just communism and all pie in the sky? Or is it something that is worth more thought? You tell me. 0460873873. 21 past three. It's 25 minutes past three. Just on this issue in the Sutherland Shire around Miranda. So Paul said he saw five police cars flying towards Miranda.

Miranda from Sutherland on the Princess Highway. And Jeanette has just backed that up, says, hi, Chris. There's also a helicopter hovering around Miranda at the moment. Well, thank you for that, Jeanette. We do have a call in to the New South Wales police to see if we can get

We'll be right back.

bureaucratic speak, it's extremely, it's very poorly written and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But when you sift through it, you do get a little bit more information on where they're trying to go. So it says this, the more our experience of work is shared, the more united we become. This means being physically present in our organization. So they try, there is about one, two, three, there's about six or seven paragraphs making the point, building an argument before they get to the point.

Very bureaucratic. Anyway, working principally in the workforce, it says. So the government sector employees should work principally in an approved office, workplace or related worksite. This circular does not strictly prescribe patterns of attendance and many workplaces allow for ad hoc variations according to the needs of the employees and organisations. However, the starting position is work is principally done in an approved workplace in New South Wales.

Effective use of public assets, including workplaces and offices, require that they be used across the full working week. Exact patterns are a matter for each workplace and will take account of accommodation agreements.

Agency requirements. Formal approaches, approvals and agreements should be required, recording the reasons and circumstances. That is, if you want to work from home. Formal approval should be required. Such arrangements should be reported to the relevant Chief People Officer and a central record maintained for all such arrangements.

Again, if it's the managers who are doing this and this isn't just a hard and fast rule, I guarantee you there will be people still working from home on Monday and Friday. So Paul Nicolaou and Chris Minns can do all the backflips they want.

But if it's the public service making the decisions about when the public servants come to work, I guarantee you Mondays and Fridays, the CBD will still be empty because all the excuses under the sun will just get there. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. You can see it happening.

Just on the Greens idea of a universal basic income and this guy walking from the bottom of Australia to the top of Australia, 4,500 kilometres over six months to promote it. $500 a week, no means test, no requirement to work, every Australian adult, all 20 million of us. I said it would cost $520 billion a year if this was adopted. Let's go to Jason on the Northern Beaches. Hello, Jason.

Hey, Chris, mate. Happy Monday. And you, mate. Mate, that's Green's idea. I mean, it's absolutely socialistic. I mean, that's the reason why they call them watermelons, isn't it? They're green on the outside, red on the middle. Sorry about that. No, you're right. And, mate, I think you're spot on there. And I think the Greens, everybody has sort of come to the realisation that the Greens are no longer the party of...

saving the whales and the trees and anti-logging and all the rest of it. They are effectively the Communist Party in Australia, aren't they? Jason, I've got to move on. Oh, it's got a nick at Randwick. Hello, Nick.

It's just...

And we will be, generations will be paying this debt off. Mate, it's going to be an April Fool's Day joke. No, not going to happen. That's right. I'm telling you, it's part of their platform. Good on you, Nick. Jim's at Albury. Hello, Jim. Yes, hey, mate. What's your view, Jim? Oh, great idea, mate. Just give me back pay to 1979, will you? When I left school, I'll be ready to laugh at it.

You'd be able to retire, wouldn't you? Oh, could you? Good on you. Good on you, Jimmy. Enjoy your afternoon.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. Security officials in Australia are worried more young people are embracing extremist ideologies as the terror threat level rises from possible to probable. Public servants in New South Wales are being told working in an office should be the assumed starting point and they should not take working from home for granted or consider it unlimited. Distillers say the latest hike on the country's spirit tax could cost jobs as they also struggle with the cost

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. ...deliving pressures and dentists are raising the alarm about a rise in the number of people putting off their dental checks. Latest research shows three in five have delayed an oral health treatment in the past 12 months. In Sport Day 10, action at the Paris Olympics begins in about half an hour's time with the Mixed Relay Triathlon.

Organisers say testing has shown an improvement in pollution levels in the Seine after recent rain. We'll have more news and sport at four. Good on you, Josh. Now, you already know what my Macca's moment is. It's a given. Macca's moments. Make it McSmart with a new McSmart meal from Macca's. Two burgers, small fries and a small soft drink for $6.95. Season C's apply. Knock, knock.

Who's there? Owen. Owen who? Owen the Saints. Yep, for the first time since 1999. The great St. George Illawarra Dragons travelled to Melbourne and we defeated the Storm, didn't we? 18-16. What a game it was. 13 Dragons just going after it and defeating the Melbourne Storm. I absolutely loved it. And I think off that performance...

Three more wins and we're in the top eight. We've sold it out too. Cogger Oval. I know there's some people saying, oh, you should take the game to Allianz against the Bulldogs. Forget it. Play it at Cogger where it should be played. Sold out already, mind you. But my man, Jaden Sewer, he's my Macca's moment. Two tries, five tackle breaks, 16 post contact meters. And his second try, Jacob Littleball from dummy half, straight to Jack DeBellum. DeBellum to Hunt. Hunt with a dummy in the show and go.

And who gets the ball? Jadon Sewell. Bang. What a try. On you the Dragons. My Macca's moment. They are most weeks. But this one was a special, special win. 1-3-1-8-7-3. Coming up, I'll speak to the New South Wales Secretary of the RTBU,

because they've just convinced the New South Wales Labor Party, thus the government, to commit to a whole bunch of positions that are quite controversial. The first one being, and I reckon the overall one being, that non-union members should have to pay union fees...

If they benefit from union negotiations on pay rises, what do you make of that? 131873. 23 to 4 now. Have you seen what is now the official position of the New South Wales Labor Party, and thus the government, when it comes to our railways and bus services? So these are the ideas that the Rail, Tram and Bus Union managed to convince the New South Wales ALP Conference to support.

Here's a few of them, right? So a commitment to not convert any existing heavy rail lines into a metro train. A commitment to prioritise the expansion of the heavy rail network over new metro lines. Bringing transport cleaning back in-house. Restoring the ability for a railway worker or bus driver to make a workers' comp claim.

sustained during a commute to and from work. So while you want to train to work, if you hurt yourself, you can do a workers' comp claim. Removing the $17 access fee on the airport line and giving unions the power to prosecute safety breaches by Sydney trains or the bus operator. But what about this one?

allowing unions to levy a fee against non-members who benefit from unions' action and negotiation. Now, I hope some of this is lip service from Chris Minns and his government, that they're saying they'll support it rather than it being hard and fast policy of the government. Some of it I agree with. I agree with removing the $17 access fee on the airport line when that contract comes up.

But there's got to be some dangerous stuff in there, don't you think? Well, Toby Warnes, he's the secretary of the RTBU and he's on the line for us. Toby, g'day. G'day, Chris. Now, can you talk to me about the final one that I just mentioned there, allowing unions to levy a fee against non-members? What's the thought behind this?

Chris, so unions put in countless amounts of hours bargaining for better wages and conditions, which, as we know in this country, apply to everybody who's covered by the enterprise agreement or the award. Where, actually, and you're

Your listeners might not know this, but we're the only country in the world that allows that system to take place. I've explained it to people before. You wouldn't go into a clothing store and demand that the clothing be given to you for free until you can be satisfied that the clothing is worth a purchase. So we think that the services that unions provide should be adequately compensated for people who are benefiting from those services. Sure, but you provide those services knowing there's a...

segment of the workforce that are not union members you do it knowing this full well

Look, that's right, Chris. But I mean, as is well publicised, that segment of the workforce is falling and quicker than many of us would care to admit. So we think there needs to be a shift in the dynamic to try and convince people of what the value that unions actually provide to their bread and butter, to their terms and conditions. But isn't that your job?

Absolutely it is, Chris. Rather than get the government to force non-members into paying fees? Oh, but you're talking about non-members here who are benefiting from the work that the union does. So they're benefiting from the higher wages. They're benefiting from the better conditions. Shouldn't they have to pay for that? No, not because you've negotiated for higher wages and conditions knowing that there are non-members who will benefit. You did it because you guys have got jobs doing it.

No, but that's right. But so we're the only sector of the economy who are expected to do something for free for people who aren't paying for a service. I just don't see that as fair. What about some of the other, some of the other parts of the platform giving unions the power to prosecute safety breaches by Sydney trains? What do you make of that? Well,

Well, that's just bringing back things to the way that they were. WHS prosecutions used to be well within the ambit of unions to prosecute. We think that we've seen the safety regulator fall down in a number of aspects over the past at least decade, and we think that having unions able to prosecute safety breaches...

will absolutely, first of all, hold safe work to account, but also ensure that bosses are providing a safe area of work. Feels very CFMEU-y.

