Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard – Full Show June 30th
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On 2GB, this is Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard. Monday, June 30, it is Clinton Maynard here, 131873. It is New Year's Eve for accountants. Last day of the financial year, June 30. Now, you might think accountants are boring, but I assure you, they're not. This is the night they all look forward to. Forget that they're dull and boring. No, things actually get a bit loose in the accountancy trade tonight. And then tomorrow, we'll look at...

Tomorrow is the first day of the new financial year. It's like Christmas Day and New Year's Day all rolled into one for accountants. A lot of changes on the way tomorrow. We're going to have a look at the big one on the show today. Coming up as well, a lot of rain is on the way. We're going to find out where in a moment. But areas that are affected by the floods of last month, mid-north coast, Hunter Valley, are likely to be affected by more rain over the next 24 hours, 48 hours. Finally, the Premier has applied for those regions to be classified Category D.

as a natural disaster when it comes to farmers and primary producers receiving bigger brands. That's a good thing. But it's not for the state government to determine what category they're listed in. It's up to the Prime Minister and the federal government. So we're going to have a look at that. We'll also look at how local communities are dealing with graffiti. Mark Guy is on the show. I can't believe it. I beat him in the footy tips this weekend.

I tipped the perfect round. There is a first for everything. I've actually got eight out of eight this week. And I've got State of Origin tickets to give away. Don't call yet. Later in the program, I'll ask for your calls. Lucy Zelich gave you some clues for who our State of Origin Who Am I is when we play Blues Clues. That's coming up a little later on. You are my eyes and ears when it's happening in Sydney now, so send me a text message. 0460 873 873. Have your say. 131 873.

Well, in Sydney now, there are dramas at a school in Sydney's south-west. A gas main has ruptured. Part of roadworks in Ayres, students at Ayres High School have now been evacuated. Adam Dewberry from Fire and Rescue NSW has the latest. What's happened, Adam? Yeah, Clinton, the school called it in, or neighbours called it in, about 1.30 to a strong adder of gas. Now, the school, as a precaution, only evacuated or got students into a safer area. Fire and Rescue NSW has attended. We've run our detectives through...

and it's all safe there. But the gas leak is actually coming from roadworks on a ruptured main on Riverside Drive. So it's actually not on the school. It's just in the road. So Riverside Drive is close. Kids are on their way home. But pickup will be in Briar Road at Airds, but not Riverside Drive as that's shut. But it's all safe. No injuries reported. Okay, look, that's good. Everyone's safe and the school's ending for the day now anyway. But if mum and dad are picking up their kids, they've got to get to Brian's Road, is it?

Briar, yeah, I-A-R, B-R-I-A-R Road. Briar Road, okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's high school. Good on you, Aaron. Thank you for the information. So that gas leak, there's no dramas there. School's ended for the day, but parents are going to need to pick up their kids from a different location. Ten past three, the coastline, including Sydney, is ready to be battered over the past next couple of days, and the east coast low is forecast.

Tonight there'll be some showers in Sydney, but a lot of rain tomorrow. As much in Sydney as 90 millimetres forecast to fall. The Weather Bureau has issued warnings of damaging surf right up and down the coastline from Batemans Bay to the mid-north coast. Also damaging winds for most of the coastline and a lot of rain. The SES is preparing. Chief Superintendent of the SES is Dallas Burns. Hello, Dallas.

Good afternoon, Clinton. Looks like it's going to be a rough couple of days. It is, but it should be short and sharp. And unlike the last event we had in May where we saw extended rainfall over nearly a week, we're looking at 36-hour totals for this event. It's going to be intense. There's going to be some local heavy stuff. We're looking at widespread totals, 50 to 100 mil, and some isolated areas over 36 hours should get 150 to 200. So the risk here is flash flooding, not

necessarily riverine flooding, although there are some flood warnings out for the Georges and Upper Nepean River at the moment and some flood watches coming into catchments between St George's Basin and Port Macquarie. Yeah, I can see you've issued advice warnings for Milpera because of the Georges River. That's to apply for the next 24 hours and also Menangle Bridge with the Upper Nepean.

Yeah, especially those areas that are impacted tidally as well. What we're going to see is as this low-pressure system comes in, it's going to obviously raise the sea level because it's a low-pressure system. And then coupled with these high surf conditions as well, we're going to have some waters pushing up into those estuary areas as well. And look, difficult to know how exactly things are going to pan out in the next couple of days, but whenever we seem in Sydney to get rain very quickly, Dallas, the roads don't seem to cope. The stormwater drain system doesn't cope.

I think that's correct. Yeah, flash flooding is our major concern for this event. We're putting flood rescue areas operation in place to be able to assist people where we can. But, you know, I say it all the time, if it's flooded, forget it. Please don't go through the flooded waters. It's problematic. As well as damaging your vehicle, you're putting yourself and the first responders' lives at risk if they have to come and get you. Good advice. Thank you, Dallas.

Thank you. The Chief Superintendent of the SES, Dallas Byrne. So the rain should begin in Sydney tonight. It's looking out across the western suburbs at the moment. Still plenty of blue sky. So there could be a shower or two tonight. But tomorrow in Sydney, very windy day and a fair bit of rain. Between 35 and 90 millimetres of rain expected. And then that rain continuing on Wednesday, easing on Thursday. The issue is going to be...

honestly, in Sydney, when we get rain really quickly, none of our stormwater drains seem to cope at all because local councils don't keep them clear. That'll be the problem, particularly on the roads tomorrow.

Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard. If it's happening in your city, you'll hear it on Sydney Now 2GB. Well, the big local issue of the day has been the protest that took place Friday night at Belmore. Outside a business, a business that does supply components used in jets that are operated by the Israeli Defence Force. You've seen some of the vision now. Hannah Thomas, a former Greens candidate, she went up against Albo in his seat at the

has needed hospital treatment. She suffered an eye injury. Now, it's still unclear exactly how she sustained that injury. Police have just confirmed that medical records will be handed over to them as they investigate what happened. She is one of five people who have now been charged. The demonstration was not authorised. She claims she could lose vision in one of her eyes. From my understanding, she actually has not yet, at this stage, provided police with a formal statement about what's occurred.

Now, the police have begun their investigation, but it's in the early stages. The Assistant Commissioner, Brett McFadden, has now made comments about the progress of that investigation. I've been advised just prior to coming to this conference today...

that medical records relating to the incident to actually understand the nature of the injuries will be made available to police. We are in the process of obtaining that information and that will assist in my review of the circumstances. Hannah Thomas herself has issued a statement via social media. I look like this now because of Chris Minns and Yasmin Katli and their draconian anti-protest laws and their attempts to demonise protesters, especially protesters for Palestine.

You may have seen the pictures of her where she clearly is being treated for an eye injury. She's directly blaming Premier Chris Minns and Yasmin Katli. Just replaying what she just said. I look like this now because of Chris Minns and Yasmin Katli and their draconian anti-protest laws and their attempts to demonise protesters, especially protesters for Palestine. Now, another video of what occurred is now circulating. And in the protest video...

Police are asked what legislation they're using in order to break up the protest at Billmore and why these protesters would be banned from the area for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours. So where does the chemistry end? Under...

What kind of legislation is empowering you to do this? Can you name it, please? Because this is actually counter to Lephra. We haven't actually... Mate, mate. Mate, oi, oi, oi, oi! So the protesters there saying to one of the officers, can you just explain what legislation you're using? Well, the Minns government has tougher protest laws that we introduced to deal with anti-Semitism. They passed through the parliament, yet some controversially.

