2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full Show August 8 01:49:37

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. Lovely Thursday, isn't it? I hope it's been a good one for you. Beautiful, beautiful weather at the moment. Now, are you thinking of downsizing? Have you thought about downsizing at all over the last couple of years? And you've done the sums and you're worried about what it will do to your pension and how much tax you'll need to pay.

Well, we're going to dive deep into this one because I think that Australia needs to incentivise downsizes rather than disincentivise them. And Noel Whittaker, he'll join me to answer your questions on this one too. And if you live in Hunter's Hill or you live on the North Shore anyway, this is an extraordinary story.

Radiation doses over four times the legal level were detected during the clean-up of suburban blocks on the site of a former uranium refinery.

Was anyone's health at risk? And where did all the uranium waste go? We'll talk about that one in about half an hour's time. And there's also been a fresh development in the Karen Webb gin saga. All feels very juvenile to me, but I'll bring that to you. Heaps to give away. I've got a family pass to Cogger Oval for the Dragons and the Dogs game. Sold out Cogger Oval. I've got the last tickets to town if you want them. Family pass. $200 of free fuel plus tickets to the sea, Marsha Hines and

Daryl Braithwaite, right now, 17 degrees at Alambie Heights and 20 at Quakers Hill. It's 8.30 past 3, 131. 873 is the open line number. You can email me, drive at 2gb.com or send me a text, 0460 873 873. Well, if you're driving out of the city this afternoon, you might just want to double check where you're going because...

The scaffolding that fell from a construction site right onto an Australia post van on Pitt Street has caused problems right throughout the day. Now, nobody, thankfully, has been hurt. I don't know how. But Pitt Street has been closed to traffic for most of the day. They've got one lane open now. Nine News reporter James Wilson is across all the details for us and he's on the line. James, g'day.

G'day, Chris. Any news when the street will open up entirely for traffic? Well, we left around an hour ago and it was back to a single lane moving through there. So traffic is moving slowly through there, up Pitt Street towards Bathurst Street. It's a one-way road, but obviously SafeWork needs to step in. Police still need to investigate and those kinds of processes will need to take place. So while traffic is moving, it's not open at a full capacity, but...

I mean, a lot of your listeners may have seen those pictures by now. What an escape by these two Australia Post workers. Can you imagine driving along Pitt Street around 9.30 this morning and then bang, you know, tons of scaffolding falling right on the back of your van? They were only missed by a couple of centimetres, but these two guys...

managed to escape and Chris while we were down there this morning the driver's wife actually turned up to the scene though we were standing next to her and she ran up to the police checkpoint and said please please my husband my husband and uh yeah obviously police let her through and she she ran up to this man a man in his 50s and it was one of those just most incredible embrace of pure relief you'll ever see this husband and wife hugging each other

And, you know, obviously they both know that today could have been his last day on earth, judging by that van and just how close they came to, yes, to near death. So what happened with this scaffolding? How did it all come apart?

So we've been told that there is a luxury apartment development that sits above the Gadigal Metro train station. That is the entire site this happened on. And they were taking down some scaffolding this morning by a crane. And as they were detaching this scaffolding and ready to hoist it down on

on a crane, one of the ropes snapped. So half of this scaffolding set up has just toppled around 80 metres. It's kind of fallen down 80 metres. It's hit a big metal beam and then it's crashed on top of the Australia Post van and then obviously onto that, it's flipped onto the road. So yeah, it's fallen a great way and the damage is evident. You can just see how hard it's hit the van and the beam above. So you've been given no ETA on when streets will reopen?

Well, no ETA on when streets will fully reopen. As I said, there are, like, some traffic diversions in place and people in and around the city, but the main focus for police and SafeWork now is this investigation. The site, which is operated and run by CPB contractors, the same group who actually worked on the Roselle interchange,

that's been closed down now. It's been suspended. The workers have been told to go home. SafeWork will step in and they'll start doing what they need to do to work out how this happened and hopefully make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Good on you, James. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks, Chris. That's James Wilson from Nine News. Wait till you see the pictures. How no one died or at least got hurt is extraordinary. But yeah, in and around town, there is still some traffic issues because a whole bunch of lanes on Pitt Street are still closed. 131873. Well, listen to this one. So cybercrime detectives have now charged an additional two people for their alleged roles in sending out, wait for it,

More than 300 million fraudulent text messages. 300 million Australians were doing this. And this was sent through an SMS phishing scam. And it was targeting vulnerable Australians, according to the police. So the state crime command's cyber crime squad, with assistance from the Joint Policing Cyber Crime Coordination Centre...

and a whole bunch of other state law enforcement agencies, they effectively all got together to try and crack down on who was sending us all these dodgy text messages. Well, they detectives located and seized 26 SIM boxes. Now, these SIM boxes can house, I don't know, dozens and dozens of individual SIM cards and ping off text messages to thousands of people every couple of minutes.

They located thousands of mobile SIM cards, 500 mobile phones and gift cards, $166,000 in cash, two luxury cars valued at $330,000, and two men arrested in both Burwood and the CBD, aged 23 and 25, have been charged for their alleged roles in the phishing scam.

and they remain before the courts. And further investigations, strike force detectives attended a Burwood home today, arresting a 46-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman. They were taken to Burwood Police Station, both charged with deal with identity info to commit indictable offence and dishonestly obtain property by deception.

Now, in my view, obviously, this is all allegations. The courts will deal with them. But it is so obscene and so industrial in its scale now when it comes to fraudulent activity on the internet through mobile phones and through computers that I think that our governments probably need to think about

creating laws that really really make it impossible for people to take the risk here in Australia can't do much about the scammers from overseas but if people in Australia Australian citizens want to rip off their compatriots well they should go to jail for a very very long time and I'm unclear on what the alleged for the potential punishment for this alleged crime may be but I

I can probably guess that it's not quite going to fit community standards. Well, this Karen Webb scandal, if you can call it that, it is high farce. And I want to take issue with Rod Roberts. Now, Rod Roberts is a former police officer and a real estate agent.

who joined One Nation and is now an independent in the upper house of the New South Wales Parliament. And Rod Roberts is sort of the main pursuer of Gin Gate. That is, under parliamentary privilege, he said yesterday that the police commissioner, Karen Webb, ordered 100 bottles of gin on the taxpayer dime and she, as well as some of her staff, drank some of that gin.

Now the Commissioner came on this program yesterday afternoon almost immediately after Rod Roberts made those comments and she laughed at it. She said it was straight up wrong and she claimed that she bought 50 bottles of gin she never tasted the

the gin and she can account for where all of the bottles have gone and the register of that will be made public well rod roberts he was on with ben fordham this morning stretches the imagination that you would give a gift to visiting dignitaries and and and so forth of something that you've never tasted yourself wouldn't you want to make sure it was quality product before you handed it out with your name all over it rod gee you're stretching things here rod

Look, I haven't bought somebody a bottle of something as a gift and tasted it before I handed it over. I don't know what you do. Look, if you do that, sure. I'm just telling you it's weird, right? It's weird. And Rod, it's also okay to be wrong. It's also okay to put your hand up and say, you know what? I'm sorry I got it wrong. It wasn't 100 bottles of gin, like I said, under parliamentary privilege. It was 50.

And you also said under parliamentary privilege that the police commissioner and her staff drank it. Now, they claim they didn't, they didn't, and they have the records to prove that they didn't because all the bottles are accounted for. Now, as a former police officer, Rod Roberts, more than anyone, should know that evidence is king here because as Christopher Hitchens said, what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

So Mr Roberts, he then went on with Ben Fordham and he said that he used parliamentary privilege, not because he wasn't trying to be sued, because that under parliamentary privilege, you can't be sued for defamation. That wasn't the reason. The reason was a noble one. Of course, Rod Roberts, it was a noble one, was it? He wanted to get the bottom of it all.

I did hear a say that's quoted in an article. It might have been with Chris O'Keefe. Oh, yeah, this was said under parliamentary privilege. Well, it was. But Ben, if it wasn't for parliamentary privilege, I wouldn't have been able to raise these matters. You wouldn't have been able to speak about them. And we would never have heard from the LEC in relation to this at all. Hang on a second. Is that what we're doing now? You hear a rumour and just so that rumour can be ventilated publicly with zero evidence, you raise it under parliamentary privilege anyway.

Now that's not honourable. That is not how a parliamentarian should behave. It is reckless and it is deeply unfair. What's next here? Well, sorry Mr Speaker, sorry Mr President, I've heard a rumour that Mr and Mrs Blar had an illicit encounter with a goat. Is that what's going to happen now? Say that under parliamentary privilege and the consequence of that is Mr Barr and Mrs Blar are then forced to go public and say well we didn't have that encounter with the goat.

and then it's in the newspapers. It is just so absurd. Now the truth is this, Commissioner Webb did what former Commissioner Mick Fuller did and bought bottles of booze to hand out to dignitaries. I'm told Andrew Scipione probably did the same thing. Now to be honest, it might be a tradition, but it's a dumb tradition.

Surely a little police coin or something like that would be more than enough. And Karen Webb today, she's axed it. She says we're not doing that anymore. Well, it's a bit late for that now. But all of that is by the by. There are lots of dumb things that happen in government. Commissioner Webb used the same supplier as Mick Fuller. The supplier was a mate of hers.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission looked at all of this and said, "The evidence does not support a finding of serious misconduct. The Commission is satisfied that the purchase was in accordance with policy and procedures and Commissioner Webb should have raised the fact she knew the supplier when she found out." Big deal. Now, I'd say to Rod Roberts, you do some very, very good work in our Parliament. It's good you're there. But you need to stop playing the man instead of the ball. It's coming across as a bit nasty, to be honest.

Now, if you've got some stand-up scandal involving the police commissioner, go for it. But Gin Gate is not even close to that. Rod Roberts, you've done a magnificent job sticking up for our police when it comes to staffing, their numbers, their wages, their mental health, staffing arrangements, you know, the pressing issues facing our force.