No, it doesn't, Chris. It's more about accountability. We hope that we don't have to prosecute anyone for a safe working breach. Well, we hope we don't, Chris. We hope that safe work steps up to the plate. And as you would have seen in our amendment, there's many things within the safe working process

or the Safe Work Australia realm that need to be fixed up. And we think that if you give somebody else the ability to prosecute those breaches, that the regulator will actually step up and do its job better. I did note too, restoring the ability for a railway worker or a bus driver to make a workers' comp claim sustained during their commute to and from work. So the idea is if I've got a shift, I'm on my way to work, I'm on the train and I roll my ankle or something, what?

I can get a workers' comp claim in. Yeah, so that's just a journey claim, Chris. That was changed by Barry O'Farrell in 2012. We think that that needs to be brought back. I know that a lot of...

And providers provide that at their own expense. If you walk out the front door to go to work and you're on your way to work, we think that you're in the process of providing the service to the employer that you're employed by and that they should cover the workers' comp bill if you're in yourself. But the idea of why Barry O'Farrell did that was because iCare was just unsustainable.

Yeah, I understand that, Chris. But I mean, there has to be another way. Like we can't have workers paying for their own medical bills when they're injured on the way to work just because the government couldn't figure out a sustainable system in which to cover these sorts of claims. Except, you know, a rolling ankle. But how many do you actually get workers' comp claims of people going in to and from work?

Chris, there's not that many. And that's why I think it was probably the low-hanging fruit that Barry O'Farrell picked to try and sort of cut the edges off the system. But we just think it's an important point. Like, workers' comp should cover you when you leave the house in the morning to when you get home safely at night. You should be covered by your employer's workers' compensation scheme. So say if you walk out the front door and you go, right, I'm on my way to work.

You say goodbye to your husband or wife and you think to yourself, and then you roll your ankle on the gutter out the front of your house. Should you be covered? Well, we say that once you leave your property, I mean, you've hit a semantic there, Chris. But it's true. It's true there. It goes to the point is how much should we honestly decide? At what point is just the individual supposed to be responsible for, you know what, sometimes it's just bad luck. Well, we say that if you leave your property to go to work, then you should be covered immediately.

on the journey there and then on the journey home. I think it's as simple as that. I don't think it's a big impost on the workers' compensation scheme. As I said, I think it was a trimming of the edges rather than a full fix. And I think we need to go back to a point where workers are covered from when they leave their house to when they get home. Toby, just before I let you go, is it your understanding as part of the union movement, as a secretary of one of the bigger unions, that this is now New South Wales government policy?

It's part of their policy platform, Chris. So it does have to be part of their policy, whether or not... I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. Policy implemented is up to the government, but we'll certainly be pushing them to do it. Forced unionism, hey? Toby, thanks for coming on. Thanks, Chris. As Toby warns, he's the Secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. 131873, what do you make of that? Non-members having to pay a union fee if they benefit...

from unions action and bargaining, any pay rise that a union may negotiate. Some of you might think that's just fair enough. What do you make of it? 131873. It's 11 minutes to four. I've just received some information from the police. Read this incident at Miranda. So just before three o'clock, police were called to a premises in Garnet Road, Miranda, following reports of a concern for welfare. Officers from Sutherland Police Area Command were told a 26-year-old man left prior to police arriving.

Following inquiries, officers arrested a man at 3.15pm today following a short foot pursuit. No...

more detail on what exactly has occurred here but that guy the 26 year old has been taken to Sutherland police station where he is assisting them with their inquiry so a concern for welfare at Garnet Road in Miranda short foot pursuit the man has now been arrested 131873 now Woolworths well have you noticed when you go to Woolies and you do the self-service checkout and

that they're no longer asking you to round up your purchase price, you know, 10 cents, 13 cents, whatever it is, and donate to charity. They've canned it. And they've canned it because Australians had a gut full of it. And there was criticism for thousands and thousands of Australians who felt that Woolworths, well, they should just be donating this from their profits instead.

Not $0.10, $0.08, $0.15 from people when they're charging like wounded bulls for the groceries as is. So they've started to phase out the feature. And this has been reported in the Daily Mail. But they've said that they've raised millions of dollars with the Roundup option. And the quote from Woolies is, we'd like to thank our customers for their ongoing support of these community initiatives.

and the supermarket offers other ways for customers to donate.

A Paris 2024 Olympic Games update. Thanks to Harvey Norman, proud to be Australia's official retail partner. Powered by LG, partner of Nine's Olympic broadcast. G'day everyone, Adam Hawes here with your Olympics update. Yet again, we'll be cheering for a fox in the Canoes Lallum tonight, but this time it's a different member of the family. Noemi Fox has won through to the quarterfinals of the kayak cross, seeing off her illustrious sister Jess in the heat.

The 27-year-old says she worked hard to suppress any nerves. It's something I've worked so hard to get to. I didn't want to just be debilitatingly nervous and waste that. Day 10 gets underway next hour with Australia competing in the mixed relay triathlon. Also coming up, Curtis Marshall will go for gold in the men's pole vault final. Divers Melissa Wu and Ellie Cole are in the women's 10-metre platform heats. Rose Davies will compete in the women's 5,000 metres triathlon.

after finishing third in her heat. The USA leads the medal tally with 19 gold going into day 10. Australia is fourth with 12 gold, 11 silver and 8 bronze. Great Britain next with 10. New Zealand is 15th with 2 gold. I'm Adam Hawes. That's the latest from Paris. That medal tally update was thanks to Toyota, Australian Olympic and Paralympic team partner. Oh, what a feeling.

Thank you, Horsey. Now, just on this RTBU push to ensure that non-union members have to pay union fees if they benefit from pay rises negotiated by the union. This is from the RTBU on our trains and buses. Paul's at North Sydney. What do you make of it, Paul?

Yeah, well, I'd like to say that, look, I was on an individual bargaining agreement, but the union's forced to remove all that to put us on EBA because they thought we were getting too much money. So now they want everyone on EBAs to pay them for negotiating. So what bite of the apple do they want? All of it. They want the whole apple, Paul.

So it just seems a bit bloody silly that they force us off these individual bargain agreements because of that reason. Good on you. I agree with you entirely, Paul. I've always been of a view that EBAs exist. Yeah, sure, they can be. But if people want to have individual contracts, they should be allowed to have individual contracts. It should all be about choice. Let's go to Barry at Chatswood. Hello, Barry. Hello, Chris. What do you make of it, mate?

Oh, look, couldn't the non-union member just say, no, I don't want the pay rise and under the federal government's same work, same pay policy, get the pay rise afterwards? It's a good question. I don't know. I would say no, given that they're all award employees. So I think they'd get the pay rise regardless. It's just a matter of whether or not ethically and morally they should be forced to pay the union fees.

Yeah, well, the person may not agree with their political views either. Yeah, that's a good point. All right, Barry, I appreciate that. Let's go to Richard at Malabar. G'day, Richard. How are you? All right? Good, thank you, Richard. Mate, the unions used to be down at the snake pit in Goulburn Street. And during a period of 25 years, I was a union delegate.

I was a workers' delegate for three of the biggest companies in Australia and lost my job three times to try and enforce the union to pay the men

the union rules. Talk after their working conditions and everything. They're the greatest mother crooks ever, half these unions. I could tell you stories that would melt you about them. Good on you, Richard. I appreciate your call and thank you for sharing that with us and

Well, that's why the Builders' Labour Federation folded. There's been royal commissions and everything else. Everybody knows what goes on. It doesn't mean that they're all like that. And on the flip side, as a philosophy, I like the idea of collectivism. I respect it. I think that otherwise you've got private industry who'll just take the absolute mickey out of workers. Some people in private industry anyway. So there's no doubt in the world that unions have got good outcomes for members, but

But if someone doesn't want to be a member, they shouldn't have to pay the fees. It's five to four. The four o'clock news with Josh Bryant is coming up very shortly. On the other side of that, I'll have some information for you if you're interested in the sale of Rose Hill Racecourse. You know, they want to turn it into 25,000 departments. Well, here's another reason why that probably can't happen. And it hinges on a new metro stop at Rose Hill.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past four. Thank you for your company on this Monday afternoon. 131 873 is our open line number. The text line 0460 873 873. Or of course, you can email me drive at 2GB.com. Coming up, I'll tell you why Rose Hill Racecourse...