Anyway, it then broke up, as you know, five people have now been arrested and charged. Mr Minns has been questioned about this today and this is what he's had to say. We need to see and understand what happened during the protest and the police's response to the protest. Police have got an incredibly difficult job on New South Wales streets, particularly when protests are taking place every other day. They've got to keep the public safe, they've got to allow business to operate whilst also allowing people to express themselves.

I know that police have gone to the hospital, I think four or five times to collect a statement from the person involved. She hasn't provided that statement. Now that's her right, I'm not demanding it of her, but it's very difficult for police

even though they've got body-worn video camera footage, to make a determination about what happened unless the statement's been provided by the person who's been injured. Now, that might be for medical reasons. It may be that she never wants to give a statement. I'll leave that in her court. But from the police's perspective, I'm certainly not prepared to condemn them in these circumstances when we haven't gotten to the bottom of

the situation. But she's condemning Chris Mintz. This is all the fault of the Premier and the Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

As Chris Minns explains there, despite four or five attempts by the police to interview her and seek a formal statement, that's not been provided. They've now been able to obtain the medical records as they investigated exactly what happened. Just to be clear here, the protest was not authorised. Police therefore had every right to disperse the crowd. Now, what happened after that with the violence, that's then subject to the investigation. But I've got news for Hannah. If she travelled to the Middle East...

Say she was travelling to Iran and she was protesting there. If she was upset about government legislation, about demonstrations, I think she can be expected to have been treated a lot worse than anything that could happen here. You show a placard in Iran against the government, you're thrown into prison. I just find it crazy that we have people here, and yes, you have a right to protest and demonstrate. It's part of our democratic life. But I find it crazy that we have people who are effectively demonstrating about the West.

in favour of countries like Iran, supposedly countries they want to support. They would not get to square one if they were doing it in the Middle East. But they claim their rights here are being impacted. Please. 131873 is my number. If you've got a view, let me know. This is Sydney Now.

It's 21 past three, 16 degrees on the coast, 17 in Campbelltown. The big private health insurance company Bupa has today agreed to pay a $35 million fine. This isn't a deal effectively with a competition and consumer watchdog. Bupa has now admitted to breaches after advising members they were not entitled to private health insurance benefits for their entire claim when that was not true. Now, most of these claims were for hospital treatment.

where two or more procedures were being performed at the same time. Incorrectly, what Bupa did here was reject the entire claim. And in some cases where part of the treatment was covered by the member's policy and part was not,

So effectively, they've been found guilty of misrepresentation towards their own members. As a result, they'll be paying a fine worth $35 million. Lots of feedback about this protest. And my point being that, yes, we have a right to protest. And that's a core part of our democracy. But so many of these protests are in defence of countries where if you did the same thing there, you'd be thrown in prison straight away without any right whatsoever.

Roz says if that woman was protesting in Iran without a head cover, she would be disappeared, not just dispersed. Ben says to these imbeciles that are protesting in our streets, realise you're not going to change a thing overseas. Pull your heads in, realise you're living in the greatest country in the world.

Elizabeth says, yes, yes, try demonstrating overseas. We have rights too to be part of these groups. Rodney says she's a member of the Greens. She hates Israel. She's part of the lunatic left. And Maureen, confine these protests to parks. They can video them if they like. Post it in central Sydney. Let the rest of us be. I mean, the point was they wanted to protest outside this business because this business makes some small component for an aeroplane used by the IDF. It's not

It's not going to change a thing. You've got to view 131873 is my number. New financial year starts tomorrow, and that means there's a lot of changes on the way. A range of fees and charges jump tomorrow, namely road tolls. On virtually every motorway in our city, the tolls go up. Now, because we have a completely electronic system, a lot of us who drive on toll roads, and that's basically all of us, a lot of us won't even realise. Until you look at your monthly credit card statement, you won't even realise you're spending more.

The tolls go up on every road, every motorway, except the minimum on the West Link in seven. Now, these are the ones that stand out to me. The North Connects, to use in one direction, will cost $10.15. The M2, and I'm sure there's a lot of you driving on the M2 right now, the M2 toll, the maximum toll on the M2, goes to $10.15. The Cross City Tunnel, which you spend, what, 55 seconds on maybe? Slight exaggeration, but you're in and out in a minute.

$7.12. The Eastern Distributor, $10.06. So for the first time, the ED jumps above $10. And you are only on the Eastern Distributor. The actual motorway section, the toll part of the ED, you're only on it for about four minutes. And it goes up to $10.06. And then we have the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel. Only charged southbound at the moment, but you watch, that's going to change. It increases to $4.41 in the peak.

And yes, of course, we paid the bridge off long ago.

The justification that the Minister John Graham has given for the increase on the bridge is that the extra revenue raise goes towards funding the $60 toll cap, the policy whereby when you spend more than $60 a week on tolls, you get a refund for every dollar above that $60. But what's happening at the end of the year? The toll cap is lifted. It is not budgeted for beyond the end of this year. It's not in the budget from January 1. So are they going to suddenly cut the Harbour Bridge toll? I doubt it.

Of course they won't. Now, I'm hoping to speak to the minister on the program tomorrow about the way tolls are going to reform because John Graham's under a lot of pressure to do this now. He's leading the negotiations with Transurban. Time is running out. We were promised before the last state election there would be a fairer way that tolls are levied in this city. We're yet to see anything. All we've had is the $60 toll cap, which ends this year, and now two increases on the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel. So what seriously is going to happen next week? From January 1...

We the public, we the voters, erode something and some substantial reform. Now, from the point of view of Transurban, which operates the motorways, I can understand why there's no news on a new tolling system, because why will they accept any less revenue? They won't. And to be honest, nor should they. They have contracts in place that last decades, so they're entitled to their revenue. But in the end, Labor made promises to us to make the toll road network fairer. And right at the moment, they're heading towards absolute failure.

We'll have a closer look at this after four. But if you've got an idea about how we should be paying tolls, you let me know. Because at the moment, it seems that the government is out of ideas. 131873. MG there talking about Boyle's fitness equipment. How many tips did MG get right on the weekend? I mean, he's one of the best rugby league experts we have on 2GB. How many tips did he get? Bet he didn't get eight. MG, I got eight out of eight, hey?

Why is there so much hate for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in their wedding in Venice? We'll talk about that with Peter Ford in just a moment. But firstly, news headlines. Good afternoon, Clinton. Police are reviewing body-worn cameras and will obtain medical records after a former Greens candidate was seriously injured during a protest. Hannah Thomas has an eye injury requiring surgery after she was arrested alongside five others during the unauthorised demonstration at Belmore Hospital.

A gas main has ruptured in Sydney's southwest. Students were quickly evacuated from Ed's high school right before home time. A man's body has been found next to a firearm after an ambush in the US state of Idaho. Two firefighters were killed when responding to a blaze in a northern mountain community.

And the jury in the Mushroom murder trial has left the courtroom to begin deliberations. Justice Christopher Beale has reminded the jurors whatever verdict is reached, it must be unanimous. In sport, Blues coach Laurie Daly admits winger Brian To'o is in doubt for next week's State of Origin decider. The Star Panther is being treated for a knee injury he picked up during his side's win over the Bulldogs.

Clinton, more news at four o'clock. Thank you, Katie. 16 degrees in the city, 17 degrees at Horsley Pike. Peter Ford coming up in just a moment. But on the tolls, how do we reform the system? G'day, Tony.

Yep. Yep.

That was a disaster when they built it. Now they've got the M12 trying to connect to that. So that'll go up. And as you said earlier, that cross-city tunnel, you could walk up from one end to the other. That's got to be the dearest piece of toll road

It's $7.12. And look, I do use the Cross City Tunnel when I drive to work, so it's one of my bugbears, but the M7's a good example. It's distance-based, that is one positive, but how often is it in the afternoons we're talking about dramas on the M7? It's almost a daily event. There's never a discount when you're held up because there's problems on any of the toll roads. Steve says, look, why am I paying a toll cap for

for someone who chooses to use a toll road. It's got nothing to do with me. But Steve, I mean, we pay for hospitals in our state, in our country. You may never go to a hospital. We pay for trains. You may never use a train. I mean, when it comes to the fare revenue that's recovered by the government...

