The Chaser Report - Sausage Sizzle Schmozzle | Leo Puglisi

Episode Date: May 6, 2022

Journalist extraordinaire and 6NEWS founder Leo Puglisi joins Dom and John for a chat about the election, and how he keeps managing to interview leaders. Meanwhile Dom and Charles are upset that there's still no good election news other than a few forced gaffes. Plus the latest song from Gabbi Bolt that will be stuck in your head 'til Election Day. 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 boom? Find out on The Chaser Report, election edition. Hello and welcome to the election edition of The Chaser Report. It is Friday the 6th of May, 15 days to go until the election. night. Hello, Charles Firth. Hello, how you going? Yeah, good. Now, I've heard you say all morning that you just hate all these gotcha questions

on the campaign trail, is that right? Yeah, yeah. What are the six reasons that you hate them? Go now. Oh, I don't know. I just think that, well, I mean, in general, it's just like... That's not one of your six points. You're not for your prime minister, Charles. We knew that already.

Look, no, no, look, I agree that the GAF thing is a stupid form of journalism, but I think this time, Dom, Albo's in real trouble. I mean, listen to the coverage of the GF last night. Good afternoon. There has been an embarrassing news stumble for Anthony Albanese. The Labour leader has tripped up again on the campaign trail. Position leader has made another serious gaffe unable to remember key detail. So do you know what the GF was yesterday?

I don't, but that's all I need to know. I thought Arbo was sitting pretty as of yesterday's podcast. It sounds as though it's all I. that Scott Morrison's won the election. Well, we should have a listen to the actual GAF. I've heard the analysis, Charles. That's much better than hearing the actual audio.

Well, I insist that we listen to the audio. What we will do in terms of was outlined by Bill Shorten. What that's about is making short... What that's about is make... What are the six points, Mr. Alvin? If you, let me answer the question, what we will do is put people at the centre of the NDIS. What are they...

No, Mr. Colise. What are the other five points, Mr. Albert? We will put people, and it is all around the theme of putting people, putting people. And this morning, there are a whole lot of photos going around the internet of that journalist. And guess what he was doing while he was asking Alba those questions? I bet he was looking at his phone. He was looking at his phone. Hang on, Charles.

Can I just clarify something, though? Was the gaff not being able to rattle off the six points, or was it mentioning Bill Shorten? Yeah. Because I would have thought that was the real gaffe. That was the real fucking gaffe. But then the journalist who was sort of a tale, although I've never seen that on the campaign trail, this sort of,

as if there's some sort of amazing scoop. But it's brilliant because everyone pointed out that that journalist was really annoying and a bit of a dickhead and pointed out that Alba should have actually stood up to the journalist more. And so this morning, the same journalist asked the question,

how can people trust you to stand up against Ging Ping, Mr. Albanesey, if he won't stand up against us, right? So he used the fact that Alba was too polite to this journalist, to himself, to actually point out that he's basically a shield for China. And do you think then, as soon as he got that little gotcha thing, that was all his plan, and like ping all the newsrooms, he's got a gaff, report that he's got a gaffe, let don't play the footage, just say stuff to, can I win back your faith in that? the media with a segment.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm going to tell you today, I've got both news.com.com. I've got both news.com.com. They've got a very similar list of the day's highlights, their word. I am. I'm going to run you through some of them,

and I think you're going to see that the reporting in this campaign is absolutely world-class. Okay, great. We've also got the best interviewer on the whole of the campaign here, Leo Paglisi of Six News, 814. He's spoken to all the key figures, as opposed to where you've spoken to, I think no party leaders at the stage.

Plus, Gabby has done a little bit of a song for us. Oh, yes, Gabby's going to bust out a tune for us. It's all coming up on today's Chase's report right after we kick off with Charles' now traditional election rap. This is the rap for Friday the 6th of May. Malcolm Turnbull has come out swinging in favour of the teal independence in the next election. So if the majority of people in Wentworth want to elect an independent... The Cayman Islands-based, for tax purposes, former Prime Minister,

said that hung parliaments don't lead to chaos and dysfunction, which is mainly created by former leaders with political grudges coming out and making awkward statements shortly before an election. Anthony Albanese has been eviscerated for not being able to recite all 683 pages of Homer's Iliad backwards. The gotcha moment came after who was cornered yesterday by journalists asking Albanese, whether he'd memorized all the details of Labor's plans for the NDIS. What are they know, Mr. Albanese? What are the other five points, Mr. Albanyi? We all put people, it is all around the theme of.