And I would say to you, Rod Roberts, take a walk down Auburn Street in Goulburn, I know that's where you're from, and ask them what they would prefer you to be prosecuting in the parliament. Because I reckon the answer from them, given you're a real estate agent there for 10 years, you'd know this better than anyone. I don't reckon the gin is in their top 1,000 things they're worrying about.

131873. They're worried about police numbers. They're worried about their mental health. And when they answer the phone, triple zero, a police officer shows up when they need them. Now, they are the key topics that need to be ventilated and need to be interrogated. This gin thing is just farcical. 21 past three. It's 25 past three. 131873. Well, a succulent...

Chinese meal. Some sad news to share. He's an internet sensation, Jack Carlson. The man behind the iconic succulent Chinese meal has passed away at the age of 82. Gentlemen, this is Democracy Manifest. What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal? It doesn't ever get so old, does it?

Poor old Jack. 82 years old. Anyway, he became a household name after the footage of his infamous 1991 arrest outside of the Chinese Sea restaurant. It was in Brisbane. It went viral. And the story behind his infamous arrest, supposedly he was just having lunch with his mate. Valet. Jack Carlson. Valet. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB.

What do you make of this billion dollar pay rise for childcare workers? Now, on first blush I thought to myself, well, it's going to be difficult to argue against this, but I heard Michael McLaren's point before, and I think he was right. It sets a very dangerous, well the precedent's been set, but the principle itself says

Where do you stop? So effectively, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has given more than 200,000 childcare workers in the sector a combined 15% pay rise, about $100 a week.

And obviously there's some catches to it. The centres they work for need to limit fee increases to parents of 4.5% over the next 12 months. But regardless, 200,000 childcare workers will get a 15% pay rise or $100 a week. But it won't be the childcare centres paying the entirety of that pay rise. No, it will not be. It will be us, the Australian taxpayer.

So similar to aged care workers, it will be a subsidy from the federal government. If you want to think about it like this, it's JobKeeper targeted to a specific industry. Now, it's a wage subsidy. What do you make of this 131873? If you're in the hospitality industry with businesses falling over all over the place, do you put your hand up and say, Mr. Prime Minister,

We're really, really struggling here. We can't pay our staff anymore either. Can you give them a wage subsidy? You know, the dishes and the glasses and everybody else who earns a wage in those hospitality businesses. Now, to be honest with you, I am all for childcare workers and after-school care workers receiving a decent pay rise. They are paid nowhere near enough for the work they do. Likewise with our nurses. Likewise with our police.

and likewise with our aged care workers. So I can't argue against the pay rise coming via the federal government. I just worry about the principal and I'll think about all the other industries.

around the place who might be putting their hands up for a similar wage subsidy it won't happen because they're targeting child care workers for a reason still i took michael mclaren's point on board and i think he's absolutely spot on it was certainly food for thought 131873 just on the karen webb uh scandal mark says chris i was going to send you a bottle of grange as a gift

Figured I'd take a couple of swigs just to make sure the quality was okay. Mark's talking about Rod Roberts there with Ben Fordham earlier this morning to say it was strange that Karen Webb hadn't sampled the gin to make sure it was of particular quality before she handed it out to dignitaries. Well, I've never heard of anyone doing that before. You know, buying a case of beer for someone and taking two out of the box. Oh, mate, sorry about that. It's only 22 stubbies in there because I just had to make sure of the quality of it.

It was a very strange justification. 131873. In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. Advocates say a new pay deal for childcare workers will also have cost of living benefits for parents. The federal government will fund a 15% pay rise for the sector overall in return for providers limiting fee increases. Australia Post has confirmed two staff members...

have escaped injury when their van was crushed by part of scaffolding which fell in Sydney's CBD. Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will have his payout slashed by more than $9 million after a board-ordered review found mistakes during his tenure. And a humpback whale has been cut free after it became tangled in commercial fishing gear in waters near Coffs Harbour. In sport, Melbourne can take a big step towards securing the NRL Minor Premiership tonight when they take on South Sydney

Storm go into round 23 on top of the ladder. Two points clear of the Panthers. We'll have more news in sport at four. Thanks, Josh. 131873. Just on the childcare worker raise, Gary's called in from St Ives. Hi, Gary. G'day, mate. How you going? I'm good, thank you. What do you make of it, Gary?

Well, I've never seen anything more blatantly political in my... Well, I have, actually. Anyway, this is just another example. What Albanese has done is bribed all the childcare workers in Australia that they'll get their 10% in December 2024, and that comes from all taxpayers rather than the industry itself.

But if they want to get the extra 5% in December 2025, vote Labor next year. Otherwise, you don't get the extra 5%. Now, if that's not a blatant bribe, I don't know what it is. That's an interesting one, Gary, because there

There has been a bit of talk about whether or not pork barrelling constitutes corruption. Now, in New South Wales, ICAC made it pretty clear after the Berejiklian matter that pork barrelling could be considered corruption. Now, they've got an ICAC in Canberra now. I wonder if they'd be looking at that, Gary.

Well, there's no question in my mind, again, that pork barrelling is corruption because it's a bribe. But leaving that aside, there's no question that what Albanese has done here is to bribe all childcare workers. But the bad precedent about this, apart from, you know, simple corruption, is can the childcare industry actually sustain...

that sort of an increase. I mean... Well, the question's going to be, you make a good point, because what? And then you get inflation go up again. The childcare settings themselves, the facilities, they're not going to be able to put their hand in their pocket, or they won't, if they know that the federal government will end up doing it for them, right? Yeah, the increase is purely inflationary. Mm.

Good point, Gary. I really appreciate your feedback. 131873, have a good afternoon. Now, just a text here from Brad at Mossman. He says, several emergency vehicles heading on the Warringah Freeway near Camaray. That's Brad. Several emergency vehicles heading on the Warringah Freeway near Camaray. If you have seen them and you're in the car right now, give me a call, 131873. We'll chase that one up on our end.

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

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. It's 24 to 4. If you live in and around Hunter's Hill, I want to hear from you about this one because the site of a former uranium refinery has been cleaned up with over 3,000 cubic metres of contaminated material now removed in Hunter's Hill. Waterfront blocks too. Nelson Parade. It's been there for over 100 years.

And most people would have had no idea that there was nuclear waste sitting down on the waterfront in Hunters Hill. But the people on site during the clean-up were exposed, supposedly, to the equivalent of 4.5 millisieverts, which is classified as low-level radiation, and it's over five times the yearly limit prescribed by the Australia Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency.

Now, you'd be a bit worried if your kids had been playing nearby with all that nuclear waste. But all of it has now been transferred to a repository in Sandy Ridge in remote Western Australia, where it'll be permanently disposed of. And Nate Smith is the CEO of TELUS, and they're the company that's storing and disposing of this nuclear waste. And he's on the line. Nate, g'day. Hey, Chris. How you doing? I'm not too bad. How dangerous is this waste?

Look, the material, just to be clear, this is not what I think most people would think of as nuclear or high-level waste. And I think that's what most people think of when we use that term. So high-level or nuclear waste is stuff that's spent fuel from a nuclear reactor, for example. This type of waste is called low-level radioactive waste.

And it's not harmful just standing next to it, for example. It becomes harmful when you are close through prolonged exposure, which is why you obviously don't want houses on it. Maybe the best way to describe that is, you know, getting one x-ray isn't harmful, but getting 100 x-rays over time, you know, could cause cancer and other types of challenges.

So this type of low-level radioactive waste, though, is at the bottom end of the scale when it comes to harmful natures to human health and the environment. What's the background to this site?

Yeah, so this is one of those that it's about the expansion of Sydney. So uranium ore, and in particular radium, was stored on site around the turn of the 20th century, so I think before World War I. And it was used, I think, initially for some of Australia's first nuclear medicine processing. But the company that stored it on site went bankrupt in World War I. And as Sydney continued to expand,

this material eventually got buried over and development happened on top of it. So when was it identified that, okay, we need to clean this up?

Yeah, I think the community groups have been pushing for cleanups for this over the last decade, decade and a half. But, you know, the challenging part, I think, for New South Wales government is there really wasn't a solution until our company got approval for our site last year. And the only the only option for New South Wales government at that time was really export it overseas or find another place to temporary store it. OK, so what did you guys do with it?

- Yeah, so what we did is, we worked with the New South Wales government. I think the initial stockpile, as the report said, was actually exported overseas. But once our facility at Sandy Ridge got approval last January, we worked with New South Wales to excavate it safely.

And then that material was placed in large specialized bags by trained removal personnel. And to give you an example of the safety of these bags, Chris, I mean, what we used was actually, they were chosen to do the nuclear waste cleanup at Chernobyl for the Ukrainian war. So, I mean, we're always about need to go above and beyond. These bags were then checked by the Commonwealth's Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization. They're the ones that run the reactor in Sydney.

prior to leaving the site. And at that moment, they became the responsibility to tell us. We then worked with New South Wales and put in place a transport management plan and the waste was sent by trucks to Sydney's freight terminal. And then it was taken by train to Kalgoorlie, passing through South Australia and then into Western Australia. And then it was finally trucked to our facility in remote Sandy Ridge.

That waste was then disposed underground in our world-class geological repository where it's safe forever. Was there any sort of safety precautions you needed to take putting this stuff on the back of trucks and trains? And was there any potential for this to go wrong?

Well, first off, absolutely from a safety point of view, lots and lots of protections put in place. I think maybe one thing to step back and remember is waste like this, it moves fast.

It moves all over Australia every day. Stuff that's far more challenging from a safety perspective than chemicals travel all over Australia and through major cities daily as part of industry and mining. I mean, think about explosives like ammonium nitrate or even arsenic for certain processing. So compared to those materials that are trucked,

without alerting a lot of community. And this low-level radioactive material was pretty benign. But as we said, you know, we used bags that, you know, packaging that frankly was going to be used in the Chernobyl cleanup. So going above and beyond from a safety perspective, you know, we had the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organization overseeing it and it worked hand-in-hand with the New South Government to ensure it was moved safely. Nate, I appreciate you coming on. And the waterfront blocks at Nelson Parade, Hunters Hill are now closed.

