The Chaser Report - Andrew Hansen vs. Ben Lee

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

For a very special episode of The Chaser Report: Election Edition Charles and Dom are joined by both Andrew Hansen AND Ben Lee! Ben and Andrew go back into the vault and unpack the feud they had 14 years ago when Andrew wrote a song about Ben. Ben also talks politics and why being subversive is so fun. Meanwhile, Andrew quizzes Dom and Charles on the PM's breakfast TV appearances. Plus Charles has the latest Election Wrap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an election that will determine the fate of the entire universe, there's only one podcast holding politicians accountable. Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese, who will move? Find out on The Chaser Report, election edition. Hello and welcome to the election edition of The Chaser Report. It's Tuesday the 3rd of May. I'm Dom Knight. Hello, Charles Firth. Hello.

Now, we've got two famous musicians on the podcast today. Oh, really? Wow. Yes, one of them is called Ben Lee. He's coming up to talk politics. He's very known for his political musings. And a wonderful musician. But also, someone who's been gallivanding around Australia, billing himself as the hot one from the chaser.

Andrew Hanson. Welcome back to the pod. Oh, yeah. It's so horrible to be back here with you two. I can't believe we've got Andrew Hanson. He's so hot. I mean, Ben Lee is great. Andrew Hanson?

Bit smoke, I thought I'd deign to stoop to be here, largely to plug my tour is the only reason I agreed to this. How tongue-in-cheek was the hot thing intended as? Because I see it throughout all of your socials. I stalk you online because you're so famous now. And I can't work out whether you genuinely think you're the hot one from The Chaser. We all know it's not me. I'm like, dude, there's no irony there.

There are other contenders. Look at me. Look at how smoking hot I am. If you follow my socials, you will have seen my headshot. And every time you see it, you would think. I think, ooh, he's hot. What about Craig? And Chris, for that matter. Craig's the wooden one from the Chaser.

Yeah, but you burn water and it gets hot. And what's Chris? Chris is the formerly hot one from the Chas. He's the one who was hot. There were Chas fans even back in the day. Everyone had it. I mean, there were even some Jules fans in the early day. Okay, because you used to bill yourself as the good one from the Chaser,

and I think that was more indisputable. Yeah, well, look, I have to rebrand myself every tour, to generate some interest. I'm wondering about the next tour. That's what I'm thinking. Like, what should I? The bad boy from the chaser. Oh, hey, that's great.

The bad boy from the naughty ones. What about the dead one from the chaser? And it will really confuse potential ticket buyers. That might become true by the next tour. It depends how badly this one. So look, we will get on to politics and the election news of the day, but there is an issue we need to raise. And look, it's a place very near to where I grew up and very near to my heart.

It's called Chatswood. It's a lower north shore suburb of Sydney. No need to swear on the podcast. Andrew, I gather you're doing a gig there. This is the theme. Look, I've got three more dates on my tour. Let me explain. This Sunday in Brisbane, and the tickets are selling fast because I'm so hot, right?

Then I'm doing two shows in Sydney, right? So this Saturday night, they're doing the factory in Marrickville. Tickets are selling fast because I'm so hot. But where I've hit a bit of a stumbling block is that for reasons unknown to me, my producer booked a show this Friday in chats. Yes, at the concourse? At the concourse? I'm not afraid to you.

And did you, I mean, because what, I don't know how you always made. I think probably your problem, Andrew, is that you've got to go after the older set. You've got to appeal to, I don't know, think of people who watch Sean McAuliffe. They don't like hot. On free-to-wear television. They don't want hot. Maybe I should have built myself as the elderly. The old one. Or the tepid, the tepid one.

Yeah. The slow one? The slow one from the chaser. Just plug that you've got a whole lot of anecdotes from World War II. And people go, oh yes, I'll go along to that. That sounds like a jolly time. A proper night out like 1953. I think the problem is Chatswood.

Because what people don't realize is it's not as dreary as it used to be. And this is, I've actually teamed up. I don't know if you know this. I've teamed up with the Chatswood Chamber of Commerce. Oh, right. to rebrand the suburb of a Chatswood and remind people just what a happening and undreary place it actually is.

