2GB Drive with Chris O'Keefe – Full Show August 21 01:52:15

On Sydney's 2GB, this is Drive with Chris O'Keefe. Good afternoon, Sydney. What a beautiful winter's Wednesday it is. What a treat the weather is today, hey? I hope you're enjoying it. Now, I'm on a mission to make ticketless parking fines illegal because they're wrong. Just look at Cumberland Council. Cumberland Council around Auburn and Holroyd have bought cars, bolted cameras to them,

to just drive by people and then issue them parking fines. They never have to get out, just sit over the road or drive past. Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap. 150 here, 250 there, 300 over there. It is just so wrong. The Mayor of Cumberland Council will join me, see if they can justify it.

Tanya Plibersek will also join me on the show this afternoon. Why would she say no to a current proposal to build a $1 billion gold mine, creating hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax receipts? What are the reasons behind it? Cultural, supposedly, but Minister Plibersek is refusing to release the advice. I'm going to try to get to the bottom of that one. We'll also preview the Hall of Fame, the NRL Hall of Fame tonight. Unfortunately, it's

The process has been rightly criticised, I think. It's turned into a bit of a controversy of the NRL's own making, and I think it was very remiss of them not to consult the current immortals on who the next immortal will be. $1,000 to give away too if you've got the catchphrase and a whole bunch more right now. It's 26 degrees at Earlwood and 26 at Bass Hill.

It's eight and a half past three, 131 873, our open line number. You can email me, drive at 2GB.com or text me, 0460 873 873. Now, you'd have heard about this in the news today. There were a string of shootings in our western suburbs overnight. So at 10pm last night, we've got a little bit more information on this. A man allegedly shot into a home on Antwerp Street in Auburn.

where his own wife and two children were staying. And his body was later found in a creek nearby. So Madison Scott's from Nine News. She's got all the latest developments on this. She joins me on the line. Madison, g'day. Hi, good afternoon, Chris. So what do we know? What's happened to you?

Yeah, well, look, a really awful domestic violence situation here that's occurred overnight. A woman from Victoria was sheltering with her two children at her parents' home in Auburn, and they left Victoria a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to flee from her husband of 23 years.

But last night, that man came knocking, smashing the window of her parents' Auburn home before threatening them with a gun. The first shot failed and the second shot, which was aimed at the woman's mother, thankfully missed her. Too shaken to speak on camera today. The family has told us that...

and it's a miracle no one was hurt. One member saying, I thought I was about to lose half my family. So we've heard from police earlier this morning who say that they're thankful at this stage that they don't have another domestic violence-related homicide on their hands. He then fled from that home and it was just kilometres down the road that he died.

tried to carjack two cars. One of those he actually fired his gun into. Inside was a man with his 15-year-old daughter. That bullet did hit him and he's at Westmead Hospital in a serious but stable condition. So there were people that were, you know, caught up in this man's rage. And four hours later,

Do we know who he is, the 50-year-old?

No, at this stage, we don't know who he is. I have been in contact with his family. They have requested their privacy and say that given the children have gone through such a horrific night of losing their father, as well as, you know, themselves and their mother being put in danger, they have requested their privacy and that we don't release his name. Fair enough. Madison, I appreciate you coming on. You're doing a really good job. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Have a good day. That's Madison Scott from Nine News, 131873. Now, there was also problems at Mount Druitt last night. This story sort of rocked me a bit when I read it. So there's a guy by the name of Malik Ahmed. So Malik Ahmed is 33 years old, and he allegedly raped a young boy at Knife Point in a park near Mount Druitt train station.

So police are alleging Malik Ahmed approached the 13-year-old and the 13-year-old, 1am, for whatever reason, was waiting at Mount Druitt train station on his own at 1am last Thursday. And Malik Ahmed has allegedly pulled out a knife, taken this 13-year-old boy to a nearby park and threatened him with the knife before allegedly sexually assaulting him. So this Malik Ahmed has three kids and a wife,

His wife for 14 years was in court with a baby and she has no source of income, does not drive. The argument was Malik Ahmed should be granted bail. Thankfully, the magistrate said, forget that.

bail was not granted Magistra Bree Chisholm saying that this guy was accused of a disturbing opportunistic attack on a vulnerable child and it is in the public's interest for him to remain in custody. He'll be back in court October 9 and I think behind bars for the time being until the courts sort it out is where Ahmed Malik belongs. 131873 Live Lunker

Basil's called in from Croydon. Basil's seen something on the roads. Hello, Basil. Hey, mate. How are you? I'm good, thank you. What's happened? Oh, this is good. Police chase gone wrong. Motorbike was going through Liverpool Road, Ashfield, going towards Parramatta Road, just over where the Ashfield train tracks are. Yep.

Yeah, and he got away from the police car and then two other cars tried to avoid the bike. They all collided. There's one car facing, like literally nearly went off the bridge, facing, hitting to the wall of the bridge, yeah. Of the railway bridge? The railway bridge, just before West Ashfield there. Oh, mate. Hey, Basil, how is everybody? Is there any injuries that you can see?

No, the guy got out of the car. He seemed all right. The other lady that he hit into came out. She seemed all right. The police just stopped in the middle of the road, obviously stopped the chase. The bike got away. That's pretty much it. All right, Basil, I appreciate you giving us the heads up on that one. You have a good afternoon. And I've got a double pass to see the new feature film, A Horse Named Winx, coming your way, Basil. We'll put those in the mail for you or on your email, however you want them.

But three car crash just on the railway bridge there at Liverpool Road at Ashfield. Steve Carline's got more detail. Steve, what do we know? Mate, it's a car and motorcycle crash, Liverpool Road, Ashfield, as Basil just mentioned, at Elizabeth Street. We do actually have someone trapped and traffic currently affected in both directions.

It sounds like it was a police chase gone wrong, according to Basil. Yeah, well, that part of it I didn't know. So it's always good to hear firsthand accounts from anyone, any of our listeners that have actually seen something happen because that actually paints a picture in our head as to how things have come about. But no, just to confirm, mate, Liverpool Road, Ashfield at the moment around Elizabeth Street. Traffic is ugly and we do have someone trapped. Good on you, Steve. Appreciate that. We'll get a traffic report from you very shortly.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Drive on 2GB. Well, it's pretty rich, I think, to see the Teal MPs, you know, the Teals. They're making a big fuss about workplace culture in Parliament House at the moment. Big, big fuss. And I think it's rich of them because they've got their own skeletons in the closet, the Teals.

And the recent uproar over alleged misogyny, if you missed it, yeah, coalition MPs have been called misogynist by the Teals because of what is being said during question time and more broadly, the robust political debate we have in this country. Well, it has sparked a wave of indignation from the Teals and the Teals love nothing more than indignation.

We pride ourselves on providing an opportunity for everyone to be heard. That's not happening. You just don't need that level of aggression, that level of misogyny, that level of just abuse hurled at you consistently for an hour and a half a day when you're in your workplace. So that's Kylie Atink. She's the member for North Sydney and an independent as part of the Teals.

And what she's talking about that is question time is without question very unedifying, but misogynistic it is not. Look, it's hard to overlook the glaring inconsistency in the Teal stance here. So you've got Zali Steggall, Kylie Hattink, Sophie Skomps, Kate Chaney. Have they looked over at Dr. Monique Ryan and asked, Hey Monique.

Can we address your alleged workplace behaviour? Because let's rewind. Earlier this year, remember that? Monique Ryan, member for Kooyong, one of the high-profile TLMPs, was ordered by the Federal Court to pay $100,000 to her former staff member, Sally Rugg, as part of a settlement. Now, the case was centred around a breach of the Fair Work Act, or alleged breach anyway. It wasn't a minor affair.

It was a significant settlement that drew a lot of media attention with Sally Rugg alleging she was treated poorly in the workplace by Monique Ryan. Ryan's office was accused of, by Rugg, of mishandling workplace issues in a way that contradicted the very standards and fairness and respect the Teals are now championing. And it is just absurd to me because supposedly, according to Teals,

Stegall and Tink and Skomps and Chaney, interjections and raucousness in question time is now labelled misogyny. Seriously, the same teals like Zali Stegall, who called Peter Dutton a racist. They are all terrorists, that they should all be mistrusted and not worthy, that they are not worthy of humanitarian aid.

Order. The Leader of the Opposition will cease rejecting. We heard you in silence. You can hear me in silence. Order. Stop being racist. The Leader of the Opposition. Order. Order. Racist, right? It's a Liberal Party problem, though. It's a Liberal Party's problem. Of course it is. They're terrible people, the Liberal MPs.

But if Peter Dutton asks if we can make sure the people coming from Gaza, a place run by a registered terrorist organisation, can we please make sure that those people are getting proper security checks before they come to Australia? If you ask that question, you're a racist. And according to Zali Steggall and the Teals, that's just fine.

The Teal MPs who are so outraged by the behaviour in question time seem to have conveniently ignored their own track record when it comes to handling workplace disputes and how they behave in Parliament. And they're using evidence that the Coalition Act dreadfully, and the reason that the Coalition Act dreadfully, or the proof, is that...

198 ejections have occurred in the 47th Parliament. That's when they're kicked out of the House of Reps. And of the 198 ejections, 161 have been coalition members, 36 Labor and one from the Greens. Well, there's only a few Greens for one. Secondly, the bloke who kicks people out is Milton Dick, the Labor Speaker. Labor Speaker.

In an article from 2014, 342 members had been given the boot since Federation and opposition MPs account for 90% of those ejections. 90%, regardless which party holds office. And in one week, Bronwyn Bishop, remember Bronwyn? She was Speaker. She booted 47 MPs out of Parliament, all of them the Labor opposition.

They must have been all misogynists in the then-shortened Labor opposition using the Teals' logic. It's just such a ridiculous argument that it deserves very little of the Parliament's energy. But no, we have the Teals, don't we? Holier than thou, as usual, sitting at the cashed-up pulpit of morality, telling everyone else how to behave.

