2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full Show August 14 01:50:50

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. It's a miserable old Wednesday. But trust me, you're not having a worse day than the New South Wales Liberal Party. This is supposedly a professional political outfit and they've missed the deadline to put paperwork in for local council elections. Now that means that major councils all throughout Sydney will not have Liberal candidates to vote for.

That is a stuff up of monumental proportions. I'll get into that one. Now the NAPLAN results are in and there's no two ways about it. Our kids are struggling. Now who's responsible here for these terrible results for our school children? I'll speak to the Teachers Federation because do our teachers need to take some of the blame here or is something else at play?

And why has NASA stopped looking out for asteroids? They've terminated one of their asteroid warning systems. It seems strange, right? I've also got $1,000 to give away if you have the catchphrase that Ben gave you this morning. I've got a free hamper to give away too. $200 of free petrol and tickets to the theatre. Right now, 17 degrees at Panania and 17 at Birong.

It's eight and a half past three, 131-873 is the open line number. The text line 0460-873-873 or email me drive at 2gb.com. Now, this story out of the Gold Coast today, truly horrifying, horrifying. It stopped me in my tracks when I heard it. A mother has been charged with the murder of her 10-year-old daughter. 10-year-old daughter had her throat slashed. Seriously shocking stuff.

Well, Jacob Chico, he's from Nine News in Queensland. He has the story. He's on the line for us. Jacob, g'day. G'day, Chris. What's the latest from police?

Police, they provided an update to us a couple of hours ago. Now, this one, as you said at the start there, deeply distressing. It's one that's really shocked seasoned officers. They got the call just after six o'clock last night and what they were confronted with here was just truly horrific. They've described 10-year-old Sophie Wang as having injuries consistent with that knife attack, as you mentioned, plus more.

So they're now investigating whether there were any warning signs here, trying to really piece together if anything could have prevented this one. Carrara on the Gold Coast is someone who lived there for 12 months. Pretty tight-knit little community. Carrara, how's everyone been?

They're not good. Tight-knit community here. It's at Emerald Lake, just across the road from Emanuel College, for people that know the Gold Coast well. It's one of the elite private schools here. Sophie went to school across the road. When I say across the road, her home's literally metres away from her school. And what we're seeing is the school community now come here to the crime scene where forensic crews are still working. People are still working.

People are dropping off flowers. They're leaving messages for Sophie. Her school has paid tribute to her. People are very emotional. They're really, like everyone here, trying to understand what can possibly lead a mother to allegedly do this to her own daughter in such an awful way. Any more information as to potential motive or if there was anything in the background that could possibly have sparked such an horrific attack, obviously an alleged horrific attack?

Clearly, the main part of this investigation now is the mental health of Sophie's mum, who we can confirm fronted court this morning in Southport. We understand that she has extensive mental health issues.

mental health issues and police are now investigating social media posts that Sophie's mum put up 24 hours ago, 48 hours ago, quite eerie social media posts. That's really the line of inquiry here, her mental health and whether there was a mental health order in place, whether she should have been receiving treatment. Something's happened here clearly that just shouldn't have

Clearly, it's been a fundamental failure of the system, but that doesn't make it any less tragic. It's just horrific beyond words. Jacob, I appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much. Thanks, Chris. That's Jacob Chico from Nine News in Queensland. Now, I broke this story with Michael McLaren earlier, but the New South Wales Liberal Party really has jumped the shark

for incompetence this is one of the worst cases of incompetence i've seen in politics and that's a very high bar to jump over so state director richard shields and the liberal party's new south wales president former minister don harwin really neither of them should survive this it is just amateur beyond belief now the council elections are coming up in september right

The deadline for nominations, so each party, they get a deadline for when they've got to put their nominations in, and that was midday today. And that is a hard deadline set by the New South Wales Electoral Commission. But guess what? The Liberal Party missed the deadline. Yep. And they're home working a little late. So dozens and dozens and dozens of candidates will not be eligible to run at council elections.

Now, I'm told this impacts Canterbury Bankstown, Camden, Georges River, Shoalhaven, Lane Cove, Northern Beaches, Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield. Now, some, well, are just a few sort of wards in these councils where there will not be Liberal candidates. Others, the entire local government area, like Camden. If you live in Camden, you can't vote for a Liberal in the September council elections.

So you will not have a Liberal mayor for the next four years. It's not possible. And in many cases, you won't be able to vote for a Liberal at all. You can't have a Liberal mayor because even if they've nominated in a couple of wards, they won't have enough people on council to be able to get the mayoralty. It is insane. And I'm told that there were people from the New South Wales Liberal Party running around at 2am this morning trying to find JPs to sign the nomination forms.

Now, can I just remind everybody and all those listening at William Street right now in the Liberal Party, the date of the council election was set four years ago. It's not a surprise, ladies and gentlemen. Nominations closed four weeks ago.

And they were warned about it 12 months ago at State Executive, yet internal factional deals, you had people taking out Carmelo Pesci in the Sutherland Shire, Philip Ruddick in Hornsby, and they were doing what the Liberal Party always does. Stuff's around with itself. And while they were doing that, they missed the deadline to put the bloody forms in.

Now, some may survive because the forms were put in so late that they will take some time for the Electoral Commission to ratify them. But still, this hardly fills anyone with confidence, does it? If you are waiting until the deadline to submit your paperwork, surely you are not up to the job. Surely. This is a Liberal Party in New South Wales who wants to run the state again, who wants to help run the country again.

Yet they can't get their forms in on time. Now, I've reached out to Don Harwin, Richard Shields and Mark Speakman. They're all running around like headless chooks. But I've heard back from Mr Shields, who's the boss of the New South Wales Liberal Party, as well as Mark Speakman, who, of course, is the New South Wales opposition leader. But I'll read you Richard Shields' statement, right? That's what it says, quote, With the secretariat resources that we had available...

Unfortunately, we were unable to nominate in all of the local government areas that were put forward by the state executive. Close to 300 Liberal candidates were nominated with the New South Wales Electoral Commission, including in areas like Parramatta, Strathfield, Blacktown, Inner West and Bayside, where we did not run in 2021. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter, Richard. The status of nominated Liberal candidates will be communicated upon confirmation from the New South Wales Electoral Commission on behalf of the Secretariat is the important bit.

I would like to apologise to Liberal-endorsed councillors that were not nominated and to the party membership more broadly. Richard, I think the next part would be your resignation, unfortunately. And I've just got a statement here too from Mark Speakman. He says that submitting local council nominations is a matter for the State Director and his Secretariat.

And not a matter for the New South Wales or Federal Parliamentary Party. Except you're there at their behest, Mr. Speakman. The State Director will need to explain what has occurred and why. Yeah, well, how did he not put the Forbes in, seriously? 131873, I'll speak to Carmelo Pesci. He's currently the Mayor of the Sutherland Shire Council. But he is now running as an independent because he's been badly done over by the Liberal Party. I reckon he's got some thoughts.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Now, I've been inundated with emails and correspondence from former and current employees of Regional Express, REX, after our interview with the airline administrator yesterday. Now, I probably took my frustration out a little hard on Sam Freeman of EY. He's the administrator. He's not to blame for the stuff up at REX.

But the CEO, Neville Howell, and the chairman, John Sharp, and the deputy chair, Lim Kim Hai, they certainly are to blame for the stuff up. 600 workers have been sacked and left without their entitlements. All the leave and entitlements that they should be paid can't be paid because the airline is broke. Yet at the same time, Neville Howell, the CEO, who I'm told has the nickname of Nifty Nev,

Well, Nifty Nev, six days before Rex goes into administration with $500 million in debt owed to 5,000 creditors, six days before they go into administration, you know what old Nifty Nev does? Negotiates a juiced up contract that locks in 12 months pay on his termination. He would get a full year's salary if sacked.

He'd get paid, old Nifty, wouldn't he? This is the same guy that oversaw the complete destruction of this airline, Rex. He left $500 million unpaid to people and businesses that were owed it, and worst of all, sent 600 people from flight attendants to ground staff and pilots. He sent them off to Centrelink and refused to pay their entitlements out. And that's because the company is so buggered. That is, ladies and gentlemen, Nifty Neville Howell's legacy.

And his chairman, former Federal Minister John Sharp, he signs off on all of it. It is truly a disgrace. And worst of all, potentially hundreds more staff will be sacked this week. Yet old mate nifty Neville Howell, he'll keep his job. Listen to some of the emails I've received from rec staff overnight. You ready?

Thank you for raising the Rex issue about Neville Howell and other managers. As an employee of the company, I am absolutely shattered that Rex has gone under. Please keep the pressure up so the creditors and the employees see a reversal of the Neville Howell contract and any other managers with a similar amendment. Here's another email. I received a letter that stated I would not be affected by these job terminations, but the very next day I get the dreaded Dear John letter.

As for Neville Howe, the Rex board are flying blind with a broken moral compass with no ethical undercarriage to land. The conceited few of self-important manipulative management and senior board members have killed Rex by their own ego.

Here's another email. I go to bed each night as a former employee in a bed of tears. I can't pay my rent. I have no idea where I'm going to get another job. Another. Not only are we owed outstanding leave entitlements, we were made redundant in the middle of a pay cycle, so we did not even get paid for the work that we did. We are predominantly lower paid staff and it's just wrong not to pay people for the work they've done.

There's a big question too, whether the company was trading insolvent and for how long. Very big question. Now, CEO Neville Howe, Nifty, and Chairman John Sharp, this is what you have overseen. This is the human consequence of your behavior. This is what you're doing to people. You guys need to hang a giant mirror in your offices at Mascot and have a really good, hard look at yourselves.

