full
Episode 409 - Australians are Ripe for tax reform
In this episode we discuss:
(00:42) Intro
(02:31) Rudd Trolley
(04:49) Newspoll
(09:40) Essential Poll
(18:26) Smoking Laws
(21:31) New Zealand Property Laws
(23:33) Victorian Inquiry
(28:50) Submarines
(32:12) CPI does not include interest rates
(34:28) Causes of Inflation
(38:52) Small Nuclear Reactors
(43:58) Gina's Christmas Wish
(47:48) Cry for Argentina
(50:28) Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk
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Transcript
Suburban Eastern Australia, an environment that has, over time,
Speaker:evolved some extraordinarily unique groups of homosapiens.
Speaker:But today, we observe a small tribe akin to a group of meerkats that
Speaker:gather together atop a small mound to watch, question and discuss the
Speaker:current events of their city, their country and their world at large.
Speaker:Let's listen keenly and observe this group fondly known as the
Speaker:Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove.
Speaker:Yes, the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove and Joe the Tech Guy.
Speaker:We're back, the three of us, episode 409.
Speaker:If you're in the chat room like James is, say hello.
Speaker:Yes, another episode where we're going to talk about, news and
Speaker:politics and sex and religion.
Speaker:Don't know if there'll be that much sex or religion in this one.
Speaker:Lots of talk about tax, I reckon.
Speaker:Lots of you know, polls about tax.
Speaker:Tax in New Zealand, an inquiry in Victoria about, about
Speaker:property, which then entails tax.
Speaker:So, tax, tax, tax, maybe, is what this episode's gonna look at.
Speaker:I'm Trevor, aka The Iron Fist coming in loud and clear from regional Queensland.
Speaker:Scott, the Velvet Club.
Speaker:Scott, how are you?
Speaker:Not too bad.
Speaker:Thanks Trevor.
Speaker:Good day, Trevor.
Speaker:Good day, Joe.
Speaker:Good day listeners.
Speaker:I hope everyone's well and Joe has flicked over to a different system.
Speaker:He's four or five G or something because the other system wasn't working.
Speaker:Hopefully we won't have any mishaps along the way.
Speaker:Joe, with a snitzel under your belt.
Speaker:Having had a trip to Munich, I gather.
Speaker:You are fine.
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:Morning, you mm.
Speaker:You were telling us you had a schnitzel for breakfast and a schnitzel for lunch.
Speaker:Lunch, dinner, whatever it was.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Whilst in Munich, you have to.
Speaker:Yes, while in Rome.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, Yes, we're gonna talk about Some poles.
Speaker:Talk about things that happen in New Zealand.
Speaker:Little bit about submarines.
Speaker:Can't miss that out.
Speaker:Inflation.
Speaker:I've been making a mistake about inflation, gotta rectify that.
Speaker:And Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, and Gina Rinehart's Christmas
Speaker:Wish, amongst other things.
Speaker:So, let's kick it off.
Speaker:Now who was it last week?
Speaker:I was talking about the trolley.
Speaker:Wheeling the trolley into the cabinet room.
Speaker:That was you, Joe.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, I came across an article in John Menendee's blog from Jack Waterford
Speaker:talking about that whole situation and apparently it was invented by Kevin Rudd.
Speaker:Did you know that?
Speaker:Not till I read the article, no.
Speaker:Hmm, so Jack Waterford writing the John Menendee blog was talking about
Speaker:how our current Attorney General, when looking at the Robodead Inquiry...
Speaker:Decided there were 56 recommendations rather than 57.
Speaker:And the fact that the 57th was this thing about freedom of information and trying
Speaker:to give the public better access to it.
Speaker:And he says that this was, you know, really the recommendation
Speaker:57 was about dropping the Rudd Trolley as a claim of exemption.
Speaker:And he says that the Rudd trolley was invented by a young public
Speaker:servant working in the office.
Speaker:Office of Wayne Goss Heaven Rudd.
Speaker:In the post Fitzgerald days in the early 80s, in the fervor of reform,
Speaker:Goss had committed himself to a Queensland Freedom of Information Act.
Speaker:In operation, it proved deeply inconvenient.
Speaker:It was a bit too liberal, and embarrassing material was being given
Speaker:out, and then they decided to put any embarrassing papers on a trolley, and
Speaker:wheel them through the cabinet room, then claim they were cabinet documents.
Speaker:Naturally the rule was widely admired and copied by public servants
Speaker:everywhere, so the Rudd trolley, apparently that's where it originated.
Speaker:Mmm.
Speaker:That doesn't surprise me.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Mind you, you know, the Goss government was a good one.
Speaker:Goss state government.
Speaker:Absolutely, it was.
Speaker:I mean, coming in after all those years of J.
Speaker:P.
Speaker:Jockey Peterson was such a relief.
Speaker:Good guy, died early, cancer, Wayne Goss.
Speaker:Yeah, it was brain cancer, wasn't it?
Speaker:I think it might have been.
Speaker:Yeah, and Kevin Rudd was one of the guys in his office.
Speaker:He then went on to bigger and better things s polls, news poll so news
Speaker:poll came out with an article, well it was reported in the Australian,
Speaker:the Coalition leads Labor on the primary vote 38 to 31 percent.
Speaker:On a two party preferred basis, Labor and the Coalition are neck and neck.
Speaker:at 50 percent each.
Speaker:Surprise you there, Scott or Joe?
Speaker:Ah, not especially, but you know, there is a long time between
Speaker:now and the next election.
Speaker:Um, I think that the, uh, the loss on the referendum will be forgotten by then,
Speaker:so then you'll be able to move forward then, and when people actually have to
Speaker:sit down and make a decision between Dutton and Albanese, it's a no brainer
Speaker:you're gonna go with Albanese, because...
Speaker:You know, it's only a matter of time before Chalmers takes the job.
Speaker:JoBs and growth.
Speaker:No, Jim Chalmers.
Speaker:Jim Chalmers takes the job from Albanese.
Speaker:Yeah, he won't actually knife him or anything like that.
Speaker:I just think to myself, he's probably the, he's probably the logical successor.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because he, he...
Speaker:Do you think people's vote at the next election will be determined?
Speaker:by their feeling that Charmers will come in to replace Albanese?
Speaker:Well, it's one of those things.