It's nowhere near the amount that it actually costs to run the train system. That's what it is part of, like, living in our society. There's been so much discussion about this wedding in Venice between, well, he's just about the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, and his new wife, Lauren Sanchez. It's caused a lot of controversy. I wonder why it's so controversial. Hello, Peter Ford.

Does it come from a place of envy? I'm not sure. I mean, I know there's an issue there with 100 private jets arriving in Venice for the guests, but they would probably be riding around on private jets anyway, no matter where they were going. I mean, there were only 200 guests there. That's not that jaw-dropping. It wasn't like a three-day thing. That in itself is not extraordinary. I know lots of weddings that I've been to, particularly if they are being held in a location that

people are travelling to, they have a pre-wedding day party, then the wedding day, and then a post-wedding day party. And that seems to be pretty much what Jeff and Lauren did. But there's a lot of hate and anger towards it, even though Jeff Bezos made a couple of million euro donation to conservation projects in Venice. So I'm just not quite sure why there's such...

hate for it all. I must say, the one thing I do think, and I spend a lot of time, I want to say a lot of time, probably half an hour a day, going through paparazzi

from around the world. And a lot of those people who were there, I've never seen any evidence of them even knowing Jeff or Lauren. You know, for example, Sydney Sweeney, who's a young actress. She's kind of hit big in the last year or so. I've never seen photographs of them having dinner together or read about them going to each other's house. And I just am curious about how close some of those people who were invited were.

really are to them. You know, I know when Harry and Meghan got married, Reese Witherspoon was announced as one of the guests. They leaked the guest list and somebody asked her in an interview the week after, oh, you must be excited about going to Harry and Meghan's wedding. And she said, I'm not going. I've never met

them. Why would they be inviting me? But I'm certainly not going. So I just think there could have been a bit of that going on. I'm curious to understand what Lauren saw in Jeff. You may be able to help me out here. But if Jeff, he's been very successful in the retail industry, I understand. But say if he was working at Bunnings.

And he worked in the tools department selling circular saws. And he's, say, making about $75,000, $80,000 a year, and then does a bit of overtime on the side. Would Lauren have still been keen on him? Well, we'll never know, will we? There's no evidence of her ever dating anybody from Bunnings or any kind of tradie or anything. It's a different world, and I think it would be a very exciting...

bizarre world to enter into. I mean, life will never be the same. You know, like poor Holly Valance and her husband are splitting up Nick Candy and he's worth about two billion Australian dollars, billion with a B. So, you know, she's never going to have to go and go back into Neighbours or do another pop record again, that's for sure. And I did read their wedding now some years ago. It cost millions of dollars as well.

Yeah, exactly. You know, and everything's relative. You know, there's no shortage of people, you know, real people in the real world, who go and take out loans and use credit cards to pay for their wedding because they want to impress. And I sincerely doubt that Jeff Bezos is taking out a loan or using a credit card to pay for that. They'd have a prenup, wouldn't they? Oh, you betcha. When there's that much you're craving tonight. Now, tonight from six o'clock, the debut of the new 10 News Plus show.

Yeah, look, give it a go. And even if you're not impressed, give it a go again in the week or two. Things take a while to bed down. There's going to be a lot of eyes on them tonight, a lot of pressure. People will, you know, in the industry, the industry itself likes to eat its own. So most people will be cruel about it tomorrow and be fuelled by seven and nine and a

you know, I'm curious to see what they're going to do and I'm curious to see how it's settled down in a couple of weeks' time. You know, I'd say good luck to them. Another bit of breaking news coming out of Channel 10, though. Jonathan Lapalia has got onto his social media to confirm that he has been dumped as the host of Australian Survivor. He's written here, Australian Survivor has...

seen some of the most epic blind sides over the last 10 years but this one might just be the craziest of them all because it happened to me i received a call from the network thanking me for all my hard work and dedication to the show but for the next season they are going in a different direction the famous last words in the media are they going in a different direction i wonder what's motivated that would that be a cost thing would you think because i mean it's a pretty nice it'd be a

Costing, I wouldn't have thought so. Well, he's indicating the ratings have slipped and they felt they needed to do something drastic. But those Survivor fans are very, very dedicated fans. They don't like people tampering with the format. I'm sure John Stanley will address it tonight because he's one of those fans. That was my next suggestion, that if they want maybe a host on the cheap, I reckon John Stanley would do it for them. You think he and the loincloth would work? He'd be great. Hey, thanks, Pete. See you. Peter Ford.

If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB.

38-year-old man has been discovered in an area about 32km south of Nowa. He disappeared last Wednesday. He was being dropped off for a camping trip and he was then due to be picked up from the same location on Friday. He didn't arrive, so there's been a major search right across the weekend of bushland. Fortunately, today, he has been found safe and well. He was...

In thick shrub off 12 Mile Road, and he's been walked out safely by the emergency services. Piers, he hasn't been injured at all. He looks like he's okay, but they've taken him to the Shoalhaven Base Hospital just to check him out. On the issues of tolls, Colin on the text line. Colin says...

As old mate said, tolls, one of our callers, tolls should be distance based. You can travel from Penrith to Parramatta on the M4 for nothing, a distance of some 30 kilometres. But then if you get on at Parramatta and you go to Homebush, a distance of 10 kilometres, it costs you more than 10 ducks.

So it's not very fair. What Alan Fells recommended in this big report that he compiled for the government is there would be a distance-based system on a sliding scale. So you'll be very careful with the distance-based system that you're not then making it completely impossible for people who live in the outer suburbs to travel because they just naturally have to travel further. But the way it works in fairness, it's not fairness for most Sydney-siders. Now, Anthony's making the point here, and this is a good point.

The eastern distributor is only one way. It's only fair to ease the burden on the western suburbs to make the ED and the bridge two-way. Well, again, part of the recommendations from Mr. Fells, Professor Fells, is it will become told in both directions, both the bridge and the ED. But it would be outrageous if the eastern distributor is told in both directions and it remains a total of more than $10 because you're only on it for four or five minutes. That would be absolutely crazy.

I'm hoping to speak to the Minister, John Graham, who's leading the negotiations with Transurban on the program tomorrow. I'll let you know if the jury comes back in the Erin Patterson mushroom trial. The jury is now considering its verdict. After that long-running trial, the 50-year-old mother of two, of course, is accused of deliberately including death cap mushrooms in the Beef Wellington lunch that she served her guests at their home in regional Victoria back in July of 2023. She is charged with three counts of...

of murder. One juror swore an oath and the others took affirmations not to discuss the evidence with others outside the jury. And they were told by the judge that it's critical to the justice system. Justice Christopher Beale told the group, whatever your verdicts you reach, they must be unanimous verdicts. I now ask you to retire and consider your verdicts.

Two men have been balloted off the jury, which reduces the panel, and that is standard procedure. Reduces the panel from 14 jurors to 12. Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder. If it's happening in Sydney, you'll hear it on Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB.

I was talking about graffiti on the program last Friday, 131873, and I'd like your thoughts on this, about whether it's getting worse in your area. Now, we've been dealing with graffiti problems for decades now. This is not new.

But what I'm finding is that where graffiti is being, what areas are being vandalised seems to be spreading. So clearly I don't think we are dealing with it in the right way. Now we found a member of the community who spends a lot of time removing graffiti from public areas. His name is Roger Norman. He's from Turramurra's Rotary Club and he founded Graffiti Removal Squad. It's been running since 2008. I wonder how it works. Roger joins us. Hello, Roger.