The inconvenient truth of their own problematic practices, like the case with Monique Ryan, is that it is crucial for anyone advocating for change to be accountable for their own actions. It's not just about pointing fingers. It's about leading with integrity and genuinely committing to standards that you are demanding from others. But the problem with the Teals is self-awareness. They don't realise they're hypocrites. That's the worst part. They don't realise.

They don't realize they themselves can sometimes be to blame. But me just pointing that fact out is probably classed as abuse by these people. I honestly have no idea how anybody votes for them. 21 past three. It's 25 and a half past three. 131873, that open line number. Now, this is a weird one out of WA. Really weird. You ready?

So there's a mysterious explosion that's occurred in Perth. And Perth Weather Live received almost 1,000 comments reporting the incident. However, there were no reported earthquakes in the area. So people were saying, my whole house was shaking and I heard bangs. There's another that said, it sounded like something massive dropped on our roof and a split-second tremor was felt. Another.

A loud boom off the coast, a big boom and a massive vibration. Where I was, I was quite high up and you can see all the way down the coast, it sounded like it was coming from the water and from the coastline. It was so weird. But emergency services have not attended any explosions in the Perth area. And the Weather Live people have said that there are no reported earthquakes in Perth. So I wonder what it was. We'll stay on this. This has only occurred sort of.

three hours ago or something. Very, very strange, right? 131873. Speaking of strange, Pakistan's parliament has got a big problem. Nothing to do with politicians either. So the big problem in Pakistan's parliament house is these massive rats, like really big, big rats. And they're getting into offices and they're dropping in the offices and they're

eating into some of the fabrics and causing damage. And these are giant rats. And they're so big that even the cats might be afraid of them. That's what the National Assembly spokesman Zafar Sultan admitted to the BBC. And the scale of the problem came to light after an official committee said that in 2008, the records in 2008 of a meeting were badly gnawed by rats. So there's all these...

Really important sort of national records in the Pakistani parliament that are being chewed through because of a rodent issue. 131873. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on drive on 2GB. Gary's called in from Kiama to chat teals. Hello, Gary.

Oh, hi. Yeah, about the Teals, I think people could be confused if they want to avoid voting for the Labor Party or the Liberal Party and they think, I'm going to vote independent. However, the Teals are a group. They're a whole political party. They're not sort of one person. Do you follow what I mean? No, absolutely. Well, yeah, it's clear, Gary. And I think the political term for that is independent.

what they call astroturfing. And astroturfing is effectively selling grassroots independence as grassroots independence. But in fact, they're fake independence bankrolled by people like Simon Holmes Accord. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, I just wanted to make that point, mate. Appreciate you calling in. 131873.

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In the newsroom, Rhiannon Solomon-Marin. G'day. G'day, Chris. A 33-year-old man's faced court accused of sexually assaulting a child at knife point at a party in Mount Druitt. He'll remain behind bars until he faces court again in October. Hundreds of thousands of Jetstar customers are launching a class action against the airline over unpaid refunds for flights that were cancelled during the pandemic.

Teal independents are accusing opposition MPs of engaging in condescending, aggressive and misogynistic behaviour in Parliament. They say the leaders of all major parties need to model better behaviour. And the ACCC says price comparison apps and websites are helping reduce the cost of

petrol for many drivers as fuel prices remain higher for longer. In Sport League legends Ron Coote, Brett Kenny, Peter Stirling, Cameron Smith and Darren Lockyer are among the candidates to be inducted as the NRL's 14th immortal. The ceremony will take place tonight at the SCG. And Chris, there'll be more news at four. Thank you, Rhi. 131873. Coming up after the break, I'm going to speak to the Mayor of Cumberland Council.

Because they've bought Tesla cars, they've bolted cameras to them, and they just drive around these cars taking photos of people who they believe deserve parking fines. And because they're using the ticketless system, which should be made illegal, people just get these fines two, three, four weeks down the track in the mail or on their app. It is not on. How's the mayor going to justify it?

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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. 26 to 4 now. Have you been done by one of the ticketless parking fines? We've been talking about them for the last week and I want to make them illegal because I don't think it's fair and I just think it is shameless revenue raising from our local councils.

131873, tell me your stories on these tickless parking fines, especially in the Cumberland City Council area, because one of the worst of all are parking inspectors who just drive their cars past other cars who are parked or just stopped on the side of the road, take a photo, ping off fines, without ever stepping on the foot of the pavement. Well, Wally tipped us off to this, and Cumberland City Council is one of the councils who have these cars. So they're Teslas...

They call them parking safety vehicles and they look like a police car. Now, the argument for these vehicles is that they stop parking inspectors getting abused. But the reality is councils are being extremely unfair in issuing ticketless parking fines when they have absolutely no idea of the circumstances of that individual. And by issuing the ticketless fine, that individual has no rights to defend itself and

Because you can't gather any evidence because you don't know you've been booked. Well, Lisa Lake is the mayor of Cumberland City Council, and I'm pleased to say she's decided to join us on the line. Lisa, g'day. Hello.

Hello, Chris. How are you? I'm all right. Surely this is unfair, Lisa. Chris, let me take you back to a little bit of history here as to why this was introduced in Cumberland. So Cumberland Council was a new council merged back in 2016. In about 2019, we started to see...

a great increase in assaults on our parking offices. And this is a really sad reality. It's not just verbal threats and bullying, but I'm talking really serious physical aggression. And between 2019 and 2021,

We had reported 33 different assaults. One of our parking offices was actually hospitalised. And the discussion about our parking offices and their safety became an issue in our Work, Health and Safety Committee. And there were discussions about what we could do to try and make their workplace, their wellbeing a little bit safer.

bit more assured and one of the things that was suggested was that we trial and implement trial one of these vehicles which will issue a

which will take photographs of cars who are in illegal parking. So cars that are in timed parking areas, cars sitting in loading zones, bus zones, no parking areas. They could take a photograph and collect the evidence on the spot and then electronically issue the fine.

So we've got one. We've only got one of these cars. We also have, every day, 12 parking officers who continue to undertake foot patrols.

And that's what happens around the school zone. And they're issuing the ticketless ones as well? They do both. So they have the ticketless system and they also have the ability to issue a paper fine. So this has been a trial, but I have to tell you, since 2021, since it was trialled and then implemented in 23, we have seen a decrease in these assaults on our parking offices. What's been the increase in the fines?

Well, obviously there's an increase in productivity if you've got this thing happening electronically. Is that what we're calling it? I asked. No, look, I asked the question. We shouldn't call it that. This is people's hard-earned money. Well,

Well, Chris, I've been told that there's on average about 33 extra fines issued a week. So that's what's happened with revenue. I mean, if you want to talk about revenue, I think Cumberland Council, you can look on Revenue NSW and compare us with other councils. We're not up there in terms of the issuing of fines. Yeah, because you're relatively small in the scheme of things.

No, no, no. We're the seventh largest council. Yeah, but when you're talking about Sydney and all of those guys...

Yeah, well, that's right. They're doing ticketless, right? Our revenue is a lot lower than a lot of comparable councils. Do you understand... That's quite true. But, you know, it's one car. It's not hiding anywhere. It's very visible. And I think the highly visible, clearly marked car can act as a really strong deterrent, and that helps. But, Mayor, look, I just... The thing is, you guys don't...

without having any interaction between parking officer and driver. You don't know the circumstances of somebody pulling over for five seconds in a loading zone to drop off, like we had a story of in your council area, a disabled family member. That was the safest place. This car was over the road. Bang. A couple of hundred dollar fine. And there's, because you don't know you are being booked, you can't then gather evidence and

to defend yourself. Now, the principle of that... Your argument against ticketless fines, I guess, more generally, that's the issue, isn't it? And the fact that you're over the road in a car just smashing off photographs. Yeah.

Well, I mean, if you're sitting in a car, you can see the circumstances pretty clearly. But... Well, hang on. How do you know who's in the front seat? You don't know the circumstances of the driver because you don't talk to them there.

Well, that's quite true. So it's unfair, correct? You won't speak to them. But can I say, there is a review mechanism available through the State Debt Recovery Office. Anyone can write a letter in response to a fine. Hang on, hang on. You're missing the point. You're missing the point. If you don't know you haven't got the fine, then how can you defend yourself and gather the evidence to properly mount the defence? Because the default from Revenue NSW is pay the fine almost always.

Oh, well, I mean, you do have an opportunity and there are guidelines on the SDRO website as to how you can frame your... Yeah, hang on. But if you don't know you have been fined because this car has pinged your photograph and then you've received the fine in the mail two or three weeks later and you haven't gathered any evidence, as you would if it was a ticket sitting on your windscreen, then how are you supposed to defend yourself?

Well, you would hope that you would be able to recall the reasons why you were sitting in a place you shouldn't have been sitting in. I mean... OK, hang on. What about if there was... Hang on. Hang on a second. I've given you a really good go at this and I understand your argument. However, if you're sitting in a...

A place where you've overstayed the time or there's a loading zone sign there and it is obscured by a tree. And to be honest, councils don't do the greatest job of being arborists, let's be honest, in most cases. You can't sit there, take a photo of the tree and say, I didn't know that there was a sign there because it was obscured. You can't because you've got your car sitting over the road just going bang, bang, bang and you're buggered.

But what would happen is that the parking officer would be taking photographs, photographs of the location and the vehicle registration and the signage. But that doesn't always happen, Mayor. Have you seen some of these? All of that would be posted and be available to you. But they're not taking 180s of the street. They're not taking big, long landscape photographs of the street to see the entire circumstances. What I'm saying is you're taking the opportunity for an individual...

to defend themselves against a parking fine.