Luckily, the journalists had memorized the exact wording written for them by Liberal Party strategists. And finally, respected scientist Dr Bill Hare has released modelling, which shows that the Liberal Party is way ahead of Labor and the Greens when it comes to climate change. His findings show that the Liberal Party's policies are consistent with three degrees of average global warming, Labor on two degrees, and the Greens trailing on just 1.5 degrees of warming. Pick up your game, Adam Band. That's the latest for Friday the 6th of May, just 15 days until the coalition surprises everyone

with a completely unexpected win from behind. All right, Charles, we started out being pretty critical of the media in the way that they're covering this. I want to turn it around because there's been some amazing breaking news. One of the major points today on both news.com.com.com and SMH.com.com. Was the shocking revelation the treasurer Josh Frydenberg pays his five-year-old. Guess how much from the Tooth Fairy? I don't know. Five bucks?

Higher. Ten bucks? Higher. I don't know. Fifteen bucks? Twenty dollars. Twenty dollars. And this is the proofy of a story.

What? How rich is he? Well, they pointed out he made 400 grand and has a property portfolio. This is one of the days' top election stories. See, this is Josh Reidenberg letting down all parents in Australia. Because now, I bet you my children will now find out about this in the playground. And suddenly that puts up the prices for everyone. You know what? This is the treasurer of Australia basically contributing to inflationary pressures.

Yeah, the cost of living just went up. But in Kuyong, the going rate is probably 50 bucks. Yeah, that's right. Also, big news today. Malcolm Turnbull gave a speech to the Harvard Club or plans to give a speech. The script is here. And he is suggesting that moderate liberal supporters vote for the teal independence. That's a huge story.

What Malcolm Turnbull might say in America in a few days' time, massive news. It's almost like there's not really that much to report on the election. What do you mean? Then they put that question to Scott Morrison, should you be kicked out? the Liberal Party. Oh, yeah. He didn't really want to answer. Then they said, will you leave the Liberal Party?

If you lose the election, you're going to leave? He didn't want to answer that question. So there are some really tough questions that Scott Morrison just didn't need to answer. Well, that was a gaffe. It's a gaffe. It's a gaffe. To give you a sense of the status of the election. We've got two debates coming up in the few weeks.

The ABC offered any night you like, we'll put you on the national broadcaster, free to air any day. The Prime Minister said no. He's going with seven and nine. Sevens is coming after something like 9, 10pm, but they have to actually wait till Big Brother finishes. We don't know when that's going to be. So both leaders will be standing there at the podiums, waiting for the end of Big Brother.

I love it. Doesn't that just give you a sense of where the... Our priorities is a nation? I don't know what I'm going to watch that night, but probably not there. And I've got one more bombshell mentioned on both websites. See, their life bloggers are just sort of in sync. This is really tough, really tough reporting. There was an strange moment in an Albo press conference today

where a reporter, it doesn't say who the reporter is. News.com today didn't actually go into that much detail. The reporter has alleged that Albo is taking naps on the campaign trail. Does that mean that he's not sleeping 24 hours a day? He's managing his COVID recovery by having the occasional nap, as I did. Oh, right. What a scoop! Stop to fret.

What the fuck? This is one of the day's top story. Oh, fuck. Also, Carl Stefanovic said, oh, come on to Albo. That's worthy of a little story. Oh, my God. Can we just stop this segment now? We're just stopping it.

Do you want to be... No. The segment. No, we can keep the podcast going. I want to hear the Gabby song, but this is shit. This is all shit. Look, this is the country's top news websites, Charles. Off.

Stop. I hate this election. election news you can't trust the chaser report now look charles regular chaser report listeners may be wondering where Gabby Bolt has been I think the answer is selling out her comedy tour yes what a fuck we

she's like the only comedian to sold out her entire tour this year it just goes to show if you have enough talent it doesn't actually matter COVID lockdowns people will still come to your show that was my mistake in doing our tour we forgot to have talent Although you didn't have Gabby at one gig?

Yeah, we sold that one out. So anyway, Gabby has put together, however, a brand-news song never heard before. Look, let's just say, when she channels the divinels, oh, stop what you're doing and listen. I back myself, I want you to back me. The lefty cucks, they always attack me. Those are the jobs. Well, they had to say.

me but P.M.'s great. Just one thing that I'm lacking. Please don't tell anybody else. I angered being made because I shat myself. Oh, please don't tell anybody else. Oh, no. Oh, no. Just let it go. Why can't you just drop it? It's been so long. 20 years I have Cocked it The sharkies that one Got the bid I got on it

Haven't you had a night Where you did Something brought in Jetty please Can you come in hell I'm an eggadie in makers And I shat myself Oh