Hi, Clinton. How are you? I'm good. You sound like a good fella. What do you do? Well, I'm retired now, but when I left work, I decided to join Rotaries. I want to do some charity work, and I saw graffiti in the area where I live at Taramara, and I thought that sounds like a good project to get rid of the graffiti in the area. So,

We go out every Tuesday, providing it's not raining or even if there's no graffiti around. And we go out for a few hours and get rid of the graffiti in various ways, yes. So, Roger, the reason I raised this topic on my show on Friday is I was wandering through the CBD the other day and I noticed Telstra phone box or the phone booth that they still have

There was this Telstra worker with his paint scraper out and he was scraping off the graffiti tags. And I thought to myself, geez, what an awful job that bloke has. But you're actually volunteering your time to do it.

Yeah, that's right. It's a good community project as far as Rotary is concerned. And well, as far as I was personally concerned, I didn't want to live in a suburb that was full of graffiti. So it's just a matter of keeping at it, that's all. And that's why we go out almost religiously every week.

Do you find there are areas that you spend a bit of time with your crew removing graffiti and then the next week it just comes back?

Oh, yes. For example, quite a while ago, we had a bus shelter that was every week for about eight weeks, it was perpetually graffitied. But guess what? The ninth week they gave up. So that's the secret, really, that you've got to remove the graffiti in order to make it less attractive for people to put it up.

But unfortunately, there are people that seem to get a bit of fun out of it and go from suburb to suburb and so on and do the graffiti. It's amazing, really. It's very hard to understand why, but they seem to get something out of it and tell their mates that they've been around. What they're doing in Melbourne is they now have a scheme whereby if they find the perpetrators, which is half the battle,

But if they find those responsible, they make them clean it up themselves or they make them pay for it. What would you think about that? Yeah, that scheme is still kind of in vogue here. There's websites that you can put the...

tags onto and if they find or catch someone tagging then they can go back to these records and actually find people or have them up for all the tags, not just the one they were caught on. The trouble with that also is that people have various responsibilities. For instance, if they're kids they might have to go to school

school and so on. And then if you get them to do it at the weekend, that means someone's got to supervise them and so on. And places like councils and the police mightn't be able to do that type of thing at the weekend. So it's not easy. I would like to see something like a deterrent and I don't know whether this would ever work, but

As a penalty, then they get their licence deferred for 12 months or 24 months. So, in other words, if they're 13, 14, 15, 16 years of age, that might kind of make them think twice about doing it. That's just a...

Personal theory. Good idea, Roger. That's a really good idea. That'd probably put a lot of 16-year-olds off if they can't get their licence when they turn seven, eh? Mate, well done for what you do. If you feel that it works, maybe after eight times of removing that graffiti, you're making a valuable contribution. Yeah.

But I must admit we're very lucky that the graffiti has decreased in our area. That's good. But I do go to other suburbs nearby and, you know, unfortunately it's not decreasing. So, you know, I think it's worthwhile to at least make an attempt to get rid of it. Good on you, Roger. Thank you, mate.

Roger Norman, he's from the Graffiti Removal Squad, part of the Tarahumara Rotary Club. Good on him. So as he explained there, yes, he'll go to a spot and they remove the graffiti and then the vandals come back. But after about six or seven times, they start getting the message and they don't come back anymore. Great. I still think if there was a way you could make those who are caught responsible...

I think that'd start to get the message through. I like his idea, though. Say that, you know what, we're going to defer your licence. You won't be able to get your P's when you're 17. That'd get the message through. What do you reckon? Let me know. 131873. It's 9 to 4. Police are still looking for up to 10 people following a stabbing in the south-west last night. A 21-year-old man was apparently set upon

In Auburn Street in Yagoona, just after 8 o'clock, he was stabbed at least three times to his right thigh, was taken to Liverpool Hospital in a stable condition. The initial inquiries from police indicate that as many as 10 people were involved. They fled across the nearby rail corridor to Auburn Street where this man was found. He was taken to hospital.

Police don't yet know exactly who these people are, but they believe it was a targeted attack. Word on the street, thanks to temper, a great night's sleep, night after night. The difference is temper. I've been contacted by Stan again. Now, Stan is one of our listeners who, a couple of months ago, drew our attention to anti-Semitic stickers that have been placed around the grounds of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.

Well, Stan has taken some photos of where these stickers again have been placed up around the grounds of the hospital. And the stickers are vile. For instance, Zionism is racism, Zionism is genocide, and some other stickers that I can't repeat on the radio. Now, the point is, all these stickers have been placed around signs and facilities at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Stan says most of them seem to have been removed and previously when we drew our attention, drew the attention of the health department and the minister, Ryan Park, about this a few months ago, they acted swiftly and they got rid of these stickers. But Stan says while I notified the security services and the general manager of corporate services, there didn't seem much willingness or ability to stop this happening or catch the perpetrator. I fear an employee of the hospital would possibly be in danger, that there could be danger to the Jewish patients or staff at the hospital.

Security services advise me that they're aware of this problem. They've been on the lookout. But I keep finding more of these stickers during my daily walk and I bring it to their attention. They tell me that more CCTV cameras have been added to the budget, but this is cold comfort as there does not seem to be urgency to actually fixing the problem. I'm looking at all these stickers now. He sent me photos of dozens of them.

I don't understand why anyone would think that would be useful if they are passionate about the issues in Gaza. I don't know why placing stickers at a hospital, a place where people go to receive medical attention no matter what their religion is, I don't see how that's going to change anything.

If it matters to you, you'll hear it here. Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard until six. On graffiti, Maureen says perhaps if the graffiti vandals made to cover their parents' homes with graffiti, they might think twice. Mike's in Belgola. G'day, Mike.

Yeah, because they couldn't grow a show. Why don't you just simply make these people who do the graffiti liable for the cleanup cost, but for court cost, but if they can't pay it, you simply garnish it, same as a hex debt. It's applied from the first cent they earn. If someone wants to create a living and get the educated, they've got to pay for it. If they're a criminal, they get away with it. Half the problem is they've got to be able to catch them. It's difficult to catch them. There are so many cameras around these days. It's not as hard as it used to be.

They can if they want to. I mean, there simply isn't the initiative or the desire by police or the authorities to do it because they know they'll just continue. There's no incentive. And if they're thrown in the court, they just get bail straight away. Anyway, good on you, Mike. That is the theme song to Squid Game. Did you watch the first episode or maybe you watched the final episodes in the latest series on the weekend? It was released on Netflix, I think, on Friday night. I sat down to watch it on Saturday night.

And I'll admit now, I fell asleep. Now, Squid Game, I won't recommend it to you because it is horrible. It is some of the most confronting television you'll ever witness.

But because I watched the first series, I was hooked. It's South Korean and it is brutally violent. It's a horrible program, actually. But I've been trapped. But I sat down to watch it and, I don't know, maybe it's because it's Saturday night and I'm getting old, I kept drifting off. So I can't even remember what happened. And I asked my wife afterwards and she said I was a bit boring. But if you saw it, was it any good? And does that happen to you? Do you fall asleep in TV shows that you actually really want to watch?

This is Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. Greatly with you this Monday afternoon. Have you ever heard of this word before? This concept, bombogenesis.

Apparently Sydney and the New South Wales coastline is about to be attacked by a bombo genesis. I don't want to scare you, but this is what the weather bureau is telling us this afternoon. A low pressure system undergoing a rapid intensification or bombo genesis is what is brewing off the east coast and is going to hit us tomorrow.

