The Chaser Report - Dom Loves Dutton | Dave Milner

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Dom and Peter, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Charles and Dom are joined by Dave Milner for a chat about Dutton's apology and response to The Voice to Parliament. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gadigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is the Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report. Dom Knight here with Charles Firth and editor and columnist for The Shot. Dave Dave Millner, hello, Dave. Good day, Dom. How you doing? Yeah, very well, House Melbourne. Charles is with you today. We're at the pub. Are you cooking up the plans for the shot?

We are. We are hatching evil schemes and drinking alcohol. and also we have just done the shot podcast which comes out well actually today it will be out today new season new episode new year and and a great conversation with of course Joe Dyer as well and one thing I know about audiences is they love cross-promotion right as a podcast is starting yeah that's right I think we should just hold off advertisement heavy not much anything else just what other projects we got on Dom, anything you want to plug? I'm not doing anything at all at the moment.

I'm doing Wankanomics, which premieres at the Adelaide Fringe on the 6th of March. Wankanomics.com for tickets. What a fantastic way to make sure we have no. Extremely reasonably prized. Is it? I doubt that. All right. So in the news today, look, Peter Dutton's helpful game of just asking for more clarity about the voice department.

What is it? Exactly what's going to be in the bill that the government. passes. That's what he wants to know. Just a few exhaustive details. We'll talk about that. We'll also talk about the boo-boo that the Australian government made where they accidentally forgot to reauthorise a key piece of

legislation. Just anyone could do it. I hope it wasn't the law against murder. Because that would be like one of the, remember that the purge where for one night a year? That movie for one night a year It's not a bad idea. I'm keen to

find out what should be next. Like we can accidentally forget to renew some piece of legislation. And there's an amazing commemoration of the sacred site in the UK where Prince Harry lost his virginity. That's what they're talking about over there. But let's start with the opposition leader, shall we? Peter Dutton. And I know he's very much liked in Melbourne, Dave, Peter Dutton,

for his contributions over the years to debates about law and order in the Victorian capital. Yeah, if there's anything we love down in progressive. Melbourne, it's former Queensland cops that like to instigate race fear. We're really into that. It's, yeah, I can't do this in a straight face. No, he, um, Peter Dutton's in the news trying to muddy the waters around the voice and he apologised yesterday, I believe, for not apologising. And how do we feel about that, guys? Well, why? Why did he, Because we were talking about this the other day On the podcast, yeah, we were.

He apologised because at the time he didn't want to be part of Rudd's apology because he thought that there would be consequences for the apology that, you know, having done wrong, Australia would then legally be required to do right. And of course, this is Australia, that was never going to, there was never a question that that would be any consequences. It was entirely symbolic. The victims of a crime never. get a payout, do they? That's, I mean, he would know from the police system that when someone

suffered a horrible crime, there's not any sort of statutory scheme whereby they get redress, is there, in any jurisdiction? That's not a thing. And he's also spent, you know, 25 odd years making these laws. He understands how it works. This is very much not what he was doing. So is he clearing, by apologising for not apologising, is he clearing the waters so that he can muddy the waters again with the voice. Is that the plan to sort of reset, okay, now, now I'm going to be fair dealing and I'm going to really throw sawdust in and just completely make everything really complicated and destroyed this next thing.

He's sweeped up the previous sawdust so that we noticed the next lot of sawdust. Right, yes, because otherwise there'd just be so much sawdust that you might just stopped believing him. The thing is, we've actually started talking about Peter Dudden. again and we hadn't been for the last couple of months so he's actually working and we're falling into it he is somehow walking this bizarre tightrope of spearheading the opposition to the voice and creating doubt in people's minds about what it all is while at the same time saying he's just trying to be helpful and constructive and he'd like to see the thing get up it's an interesting little

pirouette dance i mean your john howard would you just have said no tony abbott wouldn't have stood for this for a second dutton's trying to somehow be a little bit teal and going, oh, look, it's not a bad idea, but then also asking all these exhaustive questions about detail, which is exactly what Albanesey, the PM is trying to avoid it. The entire strategy of Labour is to avoid a conversation about what the voice is, which is what Peter Dutton is asking every second in the media. Does it also point to the stupidness of the Labor plan?

Like, I don't know. I mean, not wanting to, you know, deflect valid criticism from Peter. it doesn't protect, but, you know, when Ireland was facing a referendum to abolish all its anti-abortion laws, there was a real sort of polarisation in the electorate, like the Catholic Church was staunchly against abortion rights for women, right? And so what the government then embarked upon was a series of town hall meetings where they literally went around the entire country and 200 people at a time chatted through the whole issues, talked about the details, actually depolarised everyone, you know, people turning up being staunchly in favour

or staunchly against, and actually chatting it through with each other. And then they had this overwhelming vote in favour of abolishing all the anti-abortion laws. So I wonder whether, you know, that's the sort of thing that Labor actually has. has to embark upon. Charles, I mean this in a nice as possible way, but that is literally the exact strategy that they're doing. I got an invitation in my letterbox today, inviting me to some sort of a barbecue. There's actually funding for, like, barbecues to talk about the voice and what it is.

