Thread by @iMusing

good morning☀️happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are ABC radio host Raf Epstein, 9fax (smh/Age) columnist Niki Savva and 9fax (AFR) politician corro Phil Coorey. The interview is with LOTO Peter Dutton.

not sure when the ABC will cut to #Insiders but right now we are live-streaming a PM and Doyle presser from the seat of Aston.

okay here we go. Opening spiel: “Labor makes by-election history by” - wait for it - “taking a prize Liberal seat”. They still can not compute that no seat belongs to a political party.
#Insiders

voters PUNISHED the Liberal Party, says Speers. He runs down the legislative program Labor has actually passed unlike *some* governments: the carbon offsets, the amendment to be enacted if the referendum is passed. If he mentioned income management I missed it. #Insiders

the montage is all Aston, opening with Ferguson also promoting the press gallery hope that voters would “blame Labor for cost of living” a thing that did not happen despite their best efforts. #Insiders

we are talking a LOT about the Liberal Party. Regular reminder that it does not matter if the Liberal Party implodes, except to a tiny minority of vested operators. #Insiders

#MakingNews is also about the Liberal Party. “Aston pain” lmao not for Labor tho #Insiders

clip of Doyle’s victory speech to segue to Dutton, who apparently said Aston would be a verdict on the leaders during the campaign? Dutton says there are huge issues in Victoria. #Insiders

he accepts responsibility says Dutton and he is the leader of the party and that’s why he came on the program this morning win lose or draw (ie he is speaking to Liberal Party factions and numbers men on the public broadcaster - Ed) #Insiders

Dutton denies challenging Turnbull, who resigned, he says, and did not do any good in Victoria either. He refers to John Howard as a “high water mark”. Asked if he should stay as leader, Dutton says “of course”. #Insiders

grasping hard, Dutton allsideses opposition leadership turmoil and claims that Albanese was involved in Labor leadership changes. He gives “all credit” to Greg Mirabella for running the losing campaign. #Insiders

where did you go wrong? Why are you in such trouble in Victoria? Speers sounds quite personally let down lol Dutton says they will assess what went wrong. You don’t know? Speers asks, repeatedly. Labor threw mud, says Dutton. #Insiders

so it was all Labor’s fault, Speers says. Dutton says Dan Andrews is ruthless at state level. Dutton said that. Asked where he stands on discrimination against trans people, Dutton says expansively that he does not discriminate against anybody. Okay Pete. #Insiders

should Deeming have attended an anti-trans rally? Dutton says Liberal Party MPs should not go to anti-anyone rallies except anti-Labor rallies. So what do you stand for? Aspiration. Entrepreneurship, small business, says Dutton, no mention of fossil fuel corporations. #Insiders

is it time for philosophical renewal given where you’re at? Dutton says the Liberals have to stop letting their opponents define them. So nothing different? Climate change? Same answer - the Liberal Party pitch is bad (abbr). #Insiders

the Q was catastrophic climate collapse which Dutton calls “the environment” and starts talking about the cost of steel. Dutton ways there are a lot of business leaders who are saying something different in private than in public. #Insiders

They are scared of social media, says Dutton, apparently of extractive industry CEOs? Was that the claim? So they are lying to the public, says Speers. Well David you will go on twitter after the show, projects Dutton, which Speers rejects. #Insiders

with the life expectancy gap at 8 years, do you really think the Voice would be concerning itself with the RBA or the defence force? Dutton says women in Alice Springs are screaming out for help and nobody is listening. These kids, he says. #Insiders

why we should bog down in the craven distraction is beyond me but Speers asks Dutton how he knows what happened in the room when the executive government wording was decided on. Was he in the room? He was not. #Insiders

the Liberal Party room reaching a position on the referendum question? Dutton pretends this is a thing that he can do. It is not. Surely you will not vote against the referendum being held? They will look at it they are “happy” for the people to have their say. #Insiders

he does not look happy tho lol back to panel. Savva says all she heard was blah blah blah we will look at it. She says the Liberal Party decided oppose “everything everywhere all at once and last night [the captain no strategy] blew up in their face”. #Insiders

next up is Epstein. He says trans rights light up the phone but not voters. He reeks off a bunch of wealthy suburbs that stopped voting for the Liberals. Recites the 18 MPs door knocking metric and says they were talking about childcare, TAFE etc not trans rights. #Insiders

mumblin Phil gurgles out his usual noting to see here schtick. He concedes that the Liberal Party are “on the nose” in Victoria and Savva corrects him. Not just Victoria, she says. #Insiders

more Liberal Party rear guard rhetoric from Coorey. Dutton says this, Paul Fletcher says that. Nothing about the wildly successful Doyle campaign. Not a word. #Insiders

more corrections to Coorey from his colleagues. Epstein spells out in no uncertain terms that bathroom scare campaigns are not vote winners. Savva complains that voters are not blaming Labor for economic conditions, a fave line last night too. #Insiders

in 2018 the campaign was on crime, says Epstein of Victoria state politics (Queensland was the same in 2020) and the people trusted Labor. Coorey says he has been taking to Liberal Party politicians in Parliament House. We know, Phil. #Insiders

bit of leadership speculation. Coorey says left and right (of the Liberal Party? Lol) nobody is lining up to oust Dutton. Savva says if they do not land on a coherent position on the referendum then after the vote it will be “killing season” in the Liberal Party. #Insiders

back to the legislative program now we have a government with an actual legislative program. Clip of Bandt on the cap the Greens negotiated. Coorey says “scaring off investment” even tho business has been CRYING OUT for climate policy certainty for years and years #Insiders

the fact we are pulling tonnes of gas out of the ground and most of it is not supplying Aust energy needs drives huge text and call traffic on ABC radio, says Epstein. The Japanese company paid no tax, he says. Coorey tries to allsides this but Epstein is not having it. #Insiders

you have to say what the emissions will be, says Epstein, of the trigger to review big emissions developments under the EPBC Act. Will new gas extraction have to be zero emissions? Not sure I followed this but I think it is net zero? In the future? #Insiders

the HAFF housing affordability future fund. The Greens are holding out for actual public housing instead of this neoliberal butchery that is the HAFF. Bandt “can not give in to everything all at once” says Epstein. Panel is loving that movie ref this morning lol #Insiders

there are two classes of people in this country, says Epstein, people who can afford to buy housing and people who can not (this is colonialism btw) and claims that nobody in Australia understands how the HAFF works. I imagine Bowen does #Insiders

the referendum. Savva says Labor sees the Aston result as a boost for a Yes vote and Speers plays a clip of the bad faith nonsense “will it advise on defence” the Liberal Party has been running instead of stating its position *on constitutional change* #Insiders

are these [bad faith] questions fair? asks Speers. Savva says maybe some but some are designed to undermine the Yes campaign and die doubt about constitutional change [paraphrased] #Insiders

allsides allsides says Coorey lawyers at ten paces we are good at whataboutery in this country especially First Nations [paraphrased] #Insiders

will Dutton “allow his MPs” to vote yes? Speers says the likelihood of a conscience vote is fading and he is hearing the Liberal Party room are edging towards a No position on the referendum question. #Insiders

the minimum wage case. Bit of chit chat about what Tony Burke said and the number of workers on minimum wages but I missed the detail sorry. #Insiders

#TalkingPictures is up. Alex is a back to you David man. #Insiders

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1642314651060047872

#FinalObs 1 is Coorey reciting big numbers on the cost and sustainability of the NDIS which he “compares” to AUKUS despite the glaring differences between nuclear submarines and people. #Insiders

#FinalObs 2 is Epstein reminding us the referenda are hard to get up. #Insiders

#FinalObs 3 is Savva saying the Liberal Party has been trying to build a narrative about Liberal Party women being bullied (true. See Aug 2018) but by Labor yet, she says, Liberal MPs stampeding out of the chamber injured a woman usher. #Insiders

the outtake is a clip of the speaker trying to control said stampeding Liberal Party MPs. #Insiders

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

sorry for not replying to anyone today I had a pile of marking to finish.