The development of it, at least, is in massive, massive strife. Massive strife. And it all has to do with the train station on the Metro West line that the whole thing hinged on. It's hit a big, big hurdle. I'll explain shortly. And imagine waking up one day and realising that because your father...

was a squatter for over 20 years. You've just inherited a $1.5 million property that your family and you have never really owned. What are squatters' rights and how easy is that to happen here in New South Wales? All that and more coming up soon. Now, just before I get to this information that I've got on Rose Hill Racecourse, I want to bring your attention to the markets today. So check your superannuation account and your superannuation balance.

or your share market stock portfolio, because the ASX 200 has lost $160 billion in two days. It has been the worst market route, of course, since 2020 in the height of the COVID pandemic. And I saw the Nikkei is down almost 13%, its worst ever two-day decline. 13%. So the ASX is officially...

down 3.65%. The All Ords is down 3.72%. It is the Australian share market's worst sell-off in two years. And again, Nikkei down 13%, worst ever two-day decline. Jeez, it's a hard day to be a trader.

All as a result of the US and Wall Street worried about the United States tipping into a recession. So what do they say? America sneezes. Australia catches a cold. 131873. Now, if you needed any more proof that the plans to sell Rose Hill Racecourse and develop it into 25,000 apartments, if you needed any more proof that those plans are hanging on by a thread, well, listen to this.

The whole thing, right, the whole project, the whole idea hinges on a new train station being built at Rose Hill Racecourse as part of the Metro West project. So the Metro West project is an underground railway from the city to Parramatta. If there is no train station at Rose Hill Racecourse, then there's no way you could activate the precinct to see 25,000 units.

Now, that's why the Minsk government delayed the Metro West by two years in the first instance. So it's not due to open until 2032. It's already been delayed by two years. And the reason for that, one of the reasons anyway, was so they could investigate adding a new station at Rose Hill so they could get the Rose Hill race course sold and build a mini city there, 25,000 units. But guess what? Doesn't look like they can do it.

So I know the Premier has been told personally, and his team has been told, in no uncertain terms, if they want to add a Rose Hill station, the entire Metro West Railway will be delayed by years and years and years. Mid-2030s, if they want to amend it. That's what they're talking about. And you know what a delay of that magnitude does? What?

costs money. Lots of it. Billions and billions of dollars of waste will come from any delay like this, not to mention the billion odd it will cost to add an additional train station to begin with. So right now, you have big build teams, construction teams, they're waiting on hold, and they're waiting to be awarded contracts to build further sections of the Metro West. Now, the Rose Hill proposal has delayed some of those contracts from being awarded.

And there was Terry Lee Williams, I noticed, late last year. He told the Herald, he's a former senior transport for New South Wales bureaucrat, and he said that any delay to the Metro West may see large civil construction contractors diverting resources to, say, large-scale renewable energy infrastructure projects because you can't just have all your build teams sitting there doing nothing. That's a waste of money. And they just can't wait for the New South Wales government to get

It's act together and award the contracts for the Metro West. So here we are. And selling and turning Rose Hill Racecourse into a suburb

is clearly far more problematic than anybody ever envisaged. You know why? They didn't do the work on it. So you've got developers laughing at the idea that the Australian Turf Club will make $5 billion, $6 billion, $7 billion, like the government and the board publicly spruiked. That is a fanciful figure. And developers who know this thing, they say it will be more closer to sort of $1 or $2 billion.

It will take the Australian Turf Club 10 to 20 years to realise that $1 or $2 billion windfall anyway, because the land has to be sold off over a long period of time because they can't just flood the market with units all at once. You can't put the same product into the market, otherwise the units won't be worth what they should be. And also, there is no developer who is going to front up with a lump sum payment to the Australian Turf Club

Because otherwise I have to hold this massive piece of land for 10, 20 years and pay all the interest and associated costs with it. It's not going to happen. So there is no guarantee that the Turf Club membership will allow the board to sell it anyway.

And now, on top of that, the new Rose Hill Racecourse railway station on the Metro West will add years and years and billions and billions of dollars to building the Metro West Railway, which is a new train line that is desperately needed for our western suburbs communities. Does this whole thing really seem worth it to you? Do you really think that the members of the ATC will sit there and say, yeah, we'll vote for your proposal, board?

How much is it again? Oh, okay. $1.5 billion over how long? 10 years. Right. Right. I don't know about that one. I don't know about that one.

And will the developer be able to build the 25,000 units? Yeah, they're not so sure. It'll probably take them 20 years. And then the flip side of that is, okay, the Metro West Railway, well, everybody coming in from Penrith on the T1 Western line at the moment who are sitting there like sardines because of just how overcapacity that railway network is, that railway line is, and just how badly they need a new one in the Metro West will be waiting two or three years longer than

for Rose Hill Racecourse to get a Metro West train station in on it. Now, that does not seem like good government, and that does not seem like a good justification to do this. All of this, mind you, could have been avoided by the men's government actually doing some work and the Australian Turf Club doing some work before making this announcement. They're going to be embarrassed here. You can feel it, right? The ATC members are going, no, thank you.

Too many hairs on this proposal. And the men's government will be embarrassed. And they'll have nothing to show for that big press conference they did, beating their chest like they were solving Sydney's housing crisis in one fell swoop. It was farcical. So it will seem like it will just land where it should have from day one. Keep Rose Hill Racecourse as if.

Leave the Metro West program as is. Develop some of the redundant land around Rose Hill, say until, I don't know, 1,000, 2,000 units. Job done, move on. A 25,000-unit city at Rose Hill, now another nail in its coffin. Inside Word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Natalie Ward is a Liberal spokesperson for transport and she's on the line for us now. G'day. G'day, Chris. What do you make of this? More delays, it sounds. Well, it's just a pattern of behaviour now by this government. It goes to judgement and accountability. Chris Means said he was very confident the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding, would come to fruition. That hasn't occurred. And let's look at the result for taxpayers in Metro West. If Rose Hill's off the books...

One, Metro West has been delayed for two years. So for no apparent reason, it's kicked down the road two years. Two, Sydney Metro have held off awarding any contracts for 18 months, as you said. That means cost escalation on the project. So it's been delayed, cost more money.

Three, hundreds of hours of bureaucrats' time has been spent on this proposal already when they could have been getting on with the existing program. And four, ultimately, taxpayers are paying more and they're getting nothing new in return for this thought bubble. So it's starting to look more and more like the Bob Carr years of announcement and re-announcement, press release before delivery. And we just want to see delivery on these things and some responsibility taken for getting on with it.

Ultimately, it's up to the members of the Australian Turf Club, right? And it feels to me that they've almost been disrespected through this process because they're the ones who have to give the board the okay to sell Rose Hill Racecourse. Yet now you've got a railway station for Metro West that's

going to delay the entire train line by years and years and years. And the Premier and his team has been told this. You've got no guarantee of the five or six billion promised. It'll likely be closer to sort of one, one and a half billion dollars. And that money will only be realised after sort of 10 or 20 years in progress payments. This was not what we were sold in that press release and that press conference before Christmas.

Well, no, there was a great rush to do the press conference, great rush to announce the 25,000 homes, great rush to get out there without having done the work. And this is now a pattern of behaviour. You've got to do the work. You've got to make it stack up. You've got to get the financials right. And you've got to check with the Australian Turf Club and the members to see if it's going to work. Hey, can we sell your property? Well,

What do you reckon? Do you want to be partners with us? But none of that was done. There was the race to get the media, race to the announcement and re-announcement. And it's more about prioritising the press release than the delivery. I mean, you've got good teams of people there who can do good things, but none of this has been thought through. And what it means is, tragically, more cost added.

delay and I mean they've already botched the Metro opening that was done planned you know funded and built related to us open it now Rose Hill is not happening and that means dwelling approvals are down as well so it's a whole lot of talk a whole lot of delay a lot more cost and no delivery and that's that's the sad thing about all of this you know that there was a program in place that they could have got on with but they're racing to the finish line without actually doing the work

Nat Ward, I appreciate you coming on as always. Thanks so much. Good to be with you. Thanks, Chris. That's Natalie Ward. She's the Liberals' spokesperson for transport. 131873, are you a Turf Club member? Does this take you by surprise? I know you've got a vote probably in November. That's what they're talking about. What do you think? What do you think the vote of the Australian Turf Club membership will be? Again, this is where it stands. $1 or $2 billion max, they reckon, the sale of Rose Hill Racecourse will be.

will achieve. That's from developers who know what they're talking about. It'll take 10, 20 years for the Australian Turf Club to be paid that money and it will be paid that money over a long period of time in progress payments. And now, the train station, the entire thing hinged on, if they decide to build it,

We'll add years and years and years to building the much-needed Metro West train line from the city to Parramatta and billions and billions of dollars to the cost. Does it seem worth it to you? It's coming up to 24 past four and the stuff happening in the United Kingdom at the moment, it's really, really concerning. Bedlam, to be honest. So there are protests, if you missed it, happening all around the UK after that shocking stabbing.

unspeakable stabbing incident of those three little girls in Southport last week. Now, far-right protesters are going across the country and listen to some of these statistics.