Now, I've asked Mr. Sharp multiple times to explain all of this on the program as the chairman of Rex, but he consistently says no. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It is cowardly. And what Rex's management has done, the CEO and the chairman, Nifty Nev and Chairman Sharp have done is an appalling way

to treat other human beings. And they, quite frankly, should be ashamed. It's 21 past three. 25 past three, 131873. Well, the 3G network shutdown has been delayed amid emergency call concerns. ABC News has got this story. So Telstra and Optus are going to delay the closure of their 3G networks. And it was due to take effect at the end of August. But people with 3G-reliant devices will have...

until October 28 to move to the 4G and 5G networks. So they've pushed it back a few weeks from the end of August until October 28, 131873. Michael Caine is on the line from the Transport Workers Union to talk about Regional Express. Michael, g'day. G'day, Chris.

What do you think? You know, the CEO, Nifty Nev, manages to change his contract to a 12-month termination payout six days before the airline slips into administration. He's still at the airline with no intention of leaving. So are many of his management team. So is the chairman, John Sharp. Yet 600 of your members' staff have been sacked and are not paid their entitlements. Now, that feels like a little bit morally bankrupt to me.

It's outrageous. It's outrageous that Neville Hale sweetened his deal six months before administration. It's just, as you said yesterday, Chris, the timing, come on. What a kick in the guts for the workers who've been thrown on the scrap heap here. And unfortunately, this is the type of behaviour we've seen before in aviation with executives...

securing this type of multi-million dollar safety net. You think of Andrew David walking out the door with millions after he had, of course, been responsible for the decision of Qantas to illegally sack those 1,700 workers. It's an industry that's out of control. This is an outrageous piece of behaviour. And, of course, these workers are sitting here waiting for what the hell is going on with their lives into the future. And more sacked this week.

Well, you know, it wasn't it interesting that there was a really evasive approach taken to your questions yesterday about that from the administrator. Look, you've been silent on the timing of a few things. We still can't get an answer from the administrators about whether they can or...

or will, put this arm of the airline that they've shut down into liquidation. It's not until they do that that the government's fair entitlement guarantee scheme comes into place. And what's the holdup here? They're the experts. They either liquidate it or they pay up. It's as simple as that, Chris, and it's urgent. Any reason as to why they wouldn't be liquidating that?

I have no idea. I mean, you know, the conspiracy theories are out there that, you know, the company's just holding on and holding on and holding on. There's a simple decision to be made here. They've shut down Rex Airlines Limited. That's the major city to major city arm. 343 workers have lost their jobs from that arm. They're waiting...

for their entitlements. Now, they can either get them access to entitlements through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme if that arm is put into liquidation, or Rex, the operating part of it now under the administrator and Neville Howe, need to pay these workers their entitlements. It's one or the other, and why are we still waiting? Well, Nifty Nev's still getting paid, I'm assuming.

I'm sure he's still getting paid and of course if for some reason he makes a mistake and he gets sacked he gets the golden handshake that he negotiated six days before this thing went into administration. What a debacle. We've got to have, as I've said before Chris, we've got to have a change in approach here into the future. We've got to get governments involved. There's got to be a community decision maker. In the case of Rex, the government should take an equity slice, get themselves on the board

and sort this show out so that regional Australia can be supported and so these workers can get their guarantees. Hey Michael, if you had $500 million of debt for the TWU, if you had almost 5,000 creditors owed that $500 million and you put the Transport Workers Union into administration, you reckon you'd still be the secretary?

I do not think so. I think it would be incredibly unlikely. This is outrageous behaviour. It's going to take government intervention. It might take government intervention on entitlements. It's certainly going to take government intervention, I think,

to get this show back on the road. We can't leave this in the hands of this type of corporate bastardry to ensure workers' entitlements and to ensure the solidity of regional Australia. We just can't do it anymore, Chris. It's time for us to take a different approach, equity stake in Rex and a safe and secure skies commission for the future. Good on you, Michael. Thanks for coming on.

Cheers, Chris.

Well, they can't access them. Doesn't matter how long they've been there, how much long service, how much annual leave, whatever it is, they will not be paid that for the foreseeable future. And I just find that deeply, deeply offensive. Deeply offensive. Let's check the news headlines. A news update. 60 years of building experience on your side. Take the value check challenge at masterton.com.au.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryant. G'day. Good afternoon, Chris. The Prime Minister is accusing the opposition leader of stoking division over Palestinian visas after Peter Dutton said people from Gaza should not be allowed into Australia, citing security concerns. The Liberal Party in New South Wales won't have candidates in parts of six local government areas at the upcoming council elections after the party missed the deadline to complete the registrations.

The country's investment watchdog is taking the ASX to court over allegations it misled the market about the progress of a software upgrade. And a charity in New Zealand has unknowingly distributed lollies which were actually solid blocks of methamphetamine. The organisation says that the lollies were donated in a regular bag and appeared normal, but later testing showed they contained a...

Thank you, Josh. 131873. I'm going to dive further into this New South Wales Liberal Party disaster if you missed it.

They've missed the deadline, so they haven't put the nomination forms in for a whole bunch of Liberal candidates. That means if you're in the Northern Beaches, Canterbury, Bankstown, Camden, Georges River, a whole range of councils, you won't be voting for Liberal candidates because the Liberal Party infrastructure head office didn't put the paperwork in. Carmelo Pesci, he is the mayor of the Sutherland Shire. A Liberal no more. He's got some few choice words to say about them.

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It's 24 to 4, so if you live in Canterbury, Bankstown, Camden, Georges River, Shoalhaven, Lane Cove, Northern Beaches, Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield, you're likely not going to be able to vote for a Liberal candidate at the next council elections in September. Because the New South Wales Liberal Party didn't get the paperwork in on time.

Now, I've just been sent an email here from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. So I will keep that. But it says, on the Central Coast, we've had our candidates ready to go from the 29th of July. We were endorsed by the Liberal Party around the 2nd of August. They submitted our applications after 11am today. The deadline was midday.

What kind of clown show is this? 131873. Come hello, Pesci. He is the mayor of the Sutherland Shires on the line. Come hello, g'day. G'day, Chris. How are you? I'm not too bad. You were once a Liberal Party man and now no longer. Does this surprise you? Does not surprise me one little bit. Been in the party for nearly 20 years. I've actually was on state exec and...

And when I was on state exec the last term, you know, we worked extremely hard. The previous president and the previous state exec worked really hard to make sure that every council had liberal representation. And we said that we won't do what we did in state and the federal party where we, you know, got in, started endorsing people late. And here we are. We elected Don Harwin as president. One by one vote.

And I'm probably responsible for that one, mate. But, you know, this has been the biggest shambles I've ever, ever, ever seen. And I'm embarrassed to know that, you know, I was a part of it.

So Richard Shields, who's the State Director of the New South Wales Liberal Party, he put out this statement. He says, with the Secretariat resources that we had available, unfortunately, we were unable to nominate in all of the local government areas that were put forward by State Executive. The status of the nominated Liberal candidates will be communicated upon confirmation. But on behalf of the Secretariat, I'd like to apologise to the Liberal endorsed councillors that were not nominated and to the party membership more broadly. As someone who's had experience

here, Carmelo, in all things liberal machine politics. How do you possibly miss the deadline? I believe that the deadline was missed and you can't possibly blame the staff that work in head office. They extremely worked. I know some of them worked till two o'clock in the morning to get this sort of stuff in. But when

Like 24 hours ago, State Exec was still with a SPAC spellet trying to endorse their number twos and threes on a number of councils. That is the fault of Don Harwin when he's, you know, doing backhand deals and, you know, looking after his mates. Where here in Sutherland, we had a...

ticket that everyone agreed to all the power brokers in southern everyone agreed to like like a month ago and he delayed it and delayed it and delayed it and then did a captain's pick and put his mates in and this is why and if he's done that here i believe he's done it in other areas as well uh i've just got a text here don harwin was a useless minister looked like he carried that forward kieran said shields and harwood need to go this is a stuff up at a crucial time

for the party. He should never have been elected president. Carmela, do you believe that Richard Shields and Don Harwin should resign? Don Harwin definitely should resign. Again, I think from what I've been told, it was Don Harwin that took this project on where Richard Shields was looking after all the by-elections. You know,

That last message you said, Don Harwin was a minister. He got sacked from his ministry. Why? Through COVID, he travelled around.

when, you know, he's a leader. He was meant to not travel. And, you know, if he can't do the right thing then and he's not doing the right thing now, this is why they're in that mess. I just don't understand. There's people out there now, Carmela, who are thinking to themselves, well, I live in the Northern Beaches and I'm a Liberal Party person. I'd like to vote for the Liberal Party. People live in Canterbury, Bankstown, Camden, George's River, Strathfield, you name it, people are thinking it, right? They want to vote for Liberal candidates, right?

The truth of the matter is they will not be able to now, will they? No, they can't. No, there's a number of councils that, you know, have worked hard, extremely worked hard to represent their community. You know, they've been members of the party for many, many, many years and, you know, given to the party. And this is their payback. You're running as an independent? I am. What's the situation there?

Well, you know, I've been mayor now for eight years. I've been a councillor for 12. I've just got awarded emeritus. So hopefully, you know, I can get across the line. We'll see how it is. We're a very strong liberal area here.

Forget me, you know, our Deputy Mayor, Carol Provan, the Provan family, you know, she's represented Council for 25 years, just got an award in OEM, and Don Harwin said she wasn't worthy to represent as a Liberal. That's sad. So you decided to jump over to the Liberal Party as an independent, jump from the Liberal Party, what, because you had a gutful of this stuff, did you? Yeah.

they're not listening to the community. They're not listening to the representatives. They didn't listen to the Liberal Party members of the Shire. You know, the leader of the opposite, our leader, party leader of our division, Mark Speedman, you know, wanted, you know, said, don't do this. Listen to what your members want. And he went against Mark Speedman as well and all the MPs in the Shire. That's, you know, when you're doing that sort of thing, that's very, very sad. Carmela, I really appreciate you coming on. All the best for the September election.