What, radioactive free, you're calling it? It's a call for the EPA to make that final determination and give that sign-off, but we're proud to have worked with them to provide a safe transport and disposal option. Cool. That'll be good. Someone will put a $25 million house on there. Nate, appreciate your call. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thanks a lot, Chris. I really appreciate it. That's Nate Smith from TELUS Holdings. He's the CEO of TELUS and they deposit this stuff, radioactive material in Sandy Ridge, which is in remote Western Australia. It's fascinating to see how it's got from Hunter's Hill, all 3,000 cubic metres of this contaminated material on trucks through Sydney into our freight terminal on the back of a

A train across the continent and into remote WA. And now everything's fine in Hunters Hill. So the good burgers of the Lower North Shore, don't be concerned. Your nuclear waste has been disposed of. 17 to 4. It's 13 minutes to 4. Well, the ICAC, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption, it's put out a circular warning candidates who are standing at...

the council elections next month to refrain from weaponising ICAC. Now, this is when people effectively, most of the time, just make stuff up and then stand up there very piously and say, we've referred the matter against said candidate to the ICAC. And then it all of a sudden makes you think, well, is this guy corrupt or is this girl corrupt?

That's what the weaponising of ICAC is all about, and I've seen it time and time again. You know who loves a weaponising of ICAC? The Greens. It's one of their favourite pastimes.

Anyway, Chief Commissioner, the Honourable John Hatsitsagos, he's written to current councillors, registered political parties and registered candidates to advise and remind them of their obligations regarding integrity and to highlight important matters ahead of the election day on the 14th of September. And one of these is weaponising the commission.

And Chief Commissioner Hatzitsagos says this, quote, the weaponisation of the Commission for political advantage, whether it be via a referral or some other means, is inappropriate. Doing so, irrespective of whether there is a reasonable basis for such allegations, may cause political damage and such allegations should not be used as a weapon to level at a political rival.

This type of conduct, particularly when undertaken during an election campaign, leaves the ICAC with little time to adequately assess and then investigate the allegation and may also jeopardise the Commission's investigation opportunities where evidence may be destroyed. So ICAC says knock it off, don't do it. If you think someone's corrupt, send it to us in an email, keep it quiet, we'll look into it.

And, you know, they've got a fair record of exposing this stuff. And it's one of those things that's really got under my skin, a bit like using parliamentary privilege. You know, I'm going to refer you to the ICAC and then the Sydney Morning Herald or one of the newspapers dutifully writes, so-and-so referred to ICAC as your headline. And you think to yourself, well, hang on a second, is he corrupt or is he not? And when there's full-blown investigations underway, that's fair enough.

But if it's just a referral early on, it's always been a problem. 131873. Now, what do you think about this one? Give us a call, 131873. Because Anthony Albanese, there was a few rumours that he would be announcing a public holiday today.

to celebrate Australia's best ever gold medal tally. Do you agree with this? 131873, should Australia have a public holiday to celebrate our record beating 18 gold medals? So the previous gold medal record was 17. We've hit 18 and there were some rumours doing the rounds that Albo might pull on a public holiday.

Do you reckon we should? 131873. I noted on Sunrise, Matt Shervington, former Olympian himself, asked Anthony Albanese if a public holiday is on the cards. And the Prime Minister says...

I think your day's off for ones to negotiate with your management, and it doesn't sound like there is going to be a public holiday, but you tell me. Should we have one? 131873. If it was good enough for a potential Matildas World Cup win, a record-breaking gold medal haul at the Olympics, does that justify a public holiday? Live on 2GB, have your say. 131873.

It's nine minutes to four, 131873, just on the emergency vehicles heading on the Warringah Freeway near Camaray that Brad sent a text in about.

And it says this, quote, according to the police, they say there's two small isolated incidents. An automatic fire alarm went off at St. Leonard's where two fire trucks are responding. Meanwhile, in the Lane Cove tunnel westbound, there's been a two-car crash. No injuries have been reported. Two fire trucks are attending the scene.

So two pretty minor issues at the moment by the sounds of things, Brad. 131873. Well, Utah, the United States state of Utah, has outlawed books by Judy Blume and Sarah J. Maas. So they're among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries.

Now, supposedly they are containing indecent or pornographic material. These 13 titles by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur, Sarah J Maas. And 12 of the 13 books were written by women. There's a fantasy author. There's a whole range of stuff. But implementation guidelines from the state of Utah say...

that these books are pornographic or indecent in their material and schools and libraries must, quote, legally dispose of them and they must not be sold or distributed. Now, we're burning books by the sounds of things in Utah. Now, I don't know what's in the books. What Girls Have Made Of is one of them. There's a whole bunch of different titles here. It looks like fantasy and a bit of stuff like that. I don't know if it's the sound of all that.

And so what if it is? They're books, aren't they? 131873. I know they're big on their Mormonism in Utah, but banning books, really? In the land of the free? 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.

Good afternoon everyone, Adam Hawes here with an Olympic update. Discus thrower Matt Denny is waking up in Paris as an Olympic medallist. He won bronze in the final throwing 69.31 metres. Denny then took a swing at his critics. It's pretty crazy and I'm just thankful that people always backed me and to those who didn't think I was going to do it, eat it.

Day 13 of competition is getting underway with the women's marathon swim in the River Seine. Nia Jerwood and Connor Nicholas will sail for gold in the mixed dinghy medal race in Marseille later tonight. Diver Curtis Matthews will compete in the final of the men's three-metre springboard. And it's also a big night for our boxers. Charlie Senior and Caitlin Parker are both fighting in semifinals for a shot at the gold medal. To the medal tally in Australia's bumper haul of four golds on day 12,

has lifted us to third with 18. The USA leads with 27 ahead of China's 25. That's the latest from Paris. I'm Adam Hawes.

Good on you, Horsey. What do you reckon, speaking of the Olympics, a public holiday for our record-breaking gold medal haul? Russell's at Henley. G'day, Russ. G'day, mate. How are you going today? I'm good, thank you. You pro or anti it? I'm anti it, mate. I think, firstly, we get enough public holidays as it is. I don't get any accolades for everybody else going to the Olympics. And more the point, the workers here in this city really don't work

extremely hard. I mean, it's known that the average worker performs probably out of his eight hour day, probably performs about six or seven hours productively. So, you know, don't tell me we need another public holiday. My God. Good on you, Russ. I appreciate that. Quickly, Ken at Avalon, very briefly, pro or anti?

Anti-Chris, anti. We get enough public holidays. And the other thing is that Chris Minns has got something proposed for September for a march through the city for them on the weekend. That'll do?

Yes, that's sufficient. Good on you, Ken. Appreciate your call. 131873. I tend to agree. Coming up after the four o'clock news, I want to hear from you if you're considering downsizing or you have recently downsized, because I am convinced now that as a country, we need to encourage and incentivize it and not put taxes in front of people. Tell me your stories.

I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past four. Thank you for your company on this Thursday afternoon. 131 873 is our open line number. You can text me 0460 873 873 or if you prefer to email drive

at 2GB.com. Coming up, I want to hear your stories about downsizing. Have you thought about downsizing? Have you decided against it because it just doesn't make financial sense? As I said, I am convinced we need to incentivize downsizing.

rather than throw up roadblocks in the form of tax. Noel Whittaker, finance expert, he'll join me very shortly. If you've got any questions for Noel, give me a call, 131873. He might answer them for you. Also, vapes. I reckon we need to be much harsher on people who sell vapes to under-18s. But outside of that, it is clear the current policy regime is just not working.

Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. Well, have you heard this story? This would absolutely give me the heebie-jeebies if this happened to me. So it was intended to be a week-long trip to the International Space Station for the first NASA astronauts flying with Boeing

And that week-long trip might extend to eight months. Oh, no. So there's a technical issue with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. So you've got Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, and they're being stranded in space for over 60 days due to that technical issue. And it looks like...

They may well just leave them up there for eight months. A decision on whether to continue with Boeing's troubled Starliner, which experienced serious propulsion issues and helium leaks on its June mission to the orbital platform, the International Space Station. They're worrying, thinking about, well, is it worth it? And, well, maybe we just need to send up a SpaceX mission.

to rescue them. But the spacecraft won't be ready until February 2025. You can't call an Uber from the International Space Station. So poor old Butch and Suni, they've gone up to, oh, this will be nice. We'll go to the International Space Station for a week. Sorry, the Boeing Starliner you're in has got many, many problems. And those many, many problems might not be able to be rectified.

And we might have to send one of Elon masks and spaceships up to grab you. And we can't get it to you until February 2025. Dear, oh dear. 131873. Now just on downsizing, have you ever thought of downsizing your house?

It's something we hear a lot about these days, especially from younger generations. My generation, you know, people have got young families. They need a family home and there's so few of them on the market because there are people who are in their family homes, the four or five bedders. They've paid them off. They don't necessarily need to be in there. The kids and all the rest of it have moved out, but it doesn't make financial sense to get out of those big family homes.

And there are younger generations, not me necessarily, but they are saying that baby boomers specifically are being selfish by sitting in these massive properties after their children have moved out. And I think Nine News' finance editor, Chris Kohler, he covered the issue really well in a video he posted on Instagram last week.

You boomers are so f***ing greedy sitting in an empty five bedroom home in the middle of a housing supply crisis. I agree. It's crazy. So sell your big house and move somewhere more appropriate. Well, right now the value of that house doesn't get counted towards the pension. And if I sold, I'd have to put the money into a bank account or into super where it is counted. And I'll have to pay quite a lot of transfer tax on the smaller house I buy.

No, no, I'm sorry. Just take the win. You're coming at millions of dollars on top. True, but I don't know how long that's going to last. I mean, a million bucks isn't that much money anymore and I want to live till I'm like 100, which could mean quite a long time in expensive aged care. But the government says most people are dying with 90% of their wealth left unspent, so you guys are stockpiling. Yeah, well, we are definitely being too cautious, but whatever's left over just goes to my kids, tax-free. I guess we'll just...

wait for you guys to die and then the rich people's kids can pay off their mortgages. Yeah, that's what the system's designed for right now. I'll be honest, I thought something funny was going to happen in this video. No, no, this topic's pretty grim. He's right, Chris Collar, who does some great work on Nine News. The truth is, there are very few incentives to downsize. So when you add in all the hassle of selling your place,

And then finding a new home, potentially in a new area, finding an area you like after living there for decades and decades. Then having to pay stamp duty on the next place. And then worrying about whether or not you'll get a pension. Then worrying about where you're going to put the windfall, if it will impact your superannuation, how much tax you've got to pay on it. Is it any wonder that people just say, you know what, I'm just going to stay put. Well, Noel Whittaker is a personal finance expert and he joins me live. Noel, g'day.