And they're being met by counter-protests now too, and this is half the problem. The police, they don't look like they're in control at all. So since last Monday, more than 150 arrests have been made. At least 11 police officers have been injured. One was left unconscious. In Rotterdam, anti-immigration protesters threw planks of wood and sprayed the police with fire extinguishers.

And members of that group smashing windows, looting some of the British shops. Bins were set alight in Middlesbrough. Protesters were smashing windows of houses, random people's houses. Cars hurling objects at police officers. Now, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he's only been in the job, what, three or four weeks? And he's already had to schedule an emergency meeting at Downing Street. And he addressed the nation today and he called the protests far-right thuggery.

I utterly condemn the far-right thuggery we've seen this weekend. Be in no doubt, those that have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law. The police will be making arrests, individuals will be held on remand, charges will follow and convictions will follow. I guarantee...

You will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves. This is not protest. It is organised violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online. We've seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out,

Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric. So no, I won't shy away from calling it what it is. Far-right thuggery. Many of these groups, they're very ordinary human beings, how they're carrying on. And Keir Starmer's right in a sense. But the problem's broader than this for the United Kingdom and the UK government, unfortunately. Because...

This anti-immigration rhetoric has not just come from nowhere. It's come because of lots of immigration, much of it unchecked, a tough old economic situation in the UK and lots of extreme and deep disillusionment with institutions.

So what do you think is going to happen? Now, if you think it's all just, you can blame the, how they're acting is a disgrace, right? It's a disgrace. You can't be throwing planks of wood at police officers and looting people's shops. Disgrace. Targeting minorities just because they're Muslim or Pakistani or whatever it may be. However, the UK really needs some time to take a look at itself and

and figure out what it wants to be because there are deep, deep problems in that society. And unfortunately, it's not all one way. It's of governments' makings and it's of governments over generations' making. And it feels like they're at a bit of an inflection point at the moment. 131873.

The Injury Report. That's got to hurt. From Deep Heat, the iconic brand you know and trust. Feel it work. A bit of an injury report after this week's NRL games. Jacob Saifidi for the Knights. He injured his calf in the warm-up. He was ruled out of the match. For the Raiders, Morgan Smithies. He left the field in the 70th minute. He's expected to miss next week. If you're a Cronulla supporter, Braden Trindle, you won't like this.

He's injured his hamstring. Unclear as to how long he's out for. Broncos. Pain harsh. Not that it matters. They're gone, the Broncos. They've been appalling. Potential Lisfranc injury. He might be out for the season. Ezra Mamm. He's injured his right ankle and left the field in the first half. The Brisbane Broncos have got massive problems.

The Warriors, Dylan Walker, he failed his HIA after 20 minutes, so he'll be mandatorily stood down. Roosters, Lindsay Collins, likewise, failed an HIA. Dom Young has a hamstring injury, and Nat Butcher has a rib cartilage injury.

Jermaine Asako for the Redcliffe Dolphins. He's injured his ankle. He was unable to finish the match against the Roosters. For the Melbourne Storm, Tui Kamikamitha. Groin soreness. He was ruled out the day before the match against the Dragons. Go the Mighty Saints. What a win. Cowboys. Jake Granville. Suspected pec injury.

For Jake Granville and Helium Lukey, an HIA did not return. For the Tigers, if you're a Tigers supporter, Latu Fainu, he failed an HIA. Alex Twoll injured his wrist in the second half. While for the Bunnies, Alex Johnston...

Ruptured Achilles, poor bugger. He's facing six to nine months out. And Latrell Mitchell, conservative management of a foot injury. He's got four more weeks in a moon boot, I think. As soon as they realised they weren't making the semis, South Sydney, and Latrell was ruled out of Origin 3, I thought they said to Latrell, mate, take the rest of the year off. That's what it sounds like. 131873.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Hello, Chris. About $100 billion has been wiped off the value of the Australian share market since late last week amid a massive sell-off globally sparked by fears of a recession in the United States. Social media companies are being urged to do more to address extremist content on their platforms as Australia's terror threat level was increased from possible to probable. Some commuters have expressed their frustrations while others have had to change their habits.

as bus routes and timetables in Sydney's north change to connect to the new metro system once it gets up and running. And the world's largest iceberg is spinning on the spot just north of Antarctica. It's caught in a rotating cylinder of water rather than travelling along the Earth's most powerful ocean current. In Sport Hooker, Blake Braley has declared he's ready to help solve Cronulla's halfback crisis if needed. He says he can wear the Sharks' number seven against the Titans...

with regular halves Nico Hines and Brayden Trindle sidelined by injury. We'll have more news in sport at five. Good on you, Josh. A whole bunch of texts and calls here, re-Rosehill Racecourse. I'm pleased to say I've got a text from legendary trainer Chris Waller here on the open line. Well said, Chris re-Rosehill Racecourse. The whole proposal is just so flawed. I'm all for cheaper housing, more housing, even if it means losing a racetrack, but it needs to be accountable. This has never been.

Prefer not to make any public comment yet as going to the parliamentary inquiry on Friday. Keep up the good work. Great show. Thank you for that, Chris. That's Chris Waller. I agree totally. If you can make it work, Rose Hill Racecourse, to sell it and build houses, fine. That's up to the... Again, this is a decision solely of the membership of the Australian Turf Club. Nobody else. They own the asset. They own the asset. And in my view, they've been treated poorly here.

But you can't have a process without having done the work before the process. So you can't tell the entire racing industry that, oh, sorry, you're likely to move to Horsley Park and you'll get $6 billion. It'll future-proof the thoroughbred racing in New South Wales for generations to come, yada, yada, yada. But none of the work's been done to justify any of those statements. It just blows my mind how that was allowed to occur. 131873, coming up, I want to know this from you.

Have you, a friend or a family member, ever benefited from or had a problem with squatters' rights? Because there's a family in Guymea that's just inherited a $1.5 million property and the guy never owned it. He just happened to live there as a squatter for decades, paying the bills, and has now managed to get his name and

on the land title. Extraordinary, right? We'll work it through with a property law expert to see exactly what the law is. That next. Well, have you heard about squatters' rights? We hear a lot of it, don't we, out of the United States. It feels like a little bit of an urban myth here in Australia that you can go on holidays, come home, and there's a family of people inside your house and you can do nothing about it. But listen to this one.

So there's a man in Sydney who has inherited somebody else's property through these squatters' rights. It's not quite the horror story of just someone ending up in your house while you're on holidays or away for the weekend, but the man's name is Ross Paul, and Ross moved into his friend's property after he passed away 50 years ago. Now, when Ross died...

The courts decided he was now the owner of the property. So he's inherited it through squatters' rights. How does this all work? Patricia Lane is a barrister and a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, as well as a property law expert. She's on the line for us. Patricia, thank you so much for your time.

Hi there. Can you walk me through exactly how Ross Paul would have ended up inheriting his friend's property in this situation? Well, you start off with a lawful entry into property, OK? So the idea that somebody can break into somebody's house and get rights is just nonsense. So this fella would have had access to the property when the earlier person who died was alive.

And he used it as if it was his own for a sufficiently long period of time to bar anybody else who might have had a paper title, like the descendants, from coming in and evicting him.

Is it a time period thing? Is it a matter of paying the bills and that sort of thing too? Yes, too. Firstly, you've got to be in possession, adverse possession it's called, for a period which is enough to prevent a person taking action. In New South Wales, that's 12 years from the point of time that the trespasser comes onto the property.

and starts to use it. Now, that means if somebody winds up with title, it means that nobody's taken action for 12 years while the person in possession has done acts which are equivalent to acting as owner. And that could be putting a fence around the place, paying rates, maintaining it, putting tenants in, acting as though they actually own the property. How frequent is this sort of thing?

It happens from time to time. It's not tremendously rare, but there have been a few cases over the last three, four years where people have claimed adverse possession for various reasons. So for argument's sake, if I notice that a property is vacant...

And I move in and the letters start coming to the letterbox where I've got to pay rates. And I pay those rates. I pay the water bills. And I live there for 12 years in one day. I own it.

Well, it's not quite as simple as that because you've got to go to the Registrar General and demonstrate that you've done all of those things. Most of the land in the state now is Torrens Title. It's registered title. So until you change the register, and that means convincing the Registrar General that you've done those acts consistent with being an owner, you

you've really got a chance at a title and not the title itself. As soon as the registrar generally accepts your evidence and issues you a certificate or registers your name on the title, then you're owned it. But if it was, okay, so if it was 11 days, 11 years and, you know, one second to 12 years, I would not be entitled to the property? No.