Thank you. Thanks, Chris. See you, mate. That's Carmelo Pesci, the Mayor of Sutherland Shire Council. 131873, Pat Davidson. He says, Chris, I'm in Shoalhaven, disgusted by the Liberal Party actions on council. They should go. Pete says, I'll never join the Liberal Party personally, but it is a great political party and the greatest in our history. It's achieved many, many things of greatness. I'd just like to vote for some of their candidates. Dave reckons, in the interest of democracy...

The Australian Electoral Commission, or the New South Wales Electoral Commission, need to pardon the Liberal Party stuff. Well, you'd think that might be the case, Dave, but do you think the Labor Party are going to do them any favours? And it's a hard deadline. And again, it's not like it was a surprise. The date of the election was set four years ago and they still couldn't get their act together. How on earth can they possibly say they can run the country or run the state?

It's 17 to 4. It's 13 minutes to 4, 131873. Quick little gear change. Just want to give a massive shout out to all the people who came to Flying Fish at the Star Casino today. All thanks to the Dee Dee's Waterfront Group. How good are Con and Kerry Dee Dee's? They are wonderful human beings and they run a series of brilliant restaurants.

So the food was absolutely amazing. I can't stress enough how fantastic the hospitality was, but just adored meeting some great listeners of this program. Deb and Terry. G'day, Deb and Terry. They were great people. Lynn and Belinda, Judy and Beth, and the two Phils, Phil and Phil.

They were all wonderful people who we met today at our listener lunch. They won the free lunch on Con and Kerry DT's as part of our Thank God It's Friday promotion a few weeks back. And I really, really enjoyed everybody's company and getting to know everybody. It was a nice little intimate setting. The food was sensational. Everyone had...

Some great stories to tell, and we had a really, really good laugh. We're having another one next week, too. I'm looking forward to it. 131873. Now, here's your chance to win $1,000 cash with 2GB's catchphrase. 2GB's catchphrase. So if you were listening to Ben Fordham at breakfast this morning, you'll have heard the catchphrase you need for this afternoon. I'll give you the cue to call a little later.

But you just need to make sure you've got it written down and ready to go. So he gave you the catchphrase this morning. If you get it correct a little later in the program when I give you the cue to call, there is $1,000 coming your way. $1,000 coming your way. Drive on 2GB. Have your say. 131 873.

Now, AGL has bought a green energy group to power its shift from coal, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. So AGL struck a deal to buy a big battery and solar farm developer because it needs to add renewable energy sources to replace the coal-fired generators that are closing over the next decade. So AGL, it's Australia's largest electricity provider,

It's reporting season, of course, and AGL reported a better than expected full year profit. And AGL will use that profit to accelerate its transformation to the country's, from the country's heaviest polluter into a major renewable energy supplier. So you've got Mike Cannon-Brooks, don't forget. He's a big investor in AGL. And they've struck a $250 million deal to buy firm power from,

which is a developer of 21 grid-scale battery systems across the country and affiliated with Terrain Solar, which is planning six solar farms and one onshore wind farm. So AGL, they know that Bayswater and Loy Yang in Victoria are

will be shutting over the next decade, the coal-fired power station. So they want to get some green energy into their mix to see if they can continue to make as much money as they're making. 131873. I thought Peter Dutton's comments have been interesting. And I noted that Anthony Albanese has said that Peter Dutton is just trying to sow division. But he's called Peter Dutton for a stop to migration altogether from Gaza.

And Mr Dutton says that the arrival of people from a war zone in Gaza to Australia puts our national security at risk. And it escalates the coalition's attack on Labor as it prefers to unveil a visa scheme for Palestinians. So Labor's got this visa scheme for Palestinians it's about to unveil. Peter Dutton says, well, if you're in Gaza at the moment, you shouldn't be coming to Australia. Now, I don't know.

What do you think? 131873, should people from Gaza be allowed to come to Australia? I know many will say no, absolutely not. We can't risk it. But ASIO is clearing these people. Now, if ASIO clears them, are we not a big enough country with a big enough heart to allow people to flee a war zone where there's just been unchecked violence occurring in that war zone?

On the flip side, I understand that the ASIO checks really going to get to the bottom of whether or not these people are Hamas sympathisers. Hamas, of course, being a terrorist organisation, a registered terrorist organisation. 131873, what do you think? Should we have immigration from Gaza? Yes or no? Inside Word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, just on the local council issue with the Liberal Party forgetting to submit the paperwork, Tanya's at Strathfield. Hello, Tanya. Hi, Chris. How are you doing? I'm all right, Tanya. How are you? Good.

Good, thanks. Chris, I've noticed over the last week, though, I'm in the Strathfield Council area, there are heaps of Liberal Party posters promoting their candidates all around Strathfield. They might have got ahead of themselves. So what's that about? They might have got ahead of themselves. Because officially, no candidate, Labor, Liberal, Independent or otherwise...

is officially nominated as a candidate for council election until the New South Wales Election Commission says they are. And to say they are, they need the paperwork in, right? Okay, yeah. So they might have individually just started putting their corflutes up around the place saying, hey, vote for me, but they're not officially a candidate. And you know what? I feel a bit sorry for those candidates. They probably thought that the paperwork was all in order, but can't trust them.

Definitely all up, everywhere. Everywhere around Strathfield. No Labour ones, only the Liberal ones. Really? Hey, Tanya, Andrew Lloyd Webber. He's got Sunset Boulevard opening at the Sydney Opera House this month. Do you want to go? Oh, yes. I love Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. A couple of tickets coming your way, Tanya. Enjoy it. Oh, that'd be brilliant. You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Sunsetmusical.com.au. It's the iconic story of a Hollywood legend.

Sounds like a bit of fun. 131873. Sean's at Hornsby. G'day, Sean.

Hello. Hello, Sean, how are you? Hello, Chris. I heard Ben Fordham talking about your son this morning. He was giving away $1,000 and he was talking about your son. And one other thing, is Hornsey Council, Hornsey Council Park at this debacle...

And one other thing, well, I've got you. Kerry rang the Liberal Party the other day to see when Matt Keane's running for by-election. They don't know that either. I met a Liberal Party councillor in Hornsby the other day. She wasn't much to be desired. And they're too busy infighting in Hornsby Chair Council to worry about putting the paperwork in.

I just think it's ridiculous, Sean. And you, I'm assuming, if you want to vote for the Liberal Party, you can't now. Well, actually, the last time I voted for the Labor Party, because I was so disappointed in Matt Keane, I know they're two different things, but I voted Labor and there's more happening up here at Mount Cola with the railway lane with the New South Wales Labor Party than there ever was under Matt Keane. Sean, I appreciate your call. Thanks so much. And as always, we love our Irish show.

The four o'clock news with Josh Bryant is coming up very shortly. On the other side of that, I'm going to speak to a Curtin University astronomer because NASA has shut down the system it uses to track nearby asteroids. So is Earth at risk of a meteorite clash?

We'll find out, 131873. And I'll also speak to the Teachers' Federation. Our NAPLAN results have been absolutely appalling. What can we do to fix it? 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.

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB.

It's seven past four. Thank you for your company on this Wednesday afternoon. 131 873 is the open line number. You can text me 0460 873 873 or email me drive at 2gb.com. Don't forget, I've got $1,000 to give away if you've got the catchphrase. And as well as that, we're going to do something different. You know how we do Thank God It's Friday? Well, today we'll be doing Thank God It's Hump Day.

And thank God it's hump day, we'll win a hamper. A fantastic, big, beautiful hamper on this Wednesday. So keep on listening, plenty to give away. Drive with Chris O'Keefe on to GB. Well, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, he has said that he will not seek re-election, meaning that will be the end of his leadership after just under three years.

So in Japan, there's a ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and it's governed Japan almost uninterrupted since 1945. It's due to hold an internal leadership contest next month, but its popularity ratings have slumped because of inflation.

Now, Kishida, the current Prime Minister of Japan, said in this presidential election, it is necessary to show the people that the Liberal Democratic Party is changing and it is a new Liberal Democratic Party. And for this, transparent and open elections and free and vigorous debate are important. And...

The most obvious step to show that this party will change is for me to step aside. Japan, clearly a very important ally of Australia. So whoever's up next is very important for us. 131873. Now, if you've got school-aged kids or grandchildren, you're going to want to listen to this one because the NAPLAN results came out today and it doesn't look good.

Now, a third of all students performed below expectations in literacy and numeracy exams. A third. 40% of kids in year nine failed grammar and punctuation tests. 40% failed grammar and punctuation tests. You're talking about 14, 15-year-old children here.

Thousands and thousands of them aren't meeting the basic level when it comes to education. Now, something needs to change in our education system. And I think that we need to start looking at who's to blame here. It's not the kids' fault. They only know what they're being taught, right? And they can only be taught how the system allows them to be taught. So maybe it comes down to the teachers. Or maybe it comes down to the parents. Now, I know the COVID lockdowns caused havoc in our schools.

Teachers resigned, kids' learning was set back, but surely we must take action and some people in society must take responsibility and accountability for these pretty terrible results. Well, Amber Flome, she's the Deputy President of the New South Wales Teachers Federation and she joins me live. Amber, g'day. G'day, Chris. How are you? I'm not too bad. These are pretty disappointing results, all in all.

Absolutely. They could be read that way. However, I must say, Chris, they're not a great surprise to the teaching profession because really they highlight how in areas of the state, particularly, for example, in regional areas, our students are not getting the support and funding resources they require to help teachers to close those gaps, as you described. What do you mean by that?

Well, we need more one-on-one with our students. We need more time to do that, obviously. But we actually have to have the funding conditions, the enabling conditions, Chris, to be able to meet...

individual student need in terms of literacy and numeracy, as Nat plans outline today. Your listeners would understand that a teacher with 30 students in front of them, varied needs across the board, is very stretched in teaching the curriculum, as well as being able to address every single individual student's literacy need when that falls outside the main cohort. How many kids were in a class, I don't know,

20 years ago. Well, 20 years ago, the class sizes were bigger. But let me say this. And our kids have got dumber. The complexity of schools were different. You know, of course, as your listeners do, that today's society is much more complex and the needs of our students are much more complex in terms of...