Speaker:I think that's something that would be playing on their mind because
Speaker:they'd think to themselves, like, God, I can't give Dutton a shot.
Speaker:So they're going to think to themselves, we've got to give, we've
Speaker:got to give Albanese another go.
Speaker:But that's okay, because if he fails, then Charmers will take the job.
Speaker:Well, I think it's...
Speaker:I do see that the Murdoch rags have been heavily after Albanese
Speaker:trying to wedge him, especially about this asylum seeker thing.
Speaker:About, you know, great headlines about how Dutton has held Albanese to account,
Speaker:and oh my god, you know, just wheel out the, it's all Peter Dutton's fault,
Speaker:excuse Mr Albanese, why don't you?
Speaker:But then the News Corp papers and the Fairfax did that to Dan Andrews.
Speaker:He completely ignored them.
Speaker:He never gave them any interviews.
Speaker:He just ran his own show on his own social media.
Speaker:And won handsomely every time, cause he just didn't pander to them, but
Speaker:he, you know, led and actually did stuff that people could point to.
Speaker:So...
Speaker:He also got on the beers.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Fell down a set of stairs.
Speaker:Is that what you mean?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:No, no, no.
Speaker:The song, Get On The Beers, I don't think did his image any harm.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But...
Speaker:You remember the mix up from COVID.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No, I don't remember.
Speaker:Okay, that's a classic.
Speaker:He said that, he said, look, this is not an excuse for you
Speaker:to go out and get on the beers.
Speaker:So this guy did a mash up for it and said, you know, get on the beers,
Speaker:get on the beers, get on the beers.
Speaker:Mmm.
Speaker:Anyway, check it out on YouTube.
Speaker:I just think it's an indictment of, of this Albanese government
Speaker:that they've just done nothing.
Speaker:They're very soft.
Speaker:And it was such...
Speaker:They're very soft.
Speaker:You know, they haven't, they haven't done anything that you can point to and say,
Speaker:well, this is something Albo has done.
Speaker:Because he's nothing.
Speaker:He has, I never liked his, I never liked his position on very fast trains, but
Speaker:Jesus Christ, I would give something to have something that I could point
Speaker:to and say, okay, this is a policy.
Speaker:But he has done nothing.
Speaker:He has rolled over on everything that was objectionable that the
Speaker:coalition government wanted to throw, and he has agreed with it.
Speaker:If you think of how on the nose the Morrison government was, and how pathetic
Speaker:Dutton has been, and despite all of that, if you'd have said after the last election
Speaker:that come this time it would have been...
Speaker:tEa Party preferred an even horse race.
Speaker:Oh, I've thought.
Speaker:Er, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's been a really amazingly poor performance.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:It's been, it's been pathetic actually.
Speaker:Mm-Hmm.
Speaker:Anyway, it's just one of those things.
Speaker:It's I would've thought that by the time people actually have to make
Speaker:their mind up, they're gonna actually go with Albanese, head of Dutton.
Speaker:But, I think that, I think that Albanese can't feel comfortable because I
Speaker:suspect that the Greens are possibly going to pick up a couple of extra
Speaker:seats, which will then give them five.
Speaker:said.
Speaker:It would be a Labour minority government.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So it would mean a coalition with the Greens, and I don't
Speaker:see a problem with that.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't either.
Speaker:But if you're a Labour person, you should be furious at how pathetic.
Speaker:This mob have been to allow that to happen, so yeah, so that's
Speaker:interesting from News Poll.
Speaker:Now, Essential Poll has come out with some interesting stuff and I reckon it showed
Speaker:a surprising willingness on the part of the Australian population to explore
Speaker:some new taxes and new initiatives.
Speaker:So people were asked To what extent do you support or oppose the following measures?
Speaker:Capping prices for electricity and gas, uh, we've got 70 percent of people either
Speaker:strongly or somewhat supporting it.
Speaker:Actually 42 percent strongly supporting.
Speaker:Looks like about maybe 9 percent against.
Speaker:So that's capping electricity and gas.
Speaker:Placing limits on rental increases, we've got 62 percent in favour.
Speaker:Only 14 percent against the rest of the owners.
Speaker:Is that 14 percent of the property owners?
Speaker:Maybe, yes.
Speaker:A tax on retailers making excessive profits.
Speaker:56 percent in favour and only 15 percent against.
Speaker:A one off levy on the incomes of people earning more than
Speaker:a million dollars a year.
Speaker:We've got 53 percent in favour and we've got only 17 percent against.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Like, these, to me, sound like fairly radical proposals.
Speaker:Well, the first two are free money for the average person, so of course
Speaker:people are going to vote for it.
Speaker:And the last one is more money coming in and it's not coming out
Speaker:of my pocket for the average person.
Speaker:So, again, not a surprise.
Speaker:Well, but it does smack a type of socialism.
Speaker:They sound an awful lot like green policy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I think...
Speaker:It's just a strong number.
Speaker:When you consider that, what did we say previously, just now, that two party, just
Speaker:on the coalition was leading Labor 38 to 32, so there's 38 percent of people out
Speaker:there are coalition voters, but only, you know, minimal numbers were against these
Speaker:Labor slash, well, green policies, really.
Speaker:So, yeah, I thought that was a strong response.
Speaker:This is the small business owner that thinks they're better off
Speaker:under a coalition government without realising that actually all
Speaker:the value goes to the big end of town, not the little end of town.
Speaker:Yeah, well, strong numbers of people in support of capping prices on
Speaker:electricity and gas, placing limits on rental increases, taxing retailers
Speaker:for making excessive profits, and a one off levelling on people earning
Speaker:more than a million dollars a year.
Speaker:Like, pretty strong stuff.
Speaker:Here's some more tax measures.
Speaker:Prevent wealthy families from using family trusts to split their assets.
Speaker:Favour, only 15 percent against.
Speaker:Here's a good one.
Speaker:Only allow people to claim negative gear in tax concessions
Speaker:on one investment property.
Speaker:We've got 47 percent in favour.
Speaker:Only 16 percent against, and Taxing deceased estates worth more than
Speaker:5 million, 40 percent in favour, 18, no, 20, 26 percent against.
Speaker:Let me just repeat those figures, so that was 40 percent in favour, and
Speaker:26 percent against, taxing deceased estates worth more than 5 million.
Speaker:So, Scott.
Speaker:The rest we don't know.
Speaker:Tax on deceased estates.