If you could bring Some pants And a new bell Oh no Oh no Oh no Rigging elections since before it was cool, the Chaser Report. There hasn't been much to praise about the media in this campaign, as we've been saying, Charles,

but there is one young man and his team who've been just electrifying the coverage. They've been putting professional journalists to shame. We're talking, of course, about Leo Poclesi and the Six News team. They've had all these interviews with the leaders. and look, we're going to chat to Leo in a few moments basically to get some tips about how we can do a better job of covering the campaign. I think he should sort of become a lecturer in journalism

and actually teach the rest of the media how to do it properly because he's fact-checking on Twitter is better than any other outlet. Yes, and he should do it at the age of 15. He should become a tenured professor of journalism at the age of 15. And the great thing is, as we'll discuss with him, they can't walk out of an interview with a teenager. Yeah, yeah.

So I think he's a huge asset. I'm going to learn a lot from him. And in fact, I wanted to talk to him so much that I actually find in from the car. So you'll hear my audio. They said, oh, we've got Leo. And I said, oh, please patch me in. Pat me in from the car. So the audio is a little bit hinky, but the main point is we've got Leo.

Hey, Leo, thanks for joining us. And congratulations on getting far more leaders to interview than we have. We're currently running at zero at the moment. What's your secret? Emails and a lot of public pressure, I think, figuring out a format, like, you know, asking them directly on the national broadcaster, it seems to work. We should give that a go. If only they'll let us on the national broadcaster, John, we might have a crack. Yeah, that's going to be our main problem, is they don't want us for some reason.

I presume they blacklisted you after a few incidents. What did you make of Anthony Albanese, Leo? Well, he was a bit less shouty than the Prime Minister, and look, I think. Both of them I have, you know, respectful for simply coming on. They weren't patronising. But Anthony Abernese, he seemed to answer a lot more, and his answers were a bit less direct, I would say, just based on my observations.

And that is why, on some questions, we just really pushed him yes or no to a yes or no question. That's such a rare thing in journalism to actually just keep going until you get a yes or no. Are you just willing to go further than other journalists, do you think? Oh, well, look, I guess it's just the fact that we don't have things like time limits in our interviews, because we don't have to adhere to a broadcast schedule.

We aren't limited to asking one or two at a press conference. And, yeah, I mean, the thing is, though, if they didn't answer it, they could, look, at a press conference, they can walk out. They ended their Zoom call. Just imagine their headlines, you know, prime minister or opposition leader, leaves Zoom meeting after tough questions from 14-year-old boy. I mean, it wouldn't be a good look, so they really just have to stay in answer. You've got them held captive. Exactly, yeah, we're not letting them go. I think this is fantastic.

Maybe next election we need to recruit an army of younger junoes because you're right. No leader can hang up on a 14 year old. It would look terrible. It would be, yeah, just this horrific, horrific look. Or if not, we can just get an army of 13-year-olds, our political reporter, Roman McKinnon. He is 13. So that might be an even worse look for them. But look, they left the Zoom meeting.

That would just be probably the worst look. and I'm aiming this election campaign to get one guest who will eventually just leave the call. And by the way, I'm saying it is a good exclusive for you. We're doing a segment on the UAP where we might be interviewing a few of their candidates. So that might be the one where it happens. I would love it if UAP walked out of your meeting.

Like the free speech party leaves the meeting with the teenagers because they don't want to keep talking. Well, we had Craig Kelly booked, but then he refused to answer any of our, phone calls or emails following that, which was a real shame because he actually responded personally pretty fast, but it was funny because the day he stopped answering messages and phone calls was the day after we fact-checked Clive Palmer's National Press Club speech. I mean, I don't want to say it's the exact reason, but sometimes correlation does equal causation.

What was the most surprising revelation from the Albanese interview? What was the headline? I think it was him wanting to come back on Six News and he said, and I guess this counters some of the idiots on Twitter, him saying it's a fantastic program, a wonderful initiative, and he commits to doing interviews at semi-regular interviews. Now, he used the word commit there, not myself. So I guess, and we also made sure to say, you know,

he says he'll do it, whether he's, you know, gone as opposition leader or becomes Prime Minister or stays as opposition leader or whatever happens. But yes, semi-regular intervals. And if he doesn't do it, well, we've got him on video. So I don't think there's any escape for Albo there. Leo, you mentioned before the weirdos on Twitter. Can we talk about the disgraceful and horrible thing that you did where you tweeted a joke? Yeah, it was, I mean, look, I sincerely apologise for this,

and I just want to warn people about what I'm going to say here, because I will be repeating the joking question. I said that after watching the ALP National Campaign launch, I would not be convinced to vote for the ALP. Shocking, I know, but, you know, just because I'm 14 is no excuse to be able to make jokes like that. And especially, you know, the fact I definitely didn't make any joke about that regarding the liberals before. No, Syria, I definitely didn't do that. But no, in all seriousness, people have just absolutely lost their minds over this.