Well, it depends on whether somebody's taken action. It is open to what we call the paper title holder, the documentary owner, to take proceedings any time up until the period expires. And if that means 11 years and 364 days, then they've got the right to take those proceedings, call you a trespasser and possibly get damages.

I really appreciate your time, Patricia. It is fascinating. I think we're all pretty well safe that no one's going to move into our homes and pinch at office. I think we can be safe in that knowledge. I think that's probably right, yes. All the while, it is still fascinating stuff. Thank you so much for coming on. No problem. Bye. That's Patricia Lane. She's a barrister, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and a property law expert. 131873, have you heard of this before? Has it happened to you?

Has it happened to a friend or a family or a neighbour? Squatters' rights, also known as here in New South Wales, adverse possession. Have you had any experience with it? It's 14 minutes to five. 131 873 is the open line number. I've just got an email here from Aaron from Wetherill Park. And Aaron says, regarding the potential redevelopment of Rose Hill Racecourse, has there been any mention of moving the development over to the nearby Flemington markets? No.

That market's fairly run down and could easily be moved out near the new airport at Badgerys Creek, especially given all produce arrives by road. It would free up a lot of trucks and cars off the area around Homebush. Well, Aaron, it's a good idea. Problem is...

We privatised Flemington Markets, Sydney Markets, back in 1997. So the Sydney Markets Limited is a private company and I'm pretty sure the land is not owned by the government.

Yeah, and it says Sydney Markets Limited purchased the land and infrastructure at Flemington from the New South Wales government in 2002. So if that was to happen, they'd have to buy it back, the government, from the Sydney Markets or compulsorily acquire it. I think they're going to have to do something like that. The housing crisis is so significant, they're going to have to look at compulsorily acquiring something.

or finding a massive piece of Crown land and just building it themselves, the government, and then just saying, you know, what's the risk? We own 10,000 units that we can sell off like Lancom did when they built Helensburg and Oran Park and all these places. I think that's where it's going to need to go because if they rely on fiddling around the edges and, you know, Paul Scully's bureaucrats in the planning department changing colours on a map, rezoning things, well, you know...

We'll be waiting until Christmas of 2050 for anything to be built. And it is so pressing that I think they just need to take control of it because as they found out with Rose Hill,

They can give all the support and everything that they want. They can even spend money and they can try. But it falls over as soon as there's any difficulty. And there was major difficulty with Rose Hill that has never did the work to identify it. And, you know, they shouldn't be surprised that the outcome is likely going to be a negative one for them. 1-3-1-8-7-3. Moving to Canberra now. Looks like gambling advertisements will remain on TV for years and years to come.

because they won't be issuing a blanket ban. This is according to Paul Sarkal in the Sydney Morning Herald. So it looks like the Albanese government will cap gambling ads to just two per hour on each channel until 10pm and ads will be banned an hour before and an hour after live sport.

which will be the same as what Peter Dutton's coalition is pledging. So it's expected to be welcomed by anti-gambling advocates because Labor also wants a blanket ban on betting ads on social media and other digital platforms. Now, the gambling sector won't like that. But gambling revenues are down significantly as is, but unfortunately, do you remember when

Speaking of racing, when Tom Waterhouse opened his betting shop, tomwaterhouse.com.au, I think it was called. And all of a sudden he was on the sideline for Channel 9 and he was doing odds and everything. And it was for the almost, I think it was the first time we'd really seen it at a saturation level with Tom and the outrage. Well, now it's come so ingrained in how we broadcast and so ingrained, mind you, in the revenues that pay my bills. Yeah.

that pay the bills of everybody who works at Channel 9, Channel 7, Channel 10 and across the news call broadcast is because the gambling ads are almost ubiquitous now.

Now notice Peter Murphy, the late Peter Murphy, Labor MP. She was the one who proposed all gambling ads be banned across TV, radio, newspapers and online within three years. But it feels like the Albanese government is looking for a halfway house on this one. 131873.

Just four days after competing in the River Seine.

Belgium's Olympic Committee have announced they have withdrawn from today's mixed relay triathlon as Claire Michelle recovers from an E. coli infection caught while swimming in the Murky River. Tonight, Nina Kennedy begins her quest for gold as the women's pole vault gets underway. Curtis Marshall is going for gold in the men's final. The giant killing Australian men's water polo team take on Japan.

One of the highlights of day nine was boxer Caitlin Parker guaranteeing Australia a first ever medal in women's boxing. The 75 kilo competitor is into Thursday's semifinals where both losers claim a bronze but Parker says she's going for gold. And I'm going to leave everything in the ring, everything. I'm going to war. Let's go. To the medal tally for the start of day 10, the US leads with 19 gold, Australia is fourth with 12 and that is the latest from Paris. I'm Adam Hawes.

That Paris 2024 medal tally was thanks to NRMA Insurance, a help company. Thank you, Horsey. Now, if you didn't laugh, you'd cry. But Nancy Pelosi has said that Joe Biden should be added to Mount Rushmore. So Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, says America should honour President Joe Biden by adding him to Mount Rushmore.

Now, she said this on CBS's Sunday morning show, and Nancy Pelosi reckons that Joe Biden, the 81-year-old commander-in-chief, is, quote, such a consequential president of the United States, he's a Mount Rushmore kind of president. This is what she said. You have Teddy Roosevelt up there, and he's wonderful. Don't take him down. But you can certainly add Biden... LAUGHTER

So you've got George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Joe Biden. Oh, I wouldn't have thought. Anyway, she said, absolutely. Joe Biden deserves to be there. There's been no more consequential president of the United States. Well, I wonder if Donald Trump, if he gets elected president, if he'll be adding Joe Biden to Mount Rushmore. Is there even any space to put his head? I wouldn't have thought.

Dear, oh dear. 131873. I know Michael McLaren spoke about this at length on his program, but if you missed it, it's some good news when it comes to doing your grocery shopping.

The price of groceries has moderated significantly. So don't expect to go to the shops and your trolley of groceries increasing sort of 10, 12, 15% like we've become accustomed to for the last 18 months to two years because decreased growth in the price of chicken, breakfast cereals, cheese and other items has

has dragged food inflation down to 3.3%, which is lower than inflation. We're also seeing lower beef prices, lower lamb prices. It's not deflation. It's not going to be cheaper. It's just not going to be as expensive anymore.

as quickly. We can all say that's some pretty good news. Five to five. Now, John's just sent me a text on a pretty good story if it stacks up. So, John, for your time, I've got a double pass to see the new psychological thriller Gaslight.

And Gaslight, it's a play and it's a gripping psychological thriller. They reckon it arrives at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in August. John, you're on your way. 131873. Coming up after the five o'clock news, ASIO has raised the Australian terror threat to probable. First time they've raised it since 2013, the terror threat.

Do we have to be concerned or just a little bit more vigilant as usual? And there's a hotel, a pub in Ningan in the far west of New South Wales that's opening for the first time since 1995.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past five. Thank you for your company on this Monday afternoon. 131 873 is our open line number. You can text me 0460 873 873 or email me, of course, drive at 2GB.com. Now, some of the triathletes after jumping in the River Seine

Well, surprise, surprise, there's a few that have got quite crook from it. We'll check in with our man on the ground, Clinton Maynard. He'll be live from Paris. Well, Australia's terror threat has been raised from possible to probable for the first time in some time. Now, ASIO has emphasised that this change does not indicate that an attack is imminent, nor does it indicate that an attack is inevitable.

But it does reflect growing concerns over the normalisation of violent acts, especially violent acts against authority due to the conflict in the Middle East. Now, in the past four months, ASIO has successfully disrupted at least eight potential attacks. They've said eight in four months. And they're now saying that there is a 50% or greater chance of a terrorist attack on our soil in the next 12 months.

ASIO Director Mike Burgess, he spoke about this today and was quite candid about the whole thing. After careful consideration and consultation, ASIO is raising the national terrorism threat level from possible to probable. Our decision reflects the degrading security environment. A threat level of probable means we assess there is a greater than 50% chance of an onshore attack or planning in the next 12 months.

It does not mean that we have intelligence about a current attack planning or an expectation of an imminent attack. He also went on to say that youth radicalisation, online radicalisation and the rise of new ideology, so it's not just radical Islam or jihadism, the things that we've become accustomed to compare or draw a link with, terrorism. It's radicalism.

