The Chaser Report - Boxing For Climate | Aleksa Vulovic

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

Everyone's favourite boy (boy) is back, Aleksa Vulovic joins Charles and Lachlan in studio after a successful business holiday in America! Charles and Lachlan find out what Aleksa got up to overseas, then dive into a conversation about Labor's surprising new stance on climate change. Should perfect be the enemy of the good, or should everybody just punch it out instead?NOTE: Due to COVID our Pub Live recording is POSTPONED. Don't come to the pub tonight expecting a recording, we are all sick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chase of Report. Hello and welcome to The Chase Report for Tuesday the 19th of July. I'm Charles Firth and with me today are Lachlan Hodson. Hello again. Hi. And Alexa Bullovich. Hi. Oh my gosh, is that boy boy? Yeah, damn right it is.

The listeners who have been missing Alexer or don't even know it exists because you knew. yeah Alexa has been away in the US for what about two months now yeah two and a half we've been living in the land of the free for and how long did you say you were going to be in the US for oh like just just like three weeks and so what what were you doing over there um networking as well I think what it's technically called is that why you've got a croaky voice yeah yeah a lot of getting covered yeah just the classic networking and you're there to make YouTube videos or something, right? Yeah, yeah. We're doing a lot of stuff.

So I originally went there. Because you're a massive YouTube, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm way too big to be on this podcast right now. You know, just doing a favor for some friends, really. We went there for a YouTuber boxing tournament because it turns out boxing as a sport isn't that fun to watch anymore

and you need to watch computer nerds do it to each other. And it like outsells every actual boxing event. You can train your whole life and be dedicated to the sport. And then some idiot who, you know, makes shit in his garage, suddenly, like, gets a much bigger audience than you for punching people in the head. So you're saying the actual athletes that the people are watching, rather than, you know, you're Floyd Mayweather.

Actually, maybe not, maybe not Floyd. Oh, yeah, I'm a huge boxing fan. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, who's your favorite boxer? The one you, well, Alexer, actually. Yeah, no, I didn't do any boxing. No, I, um, about seven years ago, I got into boxing.

like myself. Because it's really fun to box. It's really fun to punch things and imagine that, say, your enemy is in front of you as you punch. And it's way cheaper than therapy by the sound of things. Who would that be, Charles? Who are you?

Oh, it's all right. The guy who, he's on his way out, he's about to die. Probably shouldn't make fun of the gravely ill. Oh, God. Although, you know. Yeah, I did some box.

training as well and um it was really fun really good way to stay fit but i don't think i have the right brain for boxing i did one spa like fighting fighting another human being and it was just it was just horrible because i i was terrified the whole time i wanted to run away constantly and then one time i hit him in the head and i immediately said sorry i was so sorry oh you're kidding and it's apparently a really bad thing to do all these like tough boys in the boxing gym get really angry at you if you say sorry because you're kind of like yeah you're like oh you can't handle it exactly And then he just rocked, mate, the shit out of me. It was so bad.

He got so angry when I said sorry. And I'm like, you know, maybe boxing's not for me. Well, it's funny. You say that you don't have the right brain for it. That's because the right brain is one that's damaged. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I just need a few more hits until I'm ready to stop apologising. Well, we'll talk about that later in the week with you.

But today we're going to actually, well, I think we'll talk about... Climate change. Let's shout about climate change. Yeah, because that's not something that when people hear, they immediately want to turn off the possibility. But we're going to have a look at what the Labor Party is up to with climate change and all those very forward-thinking solutions that are going on. It's good. It should be a short episode.

Yeah, but first of all, let's... Let's go to the break. We'll just have a break. We'll just have a break. We'll just have a break. The Chaser Report, news a few days after it happens. Okay. So there's been a lot of chat in the last few days about Labor's climate change legislation, which is about to hit Parliament. Yes. And it's causing all sorts of controversy, especially in the Twitter sphere, because it's being claimed that it's not ambitious enough.

They've got this figure. They're going to cut emissions by 43% by 2050? By 2030. Oh, well, that's... Yeah. That's not... That's right around the corner. Yeah. I think that's right, isn't it? I'm correct on that, I don't know. Oh, no, I'm just so used to at this point hearing something that's so far away that I thought 2050 was relatively soon. And the whole thing is, and this is what Labor has been saying, is, okay, we're going to cut it by at least 43%. We're not saying that it's the only thing we're going to do, but that's the minimum that we're going to cut it.