So what we're being told by the Weather Bureau and the SES, and I spoke to them in the first hour of the show, is there's going to be a lot of rain, particularly in Sydney, upwards of 90 millimetres tomorrow. But also damaging winds. There is a damaging wind warning that affects most of the coast of New South Wales and large hazardous surf. But the term bombogenesis is being used. It is also known as a bomb cyclone.

So, you've been warned.

A bombo genesis is on its way for Sydney and New South Wales. The SES has actually several hundred volunteers now on standby to deal with this potential crisis. And they have issued a few warnings this afternoon. So these are what they call stay informed warnings. So this is the bottom level. But if you, for instance, live along the Upper Nepean River, there could be some minor flooding on the Menangle Bridge and surrounding areas over the next 24 hours.

For the Liverpool region, minor flooding on the Georges River is predicted. And if you're around Milpera again, some minor flooding, you need to stay informed from the emergency services for potential issues around Milpera. So we'll continue to keep you up to date if flooding does occur. So tonight, only a little bit of rain forecast. Most of the rain is going to happen tomorrow. It's likely to come down very quickly. And so what that's going to mean is that Sydney's roads, as we all know,

Don't particularly cope well with heavy rain quickly. Our stormwater drains are not cut out for it. They fill up very fast. So there will be flash flooding on the roads over the next couple of days. If these damaging winds do strike, you can expect fallen trees and that will cause dramas on the roads and the public transport network. But be warned, the bombo genesis is on its way.

Sydney Now on 2GB. It's nine past four, so from tomorrow, tolls increase on most motorways across Sydney. This will include the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel. It's the second time, only the second time, the toll has increased on the bridge and tunnel in 16 years, the second time since the Labor government came to power. So from tomorrow in peak hour, and remember the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel is only charged southbound,

The toll will increase to $4.41. The off-peak rate increases to $3.30. The evening rate will cost $2.76. But if you have a look across the rest of the network, tolls are increasing across the board by varying amounts. And Transurban, the operators of the toll network, they are fully entitled to do this because they have contracts with the state government the last decades. So just to give you a snapshot of what some of these tolls will be, if you use...

If you use the Eastern Distributor, $10.06 the first time the ED, and the ED is only charged in One Direction, but the first time it's been above $10. The North Connects, which is an excellent road. If you're travelling to the Central Coast, depending on where you're coming from in Sydney, it can save you a lot of time.

The NorthConnex will be $10.15. The M7, which is distance-based, its maximum toll will be $10.09. The one that really gets me is the Cross City Tunnel, $7.12 from tomorrow, and you're only on the Cross City Tunnel for about five seconds. I want to talk about what we could do about resolving this situation, well, reforming this situation, making it fairer.

Dr Geoffrey Clifton is a transport expert from the University of Sydney. He's a senior lecturer in this area and joins me. Hello, Geoffrey. G'day. We have expected these increases. They happen periodically every three months in many cases. Do you think our toll system is fair?

At the moment, it's probably not as fair as it could be. Now, we haven't thought historically at why the tolls are different all across Sydney. And part of that is because without the tolls, we just wouldn't have been able to build the network that we currently have. So we do have the tolls to thank for having these roads in the first place. But it does mean that it's really unfair with people paying far too much coming in from one direction to the city than people coming in from another direction. Okay.

So, for instance, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Tunnel eastern distributor, in your view, should they be tolled in both directions? Yeah, I think that would be much fairer. It goes back to the days when you had to have toll collectors and so it made sense to have the tolls only in one direction. Ah, right. But...

And now, yeah, it would make it much easier just to have tolls in both directions, halve the toll, put it on in both ways. And that is the plan from the government's given indication that's likely to happen because when they open the Western Harbour Tunnel, that will be in both directions. So if it's in both directions, they can't leave the other roads in one direction because everybody will just use the other roads. Yeah. Tell me about the concept of a road user's charge.

Yeah, that's the idea that we can't keep funding our roads using petrol taxes because simply people aren't using as much petrol as they used to. I've got a hybrid. A lot of people are driving electric vehicles. And so we're buying less petrol and paying less petrol tax. And so we've got to fund the roads from somewhere else.

So putting a moderate charge on where everybody drives in the network would be fairer and it would spread the load across the city. And it would also let us do things like charging more in peak hours and less in off-peak hours when the roads are emptier. So would you advocate that on roads that aren't currently tolled there'd be some sort of charge?

Yeah, so long as it meant that the overall toll burden across Sydney didn't go up, then yes, I would recommend that. Yeah, cutting tolls elsewhere, putting up tolls where there aren't already tolls. And technically, would it be possible? I guess with electronic tolling and modern GPS systems, it could be.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It wouldn't be too much of a technical problem these days, given that everybody's got mobile phones and you've got GPS devices, et cetera. So what, you could even be copper-charged for driving on a suburban street? That's how they do it in some cities, yeah. It would probably be...

easier sell to get it started on just the very main roads and the whole motorway network and bridges and then rolling it out gradually from there. I mean, politically, no one's ever going to accept being told, being charged a fee on a road they've never paid a toll for. Well, that's why we haven't done it. Even though it would be fairer and would be simpler for a lot of people, the politics of it are terrible. But

Eventually, something's going to have to give because we can't keep relying on petrol taxes. No, and we can't keep slugging some people with these tolls now above $10 in one direction.

It's just unviable for so many people to drive. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And you've got people driving around the tolls, which doesn't solve anything. I appreciate your insight. Thank you, Geoffrey. My pleasure. Geoffrey Clifton, who's a transport expert with the University of Sydney. What do you think about that? I don't think it'll ever happen. It'll be radical. You have a user pay system, and it applies on all roads in Sydney, no matter where you drive. So you might be driving, for instance, along the Hume Highway, which has never been tolled.

suddenly because we have electronic devices that can monitor these things, you'd pay, obviously it'd need to be a much smaller fee. Would that be a fairer system? Whereby you don't pay a toll of say $10 to use the M7, but you do pay tolls on every other road around the M7.

So right at the moment, Alan Fels conducted an expensive and detailed review of Sydney's toll road network. He recommended to the government, effectively on motorways, a distance-based system, but it'd be a sliding scale. So the further you travel, the less per kilometre you'd pay. And the reason why that'd be needed, because it'd be unfair to say people who live at Penrith and travel the whole distance of the M4 all the way to the inner city, it'd be unfair to slug them per kilometre because they'd just be paying an extraordinary amount.

But surely there also needs to be fairness in when it's a short motorway, such as the Cross City Tunnel or the Eastern Distributor. Change has got to happen. Now, my big problem here with the New South Wales government is the fact that they went to the 2023 election promising us a fairer system.

And it's now two and a half years into their term. And all we've seen so far is two increases on the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel, which has been paid off years ago. And the justification for that was to fund the $60 toll cap, whereby you don't pay above $60 per week if you put the claim in. And remember to put the claim in.

But that toll cap is ending on the 31st of December. That was confirmed in the budget handed down last week. There's no funding for it next year. So that means the government, if they're going to live up to their promise to do something about tolls, they have to tell us in the next couple of months, well before the end of December, what the plan is. Well, John Graham, the Transport Minister, and he was the Roads Minister, but he still has the responsibility for toll roads because he's in the middle of negotiations. A lot of pressure on John Graham's shoulders.