People who aren't really into their conspiracy theories, like we saw up in Tara when they murdered those police officers, Yambla. Now, one of the things that I thought was interesting in this press conference when they did front talking about raising the terror threat from possible to probable was the fact that it was mainly young men, and I mean young, between the ages of 14 and 21 were involved in those eight attacks.

potential attacks that ASIO have disrupted. So of the eight potential attacks ASIO has disrupted in the last four months, all young men between the ages of 14 and 21. But the Prime Minister, he weighed in on this and he emphasised that the government is ensuring the safety and security of Australia. But he also said...

that it's important that the language is toned down somewhat because violent rhetoric and actual violence, well, they can go hand in hand. I want to reassure Australians, probable does not mean inevitable and it does not mean there is intelligence about an imminent threat or danger.

But the advice that we've received is that more Australians are embracing a more diverse range of extreme ideologies and it is our responsibility to be vigilant. To be clear, this is the same threat level that was in place in Australia for more than eight years before it was lowered in November of 2022. That's the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. It's interesting times ahead, but again...

ensure that you are not taking anything for granted in this environment. That's effectively the message coming out of both the ASIO director, Mike Burgess, as well as the federal government, 131873. Well, plenty happening in Paris for the Olympics over the weekend and plenty more to come this week. So our man Clinton Maynard is there. He's all across it. Clinton, g'day.

Good afternoon, Chris. I'm coming to you from the Champs-Élysées, just about 550 metres up the road, the Arc de Triomphe. You might be able to hear the helicopters above me, and that's because this takes in part of the mixed triathlon route, which is underway at the moment. And I think this is actually cause for concern for Brisbane, but more on that a little bit later.

a little bit later, Chris. The mixed triathlon has gone ahead this morning. This is the third triathlon event of these games. But as of this time yesterday, it was in doubt. I was with the IOC when they had to cancel the training session for the triathlon. Why? Because the pollution levels in the River Seine had reached an unhealthy point once...

Again, however, we got word last night, late last night, Paris time, that the triathlon would be okay. They did some more analysis of the water and deemed it safe for the athletes to jump in. And it's not just the triathlon, mixed triathlon. The marathon swim is taking place later in the week, and they're determined that it will go ahead.

A whole bunch of them have got crook, eh? Surprise, surprise. Yeah, one of the Belgium athletes, Claire McHale, had to withdraw and the Belgium Olympic Committee put out a statement. They did not directly link her illness to the water, but let's be serious. E. coli or something, isn't it? Human waste. Well, the E. coli bacteria levels in these tests they conduct are too high. Now,

Now, apparently they've gone back down, but when they're, and I've not seen it, but when there's Cuban waste floating down the river, and the river's 800 kilometres long. It snakes right through the country. So it's not just in Paris, but I was on a train a couple of days ago going over bridges through it, well out of Paris. And it goes through industrial areas, for instance. They've spent the $2 billion trying to clean it up, but let's be honest, it hasn't worked. And we keep hearing from the IOC it's because of all the rain.

It's rained for about five minutes here this week, Chris. And they complain about climate change and rain here. The rain is nothing compared to what we experience in Sydney, let alone other parts of the world. Yet suddenly it rains a little bit and the river, you can't jump in the water. So the Belgium Olympic Committee put out a statement saying they've had to withdraw their athletes. They're not happy about the situation. They're not happy that there is so much disruption in the lead-up because they have to cancel training sessions. They have to cancel familiarisation sessions.

And that's no good for the preparation of these athletes. But the mixed triathlon, in fairness, is going ahead at the moment. The athletes have been in and out of the water and the marathon swim should happen later in the week as well. Now, Aman Khalif, the Algerian boxer, so she's guaranteed herself a medal. But the International Boxing Association, these are the guys that banned Aman Khalif from competing at one of their world championship events. Yes.

because of the XY chromosome issue. They're holding a press conference. What are we expecting them to say? Well, I think no doubt they'll go on the attack against the IOC. The IOC, and I was at their press conference with Mark Adams, and...

He is no friend of the IBA. And he said yesterday very clearly on this issue, and he was scathing about the IBA. He said the IOC does not want to be part of a politically motivated culture war, but what they are clearly a part of is a war with the IBA. They...

repeatedly, whether it was the president on the weekend, Thomas Bach, or Mark Adams, their main spokesman yesterday, they completely disregard anything the IBA has to say. They say they are an organisation with no credibility. There is concern about corruption, that they're very close to the Russian leadership.

And therefore, they claim that the tests that were conducted... There were two tests at international competitions in Turkey and also India, and this information was then leaked and there was a letter that was sent to the IOC a year ago that we only found out about yesterday...

This letter contained the details of these tests for Khalif that showed she apparently has X and Y chromosomes. Well, Mark Adams, every time he's asked about that, he completely shuts it down. He says those tests have no credibility because they're from the IBA. So I think you'll find that the IBA... The IOC is not doing tests. The IOC is not doing tests. They're just going, oh, well, if it's on your passport, you're a man or a woman, whatever's on your passport goes. Now, again, we've just got to be really clear here.

Aman Khalif is a female. She was born a female. She is a female. She's not transitioning. This is not a conversation about trans men or women in...

in competitive sport the conversation is around fairness and if the IBA says well hang on a second we're the international boxing association we've done the tests you can't compete as well as a an athlete in China from Chinese Taipei can't compete yet the IOC does none of those tests and allows them to compete well I wonder why people are arguing about fairness

It comes down to X and Y chromosomes and the level of testosterone in one's body. She was definitely born a woman or female. That's been made clear. But the issue is going to be going forward is whether boxing is even part of the Olympic Games anymore because it's not assured of being in LA or Brisbane. And the IOC is saying that unless world boxing can get its act together because they do not want to do any dealings with the IBA whatsoever.

So if they don't, if world boxing doesn't either subscribe to another governing body that's on side with the IOC, boxing won't be part of the Olympic Games. Maybe that's the answer to this. It's not even that good quality. When you're watching actual professional boxing, that's how you fight. That's how you box. You know, the amateur boxers, as good as they give, maybe it's not up to being an Olympic sport. I don't know.

There was a comment yesterday from Mark Adams that I don't know whether it raised eyebrows of other journalists, but it raised mine. And he said, we don't want to be doing gender tests. Well, maybe they need to. I mean, I know that's a question of human rights and so forth, but if sport is going to be fair, maybe that may be necessary. Clinton Maynard, I appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much. Thanks, Chris. Enjoy Paris. That's Clinton Maynard in Paris. He's doing a wonderful job covering the Olympics for Nine Radio. 131873.

I've just got a little bit of breaking news that is quite concerning out of the Illawarra. So this has just been released by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. And if you have been at Wollongong Hospital in late July, you have been exposed to scabies.

So as it stands now, 11 people, 11 patients and 23 staff have been diagnosed with scabies impacting a number of wards across Wollongong, Coaldale, Shell Harbour and Bulleye. Now, scabies is almost like lice, but it gets under your skin.

and infects your skin. It's treatable, but it's extremely uncomfortable and not very nice. The problem here is it's been, what it sounds like anyway, it's been transmitted through people sharing bloodied bedsheets. It's from low hygiene levels in certain situations.

And it can lead to complications like septicemia, heart disease and kidney problems. It causes intense itching and the tiny mites burrow into your skin. They lay eggs and they cause that itching and a rash. Now, it is caused by poor hygiene and the sharing of

infected bed sheets and the like. So Illawarra Health District has confirmed 11 patients, 23 staff have been infected with scabies across Wollongong Hospital, Coaldale Hospital, Shell Harbour Hospital and Bulleye Hospital. And I've just received this. I'm just reading it on the run. But the chief executive of the Illawarra Health

Shoalhaven Local Health District has said that scabies is a common and treatable condition. It can be effectively managed in households, but it can be difficult to contain, especially in a hospital setting where patients are grouped together. But scabies has an incubation period of up to six to eight weeks. It is easily transmitted and can have minimal symptoms initially.

But to prevent the risk of further transmission, the district will provide preventative treatment for all current inpatients and staff across Australia.

So some questions rightly will be asked about the hygiene practices across the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. A scabies outbreak. 11 patients, 23 staff.

If you know anything about this, give us a call 131873. We do have a call in to the Health Minister, Ryan Park, at the moment. It's 24 past five, 131873. Now, with the national terror alert level being increased today from possible to probable by ASIO, Mike Burgess did say extreme political ideologies are one of the factors that are driving people to violence.

And I reckon what we're seeing in the United Kingdom with race riots and the populist and anti-Semitic pro-Palestine rallies, well, they not only generate violent language, but sometimes physical violence follows, doesn't it? Well, here in Australia, we've had pockets of it here in Australia, but populist politics has never quite taken off, has it? And I read a great piece in The Australian by constitutional lawyer Greg Craven on this. And his view is our national character

just doesn't seem to be buying what populists are selling. For one, I think Australians are known for their healthy scepticism. And this isn't a place where, you know, you get flashy promises or dramatic rhetoric that go unchecked. We tend to prefer a more down-to-earth approach. And I think Australians value practical, realistic solutions over grandiose or inflammatory claims. That's one reason why populism hasn't taken off. Another is...