Sorry? Is that correct? Absolutely. It's well documented that our schools and our student need is much more complex now than it was 20 years ago, particularly in relation to, for example, the growing mental health needs of our young people. The numbers of students with additional needs has grown significantly. So, yes, they are much more complex classrooms today than they were 20 years

Is that just because we're clocking it these days rather than we probably didn't clock it 20 years ago? Well, I certainly think that our capacity to collect data on those areas has... Because the kids haven't changed, have they, really? I beg your pardon? Like, the kids haven't changed.

Well, no, but for example, we didn't have the instruments that we have today to diagnose students with additional needs. But what I'm saying is those students would have had... Sorry to keep interrupting, but 20 years ago, those students would have still had those additional needs and they could read and they could write and they could do grammar and they could...

past punctuation tests better than they can today. So why? Look, I would challenge that assertion, actually. What we didn't know is how to meet those students' needs like we do today. So teachers are experts at meeting individual needs of students.

and all their complexities. We have specialist teachers in the system that we certainly didn't. I take the point that 20 years ago, of course, those students sat in our classrooms, but those needs went unmet because they were often not diagnosed and we weren't as advanced in terms of our educational pedagogy in meeting those kids' needs like we are today. Understood, but they still...

40% of year 9 kids didn't fail grammar and punctuation tests you had bigger class sizes and you had undiagnosed mental health that we've probably both come to agree on at what point does the teaching profession have a look at itself and say hey look do we need to take some accountability here maybe we're not delivering the education that our kids deserve

Well, I guess what I would say, as you would be well aware, as would your listeners, NAPLAN is a snapshot. Teachers assess their students every single day in classrooms across a whole range of data points, which give them a much better read on where their students are at and where they need to go. NAPLAN is just one day, and as we all know,

people with children, but also adults, depending upon the day is depending upon how you may perform on this particular test. Teachers cannot work any harder, Chris, than they're already doing. No, no, I'm not arguing. The evidence of the hours they're working just continues to mount. But can I just pull you up here? Yeah.

I know you're saying, well, NAPLAN is just a snapshot. Sure, but 40% of year kids, nine kids failing grammar and punctuation tests and a third of all students performing below expectations in literacy and numeracy exams. It's not the police teaching them. It's not the nurses teaching them. It's not even necessarily members of the private sector. It's teachers. And Amber, I'm sorry to say, these don't read well for the teaching profession, these results.

Yeah, look, I hear what you're saying, but I guess I would disagree. Of course you would. Teachers actually don't have the enabling conditions to meet the students who are falling behind. I understand you're saying that, Rob, but then why 20 years ago did...

kids pass grammar and punctuation tests and perform above expectations in literacy and numeracy exams when there were more children in the classrooms and potentially more difficult situations for teachers.

So I think you would find that the funding arrangements 20 years ago were quite distinct to the way in which public schools are funded now. The students who have the achievement gap that we've seen played out in NAPLAN are in

public schools in the vast majority and that is not receiving the government funding that it needs to enable teachers to address these things one-on-one smaller class sizes they need individual attention many of these students and the funding does not allow teachers to do that again in the current context i know you're saying that and that's fine and i agree that you know

You can't fund our schools enough, but we've got finite resources. Now, at some point, does the Teachers' Federation take a step back and go, well, maybe we're not doing as good a job as we could? No, I reject that. Is that not a problem then? Is that not a problem then? If everyone has a conversation about it, the parents are having a conversation about it at home, governments are having a conversation about it, society's having a conversation about funding, why are the teachers exempt from that?

Well, teachers aren't exempt from the discussions on funding. But of course, Chris, teachers implement curriculum. They don't make up the curriculum that is provided by the various state and territory governments. It's a lot of other people's fault. Well, what teachers teach in classrooms is defined by...

by the syllabus and the curriculum. That's just the facts. How teachers teach and what they teach is within that curriculum. Teachers don't go in and teach whatever they feel like teaching. That is clearly defined through the syllabus.

that is provided by NESA. So teachers are not deciding what they should or shouldn't teach. That is defined for every teacher in New South Wales. - Hey Amber, you're completely missing the point, but I do, look, I was a big supporter of teachers getting a massive pay rise. You've got a massive pay rise. We're talking about big funding issues in classrooms, but ultimately society at some point is going to look at your profession and go, hey,

You ain't meeting societal expectations because 40% of year nine kids fail in grammar and punctuation tests. And I'm not saying teachers aren't trying hard. I'm just saying, is it worth just having a little bit of self-reflection on maybe we could do things better?

Sure. As a profession. And I think you'll find the teaching profession is very self-reflective in the way in which they operate. But also, Chris, that teachers work with parents and community every single day, hand in hand, for the education of our students and their children. So I don't believe...

that society and the parents and carers of the teachers that our members teach have lost faith. In fact, quite the opposite. Never said they did. Never said they did. All I said, it's all a big conversation as society. And I think that these results would, if I was a teacher and I was looking at these results more broadly, I'd be very disappointed with myself and the way things are going. And that's just facts, unfortunately. Amber, I really appreciate you coming on regardless. Thanks so much.

No worries. Thanks, Chris. That's the Deputy Secretary, or Deputy President, I should say, of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, Amber Flome, 131873. You tell me. And this isn't about beating up on teachers. This is just about, OK, what's wrong here? What's wrong here?

Why are our kids not getting the outcomes they deserve? If it is all about money, well, we can have a conversation about money. But then don't we have to have a conversation about who the people are in front of the kids who are doing the teaching and whether or not, more broadly, they've got the tools or they've got the capacity?

to get the results that society expects. Why are teachers exempt from this conversation? You tell me. 131873. It's 23 past four. A little bit of breaking news on this. Liberal Party missing the deadline for council nominations. So if you missed it, the Liberal Party in New South Wales, if you live in a whole bunch of councils, Lane Cove, Northern Beaches, George's River, there's a whole bunch of them there.

you won't be able to vote Liberal because the Liberal Party did not submit the nomination forms to the New South Wales Election Commission before the deadline of midday today. So I've been told one of the senior members of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Anthony Roberts, former minister, he's been around a long, long time, worked for John Howard,

Anthony Roberts, this is exclusive this afternoon, is demanding a party room meeting in the New South Wales Parliament. He is demanding a meeting of the New South Wales party room and he's demanding that of Mark Speakman. And Anthony Roberts, he says he wants answers...

And he wants resignations. So Richard Shields, he's a councillor in Willara. He's currently the New South Wales State Director. So he's effectively in charge of it all. And then you've got the New South Wales Liberal Party President, Don Harwin, also a former minister and a former colleague of Anthony Roberts. There will also need to be resignations.

And Anthony Roberts also wants to address the New South Wales party room. And there is some talk that they may resolve to write to Peter Dutton to ask for federal intervention to appoint an administrator in the New South Wales Liberal Party. And federal intervention would effectively say that, hey, we've got no confidence in you guys being able to run this you-know-what show. So Peter Dutton will then install somebody

to do it for them. Now don't forget, you've got a federal election coming up in a matter of months, probably early next year at this point. You can't have this kind of debacle when Australia is going to vote on who is going to govern us. You can't have the New South Wales Liberal Party completely dysfunctional, which...

It quite obviously is. So that news. Anthony Roberts, former minister and a senior member of the New South Wales Liberal Party, has demanded a party room meeting today. And he is demanding resignations and answers as to how the party office stuffed it up so badly. The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, just on these NAPLAN results and my conversation there with the Deputy President of the Teachers Federation, whether or not teachers, it is fair for the community to ask for some accountability of teachers and whether or not they might be partly to blame for the poor results. Michael's in Campbelltown. Hello, Michael. Hello.

Yeah, good day, Chris. Look, I've been listening to that conversation. I think there's a couple of points I'd just make. First of all, a lot of the data we get from NAPLAN, this is not just a one-off piece of data for this year. We've been trending poorly over the last couple of years. So you're 100% correct when you think that the whole purpose of NAPLAN

is to look at the data and then we have to do something about it. We have to respond. Now, there are two things I would say. One, a lot of the current teachers, the younger teachers, they were brought through a system where they themselves were never taught about punctuation.

Very difficult for them to catch up and then to implement that educational knowledge to their current students. That is not their fault, but it's just the way the system operated. We turned our education system away from being a building block of basics of English and mathematics to becoming a lot more creative.

And unfortunately, you know, what we've given up is the basic skills that you and I probably went through when we went to school. But the second thing that Amber did raise, though, and an important point, is that the syllabus...

forces teachers to teach what NESA wants them to teach and doesn't provide much opportunity in terms of time for teachers to dig deep into the curriculum and teach the basics. There has to be a syllabus change. There has to be an overhaul of the syllabus. Well, that's coming, isn't it? They're simplifying it all. Yes, but they need to go back to teaching the basics. And if they do that, then I think we'll see some better results. Let's hope so. Given all of that, though...

But given all of that, one of the other unseen or untalked about things sometimes is just the use of technology, which kids don't read. Kids are not going home and reading. They're being entertained and they're not reading. And that's a big factor too. You're a good man. Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your insight. Thanks so much for that. 131873. Tim's at Kenthurst. G'day, Tim. Hi, Chris. How you going, mate? I'm well, thank you.