Take a listen to my ad. Chatswood. Everyone thinks it's a dull, dreary dump. Wrong! Studies show Chatswood is now 83% less dreary than it used to be with a modern library. Wow. A Westfield that's as big as a Westfield.

And the indulgence of our Ben and Jerry's. Please note Chatswood Ben and Jerry's recently closed down. And best of all, the hot one from The Chaser, Andrew Hanson, is live at Chatswood's Concourse Theatre this Friday, the 6th of May. Oh my God, Andrew Hanson's so hot. Plus Marrickville on May 7 and Brisbane, May 8. Book Andrew Hanson through Ticka Tech. And remember, Chatswood's less dreary than it used to be.

Right, well, that's the stuff we had to do to convince Andrew to come back on the podcast. On today's show, you've even got a quiz and a sketch for us, Andrew. come bearing gifts. Oh, I've got so many goodies for you, Donnie. We've got a lot of goodies. Well, we'll go with the Hot Muso before we go with Ben Lee. And there's going to be a bit of awkwardness, though, because didn't you write a song about Ben Lee once, Andrew?

Let's have a quick listen to that song and just think about how awkward this might be. And now the great Michael Jackson's been taken from me, but I don't understand, Lord. Why don't you take Ben Lee? And then I believe I've found the worst candidate running in the 2022 federal election. But before we do any of that, let's check in with Charles' Daily Wrap. Welcome to the wrap for Tuesday, the 3rd of May.

Inflation is soaring and now interest rates are going up, up, up. Morrison says you should vote for him because he's better at managing the economy. But at the same time, he's not actually responsible for what's happening to the economy. and anyone who says he is is just playing politics. You know what? It's not about politics. If you actually listen carefully to that clip,

you can hear the moment that Scott Morrison realises he's about to lose the election. It's not about politics. This leaves Morrison in a bit of a pickle. Until now, his sales pitch has been simple. You'll have more money under me. Now he's like, well, let's not talk about money.

Maybe that hate campaign against trans women wasn't such a bad idea after all. Labor says the solution to rising prices and mortgages is to make wages rise, but Morrison says the government has no power over wages either. Isn't it amazing how little of the economy Morrison is suddenly responsible for? As interest rates rise, the average homeowner could be paying an extra $500 to $600 a month by the end of the year, which will be the first time in living memory that the brunt of the first time, economic pain has not been experienced by millennials and zoomers. In fact, they may end up comparatively better off than the boomers and gen X's who own their

own homes. What the hell is going on? Isn't the whole reason we elected Morrison in the first place was to shit on millennials and zoomers? Meanwhile, Jason and Kylie are reuniting for the final episode of Neighbors. I'll be with you soon, okay? I love you. You too.

This has nothing to do with the election, but it's pretty cool. That's the wrap for Tuesday the 3rd of May. We'll be back in a sec. The Chaser Report. Election edition. Well, now, I know that you guys have invited me here to be part of the election podcast. And I'd like to learn as much as I can and be an informed voter, Charles and Dom. So the place that I like to head for is the place that I imagine most Australia.

go for all their in-depth analysis and that is Breakfast Television So I've prepared just to test You know how well-informed the two of you are I've put together a little quiz That I like to call Andrew Hanson's Breakfast Television Election Quiz Catchy title

Brilliant, it's a great title, don't you think? I'm hoping to spin this off into a major television series Now let's dive into sunrise Now I've gathered some moments of our dear Prime Minister and his appearance on sunrise the other morning. Now, I'd like you to just have a listen to this because, you know, Albo, he caught COVID the start of the campaign. And they asked Scomo, what, you know, what did he think of this? And this is what Morrison had to say.

Well, I wish Anthony all the best, having had COVID myself, you know, you can get pretty crook as I did for a few days. But so I gave him a few tips last night on a text. message, some of the things I did when I had it. Now, isn't that nice of Morrison? He's the Florence Nightingale of the election, really, isn't he? Oh, yeah. He's giving nice tips to Alba. Quiz, what kind of tips, Domi?

Do you think Morrison offered Albo to help him get better from COVID out of the goodness of his heart? I can imagine he said, look, the thing to do is if you've got Omicron, you need to also get Delta, or if you've got Delta, get Omicron. Just make sure you get them all in one long succession. The other thing he might have said is the way I address any problem like this is to announce that I have a plan for it and then not do it. Charles? Well, I reckon it would have been, because you've got to get into the psychology of what

Scott Morrison would do if you had COVID. And it would be like, oh, this is the perfect opportunity to get your wife to do everything for you. Oh, yes. I reckon it would have been all about just get your partner to, like, this is a total excuse for getting out of work, getting out of the housework, getting out of everything. Everything. It would have just been that.

Yeah, well, I'd love to be able to reveal an actual answer to you, but those texts remain secret. Morrison didn't divulge what generous. The only text to Scott Morrison's that haven't been leaked to the media. That's right. Wait for it in tomorrow's news, I'm sure. All right. Now, the other question, of course, on everybody's lips is,

I mean, Scott Morrison, he's sort of known as a man of the world, gets around. This is an interesting little revelation because just in case you didn't know the very first thing that Scott Morrison did after the last election well he told Sunrise what that was Have a listen After the last election The first place I went as Prime Minister was

Now can you tell me Charles After the last election What was the first place Scott Morrison went as Prime Minister Well I know this, we all know this Which is flight centre To book a trip to Hawaii Remember? And he would go to flights and he wouldn't book online

Morrison would go to an old-fashioned travel agent He's not a do-it-yourself guy Although he may have gone to Bunnings So it's either Bunnings or Hillsong Or basically a very intimate embrace with Paul Murray I don't know which of those three things it was Well I'm going to play the answer for you And it turns out Charles

You were pretty close. Teckler's. After the last election, the first place I went as Prime Minister was to the Solomon Island. Oh, here you go. He went on holiday. I win. Oh, that's a point for me, surely. That is a point for me.

Hawaii is not the only tropical paradise that he likes to swan off to. And a point for Scott Morrison, the last time he actually conducted a valuable diplomatic exercise. Yeah, but do you think he knew that it was a separate country? Or do you think he just sort of as a holiday resort? Like, did it even occur to him? Or do you think it was maybe a pilgrimage to the side of the biblical King Solomon? I don't know. But maybe this is why the China deal took place.

Maybe the Solomon Islands had Scott Morrison visit and was so nauseated by him that they immediately went to China and said, please, we need a new partner. We need to get rid of that ukulele-pleting guy. Had he not gone, we could have avoided all this trouble. What a huge error. Let's stop him going anywhere else. Good God, please tell me he's not booked any trips to any other strategic partners. We must put a stop to this.

All right. Now, speaking of the Solomon's, of course, the host of Sunrise, Natalie Barr, she did grill Morrison about his thoughts about the whole sort of China Solomon's deal, and she wanted to get a straight answer out of him as to what he thought had really gone on. Take a listen. When you say China doesn't play by. rules. Are you saying that China has bribed ministers, people in the Solomon Islands government? The best thing for me to say is they don't play by the same rules as transparent liberal

democracies. That sounds pretty loaded. It sounds like a yes. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. I would have thought that playing by Scott Morrison's rules would be about bribing ministers. This is the most corrupt government we've ever had at a federal level Isn't he saying Surely what he's implying is Well, China didn't go in and bribe all the ministers

Well, to be fair, there's a lovely There's a lovely multi-story car park There's now at Honiara That Scott Morrison Open while he was there The promise of a car park Yeah, what are you saying, Dombey? You see, he's not going to build one, is he?

Yeah, they're still waiting, I imagine, and the honi irons excitedly waiting for the car park well um yeah now so bar you know she she's obviously hoping that he will say um you know either yes or no you know when she says what what do you mean when you say the best thing is to say they don't play by the same rules as transparent liberal democracies uh well he wasted no time in saying exactly what he meant by they don't play by the same rules as transparent liberal democracies take a listen That sounds pretty loaded. It sounds like a yes.

Well, it sounds like that they don't play by the same rules as transparent liberal democracies. Okay. Scott Morrison doesn't play by the same rules as interviews where you have to answer a question whether yes or a no. No, that's right. Oh, look, what is the answer? I mean, you know, all these major parties, I mean, are we really prepared to vote for any of them or should we go for a rogue independent?