Our political systems focus on compromise and consensus. The Australian political landscape is about incremental change. Popular strategies, which often rely on stirring up strong emotions and creating divisions, that don't fit well with our tradition of just working toward balanced, reasonable solutions. And Australians are used to debating and negotiating to find common ground rather than just jumping on the bandwagon of the latest dramatic trend.

Just look at how badly the voice to Parliament failed. Australians did not have it explained to them over a period of time. The case was never made for the change. As much as the yes crowd likes to say otherwise, the first that 90-odd percent of Australians had heard of the voice was when we had to vote on it. We do have structural constraints too, and structural restraints as to why populism isn't a thing in Australia. Compulsory voting, I'm convinced, is a big one.

Compulsory voting prevents a surge of disaffected voters from swamping the system on one issue. When everybody has to vote and it's illegal not to vote, well, it's hard for politicians just to ride a single wave of popularity into power. Now, our Senate is another barrier to populists like Che Guevara or Donald Trump or even Adolf Hitler because all of them are unable to govern how they want politics

whenever they want because of a senate that has to be negotiated with plus our federation means just because canberra wants it done doesn't mean the states will follow and our constitutional monarchy means the prime minister is not our head of state and our head of state is not elected therefore the governor general is symbolic and does not have an electoral mandate

But as Greg Craven points out, Australians have a combination of common sense, basic fairness, healthy cynicism and an inherent mistrust of grand plans. It doesn't mean a Trump or a Hugo Chavez couldn't be successful in Australia. I just reckon it's way harder here. And I think we should all be pleased that's the case.

Now, just on this Scabies outbreak in Illawarra Hospitals, if you just jumped in the car, there has been a Scabies outbreak at Wollongong, Coaldale, Shell Harbour and Bulleye Hospitals. 11 patients and 23 staff have been diagnosed with it. Lou is in Miranda. Hello, Lou. Hello, how are you going? I'm good, thank you, Lou.

Yeah, I just heard your article there, and I think that scabies is an – I've been a doctor 48 years, right? And scabies has been around a long, long time, and it's highly contagious. And I can remember when we were residents.

I caught it from a patient. Everybody else caught it in the ward. And it wasn't due to poor hygiene. It's just so highly contagious. And although you said that sort of this can cause major problems and infections and so forth, that is extraordinarily rare. And you only get that if you get secondary infections from scratching.

So even though it sounds bad and it sounds as if the hygiene may have been poor, that's not necessarily the case at all. It's so contagious that anybody can get it. And if one member of staff had it and worked in a few different places, that's probably how they got it in the other areas, I would imagine. What is it, like head lice or something?

It is a little bit like that. It's a sort of a parasite that gets into your skin and it's often between the fingers. You often get it in the hair and it's extremely common in nursing homes or it used to be. And sort of even though 12 people sounds a lot, that's a small number compared to what, you know, for example, there was about 20 of us got it in this ward, I remember. Mm-hmm.

And it stays in the bedding, so you may have to boil the sheets. And there's this material you can put on your skin, basically, that gets rid of it. But it burns the skin a little bit, so it's not the best thing to have. But it's not a disaster, and it may well be that sort of it sounds bad that if the standards are dropping, but that's not necessarily the case at all. And people can get this with excellent hygiene and still get it. Point taken. Do you see much of it anymore, Doctor?

No, you don't see it that much these days. But in elderly people, sort of, for example, it races through nursing homes, for example. Not so much now, but sort of when I was a resident, which is 40 years ago now, 45 years ago, it used to be extremely common.

And even though this sounds bad and it sounds as if the health service maybe, you know, sort of, I've got nothing to do with the Illawarra Health Service, but I think people shouldn't be scared that this is the case and it's a breakdown in standards because it's not really. Might just be a bit of bad luck. And it can occur in anybody.

Might just be a bit of bad luck by the sounds of things. That's exactly right. And they're doing the right thing. They're trying to do the right thing. And sort of it's really hard to run a public health care service and they're trying to do their best. And I think that we shouldn't scare people too much. Good on you, Lou. Appreciate that. Thank you so much for your call. That's Dr. Lou from Miranda. He reckons, look, yeah, it's not great scabies. It's extremely infectious and contagious, but...

Nothing too alarming at this point. In the newsroom, Josh Bryan. G'day. Hello again, Chris. Global share markets have been rattled by fears of a possible recession in the US with more than $100 billion wiped from the value of Australia's share market over two days of trade. A leading security expert says lifting the terror threat level from possible to probable is warranted

Thank you.

recruitment drive ahead of the upcoming federal election, due to be held sometime in the next nine months. In sport, Warriors and Kiwi legend Sean Johnson has announced he's retiring at the end of the NRL season. The 33-year-old has played 265 games, including in the 2011 Grand Final against Manly. We'll have more news in sport at six.

Thank you, Josh. 131873. We'll have another Olympic update on the other side of the break. We'll get an update with weather, finance, bad, bad day on the stock market. And then we'll speak to Emily Stanton because the Ningen Hotel has been out of action, non-operational since 1995. Emily's got her hands on the Ningen Hotel.

And it's just about to open again. Great story. We'll speak to her soon. It's 24 to 6. And now, a weather update. Well, cloudy today. Right now, 13 in the city and 11 in our west. Temperatures tonight, 11 degrees in the city and 9 in our west. Tomorrow, partly cloudy. Tops of 18 degrees in the city tomorrow and 19 in our west.

A finance update. Enjoy impossible to ignore savings across the Mercedes-Benz SUV range. Well, geez, the markets have had an absolute shocker. This is going to be extremely difficult for many people today. The All Ords closed down 3.81% today.

3.81%, the All Lords closed down at 7,859.4. ASX 200 closed down 3.7% to 7,649.6. And one Aussie dollar currently buying 64.37 US cents. Now, additionally, the Nikkei, the Japanese Nikkei, listen to this, it's down 12.4%.

It's the worst single-day drop since 1987, and combine that with a 5.8% drop on Friday, it is the worst two-day drop ever. The Japanese Nikkei down 12.4%. That is a rough, rough day for the traders and everybody's superannuation portfolios and your share portfolios. That's just, that's really tough. Hello.

We're getting better. We're going to continue to get better.

I back us to continue to improve in that. And I'm just excited we got the win. Australia will play Serbia on Wednesday night. In fact, it's a double against Serbia. The Boomers will also play against them in their quarterfinal tomorrow night. Day 10 has begun with the mixed relay triathlon. Belgium pulled out before the race after one of its competitors took ill after swimming in the River Seine during the women's triathlon.

Up soon, divers Melissa Wu and Ellie Cole are in the women's 10-metre platform heats. Curtis Marshall will go for gold in the men's pole vault final. And Noemi Fox is out to join older sister Jess as an Olympic medalist when she competes in the kayak cross final. To the medal tally, and the US leads the way with 19 gold. China and France are next, followed by Australia. That's the latest from Paris. I'm Adam Hordes.

That Paris 2024 medal tally was thanks to Woolworths, proud fresh food partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams. Thank you for that, Horsey. Well, there's nothing quite like it if you get a little bit of time off or you're at a loose end just to jump in the car and travel through country New South Wales or country Australia. We've got some great places in country New South Wales. Mudgy Dunny Doo.

But this story caught my eye this morning because of all the places that I've been in regional New South Wales, I loved Ningen. It was great fun, Ningen, as a little town, tiny little place. And it's real red dirt country, Ningen. But there's a pub there called the Ningen Hotel. And the Ningen Hotel has poured its first schooner for a very, very long time. Absolutely wonderful. But since...

So 1985, Ningen Hotel has essentially been dormant. So it's just another building in town. 1985, it's been closed down since. And fast forward to 2024, the Stanton family have grabbed a hold of it and revived it. Well, Emily Stanton, she's one of the faces behind the Ningen Hotel revival and she's on the line for us. Emily, g'day. Hello, how are you going? I'm really well. Almost 40 years. Why did you decide to revive the Ningen Hotel?

Well, we originally looked at it in 2022 because I've been working in the accommodation business out here, my parents' tourist park, for 12 years and there's quite a shortage of accommodation in Ningin. So my husband's a builder and we went looking for a little project we might be able to do to get some more accommodation.