Chris, great to be with you. It's an interesting issue, isn't it? Is it too difficult to downsize in Australia, in your view? Well, I think there are many issues. I mean, the government's made it clear that you're expected to use all your resources to keep you. And the average superannuation balance is only around $230,000. So people may well need to downsize or take out a reverse mortgage just to live for the last years of their life.

And also, I mean, I can't see the wealthy baby boomers' houses being suitable for the first homebuyers either. No, it's people sort of in their mid-30s, early 40s who've had a couple of houses and are moving up the ladder and they need more space for their growing families. But do you think that there's a policy shift that needs to occur here to incentivise downsizing?

Well, they've tried to do it. I mean, Hockey Board in the downsizing laws at 65, and that's been dropped back to 55 now. That means you can downsize and put $300,000 each into super irrespective of your age over 55 or your superannuation balance, if that's appropriate.

But one of the – well, first of all, there's the cost. There's about $100,000 to move. And secondly, as you said out, if you convert a $2 million property and you're on the full pension to a $1 million property, you lose your pension. That's worth about $40,000 a year. But I think there's other issues. One of the main factors in living happily when you're older is a social network.

And the last thing you want is to be living alone in a big, empty old house. Most people are better off to move to a retirement village where there's a ready-built social network. Noel, what are some of the barriers for people that you speak to? Look, I'm thinking about downsizing, but I just don't know if it'll work financially for me.

Well, I think they're scared. I mean, most people like where they are in their own area. And they think, well, if I go somewhere else, I mightn't fit. And also, if you suddenly go from a house to an apartment, you may find yourself very lonely with no friends. So there's a whole stack of unknowns with this. And of course, the longer you put it off, the harder it gets. And then, of course, when one person dies, it's extremely difficult.

What about the stamp duty on the other end? There's a reluctance there? Lots of factors. Sure it is. It's another factor. But I've never heard that as being the main factor. Sure. What do you think the government could do, in your mind? Well, there's been talk about making the proceeds exempt from Centrelink for a certain time. I think that would help. I think that would help. Stamp duty, it's a state tax. Each state would have to have their own rules on this one.

There are no easy answers here, Chris. Do you think it's unfair that people are targeting, you know, people in their late 60s, early 70s, kids have moved out, they're in a four or five bedroom home, it's probably surplus to requirements. Is there sort of a jealousy there, Noel?

I don't think so. I think people, most kids are supportive of their parents. They'll say, well, you've worked all your life, you're entitled to it. What's happening now is there's a big reverse mortgage market where you stay in your house and you take a mortgage against your house. Now, if you've got a $2 million house and take a $100,000 mortgage,

Okay, it'll double every eight or nine years, but the growth in the house will far exceed the way the mortgage is growing. Hey, Noel, I really appreciate it. I think someone needs to take a proper look at it. As you said, there are no easy answers here, but maybe just one or two ideas might be nice. It's been looked at many, many times. I mean, the retirement income reviews cover this in detail. It's looked at over and over. They just can't find the right solution. Is that a political solution?

Well, it's just a difficult solution. I mean, if you take off stamp duty, then you're going to make every house pay land tax, as they're doing in Canberra. Of course. All these things, there are no easy solutions. That's the point. People need to think before they act. Good on you, Noel. Noel, I appreciate it. I enjoy your columns and your books are sensational. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thanks, Chris. That's Noel Whittaker. He's a personal finance expert. 131873, what's your experience with downsizing? Have you thought about it and gone, yeah? Do you think that as Australians we need to incentivise it or encourage it to get some of these bigger homes into the markets to young families to use them properly?

Or is it a matter of hands off my property? You tell me 131873. Plenty of texts here. Tony says, Chris, in regards to downsizing, it would cost around $100,000 in real estate fees and stamp duty. If you were retired, why would you waste that sort of money?

Got on your Tony wall? If you cash in a big property, you could probably get a windfall of sort of $4 or $5 million, or maybe $1 million, depending on what it is, but it's going to be substantial, the capital gain, when you realise it. Here's another thing. Chris, if you downsize to a unit, then you need to start paying massive strata fees. Where are the two-bedroom houses? Stop being a communist, jealous of old people with property. Buy your own house. I'm not jealous, I'm just raising it. You know, we're all in it together, aren't we?

Us, the people who need family homes, are likely your kids or grandkids. 131873. Give us a call. Have you thought about downsizing? What's your experience been like with it? I'm a communist now, am I? 18 past four. It's 22 past four. I've got Jodie who's called in on the Central Coast. Hello, Jodie. Hello.

What's your experience been with downsizing? Well, we've just sold a five-bedroom house and we're waiting for our apartment to be built. We've paid $40,000 in real estate fees and we've got to pay $30,000 in stamp duty. Did you think to yourself when you sold the five-bedroom house, is it worth it, you know?

Yeah, we did, but the gardening was worth moving. But yeah, no, it's, you know, it was just too big. There were so many empty rooms and, you know, going to be beautiful. We're just going to travel, but it is a lot of money, 70 grand out of your money. And as you're getting older, like you say, you know, we're going to be retiring, all that sort of stuff. So it's just,

Yeah, a lot of money to pay for a better lifestyle, I guess. I agree. Good on you, Jodie. I appreciate that. I think that's where the question's at. It's not forcing people to move. You don't have to move. If you don't want to leave, don't leave. The thing is, if you're thinking about leaving, taxes and financial barriers should not stop you from doing that. That's my view. 131873. Who have I got here? Bert at Quakers Hill. G'day, Bert. Hi there, Chris. How are you, Bert? What's your story?

Well, same as Jodie. I paid nearly $70,000 for all the taxes and such. I've got a five-bedroom house and there's only two of us living there. It's too big, too much cleaning. And I'm moving to a two-bedroom unit at Tellawal, which is near the metro. And it'll just be great. I can take the metro, pay $250 and go anywhere I want. That sounds like life. But Bert, did you feel...

Do you feel a little bit sort of torn about leaving your big family home? Yes. I mean, there's a lot of memories there. You know, I've lived there since...

1995 and you know and so yes there's a lot of memories and you know and the downsizing the cleaning up I mean I've got that many clothes that I didn't realise I had so all that has to go somewhere I call them the skinny suits you know they cost you too much but you go I'll get down to that weight again I'll get into that suit again never happens does it Bert I appreciate your call 131873 I've got Grant who's called in from Windsor G'day Grant

G'day, Chris, mate. I'm so fired up about this. My parents lived in a large home in the Hills District. They bought the land and they built through hard work and perseverance. They built a beautiful big family home on it.

They paid it off. They had no mortgage by the time Dad was in his early to mid-40s. Now that they've retired, my mum's got dementia a few years back and had to go into a nursing home. Up front, oh, mate, we lost our dad two years ago, but he was in for a number of years, and my dad had to come up with almost half a million dollars deposit just for the room. Now, feed down size, this is a different aspect on the whole thing. If he'd downsized to a little unit somewhere and had used the money on holidays and whatever else,

they would have had no money to put mummy in a nursing home. So that's one aspect of it that a lot of people don't look at as you get older in years. And in all reality, how many young people are whinging about this? They're probably driving around in a five-seat van, car, no kids in the back seat. They're complaining that these houses are empty.

There's no way a young couple would be able to spend $3 million on a big family home in the Hills District anyway. So what are they complaining about, mate? It sounds like jealousy is overrunning their emotions. Yeah, there's a bit of that, Grant. And look, your father is not in this situation. No one should ever be forced out of their home, right?

But there's dead set some people like Bert, who lives in Quakers Hill, since 1995, he's paid it off, five bedrooms, doesn't need that many, surplus to his requirements. My point is the government should not throw up taxes, issues with pensions and financial roadblocks to stop people making that decision. Whether they make that decision is entirely up to them, entirely up to them, as it should be, because that's how property law works, right?

But I've just got an issue with the government taking a clip on the way through. Well, what about... You were only talking last week about all these strata title fees done. The couples like those that move into a nice little home near the metro. He's paying $400 a quarter this year.

Next year he's paying $3,500. Yeah, sure. They can't be everywhere they can. Every which way they can. And I don't begrudge people for... But people make decisions based on their own lifestyle. And ultimately, we've got a housing crisis and we've got to use the houses to the best of our ability. And, you know, mate, people like your father, you shouldn't be forced to move...

Any day. Any day. But if he wants to, they shouldn't tax him on the way through. Good on you, Grant. Appreciate your call. 131873. It's a very good sort of devil's advocate play on that. Sally's at Wynne-Malee. Hello, Sally.

Hi, Chris. My husband and I moved from Canberra up to the mountains 14 years ago, and we just intended to be in this house for a long time. Sadly, he died just on 12 months ago. Sorry, Sally. And the house is much too big for me. I'm overwhelmed with the garden and that. But

I'm happy to downsize, but, boy, it's hard to find anything. I have two dogs, so I can't go into a retirement village. There's very few up here, and I'm a self-funded superannuit, so I don't get any pension. But if I use some of my money from the super...

then that reduces the amount of income I have coming in. It does, darling. It does.

And I've only got a certain amount that I can put back into super if I make money on what I'm buying. I haven't even looked at what the, you know, taxes I have to pay on the house. But I could see how we just think, well, it's not worth it. It reduces how much you then have.

If you could find something, Sally, and I'm sure that's a big if, right? If you could find something that suited your requirements and the government removed all of those barriers in terms of your pension, in terms of your superannuation contributions, would you make the decision to downsize?

Oh, yes. Yes, definitely. I mean, you know, I'm hoping to live for, well, another 15 years or something, hopefully, and I've got to live on what I have in my superannuation account. As I said, I can't rely on the government. So, yes, it would make a huge difference.