Speaker:Inheritance tax.
Speaker:Who'd have thought?
Speaker:No, no, a death tax.
Speaker:Come on, get it right.
Speaker:Yeah, well, whatever you want to call it, but on one, on estates
Speaker:worth more than 5 million does that surprise you that so many people...
Speaker:Because how many people are actually going to inherit five million dollars in one go?
Speaker:I think that's, I think that's the total, that's the total value of the estate.
Speaker:Five million dollars is the threshold, then after that you've got to divvy
Speaker:it up and all that type of thing.
Speaker:I'm not surprised at all by that because it's like, like Joe said,
Speaker:not a lot of people are actually going to fall into that category.
Speaker:So they think to themselves, well, it's not going to affect me, so I don't care.
Speaker:Still, I reckon in the past people would, you know, in America, for example, they're
Speaker:against taxing millionaires because every American considers that they're just a
Speaker:temporarily disadvantaged millionaire who's down on their luck and, you know,
Speaker:come next year they will be in that class so they don't want millionaires taxed.
Speaker:Maybe Australians have given up and have gone, well, at the current rate
Speaker:things are going, it's clearly not going to apply to me, so let's do it.
Speaker:I think Australians are more pragmatic.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Right, finally, the Stage 3 tax cuts.
Speaker:sO, people were asked, uh, the tax changes should go ahead as
Speaker:planned, 20 percent of people agree.
Speaker:The tax changes should go ahead for those earning less than 200, 000, but not
Speaker:for people earning more than 200, 000, 22 percent of people agreed with that.
Speaker:The tax changes should be revised, so they mostly benefit those on low
Speaker:and middle incomes, 41%, and the tax changes should not go ahead at all, 16%.
Speaker:So, the government's current policy of, of just doing what the coalition
Speaker:was going to do, and, and just going ahead with those tax cuts.
Speaker:Only 20 percent of Australians agree with it.
Speaker:Yet.
Speaker:That's what they're going to do anyway.
Speaker:So, risky territory for Laiva.
Speaker:It is, for sure.
Speaker:It's one of those things, it was a bloody stupid thing that he did.
Speaker:Well, no, because it meant that then Murdoch press couldn't lambast him for
Speaker:increasing taxation and run a scare story.
Speaker:But, he's, what's the point of being in power?
Speaker:What is the point of being in power?
Speaker:Had he actually said, he said, look, Had he actually said, look,
Speaker:if we win this, if we win this, we're going to have a look at them.
Speaker:Then he would have actually said, well, we said we're going to have a look at
Speaker:them, we've had a look at them, we've decided they're far too generous,
Speaker:so they're going to be pared back.
Speaker:And then he could actually say, look, we didn't destroy them completely,
Speaker:we kept these, but these, these...
Speaker:These gargantuan tax cuts for the very wealthy have got to go.
Speaker:I, I, I wonder how much Labor is now beholden to the big end of town.
Speaker:Well, it's that right wing of the Labor Party, with Richard Marles, that is...
Speaker:Running the show, and the left wing Albanese faction just has to do whatever
Speaker:they want to, as part of their deal.
Speaker:Sounds awfully familiar.
Speaker:Malcolm Turnbull, anybody?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:It does, doesn't it?
Speaker:It's so grim.
Speaker:Just, just think, after all these years and all the struggle, and you
Speaker:finally get into the position you wanted to be in, if you're Albanese.
Speaker:And then you just do nothing.
Speaker:I just, ugh, how can you live with yourself?
Speaker:Anyway, how do you sleep at night?
Speaker:It's one of those things, I think Richard Mahle's going to rear the day when they
Speaker:have to go into coalition with the Greens.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Ah, anyway.
Speaker:Because the Greens are not going to roll over like that.
Speaker:The Greens are going to insist, the Greens are going to insist that they're going
Speaker:to have a look at, they're going to have a look at AUKUS, they're going to have
Speaker:a look at Stage 3 tax cuts, and they're actually going to do something on that.
Speaker:You know, it might be what...
Speaker:to vote Green, doesn't it?
Speaker:It might be what Albanese needs, that he can just say to the right wing Richard
Speaker:Mahle's section, faction, and say...
Speaker:Sorry guys, but we're in a coalition with the Greens and we
Speaker:just have to do this stuff now.
Speaker:This is the best deal we could get.
Speaker:We're shying.
Speaker:Like, maybe it'll be good all round.
Speaker:It gives them an excuse.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I suppose it depends on how likely that that could end up splitting the
Speaker:Labor Party with the right wing faction running off to join the LNP, which...
Speaker:No, right wing faction.
Speaker:Right wing faction of Labor isn't going to run off to join the
Speaker:LNP, that's not going to happen.
Speaker:No, no, they'll join the Australian Conservatives.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Alright, I can remember talking about smoking laws, way back in
Speaker:the beginning of this podcast.
Speaker:And talking about the idea that, that you should really just have a cut off date and
Speaker:say okay from now on, anyone who's, um, 18 years or younger can't buy a cigarettes,
Speaker:and then next year it'll be people 19 years and younger, and then the following
Speaker:year it'll be 20 and under, as a way of trying to allow adults who are currently
Speaker:smoking to continue, if they must, but trying to just put a stop to this,
Speaker:this habit that's just killing people.
Speaker:And anyway, New Zealand had adopted that plan.
Speaker:And so legislation was introduced under the Jacinda Ardern led government
Speaker:that would ban cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008.
Speaker:And modelling has suggested that the laws would save up to 5, 000 lives every year.
Speaker:And it's even inspired the UK government to announce a similar
Speaker:ban for young people for smoking.
Speaker:Problem is...
Speaker:There's a new national party and this, none of this was mentioned in the run
Speaker:up to the election but apparently one of the things they're going to do is get rid
Speaker:of this proposed law before it actually gets started and one of the reasons
Speaker:is that, that the national party which won 38 percent of the vote is in a, is
Speaker:in a coalition with two other parties.
Speaker:And the other parties wanted this law removed.
Speaker:Well, the Libertarian Party did.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Did you know that they're going to share the role of the Deputy Prime Minister?
Speaker:So, one of the coalition partners, the leader, I think it's that
Speaker:Winston character, is going to be...
Speaker:Yeah, he's going to be deputy for 18 months.
Speaker:And then...
Speaker:The leader of the other party is going to be the deputy for the next 18 months.