And originally that was all we bought it for. As time went on after a couple of months, you know, all the locals were asking, what are you going to do with the public? Are you going to reopen it? There was just so much interest. And, you know, we had all the, we had a dining room, we had the bar, we had the kitchen. I mean, it didn't really look like any of that because it had been closed for 40 years, but,

But we went, you know what, the community is just like really screaming out for like modern, family friendly, like a nice venue. So, yeah, we decided we'd go all in. It's everything now. So when you bought it, what was it like? Was it a blank canvas or what kind of condition was it in?

Well, the guy that we bought it off was a local shearing contractor and he had used it as his residence for like since the 80s. So he bought it at an auction in the late 1980s and was actually, he was bidding against someone who was going to knock it over for brick value basically. So he saved it at auction then and he sort of just used it as his residence and he had some of his shearing crew would stay here over time. He'd rent rooms here and there. But yeah, it was in...

It was clean and, like, obviously it was still lived in. It hadn't just been left there for 40 years. He maintained what he could, but it was like sort of walking back in time. Like, it was last renovated in the 1960s when Tooth & Co. owned it. That was when they put bathrooms and things on it. So it was sort of like walking into the 1960s, really. So it was a Tooth's pub, was it?

It was a Toothpub, yeah. They have the nicotine stains in the roof and wallpaper and vinyl floors and stuff like that. It had a few little... I suppose because it's like that Federation era. It was like, you know, 1883, build it...

we saw amazing features in it, you know, like the ornate pressed metal ceilings and like we could see its potential. And like James, my husband being a builder, he could see that it had really good bones. In saying that, we still had lots of surprises. Like we opened so many cans of worms. The Renault went for about 15 months and yeah, it was... What was the wormiest can? Yeah.

Okay, so in one of the rooms, there was an old fireplace. You could see on the old plans that there was a fireplace. So my idea was to, you know, open it all up and expose the original fireplace and would have it as a feature in the room. It had been boarded up in the 60s Renault. So we pulled the front of the board of the fireplace off and there was like a whole pigeon graveyard. Oh!

What? The whole journey has been shared on Instagram. So if anyone wants to look up the Ningen on Instagram, the whole journey is on there and there's photos actually of the pigeon fireplace. So it was fascinating, like hundreds of pigeon skeletons. So yeah, that was probably the craziest thing we found. Did you find any cool stuff?

We did. Lots of cool stuff. Like we had a metal detector come in. He found loads of old coins, like especially out the back area where they probably were drinking out in the beer garden back in the day. Lots of old coins. Probably the craziest thing we found was this little Chinese figurine. So he's also, we've also on Facebook and Instagram shared

the story about him. So we found him down near the well. And after a bit of history, we found out that the Chinese dug the well back probably in the late 1800s. So, yeah, we found this little Chinese figurine in perfect condition. Like he'd been sat there probably. We sort of found him just on the top of the surface in the dirt. James, my husband, found him.

There's a whole other story to him, but he was probably the coolest thing we found, I think. So if we make the trip out, if you're in Sydney and everybody's listening right now, right, and they go, you know what, let's go out to Ningan. I haven't been that far west before. I've always heard a lot about Ningan. What will the Ningan Hotel serve up as a Wednesday night meal, for argument's sake?

Well, we've got actually lots of good things on the menu. We've got lamb shanks, pork belly, Asian squid salad. We're pushing the limits of outback pub food. We're more restaurant-style food. So we've been getting really good reviews about our food. We've got an awesome crew in the kitchen. So I think you'd be impressed if you came out and ate our food. Are the locals impressed? Are the locals impressed? Yeah. We've had lots of locals coming in because...

I mean, anyone who is 40 and under had never been in the building or never seen the building. And then all the older locals, like this used to be their watering hole. So it's like sparked lots of interest in the community and all around, really. It's so good. Well, Emily, I'm sure it's going to be a roaring success. I can hear the passion in your voice. And clearly after a 15-month renter, your husband probably needs a beer or two, does he? He does.

He spent the whole first weekend working behind the bar because we had Ningan's biggest event being Duck Creek Races. Oh, the Duck Creek Races. I've been to the Duck Creek Races. I don't remember much of it, but yeah. So 5,000 people came to town on our first weekend, but he's usually the one that likes to be in front of the bar, like drinking the beers, not serving them. So he hides now. He doesn't like it here. You're publicans now. Good on you, Emily. I really appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much.

Thank you. That's Emily Stanton. The Ningen Hotel, if you're thinking about heading west, pop in. Great story. Young couple, young family. They've rehabilitated the Ningen Hotel, opening it for the first time since 1985. Live with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

All right, 131873, do you want to play the Duel for Fuel? We're doing it thanks to Shell V-Power. If you want to win $200 of free petrol, just give me a call. 131873. We'll play the quiz next. On 2GB Drive, let's duel for fuel. Yes, we are dueling for fuel this Monday afternoon, all thanks to Shell V-Power. Our contestants, I've got Darrell at Macquarie Fields. G'day, Darrell. G'day, mate. And Roger at Denham Court. Hello, Roger.

Hey, mate. Gee whiz, boys, you've got to fire up. You've been at 200. Something, please. Righto. Roger, you're kicking us off. You ready? Let's go. Your time starts now. True or false, IKEA originated in Norway? False. Correct. Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel located at the Vatican? Michelangelo. Which direction does the sun rise, north, south, east or west? East. Correct. Which Nordic country is the largest island in the world?

Iceland. Greenland. Jamie Soward played 141 games for which club? St George. Correct. What year were the Athens Olympics held? 2004. Well done. Solid effort, Roger. Solid, solid effort. I should have said the most recent Athens Olympics. We could have gone back to 1901 or whatever the first one was. Daryl, you ready? Yes, yes. Righto. Fire up. Your time starts now. Which song by Men At Work has the lyrics, Travelling in a Fried Out Kombi?

Pass. Down under, the Austrian flag has two colours. What are they? Red and white. Correct. True or false? Whales have gills. True. False. What does IPA stand for in beer? Pass. India Pale Ale. Louis Armstrong was the master of which brass instrument? Trumpet. Correct. What's the main ingredient in Vegemite? Pass. Pass. Unfortunately, it's yeast. Darryl, it's yeast. All right. That's all right. Hey, Darryl.

Even though you weren't, I like the fact that you picked up the velocity and the enthusiasm as we worked through it. So I've got a double pass to Total Legends coming your way. It's a Sydney Coliseum at Rudy Hill. You've got Darryl Braithwaite, Baby Animals, Marsha Hines. It'll be a hell of a go, all right? Enjoy it. All right, thank you, thank you. You're welcome, Darryl. Double pass coming your way. And Roger, you've got the gold medal, 200 bucks of free petrol coming your way thanks to Shell V-Power. It is the jewel for fuel, and we play every afternoon here on Drive.

And now, a preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports. Thanks to Lowe's. 100% Australian owned. Still a family business. Lowe's. Over 200 stores nationwide. Or shop online at Lowe's. Mark Levy is in the house ready for another edition of Wide World of Sports. Coming up next, Levy, outstanding work. Continuous call. Olympics. You can do it also.

Thank you, mate. What about your dragons? Something. I spoke to Coach Flanagan this afternoon just to remind him of Nelson Osofa-Solomona's name because at his press conference he referred to him as Nelson Osofa-Mona. And Ben Hunt was bagging him yesterday on the continuous call team. And yes, we also bagged Coach Flanagan. He's a friend and he's also a colleague. So he was having a great chuckle. And I said, but in all seriousness, you must be really happy with how you're going. He said, oh, look,

We need to get better with our consistency because one week we're good, the next week we're not at the best of our ability. But if we make the finals, we might be able to do some damage. So Dragons fans, I think he deserves an enormous wrap. We only need to win three more.

Oh, you've done the maths? Please. I did the maths about 12 weeks ago. Did you tip the Dragons out of interest? I did. You did? I'm not like John Stanley. Yeah, John Stanley tipped the Melbourne Storm. Yeah, I know. Because he's tight and he wants to win. Well, he wonders why he doesn't get invited to official Dragons functions. I've said to him, this is the reason why. No loyalty.

You're a fair weather supporter. What's happening tonight? What's happening tonight? Track and field. We've got plenty happening. Jane Flemington will preview that for us. Jamie Dwyer will be on the program because the hockey ruse are our last remaining hope in hockey because the men, the Kookaburras, have been eliminated. We'll get the latest on the surfing as well because we've got an Australian in the semifinals. And Naomi Fox will be going around in the

kayak cross and we've got two other Aussies in action there as well. So another big night ahead. Very briefly, week or so to go of the Olympics. How many more gold? I reckon three. Good on you, Levy. We're looking forward to it. Fire up, son. That's Mark Levy coming up next with Wide World of Sports. That's it for me. I'll see you tomorrow at 3pm. Bye-bye.