Well, that I understand is an issue for ticketless parking fines across the board and an argument for them, for not using them. But, you know, automatic fines are issued for speeding, for playing with your mobile phone, for not wearing a seatbelt properly, for going through school zone 40Ks. This is happening...

every time you drive there's opportunities around you to end up being pinged. And the thing about parking fines is of course that they're concentrated in areas where

where there are main streets, where we want to keep cars turning over so that businesses get the opportunities for customers to come and park. Have you asked anyone about this? All this area. Have you asked any of the residents about this, if they're cool with it? I haven't had any. Personally, I haven't had any complaints about particular parking fines. But you haven't asked anyone. No.

But I do understand the point because, as Chris, as you would agree, none of us like getting a fine in the post, especially one that's been issued some period of time before. I am told, though, that these fines do come from Revenue New South Wales. You can expect to get them within seven to ten days. It doesn't make any difference. And can I say, what would you do? I just have been sent the details here. So 2022, 2023? Yes.

You made $4 million out of parking fines, 2023-24, when you've got this beautiful Tesla rolling out, unfairly pinging people. You made $6.5 million, so ka-ching, ka-ching there. Yeah, that's a lot of money, I understand that. But councils of our size in Sydney... Yeah, but the increase is only there for one reason, right? But councils of our size in Sydney are actually...

are actually generating a lot more fine revenue than us. We are not big finers, and that's not the motivation. No, it's the principle. The motivation...

The motivation was to respond to an issue that we have with our staff, keeping them safe, and that has to be a top priority. Look, there's no winners in this argument. I agree with you. There's a problem. But we have to give priority to the health and safety of our workforce. That's my duty. Triple zero. You can call that. The police can help. Lisa, I appreciate your time. We're not going to agree on it, but I do appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Nice to talk. Bye-bye, Chris. That's Cumberland Council Mayor Lisa Lake. What do you think? 131873. It's 11 minutes to four. I'm going to go Gary at Lidcombe. Hello, Gary. Yeah, hi, Chris. How you doing? I'm good, thank you. The mayor, Mayor Lake, was on, the Cumberland mayor, trying to defend the ticketless parking fines and the Tesla that she's got rolling around Cumberland City Council, pinging off parking fines. What do you make of it all?

Mate, I'm in a street. I live in a street in East Street. And I've got a small truck parked out the front of my place in an unrestricted area where you can park. It's...

There's plenty of cars, Chris, parked in here. There's no parking restriction signs. There's no parking meters. But just to give you an example of the zeal of these rangers, you know, with their pursuers trying to ping someone for a ticket, I'm sitting upstairs. I live in a two-storey place. I happen to look out on Sunday night at about 8.50 and I see two people in a small grey gets unmarked

One guy gets out in what I'm assuming was something like a ranger's jacket and he's starting to take photos of my small truck. It's a six-tonne truck.

And it's sitting there and it's been there for years. And I get in it and I drive to work and then do the bit and come home again. Never had a problem. He jumps out and takes photos. I race out and I ask him to identify himself. He jumps in the car like a thief in the night with his passenger and bolts down the road. Now, I haven't received a ticket yet, but I'll be going to court and I'll be fighting this if I do. What do you think the justification was? What law had you supposedly broken?

Absolutely none. I asked him, Chris. He jumped in the car. He mumbled. He's passenger. She was a female agent with him, I'm assuming. And I'm asking for their identity and what did I do wrong? And they've driven off. They've just driven straight down the street. Were they in Rangers uniform?

Look, it didn't have ranges on it, but it had a similar colour, like a yellow and grey bar, but I didn't actually see ranges on it. But, I mean, this is 8.50 Sunday night. Peter's just texted in, Gary, four and a half tonne and above. Is it bigger than that? It might be, Chris. Yeah, not allowed to park more than an hour, according to Peter. Oh, my God.

Okay, okay. Well, that's news for me, but there's a number of cars and trucks that are parked down here, and I mean, East Street's a big street, and I don't see anybody having a problem or getting fined down here.

Well, Gary, if you get one in the mail, please reach out and get back to us, okay? I've got to keep moving, but I appreciate your call. Yeah, any vehicle over four and a half ton only has one hour limit in residential areas. In an unmarked gets in the Cumberland Council area. And Gary uses that truck to get to and from work. Mark's at Maryland. Hello, Mark. Good day, Chris. How are you, mate? Good. Thank you, mate.

Excellent, excellent. Those are angels, mate. You can normally talk to them and tell them normally, but, yeah, if they're in the car, you can't actually talk to them. I know what car he was talking about as well. But I've got an issue. There's a commuter parking at Merriman Railway Station, and they give out fines there because apparently it's leased out by the RSO Club.

How does that work? So they give out fines at the commuter car park. Yep. Has it got a time limit on it? No, no time limit on it at all. Somebody from the thing, the thing I saw, puts a sticker on it and then the ranger says, you know, you have to move it, you can't park there.

Oh, Mark, I've got no idea about that one. I know that there is a rule around a shared public space whereby parking ranges can book you. So, you know, car parks in Westfields and stuff like that. I don't know, Bankstown Central. I know I had an issue there. But, Mark, I'll check that one out and I'll try to bring it to you later in the program, all right? Good on you, Mark. Rick's at Auburn. Hello, Rick. How are you going, Chris? Good, thank you, Rick.

Mate, yeah, just ringing, obviously, in relation to the council with their parking and their ranges. Like, I can... No-one wants to get fined, obviously, through a car sort of wandering around issuing out fines and not realising they've been fined. But my local shopping area is at Boralla.

which is in part of the Cumberland Council. It's a very multicultural suburb, Auburn, Borala, Lidcombe, that area. And I would say probably 95% of the time, people that are parking in that area don't care where they park. They will park in disabled parking, they will park in drop-off zones, they'll park over motorbike parking.

They get out of their car, they walk into the shops, they don't care. And I can understand why councils don't necessarily send their rangers out because of the abuse that they've got. And I've seen it. I've seen it happen. And so they're a law unto their own. And I can understand why they want to sort of, you know, their occupational health and safety is they want to get

beaten up by people who don't want to get issued with fines. I look at it this way. If you don't want to get fined, don't park illegally. Yeah. All right, Rick, I do take your point. And I took the mayor's point on that. I do. However, I just think the principle of it is maybe the government should make ticketless parking illegal. And then if you assault a parking ranger, triple the punishment. I don't care. Triple the punishment. I just think the very small number of people who assault parking rangers are

That fact should not mean the entire city becomes a haven for parking rangers just to ping people with whatever they are doing. I just think human-to-human contact, where you just go, hey, listen, mate, I'm just here for two seconds. My wife's pregnant or I'm with my elderly mother or whatever it is, can usually solve most things. And if you're breaking the rules, in goes the ticket, pay the fine. Five to four.

John says the mayor is a fibber. It's a revenue decision. Why do they keep parking police if they are redundant? Office of State Revenue directed by ministerial office to only consider applicants who request a review if a ticket has been filled in by the parking officer. I've beat Sydney Council 11 times. Good for you, John. 131873. On the other side of the news, a North Sydney Bears coach deregistered.

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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. 131873, our open line number. You can email me drive at 2GB.com or text me 0460 873 873. Now, are you thinking about renovating your house? You know, rebuilding it, doing any work around the place, but you've been putting it off because you're hearing all these horror stories.

about how expensive it is to build stuff at the moment. Well, looks like material prices are starting to settle down a bit. I'll speak to Tim Reardon from the Housing Institute of Australia and he'll give us the tips on when it is time to pull the trigger on doing those renos. Well, it's day two of the Democratic Convention in the United States.

And the Obamas were the stars of the show today, stealing the spotlight, electrifying the crowd. So Michelle Obama, she kicked things off with a pretty powerful speech, clearly striking a chord with a very captive audience. The anticipation, the energy, the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day.

The chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division, and hate that have consumed us and continue pursuing the unfinished promise of this great nation. The dream that our parents and grandparents fought and died and sacrificed for. America, hope is making a comeback.

Yeah, I don't know about that, but anyway, it's a good line. Michelle Obama, and if you thought they liked Michelle, wait until the Democrats... Jeez, they love Barack. Love him. And he was introduced by his wife, and the former president, he kept the energy high, Barack Obama. Praised Joe Biden. He gave a strong endorsement of Kamala Harris, even though it took him a while to do it in the first instance. And he didn't hold back on Trump.

And he poked fun at Donald Trump's obsession with crowd sizes and warning of the dangers of four more years of, quote, bluster and chaos. The people who will decide this election are asking a very simple question. Who will fight for me? Who's thinking about my future, about my children's future, about our future together? One thing is for certain, Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question.

Here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that's actually been getting worse now that he's afraid of losing the commonwealth. Unfortunately, Barack, it might have been gripes and grievances, but under Donald J. Trump, it was not.

never-ending wars like it was under your presidency. But tomorrow, former President Bill Clinton will join Minnesota Governor and Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz for the third night. And then on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris will close out the convention's final night. I'm looking forward to when this thing is all over. It'll be very nice when we've got a President of the United States and we can all just sit back,

and move on with our lives. The Inside Word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Now, unfortunately, Tanya Plibersek's people have just rung up saying, at very short notice, mind you, saying that the minister cannot make her spot with us today. Bit of a disappointment because I was looking forward to asking her some pretty pointed questions and asking what I think is a justifiable question as to how a $1 billion goldmine

has seen a Section 10 ban on it in country New South Wales, a gold mine, mind you, that will employ hundreds of people and generate $200-odd million in tax receipts for the state of New South Wales. Now, Tanya Plibersek, she's been saying that she's looking at submissions from local Indigenous groups, and that is why she decided to enact the Section 10 ban. But she hasn't released that advice to the public.

She won't even tell us who the group is. And it's especially strange considering the local Aboriginal Land Council, they didn't voice any concern at all about the project going ahead. They were neutral about it. A billion dollar gold mine. So where have the complaints come from? Michael McLaren was talking earlier to Roy Arcee. He's a former chair of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council, a Weadgeri leader.