And I just am stunned. And all the comments that have seemed to lose it the most, and this includes when I was competing, It's like a Mussolini supporter. People said I was faking because I had a surname pronunciation. That's not the official one. It's technically Pliuzi, but we go Paglisi because it's simplified, obviously. But all the comments that were just totally losing it were after they found that or realized the joke or were people who actually followed me and would obviously know.

So, yeah, it's... Yeah, I saw it all go down. For anyone who doesn't know, Leo definitely is not exaggerating with how crazy it went. It was, there was like hundreds of tweets and the replies. And it went trending on, number one trending on Twitter at one point was the phrase, he's 14. Because between, from Stonehill being like responding to tweets, being like, he's 14. And then people arguing back, being 14 is no excuse not to vote Labor,

which is an excuse. It's the biggest excuse you can have to not vote for a part. It's more of a crime, really, to vote later when you're 14, isn't it, Leo? Can you fact-check that one? Yeah, I don't think the Australian Electoral Commission would be a fan of it. But it's just so bizarre. And there were people who said I wasn't even 14. Like, we're getting back to that.

That's a classic conspiracy theory. Also, the front for the Liberal Party one. These are the classic ones. I think the first big conspiracy theory about me was that my dad controls it. And that's one that still lingers around from very strange odd figures. And, of course, that general someone's controlling in one. We had a nice guy named Les Stonehouse has been going off about that. Twitter users would know who he is, unfortunately.

And, yeah, just some real bizarre comments. But look, the fact is, I am 14. And then there are people, I think I saw a comment. And this was a couple weeks or months ago, instead of he's 14, you know, where does he go to school? I'm not disclosing. Like, why would I disclose where I go? I had threats to docks and actually show up to the school, so there's no way in hell.

People are going to know where I go to school, because I think that's probably the one bit of personal information that I have hidden away, apart from my address, of course. Are you a bit shocked, Leo, that having entered the fray in the way that you have, and just simply asking for interviews, you're being treated, like, I would have imagined people might be a bit cutesy and patronising towards you.

But instead, you're being given both barrels as though you were a veteran of the media with decades of experience. Was that a bit of a surprise? Yeah, a bit. Look, I think we have the credentials of many in the media, and I'm not talking about like a university degree or an award or anything like that. But we have interviewed the Prime Minister of Australia, the opposition leader of Australia, and also the Greens leader in an election year. and in Anthony Albanese's case post the election or after the election was called we also interviewed Kevin Rudd by the way last year

I don't know how anyone could take us not seriously after that it is about as serious as you can get but we have the literal prime minister on and we're asking him do you admit your claims were false and do you stand by the claim of the fact your claim that you've never lied in public office so I'm a bit surprised but at the same time the only real big bad thing about being

treated like one of those senior journals is that you get these weird comments talking about this is why we have a coalition government now like no I was in starting primary school when Labor was laughing in government and when they were

voted out in 2013 so yeah look there's there's so much that could be easily blamed on me and then they'll go to my parents because I mean they must be Kuyong liberal voters simply because we live in the electorate although funny enough we actually live in a state electorate

that is held by Labor and I usually am right near an electorate that is in the Greens electorate of Melbourne. So I really don't think, you know, anything. Maybe we're a One Nation shill or something like that. Yeah, that does lead me to my next question because you're in high school, you're in school right now

and as listeners of the podcast or know, I've been watching a lot of right-wing media which means I also know that you're living under the brutal dictator Dan and his woke agenda, how much, because according to a lot of right-wing sources, the biggest thing that anyone talks about in schoolyards is trans people playing sport. Is that the biggest fear that people your age tend to have and is it the main talking point or is there anything that people talk about more? No, I think we mainly talk about whatever's on TikTok or something like that.

We really don't care. I don't think anyone, I know anyone at school who actually cares about that issue in terms that they're worried. I know, and I'm obviously trying to keep privacy respectful here. I know there was one trans student who went to my school a couple years ago. No one really disrespected them, you know? I don't think it's an issue you many care about. And then you hear those claims like the woke agenda being taught to us, no, it's not.