And it is actually the figure that they took to the last election. They said, oh, we're going to cut emissions by at least 43%. and now they're doing it. And all shit has been poured on them from all sides of politics about how dare they do an election promise and only the election promise that they promised, right? So Dutton has come out and said, you don't need to legislate this.

You could just do it without setting up any rules. Just do it. Just do it. And he's claiming that the reason why they're putting it into legislation and making it the law of the land that we have to do this, is because that will then wedge the Liberal Party. Like, you're literally saying you're only doing it because you want to make my life difficult

because obviously we'll be exposed as these carbon-polluting fuckwits. And it'll split the Liberal Party. Sure, sure. Because there'll be a whole other libs who saw the tills being voted in and go, fuck, we've got to actually do something about climate change. Or else we'll lose our seats. Yeah, and Peter Dutton doesn't want that to happen

because then, you know, he can't be prime minister in three years. Yeah, because he doesn't want to do anything about Glamma-Chate. You know, like, it's going to be a real nightmare for, you know, like, Barnaby Joyce. Anyway, it'll just create terrible. So it's, let me just clarify. It's definitely not a case of Peter Dutton thinks that 43% is too low. Because I've heard all this, this. No, no, no.

News about the brand new Peter Dutton is. Let's get this clear. We have a very ancient idea of what Peter Dutton used to be. We used to think he was a monster. But his wife, said he's not a monster. Yeah, categorically refuted. I think that the brand new Peter Dutton,

he thinks that 43%'s too low. I think he's a massive grainy now. You're saying, actually, he's flanking to the left. And he's saying that the legislation is wedging the Liberal Party because they just want to vote for like 60, 70, 80%. He's trying to push it up. It's a brand new page of Peter Dutton. Dutton that we should look forward to.

Peter Dutton, that's Peter Dutton's. That's Peter Dutton, right. On the other side, and this is why the bill is actually facing, you know, will probably be defeated. Oh, God. Oh, right. Is that the Greens say, well, hang on, no, no, no, no, no. At least 43%, that's not nearly good enough.

You've actually got to set a more ambitious target than 43%. More ambitious than what you promised you'd do, anything like that. Their point is, which I think is a completely valid point. is 43% is not enough. That was Dutton's point. Yeah. Well, no, no, I think, no, I think, to be honest, I think... Green's in the Dutton, that's a combination.

No, but Peter Dutton's... Got to eat your potatoes and you're green. 43% is too... No, his position is that it's too much. Like, you know, we don't want to save the planet. Like, we just want it to burn in a fiery inferno rate. And kill off all of the muggles and half-bloods. Yeah, yeah.

And also, side benefit, get rid of the koalas. Oh, yes. We were so close to doing that. So anyway, no, but the Greens have gone, no, no, no, you've got to do more. And Labor has come back and said, yeah, we know we've got to do more. Like, we're saying it's a minimum. It's not like the only thing we're going to do. It's just like, this is the number that we came up with that gets everyone on board.

Like, they've gone, like, it's being done through the Department of Industry, industry, and, you know, has said, okay, we'll only destroy the planet a little bit, or not as much. I mean, sure, we'll all die in a fernary, fiery, you know, ball of fiery hell. But it'll be sort of slightly less fiery than what it could have been. Than what it could have been. Yeah, so it's setting a minimum bar for everyone to get on board. Right. But the Greens, instead of going, okay, well, 43, that's a flaw. We can work with that.

Okay, we'll vote that up, but let's try and push them to sort of be more. They're going, no, no, no. Let's just ditch the whole legislation and arrive. at the same point that the lives are saying, which is don't have any legislation at all. It's just not do anything, right? So you're saying that the green are letting the climate change? Letting perfect be the enemy of good.