All right, Sally, I really appreciate your call. Thank you so much. And I think Sally is case in point as to what I was trying to say through this segment in that people have got big houses. They want to make a decision because it doesn't suit them. It's a decision that you make in and of yourself. It's not something trying to grab your property. It's just you saying to yourself, my life situation has changed. I would like a smaller, more manageable property yet.

The tax arrangements, the superannuation arrangements, the pension arrangements makes it all too difficult. Now, if we're in a housing crisis, aren't we supposed to be creative and make the transfer of property as seamless and easy for people as possible? Don't hear many people talking about downsizing, do you, when it comes to our state and federal politicians? Maybe it's high time they did. In the newsroom, Josh Bryan. G'day. Good.

Good afternoon, Chris. Two more people have now been charged by police over their alleged roles in a scheme sending hundreds of millions of fraudulent text messages. Battery-powered devices will be subject to tougher safety standards from next year by the state government's effort to reduce the risk of fires. The police commissioner has now axed the practice of using taxpayer funds to buy alcohol for gifts and hospitality as she faces questions over the purchase of 50 bottles of gin. And pop star Vanessa Amorosi has won a

bitter property dispute in court with her estranged mother over the ownership of two properties. In sport, the women's marathon swim is reaching the halfway point at the Paris Games. The two Australian swimmers currently in second and third. We'll have more news in sport at five.

Good on you, Josh. 131873. Coming up, Theo Ficarre will join me. He's the CEO of the Convenience Store Association. You should see what this inquiry has said in terms of the punishment for shop owners that sell vapes. The punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime. That next.

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.

Well, I've spoken about vapes plenty of times on this show. Lots of people vape, right? I used to be a vaper and a smoker. Thankfully, not anymore. But, jeez, it was hard to get off. Still, the government's decision to ban them, it's all well and good. But, as I've said time and time again, when the horse bolts, how do you expect to put it back in the stables?

Now, you can walk into any corner shop still in Sydney and pick up as many vapes as you like. It's not hard. We all know that. And a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into vapes has handed down its report. And while it's not good, it's not surprising either. Now, according to the report, the stores selling these illegal vapes are getting away with it because state laws aren't harsh enough to stop them.

Now, everybody who's got, anybody who is sound of mind understands that we can't allow kids under the age of 18 easy access to vapes. It's bad, right? Just like easy access to alcohol or cigarettes is also bad for kids under the age of 18.

But these things are just so easy to get. And the high school kids are just popping down to the local convenience store asking for them. Minute later, they're out with vape in hand. I'm sure you've seen it all the time. And we can't ask the New South Wales police to effectively tackle the issue by running around trying to enforce it.

So how can you take down vapes when it's already ubiquitous? Well, Theo Fakari, he's the chief executive officer at the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, and he's on the line for a CEO G'day. Hey, Chris, thanks for having me on. This all seems extremely, how can I say, in vain, the efforts the government is trying to do.

Yeah, look, it's extremely frustrating. I mean, most of the recommendations that the inquiry has put forward are exactly what we've outlined to not only this government, but the prior government. We've been calling for these recommendations to come into place for more than three years now. We've highlighted to them that these issues are going to continue to mount and become worse.

And that's exactly what we've seen, not only in New South Wales, but around the country. And unfortunately, in New South Wales, the current fine system is $1,650 if you're caught breaking the law. I mean, they might as well just send them a fine every week because it's the cost of doing business for these guys.

The people behind running these illegal stores, selling illegal product, they couldn't care less about the Federal Health Minister Butler's new legislation banning at retail. They couldn't care less about these very weak fines that are imposed on them should they get caught. And, you know, the most frustrating part with all of this is that

They've been warned. And retailers, responsible retailers that employ Australians, that only sell regulated products, really have played an important role in controlling access of Australians

age-restricted product to only adults, so keeping it out of the hands of kids. Smokes is one of those and alcohol is another, as you rightly pointed out. And the fact that the state government has firstly, one, taken so long with this inquiry and ignored the calls for change. And secondly, I mean, the new federal laws have been in place for over a month now and

And we've effectively heard nothing. We haven't had hundreds of stores closed down. We haven't had hundreds of stores raided. We haven't had any criminal convictions put in place. Have any of your members been fined? No. Right. So there's not been a single member of yours convening in stores who said, hey, Theo, we just copped a fine for the vaping situation. None. Absolutely not. And look. What is the point of it then?

Bear in mind, Chris, the retailers that we represent overwhelmingly have not sold illegal products. It's all of these. So they tell you. Well, so they tell me, yes. But ultimately, I haven't had any reports of any of our retailers that we represent. And we represent the whole petrol and convenience industry in terms of retail in New South Wales. We haven't had one report of a fine. True.

Well, it feels to me that the whole thing's futile. And, you know, well, they're good for a headline, realistically, outside of having police knocking on doors or border force raiding shops. For what? A handful of vapes? That's not going to happen. How does one put the genie back into the bottle? You can't, can you?

Chris, I think the solution is pretty simple and the federal coalition have announced, should they get back into government, a policy that is very similar to what we've been calling for. Let's make it regulated. Let's put a proportionate tax on it. Let's make it available to adults through responsible licensed retailers. Let's put in place massive fines for anyone caught selling to children. And let's get rid of these flavors that actually target children, but not

make it only available in three flavours that no adults like because everything that, I mean, a system can't be designed to make it unattractive to adults, which, let's be clear, the vast majority of Australians, now nearly two million adults, they actually like flavours. But should they be able to buy cotton candy or bubble gum? Doesn't matter, mate.

Absolutely not. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, right? Vapes are a vehicle for nicotine. Cigarettes are a vehicle for nicotine. Cigars are a vehicle for nicotine.

And, you know, roll-up cigarettes are a vehicle for nicotine, all of which, outside of vapes, are legal, are regulated and are taxed. Is there any difference with vapes? Not. No, in my opinion. And I'm pleased that Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party seem to agree with us. Theo, I've got to run, but I appreciate you jumping on.

Thanks so much for the time. Chris, talk to you soon. You're very welcome. That's Theo Ficarra. He's the Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Association of Convenience Stores. What do you reckon? 131873. Well, surely if people are caught selling these things to kids, there should be huge fines, not $1,300. You know, who's that going to scare? Inside Word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

It's 18 minutes to five, and if you're a Dragons supporter or you're a Bulldogs supporter, listen up. And the Dragons win their first since 1979. Win the Saints, girl. Henry's birth, my marriage to Vonnie, my wedding day, and of course, the 2010 NRL Grand Final. Top three days of my life.

So my mighty St. George Illawarra Dragons are hosting the Inform Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs this Saturday at Cogger Oval, right? 8 verse 5th, you can't get a ticket.

I've got four tickets to give away right now. So the game is sold out. I've got a family pass to watch the Dragons versus the Bulldogs, 7.30pm at Cogger Oval on Saturday night. And there is no better place on earth to be than a packed out Cogger Oval. The place will be absolutely humming, especially for the King George's Road Derby, the Dogs and the Dragons. So how am I going to give away this today? It's going to be a little bit like the duel for fuel.

But we're going to call it the Dragon's Den. I'm going to have three questions to two people. Whoever gets the most right in their tranche of questions will win the tickets. 131873. 131873. If you want to go watch the Doggies versus the Dragons at Cogger Oval on Saturday night, you can't get tickets any other way. Call me now.

Now when the saints go marching in, now when the saints go marching in, Lord, I want to be in that number. Here comes Trumme Young and his trombone wailing.

It is 12 minutes to five and I have the last tickets. The last tickets, final tickets, four of them to Cogger Oval for the game against the Dogs and the Dragons on Saturday night. Eighth versus fifth.

First time potentially either club's played finals footy for a long, long time. A little bit of success with the blue and whites and the red and whites. It's good to see, isn't it? Now, it's going to be a quiz to see who takes away the family pass. Mark's at Wollongong. G'day, Mark. G'day, Chris. How you doing? You a dragon or a dog? I'm a dragon, mate, all the way. Good boy. Tim's at Maryland. G'day, Tim. G'day, Chris. How are you, mate? Dragon or a dog? A mighty red V. Good, man. All right.

This is good, I'm giving it to good people. That's what matters, right? So either Tim wins or Mark wins, doesn't matter. We're giving it to good people. There's no Bulldog supporters allowed in the quiz this afternoon. Hey Tim, you're going first. You ready? Yeah, rock and roll. Whoever gets the most questions, you get three each. Whoever gets the most right, wins the tickets. Question number one. Which Dragons player was known as Puff the Magic Dragon? He played in the 11 in a row.

Billy Smith. Nah, it was Reg Gazzanier, Puff the Magic Dragon. Who's the all-time leading try-scorer for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs? Played in that unbelievable 2004 side. Azamil Mazri. 100%. Well done. There's one. Question number three. Brett Morris played 172 games for the Dragons. How many tries did he score? 114 or 105?

105. 114. No, Tim. Mark, you ready? I'm ready. They're hard questions. They are. What year did the Bulldogs last make the top eight? 2015. Ooh, 2016, Mark. You've got to get these two to win. In the 2010 season, who was the Dragons' leading point scorer? Uh...

He kicked a lot of goals. Yeah, I was going to say the kicker. Coach of the women. Oh, what's his name? He's on the continuous call team. Jamie Sauer, Jamie Sauer, Jamie Sauer. In the year 2000, a Dragons player won the Dallium medal. Who was it? These are hard. These are hard. 2000. 2000. 2000.

10 seconds. No part. Trent Barrett, one all, boys. One all, right? All right, we're going to Golden Point. So, Tim and Mark, you there, Tim? You ready? Yeah. Your names are your buzzers. So, when I ask the question, whoever yells out their names first gets to answer it. You answer it correctly, you win the tickets. You ready? Yep. What year did the Dragons merge Illawarra and St. George? What year was it? Mark. Mark. 99...

Mark? 1990, 1999. Tim, you want to have a go? 1998. It was 1998, Tim. Well done. First season, 99. They merged in 98. Tim, four tickets to Cogger Oval coming your way. Mark?