Look, I am a high school teacher myself and I actually teach literacy across the stage five. That's across year nine and year ten. And I think, you know, parents absolutely have a say when they say that, you know, there are these results coming through. The thing is, a

A lot of schools are given these strategic directions that they need to hold across every five years. And a lot of schools are implementing the fact that we need to improve in our literacy and improve in our numeracy. The issue with it is the fact that we're not actually given enough time per cycle, so every two weeks on a timetabled lesson to explicitly teach these literacy standards. Now, just from my experience at the school that I'm currently teaching at,

i would say that you know schools are heading in the right direction it's just these limitations that we have in order to actually deliver the curriculum and deliver you know literacy progressions at a standard where every single kid is going to um you know you know have these kind of achievements and actually access the work hey tim be honest with me here right you go to the staff room you look around everyone being as conscientious as you are um

Look, teaching is an extreme... Hey, listen, it's every job. Every job, every industry, right? Every job in the... All I'm saying is if we've got a structural issue here,

well, we need to try to fix it. And everybody in that system then needs to be accountable for it, right? Yeah, I absolutely agree. And just what Michael was saying when he was saying, you know, younger teachers weren't taught punctuation and grammar, I completely disagree with that. You know, I'm in my late 20s and, you know, I was in primary and high school more than 10 years ago. It's almost a decade. And we were taught these basic punctuation and grammar techniques

So it shouldn't be an issue for a teacher to clearly define and clearly teach this curriculum to a standard where every kid can access it. A teacher should pride themselves in being able to differentiate in the classroom and provide that curriculum so every kid's needs are met. Hey, Tim, I've got to keep running off to the news, but I take your point, and I think...

You clearly love what you do and you've got to keep it up because our kids need you guys. I've got a whole bunch of other calls I'll get to them. We'll just go to the news headlines first. Josh Bryant, g'day.

Good afternoon again, Chris. Police are describing the crime scene where a 10-year-old girl was found dead on the Gold Coast as incredibly confronting. Her mother has been charged with her murder. The Jewish Council has condemned remarks from Peter Dutton arguing he's fuelling division after the opposition leader said no one fleeing Gaza should be allowed into Australia due to the potential security risk. The latest NAPLAN results have prompted suggestions excessive screen time could be affecting the development of children's

literacy skills and a global search is underway for the owner of a golden ring that was found in the roots of a cabbage in WA. The jewellery believed to have arrived in peat moss that was brought in from the Netherlands six months ago. In sport the NRL has announced the latest inductees into the Codes Hall of Fame. 11 players including Cameron Smith, Benji Marshall and Greg Inglis will be in the 2024 class. We'll have more news in sport at five. Good on you Josh 131873 Kate is at Newcastle. Hello Kate.

Kate, you with me? Oh, sorry. How are you going? I'm good, thank you, Kate. How are you? Good. I just wanted to talk to you about your comment about kids having changed or classrooms having changed. I've been teaching for over 25 years and the kinds of kids that get into mainstream classrooms have changed because

Previously, children with severe additional needs would be put into a specialist setting, but now they're being mainstreamed in mainstream classrooms. So in any classroom, you might have four or five children with quite high needs, so teachers have to manage that as well. But we've also got behaviour issues as well, and a lot of the issues that teachers deal with on a daily basis are emails from parents about behavioural

behaviour issues or kids on social media and, you know, we get four or five emails a day just about things that are happening at home where they can't manage the kids at home's behaviour. So all those things impact on what's going on in the classroom but the main two things is behaviour and the type of children that we're asked to teach and then

We're not necessarily getting funding to support that or training. Some of those students don't have that training. Out of interest, Kate, when you say acute special needs, what are we talking about? Okay, so you might have children with level 2 or 3 autism, so they can go in a mainstream setting. So they could be children who are sensitive to noise, scream during the day, throw things, things like that. All those things, that's in a mainstream classroom.

And of your day, so just in, you teach high school, do you? Primary school. Primary school. So just in terms of one of your day, just so I can get sort of an idea. So one of your days in a classroom, how much do you think it's spent on behavioural stuff versus actual education? Oh, I'd say probably 15 minutes out of every hour.

So 15 minutes is behavioural. Yeah. Add that up over a week and it's a lot of time. Kate, really appreciate your call. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Michael's at Bloomout. Hello, Michael. G'day, Chris. How are you going? I'm well, thanks, mate. Matey, I'm...

My wife has been a teacher for the last six years and I have to take umbrage with what your comments are on gaslighting teachers and having to have to sit back and have a look at themselves. My wife works extensive hours both at school and outside of school and from where I sit...

It's actually parents who used to do a lot of the stuff at home and reinforce what teachers actually used to do at school that has gone by the wayside. Parents don't have the time. And from the experience I've had through my wife is that parents don't do it. They just leave it.

up to teachers to do everything that they are supposed to do at school, which they don't at home. You used to sit down and read with your kids after dinner or something. It doesn't happen anymore. We know it doesn't because parents are having to have two jobs to try and get by. But there's no reinforcement of what a teacher has actually told them at school or the homework. They're left to their own devices. And when I say devices, I'm talking about electronic devices.

So the rope learning that we used to do 30 years ago doesn't exist these days. You've got phonics, phonics,

And the hours the teachers have to, like that last caller said, spend at least 15, if not more, 20 minutes every hour dealing with discipline rather than actually trying to focus on the kids is what the biggest issue is in trying to get a whole class through a lesson when you're being disturbed or being interrupted by kids who do have behavioural issues. So.

The gaslighting of teachers and turning around and saying that to them themselves. I didn't say that. I just said that everybody in the system needs to be accountable, from governments to society to parents and to teachers, Michael, because the results aren't good enough. So we sit down around a table and have a discussion about how we can fix it. But you're blaming the teachers. I wasn't. When did I say I was blaming the teachers?

Well, you actually said that they should sit down and have a look at themselves. Everybody should. Everybody should, Michael. You know what it is? It's the curriculum. Well, that's getting changed. We all learnt. All right. Good on you, Michael. Have a good afternoon. Thank you. Defend your wife as much as you want. Good on you, Michael. 131873. I wasn't gaslighting anyone. Silly term, number one. And number two.

If you're having a conversation about 40% of year nine kids failing at grammar and punctuation and the teachers aren't involved in the conversation as to why that is happening, the practitioners of one's education, then surely to God something is wrong if we can't just have an open and honest conversation about what we need to do to change it. And if we can't because we get people like Michael jumping down people's throats, then we're not going to fix anything.

We're not going to fix anything. And as I said, I said in my introduction, this is not a beat up on the teachers thing. I was sitting here and I backed in teachers getting a pay rise. I thought they deserved a pay rise. Absolutely deserved a pay rise.

But we need to figure out why Australian children and New South Wales students are not performing to society's expectations. It's truly as simple as that. And everybody should be a part of that conversation. And everybody should be held accountable for it. It's 23 to 5.

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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 19 minutes to 5, 131873. Now, what if I told you that pretty soon the world is going to have no idea whether or not a major asteroid could be about to hit Earth? Well, it could be the case anyway. So NASA has officially shut down its NEOWISE mission.

which has been tracking asteroids and other near-Earth objects since 2011. Now, basically, they look out for asteroids that could be a big problem if they hit Earth. Now, there are plans to launch a new planetary defence mission in 2027, but that means that there is a three-year gap in our planetary defence against potential asteroids. Are we in trouble here? Well, to find out how we...

how worried we should be about asteroids hitting Earth. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, doesn't it? Professor Stephen Tinge is an astronomer at Curtin University. He's on the line. Professor, thanks for your time. Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. So why is NASA shutting down NEOWISE? What's the purpose behind it?

Well, they don't really have a choice, actually. NEOWISE is naturally coming to the end of its life. It's flying through the upper parts of Earth's atmosphere, which is dragging it back down to Earth. So it will naturally de-orbit itself. And so NASA have to think ahead as to what the next mission is going to be that's going to replace it. OK, so what is it exactly, NEOWISE?

Yeah, it's had an interesting history. It started off life as a mission with a telescope to study the distant universe, galaxies. After a few years, it couldn't continue that mission. And so NASA cleverly repurposed it, renamed it NEOWISE.

and use the telescope to look for and study asteroids that can come close to the Earth, so-called near-Earth objects. And some of these objects have the potential to collide with the Earth at some point in the future. So without NEOWISE, is there any way to detect whether asteroids are coming our way?

There's actually an enormous amount of effort using ground-based telescopes to monitor those threats.

NEOWISE was very successful. It studied about 3,000 asteroids that come close to the Earth and actually discovered 200 that had not been known before. So it's made an enormous contribution to our understanding of near-Earth objects and those potential risks.

But to answer the question that you led with in the introduction, the risks are very, very, very small. We're talking about asteroid impacts with the potential for significant damage in a very limited fashion once every 20,000 years. So not a big risk for the next few years. When was the last time that we had something significant enter the Earth's atmosphere?

Well, every year we get asteroids coming through the Earth's atmosphere and sometimes they burn up in a very spectacular manner. Generally, these are objects of maybe a few meters in diameter. And so they mostly burn up in the atmosphere.

The sort of asteroids that we're talking about here are in excess of 100 metres in diameter. So that's about the size level that you need to start looking out for. And so NEOWISE was particularly interested in the larger objects and the follow-on mission, NEOSurveyor, will aim to...

discover about two-thirds of the total population of objects bigger than 140 metres in diameter. And I'm assuming, Professor, before I let you go, the next generation of these trackers will be even more significant, right, and have more sort of technological firepower behind it?

Yeah, absolutely. NeoWISE was a clever repurposing of a previous mission and that's meant that NeoWISE has accumulated the information and the experience that's really fed into designing the next mission which will be dedicated and specifically designed for asteroid detection. So yeah, the next mission will be very, very impressive.

I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Professor. You have a wonderful afternoon. No problem. You too. Thanks very much. Fascinating stuff, isn't it? Outer space. Professor Stephen Tinge there as an astronomer at Curtin University, 131873. Just got a text here from Lauren. Chris, currently heading north on the Galston Road towards Galston Gorge. I'm at a standstill, bumper to bumper. Can you find out what is happening? Well, we've just been told there's a two-car crash on Galston Road in Hornsby Heights.