I knew that the Greens couldn't be trusted. I know. I said, you know, we've had a fair few of the Greens on our podcast. Too many. Too many. Yes. Chris Bowen, who's the climate change minister, has said, look, you know, we are also, this is part of the,

the Paris Treaty, right? So 43% is where we start as a goal. But actually, under the Paris treaty, every time you make a decision about climate change, you've got to ratchet up your goal. So next time there's a goal, it'll have to be more than 43%. You have to keep sitting exponential. You have to keep matching it up, right? And the question that the Greens ask is, well, why not enshrine that ratcheting up in legislation? So, okay, we're aiming for 43% this year, but next year we'll be aiming for 47% by 2030. And they're going, but that won't keep everyone on board. Like, so we can do that next year.

And they're going, hang on, what if the Libs get in? Then we won't have enshrined the ratcheting up in legislation, right? But the point is that the Greens position is to not have any ratcheting up or any goal at all. And the Libs could get in and set the target at zero. You know what I mean? Like, you're just going, there's no universe in which not having a flaw is better than having a, like, that's what, that's the Greens.

You say that this is something the Labor Party worked out that everyone's on board with. Obviously, no one's on board with this. No one's on board with this. No, not even the lead, anyway. They're all the focus groups that Labor ran. But so I have a theory about why Labor's being so stubborn about this. They realize that nobody is going to like this legislation right. And it's not about wedging the libs.

It's not about splitting the libs. It's about splitting the grains. Because half the Greens voters would be going, oh, well, I voted for the Greens to actually have some action on climate change. And the Greens continuously vote against action on climate change. And suddenly Labor turns out to be the only people who want to have legislation on climate change. Isn't that like 3D? That is, yeah.

They're playing fourth dimensional chess. Yes. And because I was talking to somebody last night who was saying, Adam Band is actually under internal pressure. Like, his whole leadership is on the line over this. Oh, my God. He doesn't necessarily... Friend of the show, Adam Band.

Friend of the show, Adam Band, he would probably prefer to actually put something in legislation, like not make the mistake that the Greens made. Everyone's made before. Yeah, 12 years ago, where they just went nut our way or the highway, and then the whole thing collapsed in the end because not everyone was on board with it.

and it got completely dismantled under the lips. Adam Banned, he's not internally that strong, and so he's got to get the support of people who just go, no, it must be exactly perfect, or we will have nothing at all, right? And he's gone, okay, well, that's our position then. And it's not actually about pressuring Labor to be better and things like that. In some ways, Greens don't want Labor to be better.

They don't even want action on climate change. They just want to be right. I've got to say, as a devil's advocate, as a fan of the, not a fan of the Greens, to argue for the side. We're all fans of the Greens until they start doing fucking things like this, until they start doing anything. It's not perfect. I will say, as a devil's advocate,

so Labor's plan is set at 43%, set something that everyone can agree on at the moment, including industry, including people who want to pollute more, to be clear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So meet everyone at the lowest, bare minimum. Yeah, yeah. And increase that gradually.

Yeah, ratchet it up part of the time. So gradual, what do we want? Yes. Gradual change. When do we want it? In due course. Okay. Yeah.

So, but the issue. In the due course of time. Yeah. With the appropriate subcommittees consulted. Yes. So my, my issue with that response, and this is not to say that the perfect should be the enemy of the good, but do you know what else?

is gradually changing. The planet? The planet. So I think that, and the Greens do say on their site, that any goal that's set for 2050, we can all agree, the 2050 net targets. It's the world's stupidest. I believe that the promotional campaign was that it's not a target at all

to death sentence. Yeah, I mean, let's be clear. So we can all agree on that bare minimum. The National Party, who want to kill everyone. Yeah. Agreed to net zero, like, yeah. We know, like, anything the National Party supports, we know it's bullshit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Chaser Report, now with extra whispers. So there's that dilemma where is 43% still a death sentence? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, there's no doubt of it. No one, no one disagrees about that. Yeah, okay. There's a disagreement about whether that death sentence is a good thing or a bad thing. But also how to actually get everyone. on board so that we don't have a repeat of the last 10 years where there was a sort of like,

okay, we'll just do everything the Greens want to do and make it all perfect world. And then it collapses because actually industries and on board, it's too rapid for stakeholders to come on board. You know, like there's a whole governmental, like, it's interesting. I was talking to this government, senior government person last week, right? Friend of the show. Friend of the show. No, he's not a friend of the show. But, well, he was saying the Labor Party needs the grains

because they're really fun to kick. Like, you know, like, actually, the more mad you can make them, the more moderate we can see. By vilifying an Uber progressive left that people go, oh, well, I can't possibly go there because that's too. Okay, I can understand how this. And you sort of go, there's radically cynical position to take, right? And real fuck-witted thing.