Speaker:That's how they're going to share the role of deputy.
Speaker:That's unique.
Speaker:But anyway, that's what's going to happen and it's being sold to the electorate as
Speaker:a good idea because they need the tax.
Speaker:And also small businesses we're going to lose out.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So, so we, we carry on killing people because small businesses
Speaker:will struggle if we don't sell.
Speaker:Yes, yes, that's right.
Speaker:Where did it say that?
Speaker:Yeah, news agents and other groups like that had complained.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We can't sell these, because we can't sell these cancer inducing killing sticks.
Speaker:We're not making as much money, so this is a bad law.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:That's happening in New Zealand.
Speaker:And, uh, the other thing from New Zealand, ... Negative gearing and
Speaker:capital gains stuff on properties.
Speaker:So, so they ditched negative gearing in 2021.
Speaker:aNd changes to capital gains, um, have been being made since 2015 in New Zealand.
Speaker:And if you want to know what effect that has on properties and mortgages,
Speaker:There's a chart on the screen.
Speaker:The top line, um, so this is, um, oops, sorry, don't show that one.
Speaker:Thank you, Joe.
Speaker:This is showing the proportion of, of property lending to different groups.
Speaker:So the biggest group, um, are the owner occupiers.
Speaker:These are people not buying their first home, but with a mortgage on their...
Speaker:on their second or third or whatever sort of principal place of residence.
Speaker:Back in 2015, investor loans were 30 percent of the loan market
Speaker:and first home buyers were 10%.
Speaker:And that was in 2015.
Speaker:Now, as these changes have taken effect, first home buyers as a percentage of
Speaker:the loan market are around the 25%.
Speaker:Up from 10, and the investor component has dropped from 30 down to about 18.
Speaker:So, changing the laws, the tax laws, to make it less attractive for investors,
Speaker:has ended up with a result, where there's less investors borrowing,
Speaker:presumably less investors owning property, I can only assume is the case.
Speaker:It has an effect.
Speaker:So there we go.
Speaker:That's that's New Zealand, and...
Speaker:Apparently, there was a Victorian inquiry into rental and housing affordability.
Speaker:Guess what it recommended?
Speaker:Scrap the First Home Buyers Grant.
Speaker:Why did it recommend that?
Speaker:I'll give you one guess, dear listener.
Speaker:Because it boosts the balance.
Speaker:It's inflationary.
Speaker:It's an inflationary effect on property prices.
Speaker:And instead use the money to build public social housing dwellings.
Speaker:60, 000 of them.
Speaker:And lobby the government, the Federal Government, to examine these tax
Speaker:concessions for investment properties.
Speaker:Those were the recommendations from the Inquiry.
Speaker:No surprises there.
Speaker:So, um, although with rent caps they were looking at rental price regulation.
Speaker:And the Inquiry said, Although rental freezers provide obvious benefits to
Speaker:renters, the Committee believes that they should only be considered as a
Speaker:short term solution in extreme times.
Speaker:Such as, during the COVID 19 pandemic, and according to the inquiry, there
Speaker:is inconsistent evidence on the long term efficacy of rental caps.
Speaker:So, question mark over the effectiveness of rental caps.
Speaker:The big long term experiment is New York with their fixed, there
Speaker:are a certain number of residences that are fixed rental costs.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And it generally means that maintenance doesn't get done on them.
Speaker:And, uh, it's not necessarily been good for the property.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Landlords sort of give up on properties and wait for the tenant to die.
Speaker:Is that kind of what happens?
Speaker:Yeah, because I think they're allowed to change the rent once the tenant moves out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's one of those things, it's it all sounds very good, but when you actually
Speaker:look at it, it's not all that great.
Speaker:And you end up, you end up with people living in slum conditions and all that
Speaker:sort of stuff, still having to pay rent.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:So the inquiry is suggesting that...
Speaker:Only as a short term solution in extreme times for sort of, rental freezes.
Speaker:So, that all makes sense.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So what would be an extreme time?
Speaker:Would they consider that the current rental crisis and all that
Speaker:sort of stuff, would they consider that to be an extreme time or not?
Speaker:I think the Greens do.
Speaker:So, the Greens are reported as saying, the report found that a rent freeze
Speaker:is appropriate in times of extreme crisis like during COVID lockdowns.
Speaker:Well, renters are worse off now than since the pandemic became,
Speaker:began, so it's time to act.
Speaker:I guess given the high immigration numbers and the lack of housing on
Speaker:the market, they've got an argument.
Speaker:Yeah, it's one of those things that's I think we're having a long,
Speaker:sensible discussion about what a level of immigration is, what an
Speaker:acceptable level of immigration is.
Speaker:But you've actually got to do it without Pauline Hanson and all that
Speaker:type of thing, because she'll just be beating the drum on that type of thing.
Speaker:It's just, you know, we've got to get nurses and all that sort of
Speaker:thing from other overseas because we don't train enough of them here.
Speaker:And it's just a hell of a mess.
Speaker:But also we've got all the baby boomers retiring and
Speaker:they didn't have as many kids.
Speaker:So yeah, you need the young demographic in paying tax.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So you've got to bring them in from overseas.
Speaker:It's heavy.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's one of those things we've actually got to, that's why I said we've
Speaker:got to have a sensible conversation about it, so that you get rational debates,
Speaker:and then you've actually got to make a decision about it, because, you know, I
Speaker:think it's, what was it, 300 or 500, 000 migrants or something like that are aiming
Speaker:to bring in over the next 12 months?
Speaker:That's a hell of a lot.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Well, we seem to be short on places to put people.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, you know, for the landowners, you've got to force
Speaker:the property prices up somehow.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But, and again there, there have been a number of reports saying that
Speaker:there isn't a shortage of places.
Speaker:That they just...
Speaker:Unoccupied, vacant, yes.
Speaker:I've heard conflicting things on that.
Speaker:Land approved for construction, but that the owners are sitting
Speaker:on it till the value increases.
Speaker:They don't want to, they don't want to glut the market.
Speaker:Yes, land banking.
Speaker:So developers will not will not develop the lots because if they, you know, 500
Speaker:lots on the market, the price would drop.
Speaker:Whereas if they drip feed the market, um, The price was, will be maintained.
Speaker:So, yeah, you've just actually got to actually say to people, well, this,
Speaker:this lot's been, this block of land is now available for development.