And he's concerned that Indigenous people are being locked out of their economic potential by environmental activists that speak on their behalf. They're using the red, black and yellow colours to push their own agendas. And it was never, you know...

you know, in the spirit of our old people, you know, they'd be rolling in their grave if they realised, you know, they fought for man rights and, you know, all we're getting handed back is vast tracts of...

landlocked green corridors so that we can make other developers and their families and their shareholders rich. It's unacceptable. We want to empower our people and I hope, Michael, that please, that

This program takes it further in terms of the office environment. They really need to have a good look at themselves and stop telling us, the traditional owners of this country, what's good and what's not good for our country. You know, we tried to tell them many, many years ago in terms of cultural bonds, how to manage country, but no one listens. And now we want to develop. They want to stop us. Yeah.

I would love to have heard Tanya Plibersek's response to that, the Minister for the Environment. She, of course, is ministerial responsibility of the Federal Environment Department. But for whatever reason, she's busy. Look, I get it. She's a Minister of the Crown. She's got lots of stuff to do. But if you lock in an interview, usually you try to uphold that. I wonder what she's running off to do. I don't know. She's got to cancel a couple more mines, Minister Plibersek. 800 jobs, this mine is.

is to generate $200 million in royalties and taxes to New South Wales. The Indigenous Cultural Heritage Grounds, that they've based the decision on to block the current proposal, she won't tell us what they are or who the Indigenous group is that has put through the objections to it. Now, I would have thought of a project of this size

When you've got the orange local Aboriginal Land Council saying, we don't really care. Propose a mine away. Then isn't the minister's responsibility to the Australian public to tell us what the concerns are? Oh, no, no, no. But anyway, I can't ask her that question. The other question I wanted to ask Minister Plibersek was why on earth she would consider

approving offshore wind farms off the coast of Newcastle and Wollongong when, as we revealed yesterday via Ted Pickering, former minister in the New South Wales Parliament, and we said, didn't we? I've emailed anyone who's asked for Minister Pickering's report. We have sent them to you. But it revealed that the cost of offshore wind farms per megawatt hour

would be $272, that's what we would pay on our electricity bills, per megawatt hour, versus nuclear power, which the CSIRO says will cost Australians $141 per megawatt hour.

Now, I'm sorry, there is no reason that we should bother with offshore wind. And again, the Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, she should use that Section 10 ban for good and kill the projects, both of them, dead, regardless of what Chris Bowen says. Ignore Bowen, do what the community wants, and don't make electricity more expensive for Australians.

Live with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Well, Jetstar is now the target of a new class action over unused COVID travel credits. Robin Ironside's got this story in the Australian newspaper. And Echo Law partner, Andrew Paul. Class action, seriously. So they pursued Qantas over its handling of the COVID-19 travel credits. And they've now launched a class action against Jetstar for similar behaviour.

And they said they've been contacted by scores of Jetstar customers frustrated with the way flight travel credits were handed out and handled. And he said the claim had been served on Jetstar on Wednesday and

And those proceedings have been lodged in the federal court. So the lawyer, Andrew Paul from Echo Law, says, quote, the legal underpinning of the Jetstar matter is slightly different to the Qantas case. But at its heart, it is still a case about Jetstar not having the legal right to simply issue credits when it cancelled all of its flights at the beginning of COVID. We say that legally it was obliged at that point to return people's money to them. It didn't do so. So there's now two remedies we're seeking.

And firstly, return people's money for flights that didn't happen. And secondly, some compensation on top of that for being left out of pocket. Now, again, you're talking about potentially $150, Jetstar, $200 a person. Those credits have probably been either sitting there or can be used by people because they're there in perpetuity now. So I would have thought...

that a couple of hundred bucks plus compensation on the top of it, is it really all that worth it?

for customers to be joining echo law i'm not sure if they're serviced or financed by a big hedge fund like we're seeing many overseas hedge funds financing these class actions i'm not sure if echo law is in that situation but it feels to me if you're talking about domestic flights and covert credits sure they weren't handled well but nothing was handled well through covert

And I just wonder, this litigious society that we now find ourselves in, it's very, very un-Australian. 131873. It's 22 minutes past four. Lots of people have asked...

Where's Tanya Plibersek? Well, she couldn't do just after four o'clock, which was the slot that we gave her to, and we organised that earlier in the week, mind you, to do the interview today. But people are saying, oh, she's running for cover. She didn't want to front up for the tough questions. I will be fair to Minister Plibersek. She did say at the very last minute,

She was happy to come on at quarter to four. But when she said that she could do that, we'd just spoken to the mayor of Cumberland. You guys wanted to talk about, rightly so, the ticketless parking situation. So we just said to Minister, sorry, we can't divert to you. Plus, it would have only given me sort of four or five minutes to talk to her.

And with the questions that we needed to ask, it didn't feel quite worth it. So she wasn't running for cover as such, but for whatever reason, she couldn't make her slot. Bit disappointing, but we'll catch up with her at some point. And it doesn't matter how old it is. I'll ask those questions. 131873. Just remaining on Canberra for the time being. Anthony Albanese has admitted that some Palestinian visitor visas have already been cancelled.

So for the first time, Anthony Albanese has confirmed that a number of visitor visas granted to Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza have been cancelled already. So he made the comments during question time on Wednesday, today of course, and Labor was facing sort of intense pressure over the decision to grant 3,000 visitor visas to arrivals from Gaza.

And those visitor visas do have less stringent security checks than refugee visas do. And he made the omission, Albanese. And he stated that the cancellations had been made before the visa applicants had arrived in Australia. So the tourist visas, the visitor visas, had been cancelled offshore, effectively. So no one was in Australia when those visas were cancelled.

And he said, I can certainly confirm that of the visitor visas that have been granted since October 7, the only cancellations have been offshore. Well, that then begs the question, if they were granted in the first instance and then cancelled in the second, how many have slipped through? Are we absolutely certain that the 3,000 Gazan refugees, and you know my view on this, you know my view on this,

And I know many people say, well, don't worry about it. I agree with Peter Dutton. I don't necessarily agree with Peter Dutton that a blanket ban on Gazan refugees is the right path to go down. I think that is a bit cold hearted. I do agree with Peter Dutton that we need to satisfy, be satisfied as a country, Australia, that anybody coming from Gaza, a place that is run by a registered terrorist organisation, has been fully vetted by security organisations.

And the only way we can be satisfied about that is not saying people are racist or saying you're being this, that and the other thing. No, no, no, no, no. It is information being disseminated from the Prime Minister of Australia and Tony Burke, the Home Affairs Minister. That's the only way that the Australian people will be satisfied. And asking questions to that effect is not racist. It is reasonable.

131873. And the fact that they've already granted visas and then have to cancel them makes me wonder that a few have slipped through the cracks, to be honest. The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

I've just got a text here from Joe. Hi, Chris. Just want to say how lovely it was having lunch with you and your producers and all the lovely listeners of 2GB. Absolute pleasure to meet you and your producers. So everybody had a great time. Excellent. I really enjoyed myself again. Thank you. Take care always, Josephine. Joe, it was a pleasure meeting you too. So we had another listener lunch today down at Sala, one of the DeeDee's Waterfront Group restaurants down at Jones Bay Wharf there.

Sort of right at the end of the pier near Dalton House in Pyrmont. Food was outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. The chef, another St. George supporter, so we were happy with that. And the company was magnificent. And I really, really enjoyed it. So thank you to Con and Kerry of the Dee Dee's Waterfront Group. Sala is a magnificent restaurant. If you haven't been there, go check it out. Talk about romantic with the backdrop. So thank you to Scott and Sean.

Pape and Ebony, Walter and Josephine, Beth and her husband, and of course, Laura and Andre. It was Beth and Andrew, I think, and Laura and Andre. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And it was really nice to meet you all. We had an outstanding chat. I was sitting next to Beth and

Fair dinkum, I could have talked to her all afternoon. Fascinating person and everybody really, really generous with your time and generous with your comments. And I think we had a ripper. So we'll try to make that a little bit more of a regular thing where we can get down and shout the beautiful listeners of 2GB Drive Lunch once in a while. 131873 only can be done by the good people at DeeDee's Waterfront Group. Now, Taylor Swift, if you're a Swifty, you want to listen to this.

She's just released a new music video. So it's a four-minute video, and it gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at her big global eras tour. You know, the one that you could hardly get a ticket to earlier in the year. So Taylor, she premiered the new music video for the Tortured Poets Department song, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.

after she wrapped the show with her usual performance of Karma, Taylor Swift. So they've been obviously filming in Australia, in Japan, everywhere they've been going in the UK, and they've put together a four-minute video clip for this song, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart. They said, baby, girl, till you meet the lights, camera, bitch, smile, insta-letters for miles. He said, he loved me.

Now I'm told this has got a swear word in it, this song from Taylor Swift. Look, I'll put my hand up. I truly don't get it, the whole Swifty thing. Like, is the music... The music's not that good, is it? Like, it's not the Beatles, you know? It's not Andrea Bocelli.

But anyway, you've got to give it to her. She's been an extraordinary powerhouse, Taylor Swift. And, you know, just not for me.

In the newsroom, Rhiannon Solomon-Marin. G'day. G'day, Chris. The nation's Domestic, Sexual and Family Violence Commissioner is calling for a systemic response to tackle the issue as she hands down the first annual report into the effectiveness of prevention and support measures. An inquest into the death of a shackled man in the state's north is recommending an urgent review of the legislation covering the use of guns by corrective services officers.

Just over a third of first-home buyers who've taken advantage of the state government's tax cuts have purchased property in Sydney's west. And a misplaced pair of scissors has forced dozens of flights to be cancelled and hundreds more delayed at a Japan airport they were eventually found inside the store they'd gone missing from.

In sport, Italian tennis star Yannick Sinner has escaped suspension despite testing positive for a banned steroid in March. The men's world number one has been cleared of any wrongdoing. And Chris, there'll be more news at five. Thank you, Rhi. 131873. Now, if you're thinking about renovating or doing anything around the house, spring's usually the time you start to look at things, right? Well, building material prices are starting to settle down, so you're not going to pay through the nose. I'll speak to the HIA next.

I didn't realise I could stick with my industry super fund when I retired. Thankfully, I discovered if I stayed, I could set up a regular income, take money out when I wanted, and the rest can grow over time. Stick with your industry super fund in retirement. Visit compareyourretirement.com today.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Consider the fund's PDS and whether the product is right for you. It's 26 to 5, 131873. Well, some good news. Building material prices are starting to settle down. Now, are you in the middle of building a new home or you're thinking about renovating? Call me. How much has it cost you, 131873? Because it's almost been, I don't know, two years of relentless increases.

But most building material costs have slowed in terms of the increase to them to single digits. So remember in 2022, steel and timber soared by 42% and 20% respectively in 12 months. But anyway, still hard to find a tradie. So labour costs might still be a bit more expensive than you thought. But Tim Reardon is the Housing Industry Association Chief Economist and he's on the line for us. Tim, g'day.

Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. Time to reno, time to build? Absolutely. It's a very good time to build, very good time to renovate. What we're seeing at the moment, rise in interest rates. We're seeing the number of homes under construction slows. There's now very strong competition for builders to attract clients, which is a significant change from what we've seen in recent years. And as you mentioned there,

Rise in material prices back to 1.1% over the past 12 months to June, which is the slowest rate we've seen since the start of the pandemic, and back to very typical cycles. There's still some significant change there. There are some commodities that are increasing in price, and that's particularly those that are energy-intensive. Glass, for example, is continuing to rise. But you mentioned timber there. Yes, timber went up at

I think a lot more than 40% at the peak of the cycle. And we're seeing timber now probably 20% to 30% cheaper at this time this year than what it was at the same time 12 months ago. So from a builder's perspective, what we're seeing now is a return to more stable conditions, more stable market. That certainly gives them the certainty to compete on fixed price contracts as well. Yeah, so the fixed price contracts, I was going to ask that question.

And a lot of builders did away with it because we've seen many go to the wall as a result of having to, you know, honor a price that was locked in before these extraordinary increases. Are they back in vogue now?

Yeah, so we saw build times go from around seven or eight months prior to the pandemic to well in excess of 12 months and around 18 months in Perth. And now we've seen where build times are back to normal. If you were starting a home at any time in the past nine months, the build time would be back to that seven or eight month cycle. And so that gives builders the certainty that they can quote and deliver on that fixed price contract. So that's what you'd expect as soon as the DA is ready and the cyclone fencing's gone up.

seven or eight months to build a house from scratch? For a detached home, yes, that's right. Okay. It's not going to go backwards though, building materials, is it? This is sort of the new normal? Since the 1970s, there have been four brief periods where prices fell marginally and that's likely to be the scenario in this cycle as well. It'll be a very short window where we might see prices at zero or just under zero increase, but that's right.

Prices, we're seeing labour costs across the industry and certainly for product manufacturers increase and those energy prices as well and embedded energy costs that are in bricks and glass and steel will continue to add to material costs. Well, you know, we say, oh, it's bad for people like, you know, who want to build or renovate or whatever it is. Exporting those building materials, the increase in price, well, they'd be happy with it, wouldn't they?

With the industry certainly exports, we are a very trade exposed industry but predominantly building materials are produced domestically so timber, bricks, the cement and the likes are produced domestically. These are very expensive to import but when you look at the fitment, taps, tiles and the likes they're typically imported.

When we're talking like labour shortages, I did mention that only because it's sort of the, that's the zeitgeist. That's the common narrative that this is what is occurring. I've just had Peter here. No, it's not hard to find a tradie. I'm 30 years as a tradie. I've never seen it this quiet.

Yeah, Sydney in particular is very quiet at the moment and that's because land prices in Sydney are exorbitantly high, significantly higher by a block of land in a green development area in Sydney than it is anywhere else in the country. And so we've seen Western Sydney is the only area

a region within the country where there is an abundance of skilled trades. When you look outside of that, certainly in other parts of New South Wales, that skill shortage remains. But given the cost of land in Sydney, yes, we're seeing building activity in Sydney, I'll say stall over the past six months. Tim, thank you so much for coming on. Have a good one. My pleasure. That's Tim Reardon, Housing Industry Association Chief Economist. There you go. If you thought about it,

renovating or building a new home, you may as well do it now because the insanity of those 42%, 20% increases to steel and timber, and Tim reckons that 42% timber increase, it was far more than that.

And just take this for example. Terracotta tiles, right? Basic terracotta tiles are 70% more expensive than they were back in December 2019. So that's what it is now. And for the next few years, you can probably be fairly safe in the knowledge that if you decide to renovate or decide to build, it's not going to increase exponentially. The breaking news you can trust. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Now, Joe's just sent us a text from San Susie. Chris, there's something major happening at the Ramsgate Shops car park. So police have blocked off a section of the car park there at Ramsgate Shops. That's just on the Grand Parade on the corner of President Avenue, a bit further down, Grand Parade there. Police taped up there's a crime scene, five or six police cars blocking the entrances and exits to the Ramsgate Shops.

I wonder what's going on. Joe, we'll check in with the New South Wales Police to see what is occurring. I'm just seeing the guys on the phones now doing exactly that. And when we do have an answer, we'll let you know. But if you're in and around Ramsgate and you know why, there are police everywhere at the Ramsgate Shops car park. Please give us a call 131873. Well, accused triple murderer Erin Patterson, the Beef Wellington lady,

She'll face trial in regional Victoria early next year. So Erin Patterson is alleged to have murdered three people, of course, with the beef Wellington allegedly laced with death cap mushrooms. And her defence team has been pushing for the trial to be held in the Latrobe Valley. The prosecution wanted it to be held in Melbourne. And the Supreme Court today decided it will be held in

More will in April of next year, April of next year. Now, Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty to all charges. And in November, she was charged with three counts of murder over the deaths of her father-in-law, Don Patterson, her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson.

and extended relative Heather Wilkinson. And they all attended a lunch at Erin Patterson's home in July of 2023. The allegation, she served a beef wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms that killed them. Now, April next year will be the trial and it will be watched by people not just around Australia, but around the world.

It's 14 minutes to 5. Well, we're expecting this. I thought it was already reported. But anyway, Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck after two years of marriage. So they've been together for 20 years. They were engaged twice. They had two weddings. But Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck. So the filing in Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court brought to an apparent end.

to the Affleck-Lopez relationship, or at least a second instalment of it anyway. They became known as Benefa. Remember that? And the filing was first reported by an American website called TMZ, and it's listed as their separation date as April 26, and there are no prenups. No prenuptial agreements. So no prenups have been signed. Two decades, two engagements, two weddings...

At what point do you say, you know what, we're probably not right for each other? And they've got a $240 million estate that they'll be both fighting over to see

Who gets the spoils in that one? It's terrible when people divorce. It's just dreadful. I know it's unavoidable sometimes and it happens a lot, but still, it makes me sad. 131873. Well, the Immortals, the next Immortal, the 14th Immortal, will be announced tonight at the Sydney Cricket Ground. I'll be there. My wife, Yvonne Sampson, is hosting it alongside Andrew Voss. But there's been a bit of controversy, as there always is with these things.

But in this instance, I think it's largely granted and justified, the controversy. And it's not to do with Les Boyd, but it's the fact that the 14th immortal is being inducted and has been chosen without the input of any of the current immortals. So the only immortals who are alive at the moment are Malmeninger,

Wally Lewis and Andrew Johns. Now, Andrew Johns has spoken on a Channel 9 podcast and he said he wasn't even, not only was he not spoken to about it, no one bothered to even pick the phone up to tell him that they were inducting someone into his club. I think it's disrespectful. I haven't had a phone call.

Not one phone call. Actually, on Monday, I didn't know there was another immortal being inducted. I got called Monday about my duties on Wednesday night that I'll be up on stage for the announcement of an immortal. I didn't even know there was going to be another immortal inducted. You weren't told before this that you weren't going to be consulted with respect to who's to be inducted either? No. Not myself, not Wally, not Mel.

I know they're disappointed. I don't blame Joey for being disappointed, to be honest. I think it's a real miss from the NRL not to do that. And note, everybody who's on the panel that decided who's in the Hall of Fame and decided who the immortal is, they're all good, reasonable and extremely expert people in their own rights. However, there's no footballers on it.

And I just would have thought some Hall of Famers and some Immortals would be sitting on a panel to judge who the footballers are and who the Immortal is going to be. I just think it's a very strange way of doing business. And I can understand why Andrew Johns is upset. Wally Lewis is upset too. And Mal Meninga, he'll join me just after 5.30, I'm sure. Well, he told the Sydney Morning Herald. He's filthy at it too. 131873.

Opinions that matter. News you can trust. This is Drive on Sydney's 2GB. Well, Kim says just reporting a southbound accident on the M1. It's opposite the Terrigal exit. There's a car facing the wrong way. Please be cautious. So car facing the wrong way, southbound accident on the M1 opposite the Terrigal exit. 131873. Well, musicians at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are kicking off.

So the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has expressed a vote of no confidence in the managing director because a pianist's performance was cancelled over comments he made about the conflict in Gaza. So this guy's name is Jason Gillum and he performed pieces by Chopin and Beethoven and others on Sunday at an auditorium in Melbourne.

Now, in the five-minute piano solo, he said it was dedicated to the journalists of Gaza. And he said, targeted in assassinations of prominent journalists as they were traveling in marked press vehicles or wearing their press jackets. And that's who he dedicated his piano solo to.

Now, following the comments, they removed his performance on Thursday from the schedule. And in an email to ticket holders, they said they do not condone the use of the stage as a platform for expressing personal views and apologized for any offense and distress caused by the comments. And since then, there's been such an uproar about all of this. And this is the problem, right? We're getting into very murky waters here.

But they said that they've made an error now in pulling Gillum's performance and they're trying to get him back on the ticket to reschedule the concert. So the musicians say the whole thing has been such a debacle, there is now a vote of no confidence in the managing director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jason Gillum, causing all sorts of problems. MUSIC PLAYS

That's enough to make anyone calm down, don't you think? 131873. Beautiful stuff regardless. Now more than 100 memorial plaques have been stolen from gravestones at a cemetery on the Queensland-New South Wales border.

So police and council are now issuing an appeal to catch the thieves. This story in the Daily Telly. But why would you remove memorial plaques? They're probably copper or something, are they? Yeah, they are. Missing copper plaques, 100 of them. And the estimated replacement value has been about $40,000. So Tweedshire Council is trying to figure out who's pinched the memorial plaques. They're gravestones. They're gravestones. It's...

Surely, what kind of person would have to walk into the Tweed Heads Memorial Gardens and the General Cemetery and go, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get out my hammer and I'm going to pinch as many copper memorial plaques to people who have died that I can. So one and a half kilograms each, the combined...

So the replacements will be worth $40,000, but actually selling it on the scrap metal market, $1,500 they'll get. That's an appalling thing to do. If someone had done that to my grandmother or my grandfather or any of my family members, and you found who they were going in and pinching memorial plucks, you would be incandescent with rage. It is just so low.

And I'm sure that person would be getting Centrelink. And if they are found, that dole payment should be docked, should be suspended. None of these go before a magistrate and do some community service. No, no, no, no, no, no.

If you're going into cemeteries and pinching people's memorial plaques, the community expectation and the punishment from the community towards that individual should be far more harsh. It's six to five. Well, the five o'clock news is coming up very shortly with Rhiannon Solomon-Marin. Now, up to 500 jobs will be cut from the CSIRO in a cost-cutting operation aiming to save $100 million.

And the staff association at the CSIRO reckon that will cripple research. So 375 to 500 roles will go from the CSIRO's enterprise services sector, administrative IT and support staff, while the staff association reckon that the current tracks are on track to be worse, that current cuts are on track to be worse overall.

Worst I've ever seen since Tony Abbott slashed CSIRO funding in 2014. Be interesting to see how it goes. I don't like to see anybody lose their jobs, but $100 million is a lot of money to save. 131873. Coming up after the news, Andrew Bragg will join me because there's a new bill to ban CBUS superannuation account from Labor's Housing Commission.

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

Now back to Drive with Chris O'Keefe on Sydney's 2GB. It's seven minutes past five. Thank you for your company on this Wednesday after earn 131873, that open line number, the email drive at 2gb.com. Or of course you can text me if you prefer 0460 873 873. Plenty to get through. There are a few European hotspots. If you're thinking about heading overseas that now require travel,

A $12 visa to visit, yeah, from us Australians too. I'll let you know which ones they are. And the housing crisis, a great piece by Alan Kohler, has revealed just how significant the impact of international students has been on our housing supply issue. I'll bring you all that soon. First with the news only in Sydney, it's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.

Well, Anthony Albanese has for the first time confirmed that a number of visitor visas granted to Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza have been cancelled. Now, the Prime Minister's comments, he was copying a grilling question time, right? And the Labor Party and the Labor government has decided to grant 3,000 visitor visas to arrivals from Gaza.

Which means if it's a visitor visa, you've got less stringent security checks than there would be if they were refugee visas. And Mr Albanese said that some of these visitor visas were granted and then cancelled, but they were cancelled offshore.

I can certainly confirm that of the visitor visas that have been granted since October 7, the only cancellations have been offshore. So it's interesting in the sense that the cancellations tell me this. And I've been on the record and I said it earlier in the program. I don't agree with Peter Dutton when it comes to a blanket ban on refugees from Gaza. I don't. I think that's too far.

It is not racist for Peter Dutton to ask the question of the Prime Minister of this country, hey, are the visitor visas that you are issuing to the 3,000 people coming from a war-torn area, an area that is controlled by a registered terrorist organisation, are these security checks being done properly and thoroughly? Now, what I am concerned about in this story, the fact that some visitor visas are

have been cancelled is that how many of those 3,000 were issued and then have slipped through the cracks? Because some have been issued in the first instance and then been cancelled retrospectively. So how many have fallen through the cracks? And as I said, it's not racist to ask these questions. It is not cold-hearted to ask these questions. But I think as an Australian population,

We deserve answers to it. And more importantly, and more broadly, we have seen in this country, we have brought people from war-torn countries for decades and decades and generations and generations.

And I think that a blanket ban on people trying to flee bombs hitting their homes in Gaza is the wrong thing to do. But I think asking questions about stringent security checks is the right thing to do. 131873.

Well, speaking of Canberra, there's a new bill that's been introduced to ban CBUS, the superannuation giant, from Labor's Housing Australia Future Fund. So effectively, the coalition do not want to allow the CFMEU and the CBUS Superfund to use taxpayer funds invested in the Housing Australia Future Fund for housing developments.

Why? I don't know. Do they just not trust them? Andrew Bragg's a Liberal Senator and he's on the line for us. Senator, thank you for coming on. How are you going? I'm not too bad. Why the ban? Well, we don't think that the CBUS and the CFMEU organisations are appropriate people to be doing business with. The Housing Australia Future Fund, which is a massive boondoggle,

which has built no houses, wants to work with CFMEU and CBUS to build houses. Now, these are the people that are making housing a nightmare in Australia because they're imposing a 30% tax on construction. So these are not people that we want to have anywhere near housing in Australia, let alone taxpayer funds. If people don't know, what is the Housing Australia Future Fund?

Well, it's Mr. Albanese's housing policy where he's put a $10 billion figure into a fund which hasn't built any houses yet. So I can't work out what he's trying to do, but...

Even though we don't like the idea, we want to make sure that we protect the integrity and the probity of the funds in there. So what, that $10 billion fund manager wants to go to CBUS and CFMEU by extension and ask them to invest in it? Co-invest. And we think it's a bad idea because the CBUS fund has three CFMEU trustees on its board. One of them is a lady called Rita Marley who's been on the board for 13 years. Dave Noonan has been on the board for 16 years and six months.

The super regulated APRA has a guideline that says you can only be on the board for 12 years. So I'm not sure what they're doing there, but this is an organization, the CFMEU, that should not be anywhere near taxpayer funds. Hmm.

You've also got Stephen Dunn on the board. He's from the Master Builders Australia. And Michelle Beveridge, who's from Master Builders Australia. Doesn't make me feel any better about it. And Danita Wan from Master Builders Australia. And Ray Spiattore, who's from Master Builders Australia. What have these people done wrong? It doesn't make me feel any better about it because this is the IR club in business. And the CFMEU is the organisation which is on the board receiving money from the CBUS fund. Its involvement in this...

a super fund should rule it out of being involved with any government money. Now, the Labor government has now moved to put the CFMEU into administration. It seems to be shocked that the CFMEU was undertaking corruption. No one believes that. So if it's good enough to put the CFMEU into administration, surely it's good enough to protect taxpayer funds from the CFMEU. So the bill itself, it would prevent CBUS from

or any housing related entities financed by CBUS to have any involvement in the Housing Australia Future Fund. Is that correct? That's right. So they could not work with the half in any way. What are you concerned about? What are your major concerns other than just the good character test? Well, I mean, it's a corrupt organisation and it has been... CBUS or CFMEU? CFMEU. And they're on the board of CBUS.

And they own the CBUS fund. They own the trust company that owns the super fund. And these are the people that are inflating construction costs. They appear to be exempting CBUS property from certain developments in Sydney. And I think it's a thoroughly bad organisation for taxpayer funds to be exposed to. Have you had any support from the crossbench or the government?

I've had some discussions with the crossbench today. I've introduced a bill this afternoon. I'm optimistic of getting the support. I think people on the crossbench want to talk about integrity a lot. This is a chance to vote for integrity. Andrew Bragg, appreciate you coming on. Thanks, Chris. That's live from our 2GB studios in Canberra. Senator Andrew Bragg, 131873. Well, as the CFMEU just blotted its copybook to the point where everything that it's associated with is now persona non grata.

Maybe so. In this instance, I probably agree with Senator Bragg because regardless of the fact that you've got Master Builders Association and employer representatives on the CBUS board, it feels to me that until the CFMEU cleans its act up, anywhere that it goes and anything that it touches will need to be taken very seriously and people need to tread lightly with 131873.

Live on 2GB, have your say. 131 873. Well, I read a great piece by Andrew Kohler in the New Daily today. Alan Kohler, I should say, not Andrew Kohler. Alan Kohler. And it's one of the best pieces I've seen about what is behind the housing crisis. Now, the universities don't want you to hear any of this, but Alan said it because he's one of the best financial and economic observers in Australia.

The influx of international students has significantly contributed to housing inequality in Australia. International students from China, India, Pakistan and Nepal have badly exacerbated the already challenging housing market. Now, Kohler argues that it all started, ironically, under Philip Ruddock. Philip Ruddock was immigration minister and it started on July 1 in 2001. That's when Alan Kohler decides everything changed in this country.

And two changes were quietly made by the Howard government. So it was nine months after a 50% discount was applied to capital gains tax, where you saw an immediate surge in investor demand for housing. So that was being snapped up. But the two changes that Mr. Kohler points out are that entry was granted from non-gazetted countries into Australia. And those non-gazetted countries were India, Pakistan and China.

Previously, it was very, very hard to get a student visa and turn that into a permanent residency from those countries. But the Howard government changed it. They also said that there was offered a more transparent and open pathway to permanent residency for foreign students. So the consequence of these decisions were between 2005 and 2008, Australia's overall migrant intake tripled to more than 300,000 a year.

And it was designed by John Howard and Philip Ruddick to make Australia younger and push back the day that deaths would start exceeding births. But that decision has changed what Australia looks like and has changed the equity of our housing market. Because subsequent coalition governments even supercharged this idea. So in 2012, they shifted the risk rating.

to providers instead of countries. And in 2022, the then Immigration Minister Alex Hawke eliminated visa application fees and allowed unrestricted work rights for students. So it's all made Australia an incredibly attractive place for international students coming here on visas with no intention of leaving. And that's okay, except it's left us in the pickle that we've got with our housing crisis.

Because we've seen millions of international students come to Australia over 23 years and a big portion of them have stayed. Again, education is a major export of ours. And that is what the Liberal government was trying to do, both Howard and the ones that followed. But they didn't take into account that we have not built enough houses to keep up with the international students that have decided to stay here.

And the surge in international students driven by Australia's popularity as a study destination has played a substantial role in intensifying housing demand. They need rental accommodations when they get here, which adds considerable pressure to an already strained market. Now, many say, oh, well, they only use student accommodation. That is not true. They use accommodation, rental accommodation in suburbs right across Sydney.

They might not need three bedroom houses in the suburbs at first, but they absolutely do when they never return home and they have a family of their own here in Australia. Now, as the number of international students has grown, so too is the competition for rental properties. So you've seen prices in rents gone up, which means competition is higher and that is difficult for local residents to secure affordable housing.

And the rapid increase in international student numbers has not been matched by an equivalent growth in housing supply. And Kohler points out this imbalance. And it is contributing to a broader housing crisis. Now, the Labor government, under Anthony Albanese's prime ministership, he's doing a good thing here. He is rightly capping international student intake. It should be up to our elected representatives to dictate who comes to Australia and

and not up to universities who treat students as customers and revenue. Because don't forget these students pay full freight. So predictably, this is some... The capping international students is appalling in the worlds of the vice chancellors, especially the one from Sydney University in Mark Scott. My own read is it's to do with the politics of the migration number. Yeah. That clearly was a debate that was framed after the budget.

and the very aggressive stance around that from the Leader of the Opposition, and a sense that this migration number, which bubbled after COVID and is now settling back down, needed to be a step change readjustment. And the easiest way to do that is to pull a sudden break on university international enrolment. So there's real concern

that this could be an act of self-harm to one of Australia's most powerful export industries, thinking of these students as a cost and a burden rather than a remarkable asset to our community. And so we'll be making that argument. Yeah, but is it a remarkable asset to you, Mark Scott, and the universities, or is the consequence of an influx of international students a housing crisis that we can't seem to get on top of?

And what Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and bipartisan, in a good way, Peter Dutton, are supporting is something that Australians support. Because the gravy train has been so full of gravy for decades now for our universities. And the housing crisis is so dire that immigration just can't continue this way. And international students are absolutely part of the problem. 21 past five.

Alright, there's your cue to call. Back to the competition line today. 1-300-722-873. 1-300-722-873. 1-300-722-873. If you know the catchphrase, then you're off to the races. $1,000 to win. I'll give you the catchphrase very shortly too.

If you want to win $1,000 with Ben tomorrow morning, don't call the open line. Call the competition line. That number one last time. 1-300-722-873. The inside word on everything Sydney. It's Drive with Chris O'Keefe on 2GB. Well, if you're heading to Europe, you might want to listen up because Australians who want to visit some of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe are going to have to apply for a new kind of visa.

So it's called the European Travel Information and Authorization System, similar to the ESTA visa waiver system in the United States. You know, when you fly into the U.S., you've got to apply for an ESTA visa.

But the countries where you will need new travel authorisation as an Australian, which will cost you, I think, $12, is Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Germany,

and Switzerland. And Australians are amongst the nationalities which will need them. I think Brits and Americans and Kiwis also need one. So you will have to get this visa waiver. They're calling it the ETIAS, the ETIAS travel authorization. It costs you $12 and will start in 2025. 131873. Just on the international student issue, Lindsay's called in from Eastwood. Hello, Lindsay. Hi.

Hello Chris. This is something fairly close to my heart because not only do we have the problems around housing and things like that, but both sides of government have made the decision to force universities to raise fees. And that creates a consumer group that expect to get good results.

And I know for sure that there are faculties that have actually reduced their assessment levels to ensure that these full fee payers don't get failed.

That's really interesting. So you're saying that people are thinking to themselves, they come from China, Pakistan, it doesn't really matter where they come from, but they come from overseas and they pay, I don't know, $50,000 a year, full fee. Their expectation is if they're paying that kind of money, they walk out with a degree.

Yes, and I'm, as you may know, in a professional degree and I know that the faculty that I was involved with definitely changed the assessment and that became part of how they could maintain the students. I know personally of someone who failed an international student and were basically forced out of the faculty program

That went all the way to the Senate. That was appealed to the Senate. And eventually the person involved was passed. And there was enormous pressure from within the university to do that. And it's infects.

All the degrees, the professional ones, it means that the graduates that we see coming out of university are less competent. And we see international students who have never, ever had anything to do with the profession that they want to be part of.

and they get in ahead of people who would make fantastic graduates. And it's not only my faculty, if you like, but there are all the stories of...

international students who don't have enough English to participate in workshops and things like that. I mean, it's a really, really big deal, I reckon. Lindsay, I really appreciate your call. Thank you so much for your insight. And I've got a double pass I'm sending your way because it's a wonderful call to see the new psychological thriller Gaslight. It's on at the Roslyn Packer Theatre. Gaslight, the play.

In the newsroom, Rhiannon Solomon-Marin. G'day, Chris. Police are treating a series of shootings in Sydney West as a case of domestic violence. A man was found dead hours after firing shot at his in-law's house at Auburn while his wife and their two children were inside. A trial date has been set for accused triple murderer Erin Patterson. She'll face trial next April over the deaths of three people who ate a meal containing poisonous mushrooms.

St Vincent's Health has struck a deal with insurer NIB. Negotiations on a new cost agreement had collapsed in July and patients would have faced massive cost hikes if it wasn't resolved. And North Sydney Bears coach Pat Wisner has been deregistered after attempting to bet on the outcome of rugby league matches.

In sport, the Socceroos have announced they'll play a World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia in Melbourne on the 14th of November. And Chris, there'll be more news at six. Thank you, Rhi. $1,000. What is the catchphrase? Don at Deniston. G'day. Yes, the catchword is bluey. It is bluey, Don. Well done. $1,000 coming your way. Not bad, is it? That's terrific. Oh, terrific. Have you got any plans for it?

Oh, yeah, we might go away. We've got a few bills. We're pensioners, so we've got a few bills coming. Oh, beauty. All right. Well, thank you so much for your call. I'm pleased that this will go to a good place and will be of some value to you. So good on you, Donna. No, you're very welcome. That's Donna Denniston, $1,000 richer because he knew the catchphrase was bluey. The catchphrase you need for Ben Fordham tomorrow if you've got a

Penn is immortal. Immortal, because the 14th immortal is being named tonight. Immortal is the catchphrase that you need to win $1,000 with Ben Fordham in the morning, because just like Don, he knew the catchphrase was bluey, and he's won a grand.

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And now, a weather update. Seriously, what a day it was today. Just absolutely magnificent. I can't...

It's been months and months and months since I've enjoyed the beautiful weather in Sydney like I have today. Right now, 22 degrees in the city and 21 in the west. Temperatures overnight, 14 in the city and 12 in our west. Tomorrow, be a bit cloudy tomorrow and back to normal. 22 degrees in the city tomorrow and 22 in the west.

Well, Deb Knight's got money news for you after 7 o'clock. Deb, still a lucky charm? Well, I threatened to get the, just before we do that, I did threaten to get the lily white legs out today with the warm weather, and I did. I'm wearing a skirt today. You've got Converse on. I do. Red Converse. Comfort for radio, I tell you. It's not bad, is it? Yeah, exactly. Beautiful day. Get out on a skate park after this.

Beautiful day, though, and a good day on the markets, I've got to say. Wall Street closed in the red overnight, so there was the expectation that it wouldn't be a great day on the local market, but it's the ninth straight day of gains. At the close, it finished up just by 0.2% or 12 points to 8,010, and more gains for the Aussie dollar as well. They've had a good run for commodities. The dollar's followed suit. $1 now worth 67.4 US cents. Wise Tech Global, Australia's largest tech enterprise.

company. What do they do? Well, they deal in logistics, basically, and they use software, logistics software, to get things where they need to go. And they have built this phenomenal company. It's the largest tech company on the ASX. And they've built from the share price of around $15 at the start of pandemic to well over $100 today. It's phenomenal. They released their reports, their earnings today, and their net profit rose by 24%.

to $262 million, total revenues more than a billion dollars. And the owner of WiseTech, the CEO Richard White, who I'll speak to on Money News tonight, his personal wealth today alone went up $1.7 billion.

So do you think he'll be a happy chappy when I talk to him on the show tonight? I think he will. I hope he forfeits his ticket in Powerball tomorrow. Well, look, I don't know. The way he's on a chair, he'll probably win it as well because the company's doing well, he's doing well, and I'm looking forward to speaking to him on Monday night. Now, did you do Dolomites as a kid with the Commonwealth Bank? Yeah. And I had the bank book and all of that we did growing up. Yeah.

So Hong Kong's taken it a little bit further than that. Just a little bit in terms of finance education. You know, we bemoan the fact our education standards are slipping here in Australia, but high schoolers, 15 to 18-year-olds, are being put through their paces learning how to trade shares. It's part of a teaming up with the titans of finance, the likes of Morgan Stanley, because they want to bring through new recruits.

So kids are given $20 million to invest, fake money, not real. So monopoly money. Yeah, effectively. But they get the real effect of what it's like to trade, what they should be doing. Some lost a lot in the blink of an eye, which is a reflection of the real world. But one student made $8.6 million, a 43% return.

And I reckon it's a victory. I don't know about the teenagers in listeners' lives, but for me, I reckon it's just a win if I get the teenagers in my life to pick the towel up after they have a shower. That's a victory for me. But these teenagers, absolutely winning. It's not a stupid idea, is it? It's a good idea. Learning the realities of finance and trading and shares and all the rest of it, the highs and the lows. Instead of Pythagoras' theorem and algebra and stuff that very few of us use...