But you can sort of see how that thought process, you know, permeates the Labor Party where they're actually going, this is really good. Like we have to, if instead of the last time around where Gillard essentially capitulated to what the Greens wandered. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then expose themselves as being, you know, just radically aligned to the Labor Party, like politically exposed themselves.

They're going this time around, no, no, no. Like, we'll still act on climate change, but we're going to do it in a way. where we keep kicking your grains at every point. And I'll tell you what, like, love the grains and everything like that. But I love kicking them more. I like sport. I really like sport. Have you ever played, we were talking about boxing before.

Who are you boxing against? No, no one. Against a man called Odd Ones out. Okay, so this is what my pitch is. We actually watched this boxing match that Alex, I did a thing, a friend of the show, participated in and there was this brilliant, brilliant intro that Alex and Alexa did. Fantastic. If you've got YouTube, we'll talk more about it in the show later. It's worth saying because essentially, so it's a YouTuber boxing match, which you'd explain

what it was. Yeah. And Alex's friend Alex came out and it was two YouTubers just boxing against each other, but really boxing. Like actually, actual boxing. It was really mean. People went to hospital. It was sort of horrible. So they trained for months. It was an incredible event in front of a huge crowd, stadium crowd. And there was this brilliant moment where both of the boxes sort of have to disrobe and stand there in their little boxy shorts. Boxer shorts, that's why they call them. That's funny.

How about that? There was this brilliant moment where we saw Alex's opponent sort of disrobe. And as you, Alex, have pointed out earlier in the episode, you know, it's funny because they're all sort of overweight gamer time. have trimmed down for the event. Yeah, no, they put a lot of work into it. Facing against this guy who had trained, put a lot of effort in, but, you know, you could still tell he was not a professional athlete.

And then his opponent, Alex, unrobed and revealed just a chisel down six-pack. Alex, how tall is he? He's about six-foot-four or something. That's exactly how tall is. So it was a fantastic broadcasting as we got to watch a six-foot-four Greek god. absolutely pummel a video game animator nerd. You know what that sounds like? The Labor kicking the bloody greens.

Chiseled elbow. Yeah, well, he's gotten pretty chiseled over the past year or two. Versus nerdy band. They should box. That's what we're going to do. Replace Parliament with boxing. And the best thing is, come election time, everyone will be able to punch Peter Dutton. No.

No, no, no, no, actually, Rose, this is a terrible, terrible idea. Because you know who'd immediately become leader of the Libs again? Who? Tony Nabby. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, actually. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, that's, that's it for... I think, Charles, I think after this discussion, we can probably equivocally say that we have now solved... Yeah, now, we've solved climate change. I think also what we should do is later in the week, we should get friend of the show, David Shoebury, John, who's the new green senator for New South Wales. and find out what the fuck they're thinking. I think let's get them on, let's get him on the show. Let's get them on the show. We're going to get them on the show.

Okay. And we're going to find out what the, and we'll get someone from Labor as well. And we should get someone for the Libs. Let's solve climate. This week. Oh, no, well, next week. Let's do it next week.

Yeah, we'll do it late. Well, we've got Tony Burke coming up this week. We've got Tony Burke coming up on Thursday. Well, on Friday. We're recording him live at the pub on Thursday. Are there still tickets available? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

So you go to chaser.com.com.com.com.com.com.com. You slash podcast. Yep. And you can buy tickets to a live event on Thursday the 21st. That's if you're in Sydney. The Harrell Park Hotel. And his portfolio, well, he's Minister for the Arts, isn't he? So I don't know whether he's going to talk about. And employment. And employment.

So if he wants to create any boxing ring jobs, we could get him to organize the event. Okay. Well, there you go. And we'll bug him about climate change as well. We'll find out why he can't do 44%. And then next week, we'll have climate change week. Our ratings will plummet, but we'll solve climate change. Our gears from road microphones, we're part of the ACASC created network. We'll be back tomorrow.

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