Speaker:You've got 12 months to actually carve it up.
Speaker:Otherwise, we'll, we'll take, we'll take it back from you and that type of thing.
Speaker:Use it or lose it.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:I remember saying that on census night, there was 1 million properties vacant, but
Speaker:apparently that figure is not quite right.
Speaker:I'll come back to that another time.
Speaker:I do remember hearing that and then hearing that that was
Speaker:a misleading statistic, so.
Speaker:Right, just briefly on submarines, because this is the
Speaker:Iron Fist Velvet Glove podcast.
Speaker:This is the submarine podcast.
Speaker:This is the submarine podcast.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Scott Morrison negotiated the AUKUS submarine deal, claiming it was
Speaker:necessary to achieve a credible deterrent against China, and
Speaker:Anthony Albanese agreed with that.
Speaker:However, U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:Congressional Budget Office has a problem with that assertion, because the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:is having to sell Australia three to five of its existing nuclear submarines.
Speaker:And they're short of submarines, and in theory, there is no guarantee that
Speaker:Australia will release or provide those submarines in a war against China.
Speaker:So the Congressional Budget Office is saying, we're short on submarines, we're
Speaker:going to give three to five of them to the Australians who are not necessarily
Speaker:going to use them against the Chinese.
Speaker:Therefore, the deterrent effect of this policy, from the Chinese point of view,
Speaker:would be to worry less about a submarine threat than if the deal wasn't there.
Speaker:Which makes sense.
Speaker:If we want deterrence, really, nuclear weapons is the way to go.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We can do that.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:That might be stupid enough.
Speaker:Well, because there'll be a coalition Labor Greens government.
Speaker:Next election, and the Greens won't allow it.
Speaker:That's why, Joe.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But, I like this, I like this theory.
Speaker:That if the whole point of the submarines is as a deterrent, and you've decided
Speaker:to carve off a section of the fleet to a country who suddenly may not employ them
Speaker:the way you want to against China, you've actually reduced your deterrent effect.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:Well, no, no.
Speaker:So, so deterrent for the Americans, but deterrent for the Australians.
Speaker:So there's no guarantee that America is going to step in if
Speaker:China tries to invade Australia.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Whereas if we have the submarines, in theory, we're controlling
Speaker:them to stop the Chinese Navy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I don't think the Chinese are worried about us acting
Speaker:unilaterally with our submarines.
Speaker:So from the Chinese point of view, happy days.
Speaker:Those stupid Westerners, they've just split their fleet
Speaker:up when they're short on subs.
Speaker:Subs are less of a threat, is the overall impression that the Chinese would have.
Speaker:See, what you need, what you need is American businesses in the
Speaker:north of Australia, so that America will step in if there's any chance
Speaker:of them losing their businesses.
Speaker:Well, they will but the problem is they've given three to five of their submarines
Speaker:to us So that's that's the assessment that the Americans have made that
Speaker:they've reduced their deterrent effect.
Speaker:So I think it's a compelling argument It's undercut deterrence of China
Speaker:exactly the opposite of the claims of Scott Morrison and Albanese Right.
Speaker:I've been talking about interest rates and inflation and I've been saying
Speaker:that if when the Reserve Bank raises interest rates, then the interest is part
Speaker:of the basket of goods that's used to calculate CPI, and that's not correct.
Speaker:So, my son, Zach got me on that the other day, and we've actually said this way
Speaker:back in episode 363, so I'd forgotten we'd said that, but Before 1998, the
Speaker:CPI measured interest paid on mortgages.
Speaker:But this was changed at the behest of the Reserve Bank, which didn't want
Speaker:its measure of inflation to go up every time it raised interest rates.
Speaker:So, that was late 1998, CPI measured interest on mortgages, but it stopped.
Speaker:So, since then...
Speaker:Well, I'd cocked up because I thought it was right.
Speaker:Hmm, so since then the Bureau has measured owner occupiers housing costs by taking
Speaker:the price of building a new house or unit.
Speaker:This doesn't make much sense since not many people buy a
Speaker:newly built home each quarter.
Speaker:So they've been measuring housing costs by the price of new houses and new units.
Speaker:But the Bureau also calculates a separate cost of living index.
Speaker:Which uses the same prices as the CPI, but restores mortgage interest
Speaker:rates into that calculation.
Speaker:And uses slightly different weights to take account of different spending
Speaker:patterns of particular household types.
Speaker:So, probably the more accurate measure would be...
Speaker:The Cost of Living Index as opposed to the CPI, so, so there we go.
Speaker:Interest doesn't actually make its way into the CPI, it makes its
Speaker:way into the Cost of Living Index.
Speaker:I've been misleading you for the last month or so on that
Speaker:one, but we did actually say Either way, it is inflationary.
Speaker:Mm, yes.
Speaker:So, so that was that part.
Speaker:Causes of inflation.
Speaker:Anthony Albanese says inflation is part of a global phenomenon.
Speaker:The Reserve Bank says it's largely homegrown and, um, Miss Bullock, I
Speaker:think she's the current head of the RBA.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Michelle Bullock.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:She said early driver of inflation was supply chain problems during
Speaker:COVID 19 pandemic, worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaker:But on Wednesday, she said there's several signs that inflation was domestically
Speaker:driven and at risk of remaining elevated.
Speaker:sHe said it's not just petrol, electricity and rent.
Speaker:Quote, this is from the Reserve Bank, Hairdressers and dentists,
Speaker:dining out, sporting and other recreational activities.
Speaker:The prices of all these services are rising strongly, she said.
Speaker:Hang on, a dentist is recreation, is it?
Speaker:No, hairdressers and dentists, dining out, sporting and
Speaker:other recreational activities.
Speaker:Well, exactly.
Speaker:She says, this reflects domestic economic conditions and is an
Speaker:indication that aggregate demand is sufficiently greater than aggregate
Speaker:supply to sustain these price increases.
Speaker:So, you consumers out there, going to the dentist, increased demand without an
Speaker:increased supply of dentist is leading to a rise in the price of dental services.
Speaker:Honestly, these Reserve Bank people, they just did Economics 101 with
Speaker:supply and demand curves and, and that's the only way of thinking,
Speaker:basically.
Speaker:Yeah, but, I can understand what you're saying, but...