Maybe just, I would have loved to be taught at high school how to lodge a tax return. Yeah, the basics. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. It's always been a bugbear of mine. Maths that you can use, stuff that we can use. And I reckon the people in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government, of course, are ahead of the curve. They know what they're doing. They certainly do that. Good on you, Deb. We're here after 7 o'clock. That's Deb Knight with Money News, 131873. Now, a 14th immortal will be announced today.

at the sydney cricket ground tonight um and there's a little bit of conjecture as to how this person or the process in which it was decided and so the hall of fame there'll be additions to the hall of fame we know many of those names and the 14th immortal will be announced tonight now one of those immortals is mal maninga and he'll join me uh after the break but the

There's a bit of controversy around. I'll explain next. It's 16 minutes to six. Big night for rugby league fans tonight and the rugby league community more broadly because the NRL is announcing the 14th Immortal at the Sydney Cricket Ground. So it's a huge event. And for the first time ever, they'll be inducting both men and women into the Hall of Fame. And other contributors to the game, of course, including our very own, the late, great Dave Thirsty Morrow. Now, it is the first Immortal announced today

Since 2018, there are more than 120 players eligible for the honour. But there's been a bit of controversy. There's always controversy when it comes to these things. But this one's a little different. Now, Andrew Joey Johns, of course, the eighth immortal. He has raised on one of his podcasts on Channel 9 that he feels a little disrespected that as a living immortal, only one of three of them,

that he was not at least asked what his thoughts were on who should be in the Hall of Fame and who should be the next immortal. I think it's disrespectful. I haven't had a phone call.

Not one phone call. Actually, on Monday, I didn't know there was another immortal being inducted. I got called Monday about my duties on Wednesday night that I'll be up on stage for the announcement of an immortal. I didn't even know there was going to be another immortal inducted. You weren't told before this that you weren't going to be consulted with respect to who's to be inducted either? No. Not myself, not Wally, not Mel. I know they're disappointed.

So that's Andrew Joey Johns. Look, no knock on the people who are on the selection panel. They're all experts in their own rights. But it's like not asking the Prime Minister who should be in his cabinet. That would be a farcical thing to do. So not asking immortals who should be an immortal seems equally farcical.

But anyway, the 13th immortal, Mal Meninga, he joins me on the line. Mal, g'day. Hey, Chris. How are you? Sorry. Oh, God, you're trying to create some controversy here, Mal. No, there's always controversy, isn't there? Yeah, it's just never a dull day, is there? No. And look, I don't want to harp on it because it is important for whoever wins tonight for that to be important to them and their families. But, you know, I just thought the process could have been run a bit better.

That's probably the only disappointing about tonight. You know, it's a great night for Ruggedaligi overall. Obviously, all the Hall of Famers have been and the contributors you mentioned, the referees and the coaches are all being inducted. And yes, there's a 14th immortal. So, you know, the living immortals were a little bit disappointed that we weren't sort of in the loop. But, you know, it is what it is and we can't keep on...

keep on complaining about it. We've just got to move on and, you know, and I mean, whoever's going to get the 14th of March is going to deserve it, there's no doubt. 100%. And Ron Coote, of course, Cameron Smith, Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Billy Slater, all names that have, Darren Lockyer, all names that have

being thrown. All of them deserved of the title. What's your view on it all, Mel? Well, it's a tough decision. Even if us Immortals are sitting on the panel and we're making judgments on players or ex-players' careers, aren't we? It's very subjective to our opinions and what

and, you know, who we watched and who were our favourites and who we thought was, you know, a special player above... And more or less above, you know, the rest, I guess, you know, when you talk about the statues, the statue of it all. So, yeah, I mean...

It's just about the process that dumbfound us a little bit. But like I said before, we just move on and just feel that it's going to be a special night for whoever gets inducted. Well, you can tell us. When you were inducted, how big a deal was it for you and the Meninga family?

Well, totally come as a surprise. That's being really honest with you. I didn't feel that I deserved it. I didn't feel that it was warranted, but it was a great honour. There's no doubt, great privilege. It took me a while to sort of think about it. It took me a few days to sort of all sink in. And my conclusion, Chris, is that I think it's a

an award or an honour or a privilege that supports the family, my mum and dad, everyone that supported me through my playing days, everyone that supports me today. I just feel that it's just a testament of that and it's an appreciation that you can't get any better. The mortal is the best thing that can happen to you in rugby league in my opinion.

It's just so hard to pick, isn't it? Like, so hard. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Like I said, it's very subjective, you know, to whoever's making those decisions. It's a tough decision. You're always going to get...

Well, maybe not criticism, I don't think. I think the 14th immortal will be someone special. But there's always going to be different opinions, isn't there? And there's going to be opinions around, well, if it's a current-day player who gets it, should it go back to the players from the 70s and the 80s first? We always have these debates when these things come around. So...

Maybe it's the reason why the National Rugby League didn't tell anyone it was being voted on. Yeah, sure. Because it would have been a lot more controversy over a longer period of time. But it's kind of part of the point, is to have a broad discussion across the game over who's deserved it. Everyone has a different opinion. It's, you know, no knock. They're all outstanding players.

In your mind, do you think that, say, someone like Ron Coote, if he is appointed or inducted the 14th immortal, does that then put a full stop on that generation and you move to the next? Or are you happy to see it sort of be a little bit more ad hoc?

I think it should be ad hoc. One of the beauties of 2018, because we had no idea what was going on, and all of a sudden they voted in or honoured three ex-players prior to 1953, which I thought was fantastic. So they went back and celebrated its history, which is great, and then two afterwards. So,

I think there's always flexibility in this program, really. You know, I just feel that, you know, you weigh it all up. You have a look at everyone's records. You look at their success. And then, you know, whoever stands out the most in that particular vote, well, they deserve to get...

gets the honour. It could be honour. I mean, they're talking about the 14th, but, you know, last time they were talking about the 9th and end up 13, you know, so we're not quite sure what's going to happen tonight. Mal, I really appreciate you coming on and all the best for this evening. Thanks, Rhys. Thanks, mate. That's Mal Meninga, of course, the head coach of the Australian Kangaroos and the 13th immortal, 131873. It's host, it's being broadcast on Fox League, by the way, and...

My wife, Yvonne Sampson, just for a fun fact, is hosting it all. 9 to 6. All right, time to give away a bit of free fuel. 131873. 131873. If you want to win $200 of free fuel thanks to Shell V-Power, we'll do it next. On 2GB Drive, let's drill for fuel. $200. There we go. The microphone's working. $200 of fuel up for grabs thanks to Shell V-Power. Our contestants, I've got Daniel at Oyster Bay. Hello, Daniel.

How's it going, Chris? I'm good, thank you. Daniel and Sarah's at Camden. G'day, Sarah. Hi, Chris. How are you? I'm good, thank you, Sarah. You ready to rock and roll? The kids are in the background. You ready to rent 200 of free fuel? That'd be great. Let's do it. You're first. Your time starts now. How many horses did the first fleet bring to Australia? 7,700 or 700? 700. I've stuffed that up. We're going to start this again. I've stuffed that up, Sarah.

That's completely my fault. You want to start again? Because the answer to the question was seven. That's how many horses. I didn't read the first part of the question. I thought 700 was a lot. Yeah, I was going to say, Jesus, you'd need some boats, wouldn't you? Anyway, we'll start again. Your time starts now. Merv Hughes represented Australia in which sport? Cricket. Correct. What food is used to make hummus? Chickpeas. Correct. What decade was the Australian Opera established?

80s. 70s. True or false, it's Jetstar owned by Qantas. Yes. True. What year did the Titanic sink? Don't know. 1912. Not a bad effort, Sarah. Not a bad effort at all. Not a bad effort. Daniel, you ready? I'm ready. Let's go. I'll try to get the questions right. Your time starts now. Which British band sang Hey Jude? Pass. The Beatles. Who's on top of the NRL ladder? The Melbourne Storm. Correct. What's the traditional main ingredient in an omelette?

Eggs. Correct. Venice. Well done. Perth. Well done, Daniel. You've got four. 200 bucks of free fuel coming your way, Daniel. That's all thanks to Shell V-Power and Sarah...

I've got a couple of tickets coming your way too. To the movie A Horse Named Winx because I'm a terrible quiz master and you deserve a prize. Well done, Sarah. Well done, Daniel. It is the duel for fuel. We play it every afternoon here on Drive.

And now, a preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports. Pick your favourite Kia from the award-winning Kia Sportage to the street-cred delivering Kia Seltos or Kia's most powerful car ever, the all-electric EV6 GT. Adam Hawes has got Wide World of Sports coming up next. Hawes, it wouldn't be a Hall of Fame or an Immortals without controversy.

A great interview with the immortal Mal Meninga earlier too, mate. He actually hinted at more than one tonight. More than one immortal. I just think that was his experience. So he's like, well, might go again. So you're talking about the selection panel and how they didn't

conferred to the three living immortals? Look, again, no knock on the selection panel, but I just would have thought, do you ask the Prime Minister who's in his cabinet? Do you ask the current immortals who's the next immortal? Yeah. Yes. I would have, but I still think we'll come up with the right decision tonight. You're right. Whoever gets the honour. So we've got... But it's a good story. We've got a who's who. Brett Kenney's on tonight. He's one of the contenders, Brett Kenney. I'll speak to him. Benji Marshall, who's been inducted into the Hall of Fame. He'll join me as well. Dean Young, he's coming on to talk about the big derby between your Dragons and the Sharks.

How's your recent record against the Sharks? Have you had a look? Poor. You've lost your last eight. It's poor. It's bad. And Mitchell Stark, it feels like summer, so let's talk cricket. Mitchell Stark's coming on. Love your work, Horsey. That's Adam Hawes coming up next with Wide World of Sports. Had a big good chat with Bert Kenny. What a good bloke. That's it from me. By the way, the catchphrase you need tomorrow is immortal for Ben Fordham from 5.30. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye. ♪♪♪