I just want to bring something to your attention because I've just noticed there is a very interesting minor party who's running in the election I don't know if you guys have sort of I don't know if your postal voters or have sussed out all the minor parties but I think if we're not happy

with Morrison and Albanese it might be worth considering this interesting candidate he's the guy who normally does those very fast voiceovers at the ends of campaign ads you know the authorisations at the end of those campaign ads You know, they're written and authorised by T. Ruperman Canberra. Well, it turns out he's had enough of being a voiceover artist,

and he's actually running for office himself. Take a listen. Hello, Australia, T. Rickman, Canberra speaking. I'm one of those very fast voiceover artists you're here reading out the authorisations in political campaign ads. For too long, very fast talkers have been relegated to the end of campaign ads where our views are largely ignored, and it's time for change. Gradual change, I certainly wouldn't advocate change that takes place to speed similar to my talking. That change will be far too fast. The major parties are both weak on policy and especially weak at talking fast enough.

That's why I created the very fast voiceover party. to represent the interests of people who can't help talking far too quickly. I'm essentially an independent candidate. I have no choice but to be independent because no one can hold a conversation with this or I end up sitting on my own in the corner of dinner parties talking to myself in an extremely rapid pace. So this election, vote won very fast voiceover party, but don't vote as quickly as I talk or you'll mess up the numbering on the ballot sheet. Written and authorised by T. Rickman Canberra.

I was wondering what you were going to do with the end. I've missed your sketch editor. I've got to say, congratulations. I've just, this is the eighth election that we've covered as the chaser and you come up with a new angle on the very fast voiceover. I didn't think I could do it because we've done so many fast voiceover sketches. And it struck me like a thunderbolt in the kitchen. I thought, there's one, there's one angle on those fast voiceovers that we haven't yet done. The last angle.

The last angle is that they run as a candidate. Coming in 2025, the next angle. The Chaser Report. So I mentioned that there were two musical legends on today's podcast. We've already had Andrew Hansen, the hot one from The Chaser. But we now have Ben Lee, the legendary Australian independent artist from Noise Addict, lots and lots of hits on the ARIA charts, second in the hottest 100, twice and so on. And not hitherto, a noted commentator on Australian politics, Charles.

How did we organise this one, do you know? I assume he's just got something to plug, surely. Isn't that the reason anyone comes on this? Oh, yeah, that's a course they do. Well, he has had, he did write the song that I think sums up the election better than anything else so far. Nothing matters, but a lot goes on. Look, I think he's here actually to settle a score with Andrew Hanson, but let's find out.

Ben Lee, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. Now, congratulations on getting onto this podcast because this is, of course, the Chaser report election edition podcast. So I assume the only. reason that you're here is because you've you're entering politics. Are you running in this election or something? Yeah, I've, um, you know, I've been, I've been considering it. I think I just missed the cutoff for the official, um, the ballot. But, uh, but no, I'm definitely like, you know, it's one of

those weird things as an artist where like I'm passionate about it, but I'm also skeptical and innately cynical. Like, I like, I like the way poetry affects politics. So, you know, know, we all try and chame in and do our bit. What do you think of Scott Morrison's ukulele abilities? You know, his ukulele abilities are not that bad. It's just that he chose to show them off. Like, if that was a hobby that we never heard him do, it would be absolutely acceptable.

But the fact that he thought that was a good idea to demonstrate those abilities, you know, there's a lot of people that play music as a hobby, and it's just a wonderful thing for them. And that's where it should be kept. Because it felt like even his family didn't really appreciate his ukulele. Maybe we're asking too much, but I feel like our elected leaders, a basic ability to read the room is sort of a part of what we're voting for. Would you have preferred him to do one of your songs, Ben?

Maybe cigarettes will kill you. It could have been a public health message. Yeah, no, there are certain cultural moments that you sort of feel relieved to be left out of. Do you use yuk yourself on your recordings ever? Do I use yuk? I have used yuk. It's not a great instrument, is it? You automatically conjure images of, I don't know, like Hawaiian culture,

and it just sort of has, like, it's hard to get it out of its stereotypes or something, or tropes. Now, we should probably address the elephant in the room, which is 14 years ago, Andrew Hansen went on national TV and made a song about you which was not very kind to you Is there still a feud between you two? There was never a feud. I thought the main issue wasn't that it wasn't kind. It was just like not quite funny enough.

No, no, no. I just think because I think the thing about like the way I've always used humour is that like I think actually perform because I'm deeply entrenched and always have been in like crossing over into the world of comedy. And I am, I love working with comedians and everything. But I also think, comedy reaches a certain limit

where performance art doesn't it can't touch what performance art can touch and I think at the end of the day I was funnier than that song was and so at the end of the day it's just got to be about what's funnier you know brutal brutal well look in my defence

and I'm going to throw Chris Taylor in front of the bus here because he's now he's not here to answer for his crimes but the idea for the song and most of the lyrics were written by him They're written by Chris Taylor. And this was what was interesting at the time, Ben, because I, at the time, and still, I actually had no, you know, it was a song about finding Ben Lee a bit irritating. That's what the song's about. And at the time, I remember Chris presented this script to the script meeting and said, here's a song about Ben Lee being slightly annoying.

Is this amusing? And could you play it, Andrew, he said, because I was the one who plays and sings. And I had no feelings about you at all, Ben. I'm not going to say that, you know, you're insignificant or whatever, but I had no problem with you. I had to say to Chris, look, I don't spend parts of my day thinking about Ben Lee. I don't spend hours like you do, you know, wrapping myself in agonies over Ben Lee. So I felt awkward about being the face of that song.

But in the end, we had to fill half an hour. Isn't it because Ben Lee rhymed correctly with the reason? I don't think it even rhymed. Yeah, no, it does. with a few of the words in the song. I think, look, we're all roughly the same age, and we grew up in Sydney, those of us who love music, and Chris is very much into his music. We had to, from the age of what, 13, 14, we all had to hear about how amazing Ben Lee was for many, many years. Since you started noise addict, Ben, and I think for Chris, it probably just built up as intense

jealousy manifested in a somewhat mean lyric. But on the bright side, a lot of musis would say It was flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as people like Michael Jackson. Yes, of course. And also, the other thing is about it that you're talking about somebody who was deliberately trying to be as annoying as possible. That was my entire, like all I was doing for that whole decade of my life was living and breathing Andy Kaufman videos. Like, all I wanted to do was provoke people and annoy people.

So it was like, it's not much of a criticism to say, oh, you're a bit annoying. someone who desperately only wants to be annoying. But I do remember being at the Lansdown. I think I was seeing Sleepy Jackson. And I hadn't heard the song, but Holly Throsby was there. And I think, are you friends with her? I think she was the person who first told me about it. Yeah, she was like, oh, there's this song on The Chaser.

Have you heard of it? I said, no, I haven't heard of it. And she's like, oh, it's a bit mean to you. I think he was, there was concern you'd be upset about it. And I was like, it was honestly not that. Like I said, like I just, I, to me, that was like, steroids like all I wanted was to be irritating it falls into a very a small but esteemed category of songs there was um the ataris had a song called benly um clinger had a

song called benly and um and i think those oh and then um the multi peaches one of their first songs is called i wish i was benly so i think it's those fortunes um are the canon of songs that discuss the pros and cons of being a fan are we not even the best songs about Ben Lee? I mean, we can't compete with the mouldy peaches. That's very depressing to hear. So you've got a new song out. It's called Like This or Like That, remembering that this is an election podcast, is there any link at all to the election or Australian politics that we can sort of weave in? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think what that song like this or like that is about is about choices that seem arbitrary, but ultimately they're not because they're how

we express our values, right? So when I was growing up, when you guys were all the same age, whether you were a Pearl Jam fan or a Nirvana fan was a really big deal. It actually said a lot about what your value system was. It said a lot about what you wanted out of art, what you wanted out of like conversation out of, you know, different types of the tribe you were part of. And similarly with you know the Beatles or the stones like these are all kinds of silly things but they do express like they express who we are and what we want out of our lives and I think because I live you know most of the time in America we got pretty involved with Biden's campaign um in 2020 and it was undeniable that Joe Biden the Democratic Party were not anybody's dream candidate dream platform it was