Speaker:What she was saying was right though, you know, you, you don't have an increase
Speaker:in dentists and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker:You've got an increase in demand for dentists, so there's going
Speaker:to be an increase in the price.
Speaker:Could it be that people have just been putting off dental
Speaker:stuff because they had to?
Speaker:Yeah, I know that.
Speaker:I know that, but it's one of those things you've got, if you look at it
Speaker:purely in supply and demand, the demand for dental, dental procedures goes up.
Speaker:The supply of dentists doesn't move, so the only thing that can move is the price.
Speaker:Yeah, the RBA approaches this as a, as a rampant economy that's spending too much.
Speaker:And needs to be, be reigned.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What it needs to be reed in.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Which is exactly what they're, what they've done and, and it just doesn't
Speaker:make sense that people are willy-nilly getting dental services and need to
Speaker:be reed in by higher interest rates.
Speaker:This is not discretion to curb their dental express expenses.
Speaker:Same with hairdressers.
Speaker:Like, I dunno, I imagine a lot of the cost of the hairdressers is the.
Speaker:Various creams and dyes and what not, you probably don't
Speaker:have to worry about that, Joe.
Speaker:Is he rubbing your head?
Speaker:Could it be that it's the cost of the various ointments and bits
Speaker:and pieces that they're using?
Speaker:The rent and their place and all that sort of thing?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Rather than just...
Speaker:Everybody's suddenly increased their demand for hairdressing services.
Speaker:Well of course they had, they were all doing their barber
Speaker:stuff at home during lockdown.
Speaker:So everybody being released out of the community, everybody now needs a haircut.
Speaker:Now obviously, that's inflationary.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because they weren't before COVID.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, there are more people having more haircuts now since COVID.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It just strikes me as...
Speaker:People who are out of touch and relying on very simple supply and
Speaker:demand models that don't necessarily apply well to what's really happening.
Speaker:So, anyway there was a an article from the it was either the
Speaker:Chaser or the Batuda or somebody.
Speaker:The headline was, Selfish young person apologises for driving up inflation, but
Speaker:you just can't really ignore a root canal.
Speaker:That's where we're at.
Speaker:Ah, is John in the chat room?
Speaker:Because I'm about to talk about small modular nuclear reactors.
Speaker:Doesn't look like he's there.
Speaker:Chris Bowen, he's our Energy Minister.
Speaker:He says, we respect other countries plans, but in Australia's context, nuclear
Speaker:for Australia is a fantasy wrapped in delusion, accompanied by pipedream.
Speaker:And there's an article in the Guardian, so...
Speaker:The only company to have a small, modular nuclear power plant approved in the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:and this has been cited by the Australian opposition as evidence of
Speaker:a burgeoning global nuclear industry.
Speaker:It's had to cancel the project due to rising costs.
Speaker:New scale power announced plans announced a drop plans to build.
Speaker:It's it's small modular nuclear reactor, and essentially, the
Speaker:figures just don't add up.
Speaker:They couldn't get enough people to commit to buying the electricity.
Speaker:The cost of producing the plant, um, accelerated way beyond
Speaker:what was originally planned.
Speaker:And, uh, it just doesn't add up.
Speaker:So, industry experts say that...
Speaker:SMRs, Small Modular Reactors, are not commercially available, but nuclear energy
Speaker:is more expensive than alternatives, and in a best case scenario could
Speaker:not play a role in Australia for more than a decade, and probably not
Speaker:before 2040, and the Australian Energy Market Operator found renewable energy
Speaker:could be providing 95 percent of the country's electricity by that time.
Speaker:So...
Speaker:So, yeah, as Don says, fusion is the answer because fusion is always 20 years
Speaker:off, which serves the purpose of a nuclear reactor, which is to delay renewables
Speaker:and keep burning fuel, fossil fuel.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:One of the great things about renewables is everybody having it on their house.
Speaker:It decentralises power, both power literally and power of large corporations.
Speaker:But the grid isn't designed for that, unfortunately.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:The other day I was at home and that sort of stuff and I realised my air conditioner
Speaker:in the land room turned off and I thought to myself, what the hell was that?
Speaker:Because everything else was still working.
Speaker:And then I realised the power's being turned off.
Speaker:So that was the only sign that I had was the...
Speaker:Electricity had been cut off to my house because the air
Speaker:conditioner in the lounge room died.
Speaker:So, because my battery and everything like that, it just kicked in and just
Speaker:kept the electricity flowing to my house.
Speaker:But for some reason, they haven't got my they haven't got my air conditioner in
Speaker:the lounge room hooked up to the battery.
Speaker:Probably because it's too big.
Speaker:So, a battery can only supply so much power and an air
Speaker:conditioner uses a lot of power.
Speaker:Yeah, I know, but, so it draws, the air conditioner draws from your solar panel.
Speaker:Yeah, it does.
Speaker:Right, but not from the battery.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:But, you know, it's just one of those things, I just noticed that...
Speaker:When the like it's only happened twice up here, but when the electricity
Speaker:is cut off, I notice that the air conditioner in the lounge room dies,
Speaker:but everything else still works.
Speaker:So that's how I know that the power's been turned off.
Speaker:And when the electricity is, is still running to the house and all that
Speaker:sort of stuff, I'm still drawing, I'm still drawing electricity on
Speaker:everything out of that from my battery.
Speaker:Anyway, it just is what it is.
Speaker:It's one of those things I I see up here.
Speaker:There are a lot of houses that are getting solar on their roof.
Speaker:And I just think to myself, that's a very good thing because, um, that
Speaker:will play very much into the hands of the state government because all that
Speaker:surface electricity that's going to be produced will be used to pump the water.
Speaker:Back up to the main dam, then it'll flow down to the through the what the
Speaker:hell's in through the hydropump...
Speaker:Pumped hydros.
Speaker:Turbines.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Pumped hydros.
Speaker:It's going to run down through the hydro generators.
Speaker:That's if they actually build the pumped hydro.
Speaker:I know they've talked about it, but No, it's pretty much announced its a done.
Speaker:It was, I don't think there's any hesitation on that.
Speaker:Oh, it's, it's a done deal.
Speaker:But has it started?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:No, it hasn't started yet.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:But it ha They ha they have actually, I gather they've already set aside
Speaker:the land and that sort of stuff.
Speaker:I gather the government's already in purchase mode and that sort of thing to
Speaker:purchase the land from the landholders.