Like, in a couple of weekends time. And this is the Labour Party. This was the Australian government. I don't know who it was from, but it was broadly pro. You should check. You don't just go to barbecue. Yeah, that's right. You need to know who you invited a little barbecue.

It could be a barbecue stopper. No, but look, they're doing this. They want to have these consultations. The problem is, Charles, that if you went to the barbecue and asked what the voice was and exactly what Labor was planning to do if the referendum gets up, they wouldn't have an answer because the whole strategy is to not answer that question yet, for better or for worse. But is this the political strategy of A, the ALP being aware that they're not very good at explaining things?

It's not historically one of their strengths. But also, in this environment, as soon as you're explaining policy, you'll lose. the conversation because everyone's tuning out. Well, except that the other side is constantly going, well, what is it? Well, what's in it? What's it going to be? How's it going to work? And if your whole response to that is, yeah, we're not having that conversation,

then isn't the response, hang on why, why not? What are you trying to hide? It's Peter Dutton's sort of veneer of reasonableness in dealing with this is undermining it brilliantly because asking what something is before you vote for it is not it doesn't intuitively seem like an outrageous question even though I understand what he's actually doing is undermining the whole process and if the voice doesn't get up it will be because of this strategy and it should be noted just very quickly that there is a 178 page document with plenty of fucking details on what the voice is what data needs is three PowerPoint slides you know what that's

perhaps what the country needs and it's also that isn't the whole point that Peter Dutton, the first time he mentioned that he didn't understand any of the detail, he then got asked, did you read the 178 page document, to which he answered, no. And it's important to know that that document. Well, maybe just fucking read your fucking materials. That was all prepared while they're in government. Like, this whole thing began while Peter Dutton's party were running the country, right? Like all those Megan Davis, all those consultations happened on their watch.

So you think you might at least understand what it is. So if the question is disingenuous, why? bother answering it like that's like it's sort of a little bit like the you know the um what was his her name what was that katherine dives remember the journalist kept on being primed to ask what what's a woman right and that's a disingenuous question like like there was a sort of sense in sort of going well you're not actually asking that question you're just being a dick ward we're just going to not answer your question for you because you're fucking fuck with it. There needs to be some sort of parliamentary motion about when you're a dickwired and you should just be able to

call it not engage on their level rise above. They go low, we go high, but it's not working, right? Like, this thing's in serious jeopardy because of the way things have unfolded. And the thing that's so frustrating about it is that Labor's trying to learn from the Republic. They're trying to avoid getting bogged down in details about the actual exactly what the law would do. But I think everyone understood what a republic was, whereas with this, I honestly get the sense that a lot of people don't really understand what we're talking about when we're talking about a voice. And so I'm not saying I agree with Peter Dutton. The question we're being asked is, should this thing exist or not? I think you are saying, I'm not.

I'm not. It sounds a lot. The referendum question is should the parliament rule for a voice? That's going to be the name of the episode. Dom agrees with Peter Dutton. He loves Peter Dutton. Dom wants to have babies with Peter Dutton. Dom's Valentine was Peter Dutton.

What's happening is Melbourne end of this podcast is ganging up on the Sydney end of it. The Chaser Report, news a few days after it happens. But the problem is, guys, that it's working. The problem is, if Dutton's approach, if everyone's just going, oh, Peter Dutton, you're a racist, you're trying to derail this beautiful move towards reconciliation. then that will be fine. There's still the barbecues coming up, though. You think the barbecues will fix it?

Go along to your barbecue. Well, that's what happened in Ireland. It was a sort of plurality. I'm sure it wasn't barbecues. I'm sure it was just a piss up in a... Okay, so let me ask two of you. What is the voice? How's it going to work?

No fucking idea. I approve of it in principle, but we don't need to talk about the details. The principle's beautiful, though. Well, the principle is that there should be a voice. But the voice... But the voice might just be, you know, the voice just might be Mark Latham shouting at it. Look, who knows?

It's a set of Indigenous people who get to actually, you know, consult with the Parliament and with the executive about the impact of laws on Indigenous people. I mean, that's the other thing is half the scare campaigns sort of going, oh, the Voice Department is going to affect, you know, completely irrelevant. relevant things. And it's like, no, no, no. It's just actually saying nothing about us without us. But that's literally the idea is if you're going to make laws about us, then you can't do it without us. And that's, that's it. But isn't the hilarious thing? There's all this debate about, oh, what is it? What's it going to do? Or is it a third chamber of parliament, which, of course,

it isn't. It actually doesn't do a lot except provide consultation. It's not even a radical proposal. It is. The weird thing is that the lack of detail is making it look like a radical proposal when it actually is in no way a radical proposal. It's actually, if anything, a fairly minimal thing, isn't it? Like, just check in with us before you make a law about us. It's an advisory board.