it wasn't even worth arguing about that like you you know my stepdaughter who was at the time she was 19 and very idealistic and you know a real lefty the way you know a 19 year old should be she couldn't bring herself to campaign for joe biden for the democrats because it just did not resonate with like her deepest held core belief system yet as you get older and you become pragmatic but you also become you understand that it's sometimes the small choices that don't seem that different where we actually make these kind of like key decisions about how we're going to approach the future. And I think particularly when you look at climate, similarly within America, I'm under no delusion that like suddenly we're going to like curb climate change because

Labor gets voted in. I mean, these are like huge international and almost like cosmic problems that all these multinational corporations and lobbyists are. all part of influencing and it's like I remain optimistic that they can be addressed but I also sort of just believe that like whether you go down swinging is part of what makes us noble as a species I want to go down swinging if we're going to if we are actually going to destroy this planet and destroy our species which there is a chance that we're going to do I want it written in like the cosmic records that I disagree. you know and so I think making those choices even if they're not going to like solve the problem they're the stories we're going to tell our kids they're the stories they're going to tell their kids about you know it's like what role did you play as the bus was going over the cliff and it's I want it to be known to my grandchildren that it was not standing silently while Donald Trump was re-elected it was not you know giving Scott Morrison another chance to have another four years of just ignoring

the biggest subject that we need to be talking about and that's so you know it's like in a way you have to be a little bit hardened by life and have a certain amount of cynicism to realize that like damn we can't fix it all with a vote but like this or like that those choices do matter that's a very impressive uh link i got to say ben so on on may 21st choose like this or or like that i guess well just realize that like it does matter and it doesn't matter at the same time. I'm not going to try and convince a 19 year old that if they vote for the Labor Party, all problems are going to be solved. But I do think at a level of like the integrity of our species, we have to try and make progressive choices. So you've got the album coming out

August 19th. I'm fun. How fun can we be in that context you just mentioned, Ben? Where do you find fun? Well, that's the whole thing, man. Like, you know, I come from punk rock. I come from underground music it's like you guys come from like you know poking at the bear too like what's what we're all doing right we're all like on the fringes of culture trying to like take a few jabs from where we stand the mainstream the machine of the mainstream and the music that it jams down our throat as a culture i'm not going to be able to topple that just the same way i'm not going to be able to topple climate change with one vote. But like, I do think that toppling an empire, like, it has to be done with a smile on your face. Yeah. I love it. So fun and subversive. Always. Because, because in a way, like,

our rebellious nature is beaten out of us with our depression and our cynicism. You know what I mean? Like, we become, like, so trapped within a system that we feel we can have no effect on and we're sort of useless and we just got to accept it. And then we may as well just become these like whiny complaining voices because we don't believe we can affect any real change. Fun is like, fun is cheeky. And I really come from that, like I said, Andy Kaufman, but also like Abby Hoffman, you know, like, like people that sort of fought the system

by just like with a wink, you know, and making you kind of think like, huh, like maybe the next generation, are, if you can just give them a wink at the right time, you can say, hey, they didn't beat me. They didn't beat it out of me, you know? And that's like I think, like as we get older, we sort of are becoming like our generation, we're becoming like the elders, you know,

of like Australian showbiz or whatever that is. And I just like, I really like connecting with younger artists and kind of mentoring them and like just fostering their sense of cheeky rebelliousness. and their sense of fun. Because I think that's where, like, real change can come from. Yeah, it's sad that we're no longer producing comedy songs and making fun of, like, emerging artists in their 20s.

No, but we've really lost it. But we do. We've got a number one song at the moment. That is true. I heard. I've been following it. We are number one in the charts, in the iTunes charts. Cole makes me come.