Speaker:And then after that, it'll be over.
Speaker:Anyway, that's small nuclear reactors.
Speaker:Gina Reinhart this one came from the Courier Mail.
Speaker:She's called on the Federal Government to give the nation a Christmas bonus
Speaker:in the form of a petrol excise tax cut.
Speaker:According to Miss Reinhart, every few dollars counts for people in tough times.
Speaker:With the stroke of a pen, the Government could deliver minor, short
Speaker:term relief to millions by cutting the petrol tax for households.
Speaker:Ooh, a wicked fundage.
Speaker:We could fund it by removing the the benefits that mining
Speaker:companies get for their fuel.
Speaker:So we could actually move the tax cuts away from the mining companies to the
Speaker:small individuals and that would have zero impact on net revenue from the budget.
Speaker:So mining companies get a special tax deal, do they?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Do they not pay the excise?
Speaker:They don't pay any excise on their off road vehicles.
Speaker:Or they pay a reduced excise, yeah.
Speaker:Right, okay, yeah.
Speaker:I don't think they pay anything on their off road vehicles.
Speaker:So the, the diesel that goes into those trucks and that sort of stuff,
Speaker:they don't pay any excise on that.
Speaker:It's good of Tina to be thinking of this, you know, of the little people.
Speaker:She says no one's asking...
Speaker:Oh shit, fattest bitch.
Speaker:She says nobody's asking for a handout, we just need the government
Speaker:to take less money from Australians.
Speaker:She says, I have long spoken out about Australians being overtaxed and
Speaker:overcharged by government, which has its roots in excessive government spending.
Speaker:Yeah, because rich people tend to pay more tax than poor people.
Speaker:Rich people use less services than poor people, so they want to
Speaker:pay less tax to fund poor people.
Speaker:She says, we teach children far more about cunning emissions and woke agendas than
Speaker:we do about mining that powers Australia's economy and enables those Australians
Speaker:employed in the industry to have some of the highest wages in the world.
Speaker:The resources industry contributes more corporate tax.
Speaker:And all other industries combined.
Speaker:It's mining taxes that pay for our government, teachers,
Speaker:police, nurses, non voluntary firefighters and emergency services.
Speaker:Gentlemen, do you know why the resources industry contributes more corporate
Speaker:tax than all other industries combined?
Speaker:Because it's the only core, it's the only, the only industry that's making money.
Speaker:No, because they believe that the stuff they mine out of the ground is taxed.
Speaker:They're not buying raw materials, they're being taxed.
Speaker:So every, any other sector, it's raw materials are a cost, not a tax.
Speaker:And that's why they claim it's the highest tax.
Speaker:The reason is they can't offshore their profits.
Speaker:Well that's, that's true.
Speaker:So they're digging rocks out of Australian soil and it's really hard for them
Speaker:to set up international agreements.
Speaker:Where they get charged IP services and other stuff that they can
Speaker:shift their profits offshore.
Speaker:So, that's why they're actually paying tax is they can't offshore their income.
Speaker:Well, BSP said a red hot go at it.
Speaker:They've done their, they've moved their accounts receivable
Speaker:funds over to Singapore.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But Gina, who says Australian miners are some of the highest paid.
Speaker:Workers, she wanted to change that.
Speaker:She wanted to excise the whole of North Australia from the human resources laws,
Speaker:whatever they're called, the industrial relations things, so that she could
Speaker:bring in cheap labor from overseas.
Speaker:Are you suggesting she's hypocritical?
Speaker:Yeah, of course she's a hypocrite.
Speaker:She's just a teeny amount.
Speaker:She's an evil bitch.
Speaker:We mentioned.
Speaker:Argentina and the crazy new president they've got there.
Speaker:He signalled that he may exonerate Argentina's imprisoned
Speaker:dictatorship officers.
Speaker:He said that the military were guilty only of excesses.
Speaker:Um, The 1976 Dictatorship, which Millais is keen to reappraise, imposed policies
Speaker:similar in many ways to his, including semi de dollarisation, um, there's 1,
Speaker:200 convicted Dictatorship officers.
Speaker:And anyway, I think we mentioned last week, I'm not sure if we did, or last time
Speaker:we spoke about it, was It's all going to go to shit in Argentina, and it'll end
Speaker:up with the military getting involved.
Speaker:And this is just further evidence to me that the military's going to get involved.
Speaker:So he wants officers on his side?
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:He's going to get them all out of jail and get the military on
Speaker:side for when things go to shit.
Speaker:He'll be able to employ them to keep his regime operating.
Speaker:That's, I think, where we're headed in Argentina.
Speaker:That's a real worry.
Speaker:You know, I could, I said at the time, I said last week when we
Speaker:were talking about it, I said that I could understand the Argentines
Speaker:that had a gut full of Peronism.
Speaker:But, you know, to go this far to the other side was just ridiculous.
Speaker:Mm hmm.
Speaker:I Was hoping I would see it today.
Speaker:The High Court supposedly today was going to come out with its reasons
Speaker:about the detention decision it made.
Speaker:I thought it was tomorrow.
Speaker:Yeah, I thought it was going to be today.
Speaker:So, we'll wait till next week and talk in depth about the actual
Speaker:decision and the reasons behind it.
Speaker:So...
Speaker:Oh, the latest gossip was that the government knew all about that
Speaker:they had a risky case and they were going to ship him off to America.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:I haven't seen that.
Speaker:That's what they were saying.
Speaker:Yeah, the opposition have said, oh, obviously the government knew
Speaker:because they were in talks with America to send the guy over there.
Speaker:Okay, so if the opposition said that, it definitely wasn't the case.
Speaker:Probably.
Speaker:But, but you know, this is News Corpse, who are digging up fresh bodies to...
Speaker:Yeah, it's complete nonsense then.
Speaker:I think, I think they were surprised.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I think, but, yeah.
Speaker:Anyway reading a book at the moment, might talk about next week, The Identity Trap.
Speaker:A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time by Yasha Munk.
Speaker:And it's talking about the way that we have shifted from universal
Speaker:ideas of treating everybody equally to, to treating people based on
Speaker:their identity and creating special laws that apply based on identity.
Speaker:And...