Now, that two-car crash is right near Evans Road. Happened just after 4.30, so sort of 10 minutes ago. Now, we've spoken to paramedics there, there at the moment. They say a woman in her 30s has injuries to her lower leg, but traffic is backed way up. We don't have a timeline when it might get cleared, but...

So unfortunately, Lauren, you might just have to stick it out. But if you can avoid the area, you'll save yourself some time sitting in traffic. A two-car crash on Galston Road in Hornsby Heights. Eight minutes to five, 131873. Just a little bit more on this Liberal Party in chaos story that we've been covering. So confirmation now from Liberal headquarters that

Northern Beaches, Lane Cove, Shoalhaven, Wollongong, Campbelltown, Camden, Blue Mountains, George's River, North Sydney, Penrith, Canterbury, Bankstown, Maitland, all of those council areas will likely not have Liberal candidates for you to vote for because they couldn't get the paperwork in. The state headquarters couldn't get the paperwork in.

Before the deadline. What a monumental stuff up. There is nobody who has been texting my phone this afternoon who thinks that Richard Shields and Don Harwin will survive. And to be quite frank, they shouldn't survive, should they? 131873. Now, a bit of a hump day shout out. It's not a Sydney shout out on a Friday. It's a hump day shout out. Greg's at Heathcote. Hello, Greg.

Hello, yes, Chris, how are you? I'm good, thanks, Greg. What's happening? Yeah, I'd just like to give a shout out to my wife. It was our 51st wedding anniversary on Sunday. Oh, you beauty. And we were able to celebrate at sea level at Cronulla and they were absolutely fantastic, the staff and the restaurant. Oh, it's a great restaurant sea level. Isn't it a beautiful outlook? Yeah, that's right, yeah. And my wife's a great person. What do you love most about Robyn, Greg?

Where did you meet Greg?

It's funny. The Police Boys Club at Sutherland used to have dances on Saturday nights back in the early 70s, and I used to go there with my mates. They used to have the Easy Beats, John Farnham. They had a whole lot of groups on there, and we were up there one night, and I stepped sideways, and I walked on this girl's foot, she went crook on me, and we never bit in close. Is she still going crook on you? Yeah.

Yeah, she's good, yeah. She's the greatest person. Oh, Greg, I love it. Hey, I love love, and Greg, I've got a hamper coming your way, all right? Good on you. Okay, thank you very much, Chris. I really enjoyed that. That's Greg at Heathcote, 51 years going strong, him and his wife, Robyn. Congratulations and happy anniversary. Hampers with Vite, beautiful keepsakes valued up to $75. Hamperswithvite.com.au.

It's coming up to the five o'clock news with Josh Bryant, 131873. This Liberal Party stuff is just getting worse and worse and worse. Mark Speakman has just given some extremely brief comments out the front of...

in New South Wales Parliament about all this today, effectively saying that, you know, nothing to do with him. Just go and speak to the New South Wales State Director, i.e. the people who run the infrastructure of the New South Wales Liberal Party. Well, you can't vote Liberal in pretty well any council or most councils anywhere in Sydney. It's just debacle. 131873. Seven West Media has released its full results and...

It looks like before-tax profit fell 65%, so they've made before-tax $67 million, 7 West Media. And net profit after-tax slipped to $45 million. They've been smashed by declining advertising revenue, and I'm sure many media companies are in the same boat.

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 five. Thank you for your company on this Wednesday afternoon. 131873 is that open line number. The text line 0460873873 or email me drive at 2gb.com. Now I've got $1,000 to give away very shortly. All you need is a catchphrase that Ben Fordham gave you this morning. If you want to win yourself a grand,

And why didn't Ray Gunn, Rachel Gunn, why didn't Ray Gunn, our famous Olympic breakdancer, arrive home to Australia with the rest of our Olympic athletes? It's all very curious. Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Now, I've offered very little criticism of AUKUS because I think regardless of cost...

More firepower and closer military arrangements with our allies in liberal democracies is a good thing. Nuclear subs? Tick. Tech from the most advanced militaries in the world, in the United States and the United Kingdom? Tick. And I don't particularly care that we're spending $360 billion. Because that is, of course, over decades and decades. And in the scheme of federal budgets, it ain't going to break them. But...

I was appalled to read that the US or UK government, tomorrow or any time over the next 50 years, if and when they feel like they don't want to send us nuclear subs anymore, they can write a letter and give us, Australia, 12 months notice that they're pulling out of AUKUS. Now, I would have thought that this is nothing short of a bombshell for Australia. And it is something that our Prime Minister and Defence Minister need to explain to us, the Australian public,

And they need to explain it to us immediately. Because the new development reveals that the agreement prioritises the United States and the United Kingdom over Australian taxpayer money. And I want to know what's going on behind closed doors. It's not some sort of minor detail, is it? It's a fundamental shift in how we, Australia, need to approach AUKUS. Because we could get 10 years down the track, no closer to a nuclear sub,

and the US or the UK could just get cold feet and pull the pin. And us, the Australian taxpayer, would be, you know, $100 billion worse off with nothing to show for it. And the fact that our own requirements are being sidelined in favour of the United States and the United Kingdom's interest is concerning to me. We need to understand why this is happening. Someone needs to explain themselves.

Because we need to know how it will impact Australia's defence capabilities and our strategic autonomy. If we don't get the subs, what's plan B? Now, it's crucial that our leaders address this issue because we need to understand why our needs are being deprioritised and what it means for our national security. Albanese and Marls, they should come forward with a detailed explanation.

If there's nothing to see here, then they should reassure the Australian public that AUKUS is in Australia's best interests and the 12-month pull-the-pin clause is not a big problem for us. So in terms of significant policy shifts like this, I would have thought that that would be front and centre of the political debate.

But no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Transparency is not key under the Albanese government. Transparency is not king under any government that we've seen for a very, very long time, especially when it comes to defence capabilities. Now, I get it, but we're not asking for some top secret or classified information as to how the nuclear subs work. All we're asking is, hey, do these guys get a 12-month get-out-of-jail-free card?

Or not. Let's hope they provide some clarity sooner rather than later. First with the news, only in Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. It's 11 past five. Now, if you missed the news today, the Liberal Party has made one hell of a stuff up in New South Wales. So we've got council elections come September, right?

And nominations for the people who were to run at those council elections closed at midday today. It was a hard deadline. So everyone was in place. All the Liberal candidates thought that, all right, we're getting ready for the campaign, spending a little bit of money on all the paraphernalia they need to get up and going. But guess what? The guys in Liberal HQ missed the deadline. They didn't lodge the paperwork in time.

That is an extraordinary outcome. So the upshot of that is if you live on the northern beaches, if you live in Lane Cove, if you live in George's River, if you live in a whole bunch of councils all around Sydney and all around New South Wales, Wollongong and Shoalhaven included, you will not be able to vote Liberal at the upcoming council elections unless

Because head office didn't get their names on the ticket. They didn't lodge the paperwork in time. Now Mark Speakman of course is the parliamentary leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party. He was asked about this. Well as I say, my job is to lead the New South Wales Parliamentary Party. Those sorts of basic administrative tasks are left to the State Director and the Secretariat. They're not the responsibility of the Federal Party, Federal Parliamentary Party or the State Parliamentary Party. The State Director will have to explain what's happened.

The direction she'll stick to is here? Well, I'll wait to hear the State Director's explanation. They've started resourcing issues. Is that something that you've experienced? Look, I'll have to hear what the State Director has to say about it. I can't offer any further comment at the moment. Do you think it's damaging to the State Party to not have candidates in the Council elections?

My wish was to have Liberal-endorsed candidates in as many council elections as possible. I think people are entitled to have the choice of voting for a Liberal candidate if that's what they wish to do. So that is certainly my preference, to have as many Liberal candidates in the field as possible. I don't know the detail of what has happened at the moment, so I can't answer your questions further, but it's a matter for the State Director to answer those questions. Thank you. Have you had a briefing on it at all? Not in detail. Have you spoken with the State Director about the issue? Only very briefly.

So the State Director is Richard Shields. The Liberal Party President is Don Harwin. Neither are likely to survive. So Northern Beaches, Lane Cove, Shoalhaven, Campbelltown, Camden, Blue Mountains, Georges River, Penrith, North Sydney, Canterbury, Rankstown and Maitland will either have zero Liberal candidates or just a couple here and there in a couple of wards. It is truly...

An embarrassment writ large. And I've had a whole bunch of text messages on this issue. And Leslie said, Chris, I demand that the Electoral Commission in New South Wales give me my electoral right to a Liberal candidate at the upcoming council election. I live in Penrith and I'll deliberately spoil my vote. Well, Leslie, that's your right, but it's a hard deadline and it ain't going to change. Andrew says, Chris...

John Doraghy, former footballer and has been a councillor for a long time at Wollongong. He was the hope of all the anti-offshore wind farm people of Wollongong. He promised to fight against it. And now he and us have lost that. Well, John Doraghy wanted to be the mayor of Wollongong after Gordon Bradbury, long-term mayor, decided to pull the pin. He was a chance at winning, John Doraghy, and he doesn't want anything to do with these offshore wind farms. But guess what?

He's not on the ticket either. He's on the line for us. John, g'day. Yeah, good afternoon. Is it a good afternoon, Chris? I'm not so sure. Not for you, it's not. How do you feel? Totally disappointed, disillusioned. You know, it's my city. It's one that I love to represent. And now I don't have the opportunity to. When did you put all your paperwork into New South Wales Liberal HQ? The end of last week.

Everything was correlated by Sunday night, I believe, and everything was sent into Liberal headquarters for Monday or Tuesday nomination. Hey, John, it's not like this is a surprise, right? We've known for four years what the election date was. Yeah.

We have, Chris, and it's very saddening news because we'd really like to have an option here in Wollongong for...