It's like the current unit I'm in in. English is a political unit. We have to do a mock parliament today. I was the speaker. It's not some woke thing. The other thing is that you have like a, uh, in that parliament. Um, the bill was won by the liberals, meaning we had more liberals, uh, uh, mock politicians. So I don't know how you, some woke thing, but yeah, it's a, it's a bizarre claim. And I don't think, uh, some of the people making the claim is ever stepped foot in a school. Uh, at the same time, I don't want them within like 200 meters of a school either. some of these people, but look, they are, they are weird, they're weird claims and I don't think

they're going away, but like, it's just blatantly false. Ask me, I am very available. Do you want to know what's being taught? I go to a public school, not a private school, like some people think, I go to a public school in Melbourne. If anyone wants to know what this woke agenda is, and I'm using quotation marks here, I don't know, obviously can't see that being a podcast, but, Yeah, just ask me, because it's really not happening. Like, it's really not happening. Leo, I'm going to call it here and now. By the time, by this time next to you,

I fully expect you and your team to have won at least one war click. Oh, God. Give us one now, really. I mean, what are they waiting for? What do they want to? Do they want us to interview bloody Joe Biden at this, right? It's the network everyone speaks to. Thanks for joining us, Leo.

Good to be here. The only podcast without UAP ads, the Chaser Report. Now, Dom, I've got a bit of bad news about Election Day, which is we had at my son's school this morning our first barbecue in two and a half years. Oh, nice. And the thing is, we're a little bit out of practice as the parents' committee in running barbecues. Oh, are you one of the barbecue organisers? No, I'm more of a doer than an organiser.

Okay. So are you with the kind of coal face or grill plates? Yeah, you just, yeah, the grill plate. Right. But everyone's out of practice, and it was a complete shamozzle, right? So just to set the scene, the way they decided to do it this time round was have a separate queue for buying your little ticket to get the egg and bacon roll. And then in a separate queue, you had to then go and join a number. another cue to go and get the egg and bacon roll, right?

A double cue. And we didn't have enough barbecues, we didn't have enough bread, we didn't have enough eggs, we didn't have enough bacon. By about 20 minutes into the barbecue, we had an incredibly long line of people waiting for bacon and eggs, and we had run out of bacon and eggs and rolls. All three ingredients in the bacon. You just have barbecue sauce sitting there by itself. Yeah, lots of barbecue sauce.

But the problem was we'd already pre-sold hundreds and hundreds of hungry parents and their little children who all hadn't had breakfast at home because they were coming to the barbecue to have the morning bacon and egg barbecue and listen to the band. So you were running a pyramid scheme. Yes. It was basically the Bernie Madoff of Forest Lodge. And yes. And we just realized actually the problem is we've all forgotten. gotten how to do a proper because also the other thing is

like no one could remember how to like because you got it's a real industrial production. Oh you've got to keep I went last election on early and cook it properly because otherwise you get everyone you got to put it on in advance. I went to Forest Lodge last election day. I was there.

I voted. I saw Tanya Plibersek there. It was very fast getting us. It was an industrial process. It's less than three minutes. But I am just saying, I am just saying that there are going to be it's not just us.

There are going to be thousands of schools who, for this time, this will be their first barbecue in like two and a half years because of the pandemic. And they're out of practice. I'm saying the sausage sizzle is going to be a shamozzle.

Oh, Charles, this is worrying. It's a sausage sizzle shemozle. This violates the sacred pact. Yes. Like, okay, voting's compulsory, but at least you get the chance to get some shitty junk food on the way.

Oh, no, it's going to be a disaster. I don't want to vote if you can't give me a sausage. I'm not sure it's going to be a valid election. Well, look, big credit to your school, though, for having the event beforehand. Yes, it was seen as a dry run. I'll tell you what, it wasn't a dry run. It was a fucking nightmare. It was a massacre.

It was a wet run. Well, can I just suggest that between now and election day, every week, you have another sausage sysel. Okay. Just build up the limber up. Yes. Okay. We're going to do that. And put the order in now.

You need to just basically contact an abattoir today and say, please just get a bunch of your cheapest, scorniest stock and get ready to put the bulk gun. Kill those cows now. Oh, look, Charles, I have faith. I have faith in you and in the parents' committee at the public school to sort this out. But I think any school that is not already starting barbecue. No. This is a warning.

If you're listening, contact your school. Yes. Contact your local rotary club, whoever it is that does it. Yes. And tell them, fire up the barbie right now. Otherwise, election day, it'll be the worst ever. No, it's going to be terrible. Our gears from run microphones, we're part of the ACASC crater network.

And Forest Lodge Public School usually supplies our sausages. Let's hope they can deliver this time around.