We'll talk to him about it tomorrow. If you've got an idea of how to solve this problem, there's no easy solution. Let me know what it is. 131 873. It's 20 past four. You'll see on the TV news with Peter Overton tonight this video of the shark attack at Cabarita Bridge on the north coast. And there are rescue crews and some witnesses in the water trying to assist this teenager who had been bitten by a shark. But as they're bringing him to shore, you see the shark actually...

actually following them, following the group towards the shoreline. So they're trying to get him out and this shark is actually under the water and then you see its tail pop up metres from within the area where they are. Obviously very frightening. Now he's been recovering in hospital, the 16-year-old. Suffered injuries to his arm, wrist and leg yesterday when he was attacked. The bystanders, pretty brave to think they've jumped in the water to help him.

knowing there's a shark right there. And then when you see this video from above, pretty shocking to think the shark actually got so close to them. 131873 on issues about toll roads. G'day, George. How are you? Good, George. First time caller, but long time on the 2GB listener. I'd just like to...

advocate the fact that that person, the professor, the so-called professor that came up and spoke about the tolls. Well, that's fair enough. All well and good. And then he spoke about EV and hybrid. Okay, well then petrol and diesel vehicles get taxed by petrol. Why isn't it that the EV or why isn't it that EV cars and hybrid get some sort of tax through their rego? The problem is the governments have got a really big problem with this one, George, because the Victorian government a couple of years ago tried to introduce such a tax and they

A group representing EV owners went to the High Court and for some reason it was found to be unconstitutional. And it means a precedent's then been set. So different state governments, because the New South Wales government had planned such attacks, they're legally trying to figure out how it can be done. It's not simple, surprisingly. Well, on my behalf it is because, hey, you've all got four wheels on the road. You're driving on the road. That makes sense to me, but the High Court justices didn't agree. Good on you, George. Adrian's in Windsor. Hello, Adrian.

Hey, how you going? Good, Adrian. Yeah, I just hope the government wasn't listening to the guy because I'd hate for them to get the idea to maybe toll us the moment we leave our driveways one day. I reckon they will have thought of it themselves.

Yeah, I've always thought that one day they'll probably think about it and then it starts somewhere and then it just goes crazy. Yeah, no, I don't want to give them any ideas either. I'll be talking to hopefully the Roads Minister, John Graham, about these issues tomorrow. Just some news here from Danica on the text line. Don't forget, if you see something around Sydney that we need to know about, send me a text, 0460 873 873. She says, about 3.40, my train pulled into Macquarie Field Station.

So on the Campbelltown line, and it's still there. And she just sent me this message a couple of minutes ago. It's still there due to a medical emergency. There are no trains getting through to Campbelltown. There are four ambulances. There are three police wagons plus an SUV. Okay, Danica, we'll try and find out what's going on. So it's Macquarie Fields train station. So that's just the next one along from Campbelltown, isn't it? We'll see what we can find out. 131873. Hello, Pat.

Yeah, good afternoon. I know you like your roads and your potholes. My biggest problem is when they're building these M8s and M7s and so forth, is they're moving in cranes and dump trucks

and excavators, and they're using public roads around these areas. Now, this is one that I've been looking at quite considerably. It's near President Avenue at Coggera. They've been building it for about four years, and they're putting plates down on the road. Now, if they're building a tunnel that we're going to use a toll for, show the respect of...

of repairing the road so as we can drive over it, and we might be anticipated of using your toll-free roads, but if you're going to mess up the roads that we're paying taxes for and our cars are getting smashed up so you can build a tunnel to push us down in to pay a toll, we're going to get paid off. You'd be referring to the M6 tunnel. This is going to be another motorway for Sydney. The problem they've got there, Pat...

is the whole project has been delayed and it looks like it's going to be delayed by years because as they were doing the tunnelling, they've interrupted the foundations of businesses nearby and it caused a sinkhole. So it's that whole project, which has been on the drawing board since before I was born to the south, it's a mess, complete and utter mess.

But they wreck the roads with trucks and cranes to build the stuff, and they don't remediate the roads. They should remediate the roads so as they're done accurately and perfectly around the area, so as the roads aren't affected. But they're not doing that. They're just a mess. Everywhere they're building a tunnel, the roads are a mess. In amongst Glebe, it was a mess in there, like

And we're just going to put up with potholes on the road. It's just going on. And then they say, oh, use the toll road. You know, even though we've wrecked your road to build a tunnel, so you've got to pay a tax on. Sydney is the most expensive tolled city in the world. And the Labor Party campaigned effectively on that before the last election. But despite the fact they've now been in power for two and a half years, Sydney is still the most expensive tolled city in the world.

They need to do something about it. Appreciate your call, 131873. Dramas on the public transport network, as is common for this time of the day. So we have a problem at Macquarie Fields train station. A commuter has suffered a medical episode and paramedics and the police are attending to that commuter right now. We've had reports that there are train delays getting through to Campbelltown. We're just seeking clarification from Transport for New South Wales. Donna tells me the police helicopter...

In another part of Sydney, in Padstow, is flying very low, circling around Padstow and Panania. We'll try to find out what's going on there. Troy tells us the Hume Highway, Menangle, the traffic jam is about 10 kilometres long northbound. So that's the Hume Highway at Menangle. We'll get some details on that in a moment. Let's check our news headlines. ♪

Good afternoon, Clinton. A vigorous low pressure system will intensify tomorrow, bringing hazardous surf, heavy rain, destructive winds and the potential for flash flooding. The worst affected areas will likely span from the Illawarra through to the lower mid-north coast.

Police have launched an appeal to find an 18-year-old woman who went missing from her home in Auburn seven days ago. Anisha Satik is being described of being of Indian appearance with medium-length black hair. A new report from the Consumer Watchdog is again warning Australia could face gas shortages by 2028. The federal government has responded by announcing a review of the nation's gas regulations.

and Sydney's Cumberland Council is putting forward a plan to cull pigeons. Growing numbers of the non-native species at suburban shopping strips, parks and other areas has prompted the move. In sport, Blues halfback Nathan Cleary has declared himself a certain starter for next week's State of Origin decider,

He says he's overcome a groin injury after leading the Panthers to a tough win over the Bulldogs. Clinton, more news at five. Thank you, Katie. 15 degrees on the coast. It's 15 degrees in Penrith. You'll recall those two nurses who were charged over a video video

A video that went viral all over the world. Where in the video, they were talking to an Israeli influencer. And these were nurses of Middle Eastern descent. They were saying that they would not treat Jewish patients in their hospital. And they recorded this video while they were on work time as well. They suggested that their non-action within hospital had actually contributed to Jewish deaths. It was outrageous. Apparently it was all a joke.

But these two have been charged, the two nurses, and Ryan Park has also said they will never work in the public hospital system again. News today, they've also been banned from working with NDIS participants for at least two years. People can be banned permanently, mind you, or temporarily, even if they've not worked in that particular sector. We've had confirmation today they will not be working within the NDIS for at least the next two years, and that's a very good thing. We don't want them anywhere near anyone who needs health assistance.

You want to know what's happening in Sydney? Stay tuned to Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. You've been waiting for this, haven't you? You're simply not.

It is Blues Clues time. Ampole State of Origin Game 3, a core stadium on July 9. This is The Decider. We are giving you the chance here at 2GB to be there live. These are the last tickets for Blues Clues. Hopefully you were listening to my good friend Lucy Zelich on the afternoon program. Filling in for Michael McLaren this week, she gave out some Blues Clues about a New South Wales State of Origin legend. Now.

Who is the legend? You had to be listening to Lucy to know. I want you to call the prize line 1-300-722-873. We'll take the second call. 1-300-722-873. And you could win a double pass to State of Origin 3. 1-300-722-873.

Okay, the helicopter that's been flying around Padstow, thanks for this information, Paul. Paul says they are looking for an elderly man. It's a man by the name of Sidney. He was last seen around 10 o'clock this morning. He's 85 years of age, 165 to 170 centimetres tall, slim build, balding grey hair. He was wearing tracksuit, pants and beanie. Sidney suffers from dementia. He frequents the Padstow railway station regularly.

the Padstow Bunnings as well if sighted police say please call triple zero so I've got a few messages thank you Elaine for that as well that's why the police helicopter has been in Padstow over the last hour or so and just confirmation the situation in Macquarie Fields some of the trains are now delayed moving through that train station because somebody has suffered a medical episode in Macquarie Fields at the train station

So that's the theme music to Squid Game. Now, it was with great anticipation I was looking forward to watching the latest instalment on Saturday night. It's a series on Netflix from South Korea. And I hate to admit it, I fell asleep. And after the episode finished, I actually asked Cass, my wife, was it any good? What did I miss? And she said, oh, it was a bit boring.