Speaker:It's a really good read, so far, and I just, as I read it, I am just
Speaker:applying these concepts to the whole voice debate, and how we approach
Speaker:that, and so, I'm finding that quite interesting, so, if you're interested
Speaker:in, in the idea of identity politics, and how, and how the world has moved
Speaker:from universal Rights of equality to rights that depend on your identity,
Speaker:then I recommend this, and I'll probably talk more about it next week, I reckon.
Speaker:So, that's the Identity Trap.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And that's about it, dear listener.
Speaker:I reckon we've gone through it all.
Speaker:Anything you guys got to talk about at all?
Speaker:EUrope's lurch to the right was something that the better half
Speaker:was talking to me about tonight.
Speaker:He was concerned, I think was probably where it was basically headed, was
Speaker:with Goethe Wilde's ascension to the prime ministership of the Netherlands.
Speaker:hE likes to throw rocks at Angela Merkel wherever he can because he said
Speaker:that he said it was her, you know, that saying, oh yes we can and that
Speaker:sort of thing when they opened up the borders and let all those people
Speaker:in from Syria and everything else.
Speaker:And he was saying that he believes that Gerd Bilders is a example of what was
Speaker:going to happen from that type of thing.
Speaker:Now, I haven't read enough about the Netherlands or anything else as
Speaker:to whether or not they have a big Islamic population or anything else.
Speaker:But it really wouldn't surprise me that that could have been one of the things
Speaker:that kicked him in the head, because I think it was you, Trevor, that said that
Speaker:once the population of Muslims gets up to 5%, then they start to agitate for
Speaker:their own laws and that type of thing.
Speaker:So it really wouldn't surprise me that that could have
Speaker:actually happened over there.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Could have.
Speaker:So, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a Dutch refugee and she's written quite extensively about
Speaker:her experiences as a new immigrant and she was saying that she had come from
Speaker:a tribal regime, and to be suddenly dumped in a very, very different society.
Speaker:bEing given money by the government, and she couldn't understand how it all
Speaker:works, and she had a contempt for it.
Speaker:And she says that we as a society are doing immigrants a disservice by not
Speaker:embracing them, by not, by basically just dumping them into the community and
Speaker:saying, there you are, get on with it.
Speaker:Rather than, this is what the laws are, this is how our society works.
Speaker:She advocated actually for church groups to go out and embrace them.
Speaker:But there's no reason it couldn't be other community groups.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Well, integration's a dirty word.
Speaker:Sounds like assimilation.
Speaker:Yeah, it's one of those things.
Speaker:I honestly believe we've actually got to actually, we've got to have several
Speaker:serious conversations in this country.
Speaker:One of them has to be, assimilation is not a dirty word.
Speaker:You know, we've actually got to have a conversation with everyone
Speaker:to make them understand that assimilation is not a dirty word.
Speaker:See, that's what the Chinese said to the Uyghurs.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Essentially.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:There's a sense of re education camp.
Speaker:They see hard as terrorists and they said, Guys, this is how our country works.
Speaker:Off you go to re education camp.
Speaker:Re education camp with a big shed and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker:Make them work for nothing.
Speaker:But, you know, it's just one of those things.
Speaker:It's all part of the training program, isn't it, Trevor?
Speaker:The Uyghurs actually...
Speaker:Weren't fresh immigrants.
Speaker:A and, but hang on, they had lived there for a very long time.
Speaker:You, you, and they've also, they've also had their, just upon your concept,
Speaker:part of their country taken over by the Ha Chinese, the Hahan Chinese had
Speaker:been moved out there and they tried to dilute them and they, yes, they were
Speaker:the only people that weren't required to abide by the one co abide by the one
Speaker:child law and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker:But you know, it's, I think.
Speaker:One of those bloody brutal things that they've done.
Speaker:Assimilation is the destruction of the small party's ways and means.
Speaker:Yeah, of the history of their culture.
Speaker:The minorities.
Speaker:Assimilation, I think, is, um, a fusion of taking the best of both.
Speaker:You'll find that the Uyghurs have got a thriving Uyghur culture.
Speaker:Like, they're able to practice their culture, no problem.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I know, it's one of those things that, that, that, it's just, it just, you
Speaker:know, it just, only two minutes ago, you were saying about teaching people
Speaker:about, teaching people about what our country's about, and they were saying,
Speaker:well, that's what the Chinese did, and you just went off and said, well...
Speaker:Yeah, but, but except in that situation, like, it was exactly the
Speaker:concept that you were arguing for, but when I point out that that's what
Speaker:the Chinese did, you were, you were, you were, yeah, you've got me there.
Speaker:All right I have to go away and think about that.
Speaker:There we go.
Speaker:It's one of those things, I just think to myself that
Speaker:what was I saying?
Speaker:Sorry?
Speaker:What's that?
Speaker:You said the Uyghurs are closer to the Aboriginals in that, no, the
Speaker:Uyghurs were conducting jihadist terrorism, like elements of them
Speaker:were, so that was the problem.
Speaker:Yeah, yes.
Speaker:Yeah, I don't think they were all involved in that.
Speaker:No, of course not.
Speaker:And a lot of them ended up in concentration camp,
Speaker:or in a re education camp.
Speaker:No, not all of them did.
Speaker:But a lot of them did, though, end up in re education camps.
Speaker:And a lot of them were working for slave labour.
Speaker:Well, we don't know.
Speaker:It's very hard to know what went on.
Speaker:No, exactly.
Speaker:Because there's a Christian nutter, is the main person that
Speaker:the world's relying on for what actually happened with the Uyghurs.
Speaker:That's the problem.
Speaker:Who is that?
Speaker:Oh, he's like a Christian nutter of some sort.
Speaker:I can't remember his name, but he's the main source of the whole...
Speaker:Isn't that his tautology?
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:Indeed.
Speaker:Anyway.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:A bunch of Arab countries have been over there now and said, it's all good.
Speaker:We're happy with how we are.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Islam brothers are being treated.
Speaker:And thanks for the bridges and the roads, and the Belton Road.
Speaker:Oh, exactly.
Speaker:Well, there we go, we're done and dusted for another episode.
Speaker:We'll be back next week.
Speaker:We're going to talk about identity for sure.
Speaker:Do I have to read this book or not?
Speaker:No, I'll just provide notes.
Speaker:Alright, we'll talk about stuff then.
Speaker:Talk to you then.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:And it's a good night from me.
Speaker:And it's a good night from him.
Speaker:Good night.