You can watch them down at Wollongong. You're in Wollongong. You can watch them plenty of times. Go the Mighty Dragons. Breathe fire. Sold out ground at Saturday night against the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. It will be absolutely rocking. I'd give the Princess Highway a miss on Saturday if I was you.

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 an Olympics update. Round two of the women's golf gets underway next hour. Hannah Green is well off the pace at five over, while fellow Aussie Minji Lee will tee off at one under.

That puts her six shots off the lead but Minji says she's still chasing a podium finish. Oh of course, I really want it more than anything so yeah I think try to make some birdies early and see where it sits me. Among the highlights for day 13 will be on the track Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith competing in the semi-finals of the 1500 metres.

The men's and women's 4x100 relay teams will also be in action in the heats. Our women's beach volleyballers will take on Brazil to move into the gold medal match. The Stingers will meet three-time defending Olympic champions, the USA, in the women's water polo semifinals. And diver Curtis Matthews will go for gold in the men's three-meter springboard.

Early on day 13, the US leads the medal tally with 29 gold. The Aussies are third with 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze. I'm Adam Hawes. That's the latest from Paris. That Paris 2024 medal tally was thanks to NRMA Insurance, a help company.

Good on you, Horsey. Now, I don't know if you are one of the people that have a streaming platform, a streaming service, your Netflix and the like, and then share passwords with your friends and family. You might be a beneficiary of one of the shared passwords. Well, Disney Plus users, Disney Plus has said they will be cracking down on password sharing.

And its CEO has said the service will begin rolling out password measures in most countries outside of the United States from September. So the CEO said this, we've been talking a lot about adding the technology features that we need to, to basically make it a higher return, higher margin business and a more successful business. And we started our password sharing initiative in June and that kicks in, in earnest, in September.

We've had no backlash to all the notifications that have gone out and to the work that we've been already doing. So I know Netflix have been cracking down on it too. And most of the streamers are starting to crack down on password sharing.

Will it work? Maybe. Or will other people just find more resourceful ways to get their streaming for free? Ultimately, you've got to pay if these companies are to make the content that you want to watch. But whenever there's an opportunity to get something for nothing, somebody will be trying to do just that. Five to five. The five o'clock news with Josh Bryant is coming up very shortly. You know, Tenacious D and the comedian Jack Black are

They had that problem, what, a couple of days or maybe the day when Donald Trump had that attempted assassination where they made a joke about how it's a shame that someone missed. Anyway, he's back, Jack Black, and he says that the comedy rock duo Tenacious D will return because they cancelled their world tour after those controversial jokes.

And he made those jokes at their Sydney consonant, but he said, they'll be back. Don't worry about that. On the other side of the five o'clock news, we'll cross to Paris. It is an absolute gold rush. Our best Olympics ever.

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

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past five. Thank you for your company on this Thursday afternoon. 131 873 is our open line number. The email address is drive at 2gb.com and the text line if you prefer that 0460 873 873. Plenty to get through this hour. I'll speak to Andrew Joey Johns. He'll give us a

A preview of the round of the NRL this weekend. It's going to be very important when it comes to those top eight calculations. And we'll also check in with Mark Levy and see how things are fronting up for the Olympics coverage tonight. Can Australia win even more gold? The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Well, it's been an unbelievable 24 hours in Paris. Our Olympians picking up four gold medals overnight and it's made Paris 2024 the most successful Olympic Games ever for our Australian Olympic team.

What a wonderful achievement. Beating the record of 17 gold medals from the 2004 Athens and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Paris 2024, we are sitting on 18 gold medals. Australia's most successful. And sitting number three on the medal tally behind the United States and China. Hell of an achievement.

Well, our very own Clinton Maynard is live in Paris. He's at the Seine River. The women's marathon swimming is currently taking place. So just looking up now. There's an Aussie in front, Clinton. G'day.

Well, yes, she's dodging the pollution. And Moesha Johnson is currently leading the women's marathon open water swim. We're at 7.6 kilometres into this race. It is a six lap race of a course through the Seine, runs for 10 kilometres. She has been in the lead pack for the whole race within the top three. She actually is in the lead at the moment. It is only a lead of

1.2 seconds but from my knowledge of open water marathon swimming Chris often these races come down to a few seconds despite the fact they run for upwards of one hour 50 usually and

They often come down to a very, very close finish, but she is well in contention. Her Dutch rival sitting in second spot, she was actually the favourite head into this, so she has a challenge on her hand. The other Aussie's actually been swimming really well as well. Chelsea Kubek is back in seventh position, 22 seconds off the pace at the moment, but she's been running in the top three as

As well. There were water quality tests again done in the last 24 hours because, of course, training couldn't happen in the River Seine because of all the pollution. But the analysis of the water declared that the water was safe to swim in. It's certainly safe today, Chris. The issue for the swimmers will how they feel in the next three or four days' time.

Stop it. I've got to tell you, though, Chris, it is a wonderful city. It's absolute blue skies. It's just after nine o'clock here in Paris, so the temperature hasn't risen here. There are tens of thousands of people watching this race. There are people in paid seats. There's lots of people...

who were lining the river, lining the bridges over the Seine, really enjoying it. So I can understand why Paris was desperate for these triathlons and marathon swims to take place here because the backdrop is breathtaking. The problem is if the swimmers end up sick in three or four days' time, they might not be particularly happy. But if Misha has a gold medal hanging around her neck, she probably won't care. Now, what about this bloke, the hockey player who was arrested trying to buy cocaine? What's the latest there?

Yeah, and apparently did try to do a bit of a run-up as well. Yesterday, he spent 18 hours in police custody. Now, that's not usually the way it works for people who are picked up in possession of drugs on the streets of Paris. Usually, there's an on-the-spot fine. They can go to court and cop a fine of a few thousand dollars or a few thousand euros. Usually, it's an on-the-spot fine of 150 euros. But he was taken back to the police station

He was in there for 18 hours. There were various delays, but he ended up appearing before a judge. And Hockey Australia and the Australian Olympic team management say the judge and the way he was treated by the police was very good and very fair. He was let off with a warning, no fine, but obviously a hell of experience for him. He put his hand up when he faced the press last night, our time.

and said he'd made a terrible mistake. He had embarrassed us all. It is not a reflection on his family or the team. The issue is going to be what sort of disciplinary action, because he's put his hand up and admitted to buying this cocaine on the streets from a dealer who was also arrested, what sort of disciplinary action can be taken? Well, in terms of the Olympic Committee itself and Anna Mears, the chef of the mission, not too much, because competition had finished...

and he actually left the village. So he doesn't come under the control effectively of the AOC. He was not planning to go to the closing ceremony. If he was, Anamir says he would not be allowed to. So any disciplinary action now comes from Hockey Australia and their code of conduct. It is likely that once he gets back home, he will face some sort of hearing, but he's actually going to play some professional hockey in Germany to start with. Just leave him alone. That'll do. He's embarrassed himself. Leave him alone. That'll do.

Anyway. He's a lawyer as well. Yeah, just let him get on with his life. You know, that'll do. Let's talk about the four gold medals. That's all we want to talk about. Now, you've covered lots of Olympics. You've covered lots of Olympics, Clinton. Watching those roll in, it must have got even you excited.

You know, I covered the 2012... Well, I do go back to Sydney, but I covered the 2012 London Olympics. And the big drama of the London Olympics from the Australian point of view was it took us into... It was into the second week before we jagged a gold medal. And it was Adam Ears herself and Sally Pearson as well on the track. And there was such a weight. We got two on one night. And it was so exciting because two golds on one night.

We won four yesterday in one day. 17 overall. It tops Tokyo. It tops Athens. It tops every Olympics we've ever been to. And to see Nina Kennedy in the pole vault last night...

You know, we don't, in the modern era, have the best record when it comes to track and field. But to see her win gold, and that came a couple of days after we won silver and bronze in the women's high jump, and that took us to the 18 gold medals, which topped the previous record of 17, was wonderful. Great night in the velodrome as well with the men's pursuit team. We knew we were going to win either a silver or gold.

or gold there. They haven't won that race for 20 years. And this is what is disappointing in regards to the cocaine story. Anna Mears, of course, is an Olympic gold medal winning champion. She desperately wanted to be at the Velodrome last night. She couldn't be there because she was dealing with the fallout from the cocaine drama with Tom Craig. So many would view this as a minor offence, but

She had to take it pretty seriously, and that meant she wasn't there to see those boys win gold, which was a shame for her. But no doubt, fabulous performance at the Velodrome. A lot of world records falling there as well, and there could be more medals to come there. Aideen, are we going to stop there? What's your prediction?

Look, Shane McGuinness, who's covering the canoe for us today, reckons we're a chance at some medals in canoe, potentially this morning at the rowing centre. Today looks like a reasonably quiet day. Don't expect that we're going to come away with four gold medals. But look, I'm here at the open water swimming still. Don't rule out a gold medal here. We have chances in water polo. Our men's and women's water polo teams are doing well. The Opals, they play, they're going to play for medals. So we are a big chance, potentially, if maybe, top expectations,

Topping 20. Imagine that. Extraordinary. Good on you, Clinton. Enjoy it. You've done some extraordinary work. We appreciate your time. Thanks, Chris. That's Clinton Maynard, Nine's Olympics reporter over there live from Paris. I'm just looking up. Yeah. Moesha Johnson, the Australian in the marathon swimming. What has she done? So she's been swimming for an hour and 45 minutes. She's on lap five of six. So she's in the final stretch.

And she is two seconds ahead. Is it two seconds? Oh, maybe not. But she's just ahead of her nearest rival, I think is a Dutch swimmer. So Moesha Johnson, we might have another gold medal before the hour's out. Of course, we'll keep you up to date with those developments. Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Now, what do you think of cultural appropriation?

You know, dressing up as Indians in Cowboy and Indians or having Rastafarian dreadlocks, wearing Indian saris, that kind of thing. Now, there are some groups that say that cultural appropriation is highly offensive. They hate this stuff. Mind you, sometimes they're the same people that are wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh

On Saturdays, you know, they're white and not Palestinian, but they're wearing it. Anyway, I digress. I noticed this story today on social media, and there's a Canadian band called Walk Off The Earth. They're called Walk Off The Earth. And the lead singer, her name is Sarah Blackwood. She pulls out in one of her concert performances...