Miltz, thank you for your email. It says, have you actually watched both season one and two of Squid Game? Because calling it boring makes you think you haven't really given it a proper shot. Oh, no, no. Rest assured, I have watched the first two episodes, the first two series of Squid Game. It's certainly not boring. It's not boring whatsoever. It is confronting stuff. Highly violent. And you're right, it's not for everyone.

I'm simply saying the first episode for some reason sent me to sleep. The first episode of series three. And when I asked Cass, what did I miss? She said it was a little bit boring. I'm going to have to go back and watch it. But does that happen to you? You just fall asleep while watching TV, even if it's something you've really wanted to watch.

Jez says, one of my teenagers constantly falls asleep with the TV on early morning, about one o'clock in the morning. I'll turn it off if he wakes up. He often, though, ignores me and just stays asleep. Go figure. Maybe TV has that sleep-inducing effect on us. OK, let's find a winner for Blues Clues this afternoon. Hello, Nathan. G'day, Clinton. Were you listening to Lucy Zellich's program this afternoon?

Yeah, yeah, sure was. Okay, she gave some clues away. So who is she talking about? It's an Origin legend. So who am I? I played 23 games for New South Wales between 2016-24. Captain must state, I'm known as one of the greatest fullbacks of all time. And my nickname is Teddy. Yeah, yeah, it has to be James Tedesco. Congratulations, mate. Well done. You've won a double pass to go and see Origin 3 Wednesday, the 9th of July. Excellent. Well, can we win? How good is that? Can we win?

Can we win, Nathan? No doubt. Yeah, I reckon. No doubt. We've named an unchanged lineup, and Billy Slater's had to bring in some new players like Josh Papali, so I reckon Billy's worried. Well done, mate. We're going to have more tickets to give away all week, but what I want you to do is listen to Ben tomorrow morning in breakfast because he's going to give you another chance to win. These are your clues that you need when Ben asks you to call tomorrow, okay? So who am I again? I'm the most successful Blues coach of all time.

I've won six series and I've drawn one. I'm a member of Channel 9's commentary team and I host my own podcast, Six Tackles with Gus. Okay, that's easy, isn't it? Who am I? Most successful Blues coach of all time. I've won six series and I've drawn one. Member of the Channel 9 commentary team and I host my own podcast called Six Tackles with Gus. Ben is going to ask you to call tomorrow morning and then I'll have tickets to give away. Levy has tickets and Lucy has more tickets tomorrow.

in the afternoon. It is all thanks to the NRL and Pulse State of Origin. Nothing like it. This news just breaking. Police have now confirmed a critical incident investigation has been declared after a woman was injured in the unauthorised protest at Belmore. On Friday night, police had sought medical information from the 35-year-old woman on multiple occasions since the incident determined if her injuries, the eye injury she suffered, had met the critical incident threshold.

Late this afternoon, the woman solicited provided medical records. These have been reviewed by the New South Wales Police Medical Officer who has determined the level of injury warrants a critical incident declaration. So effectively, what happens? Say police are involved in an incident that results in serious injury or death.

Independent officers from the Professional Standards Command, overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, come in to provide effectively an independent investigation into what's occurred. So when police broke up the protest outside the business in Belmore that supplies some parts to jets used by the IDF...

In the course of dispersing the crowd because they refused to move, we can see on video this woman tumbles to the ground. She was a Greens candidate at the last federal election and suffers an eye injury. Now, she wasn't providing, over the past couple of days, she wouldn't provide a statement to the police. However, the police now have access to her medical records through her solicitor, so it now moves to the next stage. There will be an independent investigation that will be overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. On Sydney Now...

There are suggestions today that our fine city, Sydney, needs a rebrand. That we are considered boring. That our nightlife in particular, compared to other cities around the world, is simply not up to scratch. Well, I thought we should speak with Craig Laundie, our Monday straight shooter, about this because he, of course, is at the centre of the entertainment industry, running the Laundie pub empire. Hello, Craig.

Clem, how are you, mate? Apparently our nightlife's no good. What do you reckon? Well, we're getting back there, but we're still at a hangover period because we've come out of lockdowns pre-all-up COVID and now we are where we are.

But that COVID ended, well, you know, the lockdowns ended, what, two, three years ago. Can we still really blame that for pubs, for instance, opening or shutting early, restaurants not opening late? And I know there are government regulations, but does it come down to simple supply and demand? Do we have demand for venues to be open at two o'clock in the morning?

Look, yes I think we do but it takes a long while for customers to get used to again living like they used to pre all the conditions that were put in place and the government's put in place the late night commissioner and all the changes that that has brought but there is definitely a lag effect.

And, you know, I think we're seeing that. But we will get there. But I wonder whether we will or I wonder whether we even need to because I was fortunate to cover the Olympic Games in Paris for the radio station last year.

and very late at night in Paris, you see people going out to dinner at 11 o'clock at night. It's the same situation in London. But the way the environment works there is so different. The sun goes down at 9.30, 10 o'clock at night. So people intend to do everything later in the day. That's not the situation here.

Yeah, it does for us in summer too, Clinton. Not 10 o'clock at night. Not like it does in Europe. Yeah, look, it does at 8.30, called the 9. So we're a little bit out. But I know we're in the middle of a real cold winter and we're expecting a cyclone bomb of rain in the next 24 hours. But we live, Australians live outside Australia.

and love hospitality and we're coming off seven or eight years of adverse impacts, if you like, but I think we'll get back there. Tell me though, if we were to rebrand, what would you want us to highlight about what is great about Sydney to overseas people, even to people interstate?

Look, we don't have to rebrand. We've got the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, the Harbour. Yeah.

You know, we are a city of world renown, but where I think we're battling is on the economic side of the fence. You know, we have to better advertise the role our universities play, the role that innovation, spin-outs from universities, businesses that arise, and we've got some unbelievable what they call unicorns

In the tech space, Atlassian, Canva, AirTrunk most recently, in the data centre field, we've got artificial intelligence coming, which is the buzzword, if you like, but will change the way we live. We have to better market that we are a place that is stable government, low in red tape,

and open to business. Well, I'll bring Rod in, Rod, one of our callers, and he's actually echoing the thoughts of some text messages I'm now receiving as well. Rod, what do you reckon the problem is with nightlife in Sydney? Well, I think drink prices is one thing. I think when you're paying $15, you know, I've heard people paying $15 for a scooter of beer

I mean, it will kill it right there. I can't see how they can justify paying $15 for a spoon or a beer. I mean, I can go to Aldi and get a six-pack of beer for $12. Also, Craig, when Craig runs pubs, over to you on that one, if someone can go to Aldi and buy one of those no-name beers for a lot cheaper, or some of those no-name beers as well, Aldi, how can you guys in the pub trade justify what you're charging?

Mate, go to Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel open at 2am and you'll pay $8.90 a scooter. Oh, there you go. Hey, Rod, go to Woolloomooloo Bay. Oh, sounds good to me, mate. Sounds good to me. I suppose it's knowing where to go at what time. I mean...

Yeah, look, my sons, I've got a couple of young sons that are about age between 18 and 25. I don't get paid that much. I almost choke when they tell me the prices are actually paid. I'm the same. I was out with my boss the other night at the function. He was at the bar buying some drinks and he has teenage, he has 19-year-old twins. And I said to him, how do your kids actually afford to go out in the way we used to go out?