So not just the wind farms, but also for the engagement and the commitment to improve Wollongong as a city and as a place to live, work and play. But unfortunately, it's now just been burnt like a bonfire. Have you had a phone call from Richard Shields or anyone senior at Liberal HQ?

No, I haven't. I don't expect to, to be brutally honest, unfortunately. But, you know, there is costs associated with preparing for an election and my fellow councillors, candidates, should I say, are all putting in money and the fact that they're

They've spent money, you know, is the Liberal Party going to stump up and look after all those costs that we have all put in? How much, roughly? Oh, two weeks, mate. I should imagine it'd be in the tens of thousands at the moment by all of our councillor candidates. What's next for you? John, are you going to keep your hands in it?

Well, it won't be from here because I'll be on the sidelines, of course, as a local resident. And I'll send in the odd email, I guess, and phone calls to the GM potentially or to the new Lord Mayor or Ward 2 Councillors where I live to the challenges that are out there at the moment.

Hey, John, before I let you go, I can hear you're extremely disappointed because you're a good shot to give this thing a shake. What does Wollongong Council look like if it's effectively unanimously green, independent and Labor?

I don't dare to imagine, Chris, to be brutally honest again, I think that we're in for a lame duck approach. We don't get major funding or grants from any of the Labor governments or any government for that matter because it's such a strong Labor town but

at the same time, you know, unless you have a choice and there's plenty of people out there wanting the choice. And I know walking around and seeing different businesses and different residences, you

They're all saying, we need you on board and we hope you win. I was only at a function last night where people were receiving AOs and OAMs and all this sort of thing. And they're coming up to me saying, oh, gee, we hope you win this election. We don't want the alternative. So interesting times.

Hey, John, I'm very sorry that you've had to go through all this. It's extremely disappointing, but keep fighting against that wind farm, all right? Yeah, I certainly will, Chris. Thank you very much, mate. All the best. And to you. That's John Doraghy, former footballer, Joe Cool, played for both Western Suburbs and Illawarra. Wonderful man. His heart's in the right place because he wants to...

represent that place that he loves so much, Wollongong. And now we can't because of Richard Shields and Don Harwin in Liberal headquarters. And the people of Wollongong who might not want to vote Labor, who might not want to vote Independent, they might want to vote Liberal, well, they won't be given the chance to do that. It is, quite frankly, a complete and utter shambles. And I think that Peter Dutton and Susan Lay, who's obviously the...

most senior New South Wales Liberal in the Federal Parliamentary Party, I think there is absolutely grounds at this point for federal intervention. Clear the whole lot of them out because if Peter Dutton has this outfit running his campaign in New South Wales ahead of the federal election, well, Albo may as well just go get the

Curtains redone at the lodge. It's just a joke. 131873. It's 24 past five. 131873. This is very sad news. Blues Fest. Blues Fest will be closing its doors for good after 2025. It's all over. One of Australia's most iconic music festivals. So we lost Splendour in the Grass. And now Blues Fest out of Byron Bay will be closing its doors after next year.

Did you ever go to Blues Fest? 131873. Give me a call. What's your favourite memory or your standout performance? Because they reckon there's some unforgettable moments to choose from and I've got a few ones here. So Bob Dylan in 2011 played at Blues Fest. Does it feel, does it feel to be without a home? A complete unknown.

Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, he headlined Blues Fest all the way back in 2011. It was highly anticipated and despite his reserved stage presence, he captivated the audience with a set list that spanned decades of his iconic career. If you were there listening to Bob Dylan at Blues Fest, once in a lifetime opportunity. I reckon this one was good too, BB King. Just makes me want to bump along, doesn't it?

85 years old, B.B. King was. The King of Blues. It was one of the final Australian performances back in 2011 too. A masterclass in blues history there by B.B. King. This one was a good one too. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals Reunion. Her name was true, she was a whore.

Ben Harper was a regular at Blues Fest, but he had seven years off, so he came back in 2015 to reunite with the innocent criminals. This one, you might not have heard of these guys, but they're a gospel group called the Blind Boys of Alabama, and they absolutely brought the house down. We got a friendship that's kinder than life. Hold the heart. If you're on the street, I'll take your hand.

American Gospel Group, they had a powerful performance in 2002. Beautiful music, isn't it? But this is one of my personal favourites. I absolutely adore this song by Hosier, Take Me to Church, 2019. Take me to church, I worship like a dog at the shrine of your life. So you can shop and you love me, give you my life.

It was one of the standout acts of 2019, Hosier, and it's going to be a really sad day when Blues Fest decides they are no longer. Jeez, our live music scene in this country has got some problems. If we're losing Splendour, we're losing Blues Fest. There's not much left, is there? 131873. Live on 2GB. Have your say. 131873.

Well, this has been reported in the Daily Telegraph, but the Latrell Mitchell white powder scandal. There's an online stoush between locals in Dubbo who were in the room with him but deny leaking the photograph. So Latrell Mitchell was caught up in the scandal on Monday after the photo reportedly taken in a Dubbo motel room over the weekend. We've all seen it by now. But the blonde woman in that photo, her name's Amy Brown, she wrote on Facebook, "'Disappointed they got my bad side.'"

Done me dirty. And she went on to discuss what happened, saying that there was no shame in liking to have fun when she goes out. However, much of the discussion between Ms Brown and other locals is centered around who's leaking the photo. Fair enough, too. I just find that leaking stuff so weird. Like going out and trying to stitch people up for money. Anyway, the NRL is investigating the matter. But there's a whole bunch of people who are...

Trying to say, well, it doesn't have anything to do with me. And people are trying to point the fingers that this person did it, that person did it. Now there's a big blue online. Really? Much to do about nothing, to be honest with you. 131873. Well, J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have been named in an online bullying lawsuit that's been filed by Khalif. This is Amain Khalif, the Algerian boxer. So she won gold for Algeria in the women's 66 kilogram title.

And she failed a sex test or a gender test, just sex test, last year in an International Boxing Association bout. She subsequently was still allowed to box at the Paris Olympic Games. She is a woman, but she has XY chromosomes. Some defects with XY chromosomes. Anyway...

Both J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have referred to Khalif as a man, and as a result, she's lodged a lawsuit claiming to be the victim of misogynistic, racist and sexist cyberbullying, which the lawyer has described as a digital lynching. A news update. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-great delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT.

In the newsroom, Josh Bryan. G'day. Hello again, Chris. Would-be Liberal candidates are expressing their frustration and disappointment after the party missed the deadline to nominate some of its candidates in multiple council areas ahead of the local government elections. A police officer is describing the scene of an alleged murder of a 10-year-old girl on the Gold Coast...

as one of the most confronting things he's seen in his policing career. The federal government maintains Palestinians coming into Australia are undergoing stringent security checks amid concerns raised by the opposition leader. And experts are welcoming efforts to make blood pressure checks more convenient. 30 bunning stores across the state will be offering free tests to shoppers to help identify those at risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia and cancer.

kidney disease. In sport, 11 more rugby league greats have been inducted into the NRL's Hall of Fame. Among them, Cameron Smith, Jonathan Thurston and Benji Marshall. We'll have more news in sport at six. Good on you, Josh. 131873. Coming up, there's an app that's being developed that you can just pull up on your phone and check where your nearest defibrillator is. They save lives, these things.

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 25 to 6, 131873. Well, Good Samaritans can now be guided to automated external defibrillators to help them respond to people experiencing cardiac arrest. And it's an app called the Good Sam app.

And it works by alerting registered responders when someone near them goes into cardiac arrest and a triple zero calls being received. Great idea. Health Minister Ryan Park's on the line for us. Minister, thanks for your time. Thanks a lot for having me, Chris. How's it work? Well,

Well, really simple. We've already got over 7,000 Good Sam volunteers and they're just people who have gone onto the ambulance website, said, I'm prepared to do CPR if I get a ping around me that someone's got a cardiac arrest happening. What we've now added to that is where the AEDs are in place. So what... I'll take you through an example. Down my neck of the woods, if someone was having a heart attack or cardiac arrest in Wollongong, near the university, say, for argument's sake...

and I'm a good Sam, which I am, and I was in and around that area, I'd get a ping to say,

to say someone has called triple O, there's a cardiac arrest, person going into cardiac arrest. I can go there, I'm prepared to start CPR, which is vital. What now this will also do is I'll be able to look up the app and say there's an AED at Wollongong University, send a bystander to go and get it. And that makes an enormous difference because, Chris, every minute that a person's not getting CPR when they're in a cardiac arrest...

their chance of survival drops by 10%. Minister, I had a listener lunch today at one of the DD's Waterfront Group restaurants. And one of our listeners was telling me that her sister, there was a group of three there, all the sisters, and they were saying that her sister, she had a cardiac arrest, went into cardiac arrest, flatlined, just happened to be that one of the people who were living in the house had a defibrillator in the boot, a working defibrillator in the boot of the car, saved her life.

Yeah, Chris, we've saved just through this program, 30 people have been saved. Of those 30, 12 needed an AED and have been saved on the use of an AED. This makes a huge difference. And my neck of the woods, Chris, where we've got beaches, we've got a lot of surf lifesavers, that's part and parcel of what they do with CPR. They get online, register, happy to do it. The app operates behind their phone, as it always does,

If someone goes into cardiac arrest near then, they call 000. 000 will immediately send out that ping and identify that for people in that area who might be able to go there and start CPR before the paramedic arrives, which is absolutely vital when minutes count. Have we got enough defibs around the place?

Look, we have. We can always do with more. I mean, the thing about them is not so much the number. What we've got to get people comfortable with, Chris, is that they don't need to be an expert. They don't need to have medical training. All they need to do is take it out. Yeah, it talks it to them.

It'll play a sounding. It's all pitches. Very, very easy to understand. Very, very simple to understand. We've got to get the community just a bit more comfortable with knowing where they are and then being able to simply start using them on a patient should they need to. But because before this conversation today, because I was talking about how the fact that I was having you on the radio program...