They don't get a veto or anything. Yeah, it's an advisory board. It's self-selected amongst certain First Nations groups. It is very much just about policy that affects indigenous communities. It is extremely meek. I mean, I guess the interesting thing that's been happening in the political landscape this past week is Lydia Thorpe leaving the Greens. And her issues with the voice are from a much harder ultra-left perspective of how can we negotiate unless we're equal partners. Her perspective is we need two sovereign nations negotiating at the table, essentially, which is so much more for white Australia.

That's the scary proposition. The voice is an incredibly safe, obvious, no fucking shit. thing and i do think you're right i think labor is walking into a glass door repeatedly here what they don't need they don't need to get bogged down in peter dut and stuff but they do need some really sharp succinct messaging but i'm see i'm not sure they are walking into a glass door i kind of actually think that ignoring the disingenuous questions is is the most honest way to deal with them i know dom's confused but i don't think no i'm not i'm actually not The stats aren't that, like, what has happened is it's gone from roughly 60% general

sort of vibe support in the community to 56%. Now, that is just not that different. Like, yeah, if it was plummeting to 35%, but I think that's more just like summer sawdust from Peter Dutton. But you know as well, you know that it's got to win a majority of votes in a majority of states too so it's got to get over the line and that's that's where these things always fall down is four of the six states have to vote for it on their own that's the thing so the latest news news poll by the way 56 to 37 that's pretty that's pretty good for the voice like it's looking pretty likely

but if tazzy queensland and w a pose it then it's not going to happen yeah well let's just rely on queens no but queensland voted the most for the marriage quality out of anyone, remember? They're radical, they're lefties in Queensland these days. But Queensland's been, yeah, Queensland's just been taken over by the Greens. They'll probably vote to secede and become a sovereign nation on behalf of Indigenous people. Yeah, I'm all worried about New South Wales, to be perfectly honest.

Remember New South Wales with the dickheads in the marriage equality debate? I know. Is you true I remind Charles about this all the time? I think I might move to Victoria, actually. It's work as paradise from what I understand. I just want to acknowledge, though, just before we move on from this, from revealing that, yes, the voice is not really that big a deal. If anything, it doesn't do a massive amount. It's, I mean, it would be a lovely thing to, I can understand the argument to have, no, not about us without us, but it's not like you actually have real power or a veto or anything.

So it doesn't go nearly as far as it might. But also, none of us are members of First Nations. So we've just had a conversation about it without members of First Nations. I blame you, Charles. Very Australian thing to do, though. I mean, it's what the Parliament would do, to be honest. We should elect a voice to the Chaser Report. But hang on, how?

I'm not going to give any detail. I'm not going to give any detail about how... You need to support it in principle without hearing the details. Otherwise, we're just buying into your deflection tactics. You're just trying to spoil it. But Peter Dutton wants to know the exact details of a bill that he could easily, with his colleagues of design when they are in power. Now, my battery, my laptop battery is running out of batteries.

I know you want to talk about other things. You want to talk about, but I can't, like, literally, we've got to, like, I can't play. Does this barbecue run out of puff? We've been here talking for 15 odd minutes, and we haven't resolved anything yet at all. It's exactly like the barbecues are going to go. Yeah, I'll tell you what, the ginger beer here is lovely. It's delicious, very tasty. Nice view as well.

We're at the espie in some Kilda. Oh, you're at the espie? What on earth are you doing at one of Australia's most legendary pubs doing a fucking podcast where none of us really understand the voice? They've got a podcast room. It's very Melbourne. Are you serious? There's a podcast room? Yeah, there's a podcast room.

Why do we live here? I know. It's ridiculous. This single hotel shits on everything that Sydney has. Literally, like, this one hotel is better than the entire sum total of all goodness that exists in Sydney. You've got pokey's, though. We've got multiple peritase getting involved in the electoral politics up here, too. Multiple peritoles.

There's a lot of peritoles where Dom came from. That's all I've got to say about it. I think they keep on, don't they keep on not returning Ikech's phone calls or something? Yeah, there was a moment this week when it was a genuine question for some sort of government body. I think it was IAC. Where are the other peritais? Just maybe ask the Premier, maybe he'd know where his brothers. Have you tried calling Dominic Peritay?

But they've since left us know when that rum rebellion of yours finishes. I'll tell you what, Dominic Peritow on the rums would be quite something to see. I don't know if he's ever tried it. Come up, we're going to go. My battery's literally at like... Aggies from Road, we're part of the iconic last podcast network. Someone give Charles a power cable. Yes, I need a power cable.

I didn't bring one down. It doesn't matter. Melbourne has everything except a laptop power cable.