And he was telling me most kids these days, they drink at home before they go out. I mean, they did that a bit nowadays, Craig, but probably not to the same extent as these days. Yeah, look, they do. It's called preloading. They find a place to have what they call pre's, is the slang for it, and have some drinks there and go out afterwards and have a good time. And look, yes, drink prices in the city...

can be expensive, but, you know, fortunately for us, we've got a lot of suburban hotels and they're a lot more cost-effective out there. But, yeah, look, I get it. It's a cost-of-living exercise at the end of the day.

and understandably, kids are looking for the best value for money. Steve says Tarrant Point Bowling Club has schooners for $9.90. Priscilla says we do need to rebrand our nightlife. We need to be known as a 24-hour city, at least in the CBD. Yeah, the CBD's far from it. This has been slipped under the radar, Craig. Australia's largest green hydrogen project has been axed.

Yeah, look, this is coming out of the Queensland state government has changed hands. The previous Labor government set up a $100 billion fund for these projects. There was a large hydrogen program that was proposed and the Kruiser Fully government has walked away from it because...

Not only could they not make it stack up, the private partnership that was involved couldn't either, and it's not the first. In Twiggy Forest...

Obviously, one of Australia's wealthiest guys made all these overtures about the role that hydrogen would play in the green energy revolution and invested billions in it himself only to walk away from it. So I think this is a very interesting space to watch because we are going headfirst down a renewables market.

focused history. Hydrogen, future I should say, hydrogen is meant to be a centrepiece of it. At the moment, you're two for two on major scale, people walking away from it. I actually went along to the press conferences with Twiggy Forrest and it was the then New South Wales Energy Minister, Matt Keane, who was in partnership with him. They were very enthusiastic about rolling it out, but it just died.

Yeah, look, they can't make it stack up. And this is the thing, you know, we've got so much to play out here over the next, as we roll towards 2030 and the targets that the federal government and state governments have committed to. I mean, you've got the South Australian government has committed to zero targets.

zero reliance on coal-fired power by 2030, you've got the ACT government doing the same, all these things, and they're part of an eastern seaboard grid. It's just crazy. It's...

Yeah, yeah, completely agree. Hey, just lastly, Craig, I guess this is in a way related to the direction of nightlife. More and more of us spend a lot of time at night time on our screens. And it starts at a young age these days if parents let them attach themselves to screens. I wonder whether that's actually going to point towards the way life develops in the future, that people become so accustomed to be at home scrolling that they start doing when they're kids. They may end up never getting to the point where they go out and enjoy the real world.

Yeah, look, some interesting stuff coming out in the last 24 hours on this. The role that, you know, phones and iPads, kids tied to them and, you know, how you parent with that and the pressure with social media, bullying and, you know, the thoughts that come from that with kids at an ever-increasing younger age, you know,

You know, I'm blessed, you know, my kids are through that, got there, you know, beyond that. But, you know, you're a parent now, they're seeing kids as young as five, you know,

confronted with this. My advice to parents, how they're thought it's worth is take the phones off the kids at night time, lock them up and let them have a good night's sleep. Yeah, that's actually what we do with our teenagers. They're not allowed the phones in their bedroom at night once they've gone to bed. No, no way. But it's often the fault of parents like me. Now, we haven't done this, who at a much younger age use those devices as childcare.

Yeah, this is the thing. Your listeners will dial in right now, I'm sure, with anecdotes of being at a restaurant and looking at three-, four-, five-year-olds on an iPad with a dummy in their mouth.

And, you know, which is fantastic. And these things are great education tools, no doubt as well. It's all about balance and setting some rules and parameters around it that suit, you know, suit the way your family lives and limits the time, especially overnight, unsupervised with parents, right?

that limits the ability of these things to turn nasty. Good on you, Craig. We'll talk next week. Good on you, Clem. See you, mate. Our straight shooter on a Monday afternoon, Craig Launey. I'm getting lots of feedback about the prices of going out at night in Sydney. Lars says, you should move to Stewart's Point. You can buy a schooner at Carlton Dry in Aurea, happy hour, $6. Actually, no, happy hour is $5. The standard price is $6.

But then Penny makes the point, Sydney compared to the US and Greece, countries I've been to, Sydney is the most boring, not to mention the most expensive to get around. I haven't been into the city for the past 15 years simply because it's so damn expensive.

I will repeat some of our blues clues in the last hour of the show to give you a chance of winning Origin tickets with Ben Fordham tomorrow morning. Lots of feedback here on the price of going out and having a drink in Sydney. This one from one of our listeners on the text line. It's the price we're being charged for drinks. I went into the city on Saturday night for a basic spirit and mixer. They were charging $24.

This one from James.

The nightlife in both those cities puts Sydney to shame. Locals and tourists alike any day of the week can start with a drink at a cool bar, followed by a nice dinner at a restaurant, usually finished off with some entertainment or another drink in a club. No one ever tells you they're closing up or to move on. The RSA standards are more relaxed than what we experience here in Sydney. This one from Jackie. The other night, Reesby Workers Club, $8.60 for a schooner of Carlton Dry, $16.10...

for a schooner of alcoholic ginger beer. Wow. $16.10 for a ginger beer? So the host of Australian Survivor, Jonathan LaPaglia, has been axed by Channel 10 and Jonathan has confirmed that on social media today. He says the decision hurts like a bitch. Excuse my French. We're going to begin a campaign here on Sydney Now. We want John Stanley to be the next host of Survivor. What do you reckon? News is next.

This is Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. Good to have your company this Monday evening. A bombogenesis is on its way for Sydney. You may have never heard of a bombogenesis before. I hadn't before about an hour ago. But this is a term that the Weather Bureau is now telling us about because Sydney is about to be inundated with a lot of rain, a lot of wind and dangerous surf conditions. A bombogenesis is known as a bomb cyclone.

It is a term, a meteorological term, for a rapidly intensifying low pressure system, characterised by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure over a short period of time, typically 24 hours. And that's what is forecast over the next day. There may be a little bit of rain tonight, but there's going to be a lot of rain across Sydney and the New South Wales coastline tomorrow.

And over the next day or so, some issues, some warnings have been issued by the SES. These are stay informed advice issues. Firstly, for the Georges River, the Milpera area and surrounds, minor flooding predicted on the Georges River. Also in Liverpool, around the Georges, some minor flooding is expected there. And then on the Upper Nepean, the Menangle Bridge and surrounding areas, minor flooding expected there in the next 24 hours.

The Bombo Genesis is likely to bring heavy rain in a short period of time tomorrow. Now, that will mean Sydney's roads will be horrible tomorrow.

If you think they're bad today, you ain't seen nothing yet because, as you know, our stormwater drains do not cope with rain and we're going to get a lot of rain in the next 24 hours. Also, warnings for dangerous surf conditions up and down the coast, including Sydney and damaging winds for much of the New South Wales coastline as well. So you learn something every day. That's a new one for us. We can expect a bombo genesis to strike any moment soon.

You want to know what's happening in Sydney? Stay tuned to Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. Well, this story developing throughout the afternoon and that is the protest that occurred in Belmore on Friday night.

This is where there were a bunch of Greens-aligned protesters who were protesting, demonstrating outside a business that does make components used in aircraft that are flown by the Israeli Defence Force. As a result of the protest, the police descended on the area. They declared the protest was unauthorised and they attempted to break up the crowd. Some of the protesters at the time put it back on the police, saying, what sort of legislation are you using here? Yes.

24 hours. So where does the chemistry end? Under... What kind of legislation is empowering you to do this? Can you name it, please? Because this is actually counter to Lephra. We haven't actually... Mate, mate. