The Chaser Report - It'sS On

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Angus Taylor waits in the halls of Parliament, counting his numbers and itching to throw down the gauntlet to Sussan Ley. But who will come out on top? Charles and Dom have the insider predictions. Plus, we do a new segment where we air your corrections and complaints. ---Listen AD FREE: https://thechaserreport.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @chaserwarSpam Dom's socials: @dom_knightSend Charles voicemails: @charlesfirthEmail us: [e-mail] CEO’s Super-yacht upgrade Fund: https://chaser.com.au/support/ Send complaints to: [e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigle Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Charles, it's our first week back and we have some corrections to make. But just before we get into that, on a scale of not on it all to completely on, I note that at the time of recording, apparently Angus Taylor is going to step down. from the front bench. It doesn't strike me that Angus Taylor would do that because he wanted to spend more time

with family, friends, multitude of business interests that he has. It might be a little on. Might it not? No, he's expected to. He's expected to resign this afternoon, I should say. So, as we're going to air, well, as we're recording, which is Wednesday afternoon, Crykey put out an article today about this being the lamest leadership challenge ever in the history of leadership challenge in Australia, which I kind of feel is a little bit unfair.

I mean, surely in the Alexander Downer Brendan Elson era, there was lame. Yeah, that's just because it's been forgotten. What about the time Peter Dutton challenged and didn't get his maths right? Oh, see, yeah, we've had some spectacular failure. And like, never mind, you know, I mean, Simon Crean was around for a while. And even though he won, Kevin Rudd in hindsight, there's some issues. But Charles, before we get into that, we'll play some ads in a sec, but I've got a question for you to consider during the games, okay? Yes, okay.

Why on earth don't you run? You would be much better than any of the possible contenders. I'm going to argue why after this. Oh, okay. I'm looking at the story of Angus Taylor here. And I mean, this is a guy who, he was absolutely blue blood. Went to the King's School, Parramatta, St. Andrew's College. He won University Medal in Economics.

He runs a Rhodes Scholarship. He's got a law degree. In fact, a very similar CV to Andrew Charlton, by the by. But anyway, he's been an absolute winner at all that he's tried. And he rode for new college at Oxford. And then he became a management consultant. And this is the point I want to make to you, Someone who was also very briefly a management consultant, far less than Tyler and I never

made partner like he did. I never created new businesses the way he did. But why not, if you want that sort of person, why not bypass McKinsey and company and go to Mr. Wankanomics? Yes, the far more successful consulting firm. Yeah. It's a global phenomenon. It is.

That's true. This isn't even the usual Charles exaggeration. It genuinely is a global phenomenon. And I think we're a global phenomenon. I think whereas, like, I think the problem with these run-of-the-mill places like McKinsey's and Bain and KPMG and all those EY and everything like that is they don't teach you the irony of your position, right? Like, they teach you to go in and tell people what to do. Yes, that's true. And that's the key skill.

They don't teach you that is deeply ironic that people who have no idea what to do should be telling other people. who have an idea what to do, what to do. Do you see what I mean? This is one of my problems with management consulting, to be honest, was that I started working for one of the major firms after finishing new. He didn't really know what to do. We were doing the chaser, but they didn't seem to be any money in it.

In other words, my business sense was pretty good back then. So I went and did this job for a bit. But there I was being, now I wasn't telling people what to do, but people only a little bit more experienced than me kind of were. And doing all this research about things, we really didn't know what we were talking about. And it was very expensive. Some of it worked, but often it didn't. In Angus Taylor's case, he started a business.

It was a business called farmshed, a dot com online store for farmers. McKinsey invested in it and did their money. So I think he left after that. You know what he should do now? If he wants to become liberal leader, he should offer to become a consultant to Susan Lee. Wow. And then she'll fail. And then he'll end up at the top job.

job. You see what a man. That is quite brilliant. But I think the thing, the reason why Wayneconomics is the right sort of consulting firm, especially if you're wanting to run the Liberal Party or something like that, is that we teach all our consultants that actually it's just deeply ironic. Like you just one extra step of a step of understanding about, you know, what you're doing. Is it if you're selling smart people with brains, you can come in an analyze situation and work out what to do,

and you're not aware of the ridiculousness of that proposition. Are you really worth the money that you charge? Mind you, Angus Taylor himself has had moments of great setter. Like, for example, when he logged on and congratulated himself under his own Facebook post, saying, well done, Angus. Well done, Angus. Great job. So perfect for the dot-com era.

In answer to your question at the beginning of the episode, is it on? Yeah. The answer is... Well, I don't think you can... Like, even if there's a spill, I don't think... This is the beauty of the sort of battle between Susan Lee and Angus Taylor. No, I don't think that qualifies for on. Oh, you think this is a sub on?

So even if it's on, it's not really on. It's such a minor squabble between, frankly, two representatives of a party that's being trounced by one nation in the parties, that it's not really on. Okay. It's like having a living room that's... painted beige and then repainting it in the same color beige. But we're also considering another indistinguishable shade of beige. Look, oh, Angus Taylor, I'm just looking at Angus Taylor.

There's a very good biography of him, actually, on the Guardian website. He was part of the Monkey Pod. Do you remember the Monkey Pod, the Abbott and Dutton aligned group? No, I don't remember that at all. There's the monkey pod. It's the name of the, it was near the prayer room. It was that they met in a room. It's the people who plotted against.

Turnbull, if you recall that. And so I think Turnbull still got it in for Angus Taylor because of that. And why was it called Monster Far? Because the table had a tropical hardwood known as Monkey Pod. It's very strange. Right, okay. And also because they were kind of, you know, stretching each other's fleas and stuff. Well, maybe that will replace the fact that he doesn't have a personality.

Well, it's kind of hard to pin Angus Taylor. I follow politics probably more closely than most. And I must say my knowledge of, compared to say Peter Dutton, for instance, when Dutton arrived. I don't know much about Angus Taylor at all, other than, of course, the well done good job, Angus then. It is timeless.

But I think we've covered this, didn't we cover this last year and say Angus Taylor is going to be the stalking horse for Andrew Hasty? Because you know how Andrew Hasty's counted himself out of the leadership battle? I think this is just a repeat of the Turnbull, Dutton, Morrison fiasco. I really, so you think Haster sweeps you as a consensus candidate. Yes, because it's clear. I mean, as of this morning, Wednesday morning, it was clear that Lee and Taylor are basically

even Stevens. Right. There's not much between them, which is why it's so odd that Angus Taylor would be going, oh, well, I think I've got the numbers. But that also is a classic thing where, yeah, if there's someone else with much the same numbers as the leader, that's it, right? If there are only one vote ahead or something. And she wasn't ahead by much last time, if I recall Susan Lee.

And some of the people who voted last time then didn't win their seat. in the fullness of time. Do you think that Susan Lee will chuck a Gordon? Do you think she'll chuck a Gordon? Do you know what Gordon did? I love your assumption. I don't know what that means. Oh no, wait a minute.

Sorry, not Gordon. It was a McMahon, wasn't it? No, no, it was Gordon. No, it was McMahon. No, it was a McMahon. It was a McMahon. No, no, no, Gordon. No.

Don't edit this out. I think people need to know the depths of Charles's knowledge. So, who came after Harold Holt? That was McMahon, right? And then after McMahon came Gordon? No, Gorton. It was the other way around. I only noticed I'm looking at Wikipedia.

Okay, great. Okay, so this is the story, and this is true. When McMahon brought the spill on to try and oust Gorton, right, it was tied, right? The party room was tied. Really? And Gorton ended up with the casting vote, right? That's under the coalition rules. For the Liberal Party rules, if it's even Stevens, then the leader gets the casting vote, right?

That's so weird. Now, you'd expect that Gorton would have cast a vote in favour of himself. You'd think so. And thus saved his prime ministership. No, no, no. Gordon went, well, if only 50% of people back me, I'll give it to McMahon. And apparently, for the rest of his life, Gordon completely regretted that because McMahon was a complete catastrophe. But do you think Susan Lee will be the same thing?

Like, if Angus Taylor turns up gets, you know, roughly the same number of, well, exactly the same number of votes, Does Susan Lee go, I looked my great forbear, John Gorton. I see. And Angus, you can have this poison chalice. I think she'd probably look for a compromise where Angus Taylor added some more letters to his name. Just to preserve some elements of the Lee regime. Ah, yeah. So Angus is Taylor.

I think double N, perhaps. Oh, double S. Oh, Angus, yes, that's true. Angus Taylor. Your child Angus only has the one ear. So I think you need to get them. No, I think it. Anyway, the other thing that we could do, though, is... Just while we're on Gorton, can I say one big thing I've just found out?

Yeah. Which I definitely think Susan Lee should do, right? So, yeah, as you say, Gordon said, well, this is not a vote of confidence. So the partner will have to elect a new leader. And so that was that. Gordon was out. McMahon became prime minister. But Gorton contested in one deputy, the deputy role.