What looks like an Aboriginal didgeridoo, and she starts playing it to the audience. What do you think of Sarah's didgeridoo performance? Ain't afraid of the walls, I'ma break them down. So there's no way she's actually playing it. It all feels a bit, you know, fairly harmless, doesn't it? 43-year-old, blonde-haired, white-skinned Canadian Sarah Blackwood...

Playing a supposed didgeridoo. She's not playing it. There's no way, right? Playing a didgeridoo takes expert skill. But regardless, are you offended that she would play a didgeridoo in one of her sets at a concert?

Well, I'm not offended, but one of my favourite comedians is an Aboriginal guy by the name of Isaac Compton, and he went off about it. Firstly, it's not a didgeridoo, it's a yiddiky. Secondly, she's not even playing a real one, she's playing a PVC pipe covered in nail polish. So I don't even care if she plays it. What I do care about is that she's trying to pass it off like she's playing a real one because she wants to be disrespectful. They want clickbait. They want us to react. Well, you've got me reacting now.

So that's Isaac Compton, right? Now, a yiddish key is what the people of Arnhem Land call it. A didgeridoo is a European phrase. But I wonder, is Sarah Blackwood, the Canadian musician, playing a didgeridoo? Is it really all that respectful? Is it really all that disrespectful? Well, I read about it, right? So the yiddish key is effectively a religious item.

And the sound of the instrument represents different aspects of the sacred and the profound, surprisingly. And it has the power to bring people together, calm the mind, heal or cleanse the body of the limming, and be the communication channel between the human and inhuman worlds. That is what the yiddiki is to the people of Arnhem Land who invented it. It is a sacred item.

It was only ever played by men too. Women, culturally, are generally forbidden from playing it. Now, all of that is fair enough, but does it really matter? Does it really matter if a Canadian lady was playing it? The harp was a star instrument of the Bible mentioned 42 times, but as people playing the harp in 2024, is that disrespectful or somehow cultural appropriation? Of course it's not. It's not disrespectful.

So is there any difference with the yiddish or didgeridoo? Now, I reckon all of this stuff is pretty simple. If someone is mocking a culture or a religion, be it someone wearing a nun's outfit with a big Christian cross around their neck or playing a didgeridoo in some sort of racist or mocking way, yes, that is not on, that is offensive. But...

Is a Canadian band trying to play a little bit of didgeridoo as part of their set on stage on a live performance, not being overly offensive, not meaning to be offensive or rude about it? Is that really cultural appropriation? And is it really something we should get upset about? I'd say no. What do you make of it? 1-3, 1-8, 7-3. It's 19 past five. 23 past five and we have a ding dong battle on our hands here.

on the River Seine. Now, our marathon swimmer is the Australia Moesha. She's in front, Moesha Johnson, her name is. She's in front by a body length. It looks like in front of the Dutch challenger. Carl Langdon knows a whole lot more about this. He's been calling the Olympics...

for Nine Radio overnight. Carl, are we in for another gold here? It looks like we might be. Well, she's certainly right in the hunt. She has a very well-credentialed swimmer hot on her heels. Sharon Van Woordenhal of the Netherlands is currently the reigning world champion. So she won the most recent world championships in Doha.

But we certainly have a wonderful opportunity here in Moesha Johnson. Just a little bit about Moesha. She has competed at the Olympic Games in the 1500 metres freestyle. And obviously then she's now moved into the marathon.

She has been swimming in open water events for a little while now at the World Championships. She swam at Doha in the team event and she won the gold medal with our team there. In fact, her teammate in Chelsea, Gebeka, is also in the top 10 right now. I think she's seventh, actually. So she's inside the top 10 as well.

So both girls doing really well. Moesha's 26. And then we've got Tadecki, who's the Italian. She too has been a very high achiever in open water swimming. So they're the front three. They're about 34 seconds ahead of the fourth-placed Kuna from Brazil. And then Fabian of Hungary. And Chelsea Gebeca is 43 seconds behind Moesha at the moment. All right. So it looks like Moesha will medal. She'll either win gold, silver, or bronze at this point. But...

Gee whiz, she's doing well. It's a ding-dong battle with the Dutch. Challenge of my God. Now, I know, Chris, that you've been sitting here watching it. Have you seen, at the moment, they're swimming upstream, and there is a hell of a tide when they actually are swimming with the current. In fact, when they're swimming with the current, it's amazing how fast they go. But then working back into the current, I can see some of the girls have got a few of these supplements inside their tunics. They're pulling them out, ripping the lids off. There's...

getting into those things to give themselves some more energy. But yes, we are well and truly on target for another opportunity for a gold medal. And imagine that. That'll make it, what, 19? Won't it? Yeah, 19 it'll make it. So they've been swimming for an hour and 56 minutes. Mm-hmm.

Do we have any idea of how long they've got to go? No, they haven't got long to go. So they've just gone through the 9.2 kilometre mark and obviously it's 10 kilometres. So they've got probably inside 800 metres to go to the finish. So hopefully if she can stay where she is, she will be a gold medalist. But as you have already pointed out, she's certainly in with a massive chance of winning.

getting gold, silver or bronze. All right, Carl. We'll get you back in here to call the final stages. Good on you. I appreciate it. That's Carl Langdon. He's the host of 6PR Breakfast, our colleagues over in Perth and has been doing a wonderful job calling the Olympics for Nine Radio. But it looks like we may well be in for our 19th gold medal. I don't want to jinx it.

But, geez, Moesha Johnson, she's swimming very, very well and is coming up to the final stages of this 10,000, the 10-kilometre marathon swim right up the River Seine. She's got a few hot in her heels, though.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Well, Secure Parking has been fined $10.9 million. The Federal Court found that Secure Parking, it's a parking company, misled customers with their, quote, secure a spot service, and they misled customers for five years. Jamie McKinnell has this story in the ABC article.

And secure parking was pursued in the federal court by the ACCC over the secure spot service. And the service claimed there would be spots reserved for customers, but the company's system relied on forecasted vacancy levels, not who was parked in the spots.

So as a result, secure parking was fined $10.9 million for misleading customers because people were booking via the secure a spot system, thinking that rightly there would be spots for them to use. They paid their money. And then in some cases, there wasn't any empty car spots because secure parking, by the sounds of things,

didn't actually monitor what spots were empty and weren't. They just had forecasts on a spreadsheet that enabled them to sell then the product. So a $10.9 million fine coming the way of secure parking, 131873. I don't know whether you've seen all the bits and pieces out of Britain, but it's terrible.

And police were prepared for a night of violence in London specifically and some other cities in the United Kingdom because there was some online chatter that far-right groups would target immigration services. But instead, counter-protesters flooded the streets in anticipation and nothing happened. So there was 100 locations where police were deployed to because there's been rioting and disorder everywhere.

fueled by that stabbing attack against young girls at a daycare center, effectively.

But anti-racist groups have jumped on the streets of London and the United Kingdom and effectively quelled the protest activities just by their presence. So this is certainly one to watch. This is not going away anytime soon. And, you know, it'll just be a matter of who has a bit of staying power because it will certainly flare up in the weeks and months ahead. No question about that. 131873.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Hello again, Chris. An Australian swimmer is locked in a tight battle chasing a gold medal in the first event of the day at the Paris Olympics. Moesha Johnson is sitting in first in the final kilometre of the women's marathon swim in the Seine. Work on a building over Gadigal Metro Station in inner Sydney has been suspended after scaffolding fell on a van on Pitt Street. The Australia Post workers inside the van...

weren't injured. Unions are welcoming news. Former Qantas boss Alan Joyce will have his payout slashed after a board-ordered review found mistakes during his tenure. And the Brisbane man, whose arrest became an internet sensation, has died at the age of 82. Jack Carlson became known as the succulent Chinese meal man after he loudly complained during his arrest in 1991.

In sport, round 23 of the NRL kicks off tonight at Stadium Australia. The latter leading Storm can take a big step towards securing the minor premiership with a win over the Rabbitohs. We'll have more news in sport at six. Silver for Australia. Clinton Maynard's on the Seine River. Clinton, hell of an effort.

Yeah, Moesha's there just hugging the winner there. They're about to get out of the water. What a race from her. She has just effectively been pipped over 10 kilometres throughout that whole last lap of this River Seine course. She has led, but it was so close with the favourite from the Netherlands the whole way, and it was only in the last three minutes that she took the lead there, and she certainly paced herself well throughout that race. But Moesha Johnson, when I...

When I had a look at who was expected to perform well in this race, she wasn't listed by the International Marathon Association as being one of the real contenders. But wham, bam, she has been in a dominant position throughout this race. She's now out of the water. She will be very happy with the silver medal, maybe a little disappointed that she's just been pipped out for gold. But after 10 kilometres, you can see the colour of the water, Chris, from your vision there, and I can assure you it doesn't look much better here. She has spent more than two hours in that water, and

and she's emerged with a silver medal. Good on you, Clinton. Silver for Australia. Moesha Johnson, well done. 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. And now, a weather update. Well, it's been sunny today. Right now, 15 degrees in the city and 15 in our west. Temperatures tonight will dip to 11 in the city and 8 in our west. Tomorrow, partly cloudy. 21 in the city tomorrow and 21 in our west.

A 2GB ski and snow report, thanks to Red Energy. Cozy up to a better energy deal this winter. Make the switch today at redenergy.com.au. Well, you'll find great conditions under the slopes with excellent visibility today under a high-pressure system. A cold front will cross the Alps later, bringing some dusting of snow to the peaks until early Friday, with amazing conditions expected over the slopes throughout the weekend. Now, four of four lifts, all lifts, are currently open at Charlotte Pass.

Perisher has 45 of 48 open. Threadbow, 14 of 16. And in Selwyn, five of the nine lifts are now open. That was a ski and snow update. Thanks to Red Energy. A finance update. Enjoy impossible to ignore savings across the Mercedes-Benz SUV range.