I would be panicking. If there was someone in front of me, a loved one of mine in cardiac arrest, I'd ring the ambulances and I'd think, oh, can I really use this thing, this defib? And that's the big challenge, Chris. Everyone can use it. You just take it out of the box. Once you take it out of the box, the instructions are all there. Within a matter of seconds...

Very, very simple. It'll talk you through it. In a matter of seconds, you'll have someone connected up. Every two minutes, that cycle will start to go into that person if it's needed, if the arrhythmia is needed to try and get that heart restarted. And it's all about trying to get them treated in those first few minutes, which make a massive difference to their chance of survival. Minister, you're a good man. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks a lot for having me. That's Minister Ryan Park, the New South Wales Health Minister. If you want to check this out, Good Sam, G-O-O-D-S-A-M. It's on the ambulance website. So Good Sam, if you want to register.

Deb Knight's got money news tonight after 7 o'clock. Deb, how are the markets today? Another day of gains, a fourth straight day. In fact, a solid night on Wall Street helped us out locally and the health sector turned around all the losses we had yesterday. Tech companies performed well, but the ASX 200, it finished up 0.3% or 23 points to $7,850. And the dollar, its good run continues as well. It's now worth 66.3 US cents. Commonwealth Bank, they're struggling. Well, we'll have the CEO, Matt Common, on the show tonight. And yeah, $10.

billion close to of profit. It's down 2% lower than last year. But yes, they are now our largest listed company. They've taken over from BHP because of their strong performance. But a lot of analysts are sort of questioning whether they're overvalued and whether from an investment point of view, they're really worth putting your money into. Many are

We already do with our super, of course. But yeah, Matt Common, one of the big guests we've got on Money News tonight, will also speak to the Chief Financial Officer of AGL. They delivered a near tripling of their profits too because we're all paying more for our power. Thank you for that. So they cashed in all the way to the bank. I do like this one. So new laws in the United States making gym memberships...

Easier to cancel. I've been called like this. Everyone has been. You do a New Year's resolution, I'm going to do it. And you watch. After the Olympics, there'll be a big run on people joining gyms. We all want to be fitter, faster, stronger, all the rest of it. But yes, it shouldn't be as hard to get out of those contracts as it is. And in the US, it's the same story. You've got to jump through more hoops than a workout to get out of the membership. So...

America's bringing in new consumer laws. I reckon we should do the same. It shouldn't be as hard to get out of a gym membership as it is to get in. It's very simple to join, but it's much harder to cancel those memberships. So change on that front is definitely overdue. Good on you, Deb. We'll listen after 7 o'clock on Money News. That's Deb Knight, 131873. Coming up, we'll have an update on the weather and, of course, we will play the duel for fuel.

And now, a weather update. 16 degrees in the city at the moment and 16 in our west. Temperatures tonight, 13 in the city tonight and 12 in our west. Rain around too. Possible showers tomorrow also. Tops of 20 in the city tomorrow and 21 in the west. Okay, call me now. 1-300-722-873. Do you know the catchphrase? And do you want to win...

$1,000. 1-300-722-873. 1-300-722-873. If you have the catchphrase, you'll be winning yourself a grand. It's 13 minutes to six. I've just got a text here from Bradley. Bradley says, Chris, the implications of this Liberal Council stuff up could be huge. It could mean a raft of green controlled and dominated councils in lots more places.

We all know the implications of that. Poor financial management, anti-business policies, a larger woke agenda, and good luck to the Prime Minister and Premier hitting their housing targets. Bad news for first-home buyers too. Heads must roll. Well, you're absolutely right, Bradley, and I was just being sent this by someone who's involved in the Liberal Party. So if you live on the northern beaches and you are voting in the French's Forest Ward, so if you're in the French's Forest Ward, obviously,

of the Northern Beaches. You know what your candidates are? These are the options you have to choose for your local candidate, right? For council. You ready? The Greens and the Teals. That's it. That's it. That's all you've got to choose from. So outside of it, they're the only people that will be representing the good folk of French's Forest on the Northern Beaches Council. Ethan from the Greens and Susan...

From the independent team, the Teals. God help us. Alrighty. Donna's at Kellyville. Hello, Donna. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Donna. The catchphrase is? Hump day. Hump day it is. Well done, Donna. So exciting. $1,000 is nothing to sneeze at. What have you got plans for it?

I'm actually going to give most of it to a cousin of mine that's been battling breast cancer. So she's got three young kids. Donna, Donna, Donna, you are a magnificent human being. Well, that is going to a good cause. And hopefully you can take yourself out to dinner or something with a little bit of it just to celebrate. Donna, I really appreciate your call. I really appreciate your call. I'm very happy that you've won that $1,000. Now the catchphrase you need for tomorrow is,

Because I had such a wonderful lunch with them today and all the listeners here at 2GB. DeeDees. DeeDees is the catchphrase. You need to win $1,000 with Ben Fordham tomorrow morning. Write it down. DeeDees. D-E-D-E-S. DeeDees. One more time from 5.30am. There's a chance to win a grand if you know the catchphrase. DeeDees.

All right, do you want to win a bit of free fuel? 131873. It's all thanks to Shell V-Power. If you want to play the duel for fuel, give us a call. 131873. Just before we get to the duel for fuel, Australia's Olympians made their return this morning to Kingsford Smith. But Raegun, Rachel Gunn, she was a noticeable absentee.

Nobody knows why she didn't come home. Probably because she didn't want to face all the questions. Or maybe she's doing an international tour. She'll make a quid now. She's internationally famous. Ray Gunn.

I just, all people saying that it's bullying and the like. You know, what do we see? Cam McAvoy, swimmer, she came in for the closing ceremony, he said, and the whole team got around her. Jess Fox, she said to see the toll, she's human, and it's massive what she's been through over the last week, and she's definitely been feeling it. She doesn't deserve that. Boxer Harry Garside, he said that she showed the Australian spirit, which is to go out there and give it a crack. Yeah, but it's the Olympics.

I don't think it's about giving it a crack, is it? On 2GB Drive, let's drill for fuel. 200 bucks of fuel up for grabs, all thanks to Shell V-Power. Our contestants have got Hayley at Hasselgrove. G'day, Hayley. G'day, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Hayley. And Shannon's at Cronulla. Hello, Shannon. Hey, Chris. How are you, brother? I'm good, thank you, Shannon. I'm good. Hayley, you ready to go? Sure am. Let's get this done. Go, Hayley. Your time starts now. How many gold medals did Australia win at this year's Olympics?

18. Well done. The Beetle is famously which brand of car? VW. Correct. What sport is Simone Biles most recognised for? Gymnastics. Correct. Here in New South Wales, what shape is a stop sign? Circle. An octagon. What fish is capable of generating an electrical charge? Electric eel. Not bad, Hayley. Three's pretty strong. Three's pretty strong. Shannon, you ready?

I'm ready mate. Your time starts now. Val Holmes has signed a new contract with Rich Team. St George. Well done. How many floors does the Eiffel Tower have? 153. Three. Billy Joel is famously from which city in America? Detroit. New York. You Had Me at Hello is a legendary line from which movie?

Jerry Maguire. Correct. What is the largest ocean on Earth? Pacific. Correct. Who was the first woman ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin? Aretha. Right at the dare. Shannon, 200 bucks of fuel coming your way. Hayley, very well played. It is the duel for fuel, and we will play it every afternoon here on Drive. And now, a preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports.

Adam Hawes has got Wide World of Sports coming up next. Big story today. Which one's that, mate? Val Holmes in a red V. What do you reckon? Oh, look, I think Val hasn't had his best season, but you can have him. We'll take Zach Lomax over at the Eels. Good luck with it. That's all I'll say. It's a good pickup. He's a great player when he's at his best, and we can certainly see that at the Sharks days, and I'm sure Shane Flanagan will try and get that out of him. Four weeks for Kyle Flanagan? Mm-hmm.

Overs, isn't it? I think so. I think two would have done it. I think four's a bit harsh. Well, we see them again this year. I had a look at the Dragons' run home. It's not too bad. I think they could sneak in there and we might see Kyle play again. That's as long as they can get Jack Bird up to scratch at 5-8. We've got four games. We need to win three. And we've got you guys at Parramatta. We've got the Gold Coast at Wollongong.

We've got Cronulla at Wollongong and then we've got Canberra at Coggera. Yeah. It's doable, but we've lost a lot of players now. And the Dolphins have a pretty tough run. And they're just above you. So, I don't know. I think the Red V can get a bit excited. Hey, 11 new inductees into the NRL Hall of Fame. Very exciting. One of those gentlemen will join me, Benny Elias. One of the greats. He transformed the way they played dummy half back in the 80s and 90s. So, have they put it out, have they?

So the list is out there, is it? The list is out there. Oh, I thought it was supposed to be a surprise. The Immortal is the surprise. The Immortal's the surprise, yeah. Right. So I'll spoil the surprise for you just after six. I'll let you know who's on that list. Benny Elias is one. I've given cats out of the bag there. Roy Simmons will also join us from Royce's big walk for the fight against dementia. Royce, we'll have a chat to him. Leon Cameron from the Swans, he's coming on the show. Big game against Essendon. And Mark Boz of Bosnich, he's going to preview the UEFA Super Cup match.

What's happening there with the UEFA Super Cup? Plenty, and Boz is going to talk you all the way through it. But here's a big game tomorrow at 5am on Stan Sports. I'll make sure you tune in. I look forward to it. Good on you, Horsey. That's Adam Hawes with Wide World of Sports coming up next. Knows more about sport than I do. I'll give you the tip on that.

Knows more about sport than most people do in Australia. Outstanding journalist and outstanding bloke, Adam Hawes. That's it from me. 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Make sure you tune in. I've got plenty to give away again tomorrow afternoon. And just remember the code word that you need for Ben Fordham to win a grand tomorrow morning is DDs. DDs is the code word. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.