So it was massively awkward for months and months and months. And didn't Gordon then make it his life's mission to sort of undermine... the McMahon government and make them unelectable. Like one of the reasons why Whitlam had such a barnstorm to then take over the whole parliament was because he basically had John Gordon on his side. He had the deputy prime minister. Well, yeah, I mean, it says he in Murdoch would have backed Gordon in 172. So yeah, there's a lot of people who agree with that, yeah. The Chaser Report, news you can't trust. But I've just to actually come up with an idea to give Angus the edge.

Oh, really? The numbers. Yes. Gosh, is he going to, is he going to, is he sort of, maybe you'll find him some some missed calls when you get off the podcast. Yeah, no, look, it's, it's one of those awkward things because Wednesday afternoon, I'm actually at the airport. I'm about to get on a flight.

And it's one of those, it's one of those problems, isn't it? Because, you know, what if Angus calls, wanting some advice. When you're in the air? I mean, yeah, it's real problems. Well, doesn't that save you from having to fob them off? Yeah, that's right. Or you've actually got some advice, right? So what would you do if you were at? And maybe this is the best thing.

Well, he might be a stalking horse for you. Because he rang me this morning and said any ideas. And it was like, mate, I don't know. Not for you. Not for you. Like, because the whole point about the last election was, I know everyone blames Peter Dutton. But I know Pete Datton, but I know Pete Datton, be very careful analyzing last election. You know that the report, the Liberal Party report that analyzes the last election has been suspended because of defamation.

Don't defame anyone, Charles. Well, I think, yeah, because the thing is, I think Peter Dutton blames Angus Taylor, because I don't know whether you remember, but the last election, their economic agenda was basically cheaper petrol, wasn't it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were going to save your money and then they decided not to support. But they were also going to be the highest taxing government. So, Labor. They didn't match the tax cuts. They didn't match the tax cuts. And that was, and Peter Darden reckons that was an Angus Taylor decision. Or does he? Allegedly. Allegedly. Some have said. Sorry, allegedly. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, Charles, if you do get sued, you can probably subpoena the report.

It would be great to read. They'd be great. They'd be great to get out there. That's how we do it. Okay, so I know that you're waiting with bated breath and a feeling of suspense about how to do it. But this is my idea. All right. Angus Taylor runs as a law and order candidate.

Really? Right. And what he does is he says, look, there are people on the streets of Sydney. being bashed up by marauding crowds. What we need to do is we need to crack down on these people who are turning up to protests in dressed in uniforms and then pepper spraying them, bashing old people, breaking their limbs, breaking their backs. Yeah, ribs in one case I saw.

Yeah, ribs. And it's literally using extreme violence against these peaceful, you know, often religious people who are just there wanting to pray or whatever and things like that. And if he said, look, Loranaut is out of control in New South Wales, we have to sort of crack down on these violent gangs. I think he'd get up. I think, you know, like I think the whole of Australia is just looking at the scenes that are having in sitting and saying somebody's got to do something about these cops.

I mean, I think if you're ambiguous and you said someone's got to do something about these thugs, Yes, that's the way to do it. Some people would think that you're talking about the police. The perfect dog whistle. Some people would think you're talking about the protesters. You can see whatever you want. Everyone can just fill in their own meaning. Yeah.

Oh, I love it. Here's the thing, Charles. I admire your analysis as always. This is so like the episode of the rest of politics where Alist is, you know, trying to work out what Keistama should do. You really are in. So you know. You know that, yeah, because I am basically the Alistair Campbell of Australia.

You know that, yeah, because I am basically the Alistairma is. going to continue being Prime Minister. The coup failed. So that happened like 48 hours ago. Yes, we should talk about that at some point.

Everyone tried to knock him off and it just, it was all but high and close doors. Too popular. No, but Charles, the one thing I'd say is that you began this podcast suggesting that it's possible

that Angus Taylor is a stalking horse for Andrew Hasty. I only thing, and again, this is like Dusson, so your analogy is correct. I'm pretty confident in saying that if Angus Taylor is a stalking horse for Andrew Hastie, Angus Taylor is not aware that he's a stalking horse for Andrew Hastie.

No, definitely not. I think everything about his CV makes me think that he's expecting it to get this far acclamation. Isn't that the general? When you've been a Rhodes Scholar. Yes, I think that's right. Yes. You just expect everyone. Turnbull and Abbott.

I've had a lot of them. He'll walk into the room. It was Beasley one as well. Yes. Yeah. So, look, I guess the real thing is, is Angus Taylor or Andrew Hasty or Susan Lee for them. Are they stalking horses for Pauline Hanson?

That's the real question in Australian politics right now. Yeah, oh, that's very clever, isn't it? That's, yeah, I like that. See what happened there? Yeah, you should write a crikey article. That's exactly, they'd love that. That's good. Before we go, before we go, oh, now corrections, corrections.

We're just got to, there's a couple of corrections. There were some errors. Yeah, we restarted the podcast and we were flooded. I'd like to say we were flooded with people welcome seeing it back, but it was mainly people correcting us. There were at least one or two who seemed glad. Yeah, glad that we were back, but also kind of clearly regretting the extent to which they depended on the podcast.

So the first one was from somebody who was complaining that we talked about Marjorie Taylor Green's conspiracy theory that there were space lasers, but complaining that we weren't crediting because apparently it was actually Jewish space laser. Yes, it's very important. to note that. I just remembered. They were, you know, was this anti-Semitic. Can you please give credit, I mean, I presume the person complaining is Jewish.

You don't hear about Catholic space lasers or Buddhist space lasers. At least we can, you know, at least we're clever enough and got our shit together to have Jewish space lasers. Can you please give us the credit? So I think that's fair enough. I just Googled space lasers, by the way. And it took me to a NASA website saying that the US actually does have space lasers. So, yeah, put that one for a welcome to the future down the track. But no, that's true.

I don't hear of, you know, Zoroastrian space lasers. That's true. Yes. So, we just want to... We should credit Marjorie Talygreen for being truly anti-Semitic. Yes, indeed. Rather than just, you know... Anyway, so I think I've got that right.

Look, yes, I think that's great. And then the other complaint that we had was, of course, about the Roller Derby. We claimed that Roller Derby was a LGBTQI. style event. And then we were sort of talking actually, maybe it's not there. Maybe it's just more a feminist event. And that's certainly the show that's on in Adelaide in a couple of weeks' time is certainly, you know. Oh, it does.

Derby, yeah. But somebody pointed out that actually it is completely like all genders participate in. Yeah, well, there is male Derby apparently, which I didn't know. But actually, apparently the Australian's male team won a couple of years ago. Oh, well done. Yeah. So, yeah. So it's not just feminists who do roll a derby.

Yeah, there's two different groups apparently. One is everyone but cis males and the other one is very absolutely. Not that men can't be feminist. Maybe they are feminist men. But I suppose the point is it's not exclusively feminist. Like a misogynists are welcome. If you're a misogynist, you can also do roller derby, I suppose. Is that right?

You're going to get a correction. Yeah. Yeah, there's a men's roller derby association. Yeah. Oh, right. Okay. Well, there you go. I didn't know.

Yeah. So. Everyone I've ever interviewed about this has been. very much of the, you know, everyone except cis men allowed. So there you go. Yeah. Men can derby too. Isn't that?

Just like there's an international men's day. Fantastic. Yeah. So look, there we go. I'm glad you've corrected the record. I feel very, yeah. One more slight thing, which is the thing where we recorded the whole episode on Friday afternoon, thus missing the fact that the coalition we're going to reunite on the Sunday

before the episode was published. That was a, it's a slight, you know, similar in import to the, to the fact that we missed that it was Jewish space lasers. We should acknowledge that as well. Yeah, yeah. Yes. There you go. So, yeah, so, I mean, that's just, you know, I think you can suck it, basically.

We're dedicated to integrity, aren't we, Charles, on this podcast? Yeah, that's right. So they'd said, are we going to be recording episodes for Friday, Dom, or are we doing a sort of Monday or Thursday thing this year? Yeah, we've got to work this out. I think, and we may as well, we don't speak unless we're recording. It's a waste of conversation. I mean, I'd have several chats to you over the summer.

It was a total waste. Totally waste. Totally. I think it's sensible. We did the weekend editions before. I think we've got to do those on Friday if we're going to do them. We can't. Six a week is ridiculous.

So I think we've got to do three or four free ones a week and then a paid one. I think that's the way to go. I think that's the way to go. So we will see paid subscribers tomorrow. The rest of you can fuck off and we'll see you on Monday. Enjoy your days without us. And don't forget there are more than 1,200 previous episodes if you really miss us. Yes, that's true.

We're part of the Econiclass Network. Catch you later. Farewell.