Well, All Ords closed down 0.34 of a percent today. ASX 200 was down 0.23 of a percent and one Aussie dollar currently buying 65.5 US cents. Now, round 23 of the NRL kicks off tonight. The Rabbitohs, they're hosting the first-placed Melbourne Storm, while Penrith, their hot favourites, to win their fourth premiership in a row. I'm pleased to say Nick Quinn from Ladbrokes is on the line for us. Nick, g'day. G'day.

G'day Chris and you're absolutely spot on. The Storm a clear favourite tonight at $1.16. South Sydney at $5.40. The line 17.5 and the over-under set at 53.5 points. Two games tomorrow. First up Gold Coast against Cronulla. The Titans $1.55. The Sharks $2.50 and the line at 5.5 and then we've got

Parramatta, a 5.75 outsider against Penrith, who are $1.14 to carry on their winning ways. Speaking of Penrith, they're once again grand final favourites at $2.50. The Roosters and Storms seen as the main dangers. They're on the second line of betting at $4.00. Then a massive jump out to Cronulla and Canterbury at

$15. The Opals, they were simply sensational against Serbia last night, and they're $12 to cause a huge upset and earn a spot in the gold medal game when they take on Team USA with the Americans at $1.02 and the line at 18.5 points. You can check all those markets on the Ladbrokes app. As we always say, please gamble responsibly. Love your work, Nick. That's Nick Quinn from Ladbrokes.

The Ladbrokes app is loaded with the best racing features. Take on the fun and download the Ladbrokes app today. What are you really gambling with? For free and confidential support, visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

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. Good evening, everyone. Adam Hawes here with an Olympics update. Hannah Green tees off this hour in the second round of women's golf. The Aussie well off the pace at five over, 12 shots behind the leader. Also coming up, divers Madison Keeney and Alicia Colloy in the women's three-metre springboard qualifiers.

Curtis Matthews will go for gold in the men's final. Also pursuing glory are our sailors in the mixed dinghy medal race in Marseille. Michelle Jenneke has dusted herself off after a fall in the women's 100 metre hurdle heats. She'll take part in the repercharge. Tori West and Camryn Newton-Smith are in action in the women's heptathlon. The Stingers take on the USA in the women's water polo quarter finals. And our women's beach volleyballers will take on Brazil for the right to play off for a gold medal.

And Australia is coming off its equal most successful day in terms of gold medal wins, claiming four on day 12. We are outright third on the medal tally with 18 gold medals. That's our most ever. The USA leads the way with 29. China has 27. I'm Adam Hawes. That's the latest from Paris. That Paris 2024 medal tally was thanks to Woolworths, proud fresh food partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams.

Now, just a reminder, the M5 is closed, is closed westbound at the moment. All lanes closed on the M5 East Tunnel. Westbound, that's after a crash earlier this evening. No update when it will reopen, but that crash was at Bexley North, so westbound, the M5 is shut.

Well, Thursday night footy, it means it's time for the Ram Trucks Analyzer segment. The Rabbitohs are taking on the Melbourne Storm at a core stadium.

at Olympic Park. And joining me to talk through it is Nye Incommodator and NRL immortal, of course, Andrew Joey Johns. Joey, g'day. Hello, mate. How are you? I'm outstanding, Joey. Bunnies, any chance tonight against the Storm? No. No. No.

Well, the Storm got rolled last week by the Dragons, probably the biggest upset this year. You can imagine Craig Bellamy's head all week. So the Storm don't really lose two in a row. So there's some key players out for the Bunnies. I know Cody Walker comes back, but I just think the Storm will just bounce back. What went wrong with the Bunnies this season, do you think?

Injuries. I think there's been injuries. They started the season really poor and there was a lot of talk about whether they worked hard enough in the off-season. I think a good barometer on that, have a look at the Dragons under experienced coach Shane Flanagan and have a look at the Titans under Dez. Their players came back and their body shapes were different.

You know, whether the Rabbitohs had worked hard enough, I don't know. There was that noise coming out of there, but they started slow. Injuries to key players, and then, yeah, it was all too late. Righto, let's do some tips. Yeah.

So Joey, Titans v Sharks on the Gold Coast. Who do you reckon?

Well, no Nico and no Braden Trindle. So young Braley, the dummy half goes to halfback. A few other injuries. Gold Coast flowing at the moment. I think the Gold Coast win this one and win well. I think they're going to be hard to stop for the rest of this.

season. Now, the Battle of the West, Eels, they're going that good. That fullback, Kenny Freak. Isn't he just? Eels and Panthers, Battle of the West. That's a hell of a game usually, but top to bottom. I think Panthers, but not by 20 or 30, what people think. I think they'll win by a couple of tries. I think it'll be fairly tight. Right.

Righto, on Saturday, Raiders host Manly at Canberra. Manly, and it's a day game, so the Manly players will be doing backflips, so I'll be that happy. Lucky you're not broadcasting for a day there. Cows and the Broncos. Cowboys. Broncos are legless at the moment. Oh, no.

My Dragons, I can't wait for this game. Dragons v Bulldogs, packed Cogger Oval. Well, this is my upset the weekend. I think the Dragons can roll the Bulldogs. Dragons obviously had a big win last week.

against the Storm and the Bulldogs had the big win at Belmore but I just think mentally they might come down a little bit. It was a very emotional day for the Bulldogs. I think the Dragons can get them just and I think this may be the game of the year. I'm looking forward to this one. What about the Dolphins at home to the Warriors on Sunday?

Once again, the Warriors, geez, they've been ordinary this year. The Dolphins will win this one. Wayne Bennett's team's very hard to beat. They get the little things right and win all those effort areas and everything. They do well. The Warriors aren't. The Warriors are just dreadful at the moment. Your Knights, they'll make quick work of the Tigers, won't they? Oh, yeah.

Oh, I don't know, Chris. I hope so. I hope so, but who knows? Once again, the Knights have got some injuries to key players. But, yeah, hopefully they win there at home. But no real confidence. They'll be winning. Good on you, Joey. I appreciate you coming on.

Okay, buddy. See you, mate. That's Andrew Joey Johns. Now, if you want to look your best, do what we do. Get into Lowe's. 100% Australian-owned. Still a family business. 200 stores nationwide. Or, of course, shop online at Lowe's.

Time to give away a bit of free fuel, 131873. If you want to play the duel for fuel, it's all thanks to Shell V-Power. Give us a call now, 131873. Bit of good news from Youth Off The Streets. It was their giving day today. I've just heard from Christine from Youth Off The Streets. We had the CEO, Judy Barraclough, on yesterday. So they've surpassed their $200,000 target. They're at $213,000 Youth Off The Streets has raised. So well done to everybody.

On 2GB Drive, let's drill for fuel. $200 of it all thanks to Shell V-Power, our contestants this afternoon. I've got Deb at Wilberforce. G'day, Deb. Hi, how you doing? I'm good, thank you, Deb. And Adrian is at Mattreville. Adrian, g'day. Good afternoon, how you doing? I'm good, thank you, Adrian. Hey, Deb, do you want to kick us off? Uh, yeah, why not? Righto. Be confident. Your time starts now. True or false, Titanic is the highest-grossing film of all time.

True. False. What's the name of the famous art museum in Paris? No idea. The Louvre. In sunscreen, SPF stands for sun protection what? Factor. Correct. Where is the largest desert on Earth? Sahara. Antarctica. Finish the sentence. Once in a blue? Moon. Correct. Which country is James Bond from? America. England. James Bond. Oh, dear, oh, dear. Shaken, not stirred. Adrian's at Mattreville. You ready?

Still my best. Your time starts now. True or false, Glenn McGrath has recorded the most test wickets for Australia. That's false. That is false. How many continents are there, seven or eight? Seven. Correct. What is the main type of alcohol traditionally used in a margarita? Tequila. It is tequila. And Adrian, on my count, three beats two. Deb, well played. Adrian, well played. There's 200 bucks coming your way. It's all thanks to Shell V-Power. We play it 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, g'day. Hello, Chris. Can I start off by offering a congratulations to somebody? Yes. Congratulations to our man, Roy, in the studio on popping the question. Finally, she said yes.

And then she did her ACL. And it wasn't skiing, it was running. Well done, Roy. Michael Robertson, well done, mate. Congratulations. You know why we call him Roy? Why? Because he always wears corduroy hats. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's very fancy. He's from Sunnery Hills. I didn't think he would tell many people he was going to pop the question, but he did. He told everyone. But I'm thinking, oh, this is for what we're doing. But she has been with him a long, long time.

Does she know what she's getting herself into? That is the question that remains unanswered. He's an outstanding bloke and a valued member of the team. So well done. Oh, geez, you're sucking up all of a sudden. You've still got two minutes to go. Hello. Well done, Michael. What's happening? Silver in the marathon swimming. Yeah, not bad. She looked like she was going for gold. How crook are they going to be after it? What about it? For the sake of a silver medal, I'd have gastro for four days.

I would. If I was a swimmer... I could do without a couple of kilos. Well, 100%. Honestly, if I was an athlete and wanted a medal, the option is silver medal, four days gastro. I'm doing it every day of the week. You only get it four years. Yeah, right. What's on tonight? Were you any chance? Because you were quite...

steadfast in your prediction that we're only going to win one more gold and then bang, four. Well, it's not over yet. I mean, we've got some really great medal chances in the kayak sprints later on today, which Gordon Bray will be calling. Our boxers are doing well. I think Caitlin Parker, now that she's knocked off one of the real medal favourites, she's going to have that belief to go all the way from Perth. And our beach volleyballers, Taliqua Clancy and Maria Faye Attachar del Salar. Opals? No.

No, I can't come into the Opals. No, you're not into the Opals? No. What about the Sharks, the water polo? Not the Sharks, the women's water polo. Stingers? Yeah. Eh, potentially.

I'm not as confident as I was with the other ones. You're anti the water polo. No, I love the water polo, but I just, oh, anyway. Don't put me in that position. Good on you, Levy. That's Wide World of Sports coming up next with Mark Levy. And, of course, all your Olympics news and coverage will be here right now on 2GB. That's it from us. I'll see you tomorrow at 3 p.m. Anything you want us to look into, drive at 2GB.com. See you then.