Thread by @iMusing

good morning☀️this Sunday on #Insiders are Guardian Aus editor Lenore Taylor, ABC newsreader Dan Bourchier and 9fax (AFR) chief political corro Phil Coorey. The interview is with Transport and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King.

opening spiel: the Treasurer’s expectation management. Speers reports the extension of PPL with the usual gallery frame: where will the money come from? Where does he think? Same place as submarine money, David. #Insiders

infrastructure announcements also on way, says Speers, who will interview the infrastructure minister today. The montage is a kind of pre-budget global economy mash up. Ukraine, US recession, coalition politicians whining, one-dimensional editorialising by Probyn. #Insiders

the gold bullion photo opp seems tin-eared in the extreme. #Insiders

#MakingNews Vic floods, Shepparton and Echuca, a prime ministerial tour on way. Nothing about the Racing Club obscenity. More budget previews. Campbell dividing on Voice to Parliament. #Insiders

Speers editorialises on his #Insiders stops about budget with standard “wait and see” framing. The first budget of a new government, says Speers, and asks Coorey how they are going with “preparing the ground”.

it was pretty messy, says Coorey, citing press gallery obsession with a Morrison government policy slated for 2024. He asserts that extending PPL is inconsistent with reining in spending in other areas, as tho budgets are not ENTIRELY about this kind of decision. #Insiders

PPL is a very Labor thing says Coorey. Taylor points out that the incoming government committed to these kinds of priorities and steady mature budget decisions [paraphrased]. Clip of Albanese on the economic dividends of PPL. #Insiders

the PPL dividend Q goes to Bourchier. He says women do the bill of [unpaid] parenting labour and highlights the push for fathers to also take leave. The other side of this is childcare, he says #Insiders

more announcements to come, says Speers, and we get more mumbling Phil spin on what Phil thinks is nebulous and political and what a Liberal said to him. Discussion is about the squillions that coalition governments give to millionaire factories like McKinseys #Insiders

the rorts, and Morrison’s promises to Joyce in return for climate announcements. Speers and Bourchier speculate that Labor will remove valuable programs from the regions. They should go thru line by line, says Bourchier, a thing Chalmers has repeatedly said he is doing. #Insiders

clip of Chalmers to segue into the interview. Let’s start with transport projects, says Speers. Where is the money coming from? King lists rail and road projects. It will be accounted for in the budget in two weeks time, she explains. #Insiders

what about the Vic suburban rail announcement? Why not wait until after the state election? We announced that project last May and the Andrews government is committed to it says King. Concerns from the Auditor General have been looked at by IA she says. #Insiders

it’s a lot of money, says Speers. Why not wait until Infrastructure Australia finish their review? They are *the* experts, says Speers. King assures him that government wheels are turning and relevant people are talking to relevant people. #Insiders

the damn wall? A thing that will do something similar to what the racecourse wall has done, but we do not hear such comparisons. Will the federal government kick in half? King says that is not a matter for the Oct budget and she will not announce it by media conference #Insiders

another $1.5 billion [from the Morrison promises to Joyce in return for a climate announcement]? I missed most of this answer sorry. They move on to reviewing car park and regional grants rorts. How much will you save from cancelling Morrison govt rorts? #Insiders

the saving from cancelling car park promises will be in the budget, says King. She is still working thru all the shonky spending promises based on coalition electoral priorities [paraphrased] under the various regional buckets of cash. #Insiders

are you getting rid of everything? (Should regional people hate you and everything you do?) King says regional grants are important to local government and community development funds were not an open application process it was used as a coalition politician slush fund. #Insiders

there are Labor election promises that will be reviewed and cancelled if it does not meet criteria. Why does the Commonwealth fund swimming pools? King understand the point he is trying to make, she says. Yes we can do that funding through local government she agrees. #Insiders

King describes how the Coalition electoral spending strategy worked with local media and novelty cheques etc including One Nation politicians. She nods and reassures Speers that grant spending transparency will be in the public interest instead. #Insiders

finally, Vic floods. King sends her thoughts to Shepparton and Echuca and says who would have thought Marybirong and Kensington would be under water. The race course in the landscape remains unmentioned. #Insiders

back to panel. We start with Coorey again and again get what he is there for - the poo-pooing, the minimising and dismissing - nothing nothing - these are not structural changes, says Coorey, they are blowing froth off the top. He is talking about BILLIONS of dollars. #Insiders

Labor government spending is never enough and always too much and we must ask over and over and over where the money is coming from as tho some new source of revenue opened up somewhere: press gallery rules. #Insiders

I missed what Taylor said on the King interview and we skip past Bourchier, to a clip of Dan Bolton? And back to Coorey, who outlines the Turnbull gas trigger policy for diverting export gas to the domestic market. “It is very much an interventionist measure”, he says. #Insiders

clip of Husic, but not before Coorey revisited Morrison comms on gas and covid and what gas corporation CEOs want. Not a tax, says Speers, of what Husic said on a price trigger. It is about how the price and benchmarking are set, says Taylor. #Insiders

the methane pledge question goes to Bourchier. What will it mean? Bourchier says he has been yarning with many in the pastoral sector who are already minimising methane but are not good at telling the story. #Insiders

even the NFF seem to be on board, says Speers, and says (not a) TAX a TAX (it is not) twice. Taylor says yes it is perfectly doable. The people getting worked up about it are National Party politicians and the brain dead slogans, she says. #Insiders

all the serious policy discussion is too much for Speers and he interrupts to ask the Coalition response? And eagerly amplify their garbage sloganeering. Taylor eyerolls oh come on, she says and panel revert to actual policy - net zero methane by 2030. #Insiders

moving on to a First Nations Voice to parliament. You were at Garma [where the questions were announced] says Speers to Bourchier. What happened to the Shaq promo campaign? Bourchier says it would have been better to have vids with him not a mainstream media conference #Insiders

it is a kitchen table campaign, says Taylor. They do need to release more detail because the No campaign keep using “more detail” to try and draw the government into a fight. They are proceeding carefully, says Taylor. #Insiders

they need to set the date as early as possible and people are happy in spring, Coorey advises the government. Hefty policy analysis there Phil. #Insiders

clip of Bandt telling RN that the Greens want to see government move on treaty-making and truth-telling as well as a Voice to Parliament. Ed: Labor government policy is to implement Uluṟu Statement in full. People have priorities. This is not incommensurable politics. #insiders

what about the Libs? James Campbell has a story on this? Coorey says they can have varying positions. The deep hate filled disunity in Liberal Party rooms and Coalition governments and oppos around the country is warmly papered over as usual #Insiders

what about Dutton? He boycotted the apology says Speers. Oh but he said he regrets that says Coorey OH WELL THATS OKAY THEN. Bourchier says the “tenor of the conversation” could divide the community rather than bring the country together. No mention of the media’s role #Insiders

#TalkingPictures is up #Insiders Sammy J is a back to you Speersy man.

https://twitter.com/InsidersABC/status/1581418390316539905

#FinalObservations 1 is Bourchier saying the NT government has announced raising the age of criminal culpability to 12 and banning hoods that prison guards use on children. #Insiders

#FinalObservations 3 is Coorey on former Senator Rex Patrick securing FOI access to sports rorts docs #Insiders

the outtake is a clip of opposition veteran affairs spokesman doing a promo clip to build his settler nationalist image with what is basically a fart joke. #Insiders

this has been another edition of watching #Insiders so you don’t have to👋🏼👋🏼😬

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