Number one. Is there a problem? Like, have you found that with your latest, single like this or like that you've run into problems because you know there's a far more successful song out there col makes me come that's just preventing your single from getting out there oh look as always i think that uh the dualism that you are reflecting as if it can only be the chaser or ben lee you guys are like you guys are caught in a dualistic mindset that you've been in since 1999 we can both coexist hey ben it's been delightful chatting to you

it's great to connect with you guys and um and honestly congratulations on like yeah what you've this moment you guys are having with this song it really is it's the spirit you know it's it's it's silly but it's not silly and it's like i think silliness is like way undervalued and it's like i just i just love that the spirit is alive in you guys after all these years to do something like that so it's awesome and it's a bang a tune like it's an earworm yeah yeah yeah who actually who did the who actually did Well, none of us, none of us. Cam Smith, our editor. So you talked about working with the next generation.

That's who Cam Smith is. He's now the editor of the Chaser, and he's a polymath, and he did this banger of a tune. And I mean, Scott Morrison as vocalist, really, I wouldn't have thought he had it in him based on the April Sun in Cuba. Well, I'm hoping he's going to win, you know, an aria for best rock vocal. I mean, surely he's eligible now, isn't he? because he is the lead vocal in the song. We're in the ARIA charts.

We're like number seven or something. Amazing. It's so amazing. So, so cool. So Ben's song, like this or like that. His single is streaming now,

wherever you get your streams. And his new album, I'm Fun, is out on August the 19th. And touring in June. Touring in June. The parents get high tour. Puring and June.

Ben, are you after a support? If you're after a support act, I'd be more than happy to come and play the annoying Ben Lee song before you're set. Wait, we should actually do that, Andrew. I'm serious. I'm serious. Wait, are you in Sydney or Melbourne?

I'm based in Melbourne these days, but I can... Okay, let's do it in Melbourne. Let's do it. That'd be really fun. I think that would be funny. That's great. Okay, you're on. Rigging elections since before it was cool, The Chaser Report.

Just before we go, There was an article in the age this morning that I really wanted to bring to the table because it's hard to know who the least appealing candidate is in this election. I mean, someone could argue any of them were extremely unappealing. But I do sympathise for the Liberal MP for Higgins,

Katie Allen, because you know there's been all this discussion about who's preferencing whom. There have been all these questions about, you know, is the UAP just a liberal front? Are they actually going to preference each other or not? Bizarly enough, last week, Katie Allen's office reported the local UAP candidate Ingram Spencer to the federal police

for allegedly, I'm quoting here, acting aggressively towards people and scaring everyone. And a couple of days later, he was arrested and the claim was that he was using a carriage service to harass someone. And he was actually locked up ahead of a first court hearing later this week.

So it was a bit awkward when Katie Allen's preferences came out and she had preference this man, Ingram Spencer, ahead of Labor and the Greens. Oh, my God. Well, she just doesn't like Labor and the Greens very much. Yeah, I mean, clearly they're worse, right? So then the age did a bit of digging around into this guy's track record. And it turns out he's a Q and on following Vladimir Putin admirer

who posted on social media that he was glad Shane Warren had died because he was in favour of Novak Djokovic's deportation. He's also shared content, I'm just quoting the age here, questioning whether the port Arthur Massacre happened and backing Russian propaganda in Ukraine. See, you know what I reckon he's actually in jail for is the Shane Worn comment? Everything else is excusable.

That's treasonous. It's a treasonous comment. That's right. And I note that he's also a former director of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. So, you know, just a regular accountant, really. Well, he'd be a shoe in. I mean, in the times we're living in, the man you've just described would be the president of the United States. Well, certainly, you know, the leader of the United Australia Party, surely.

Yeah, I reckon if he gets to, he's going to knife Craig Kelly up the election. So there you have it. Probably the worst candidate. Although I have confidence in the UAP to have some worse people somewhere in their list of candidates. Well, I'm pretty sure there's another UAP candidate who got arrested the other day as well. Oh, the one who ran in two seats. To try to run in two seats, yeah. Oh, maybe she's just ambitious.

I think that should be encouraged, not discouraged, that sort of about. I think we need that kind of forward thinking. It's that kind of forward thinking, yeah. Well, I mean, Craig Kelly's boasted repeatedly, as has Clive Parhamat, that they're the only party that's running in every single seat. Maybe don't next time. Maybe do some vetting. Anyway, that's it for today.

Our gears from road microphones are part of the ACASC, Crater Network, and we'll catch you tomorrow here on the Chaser Report. See ya.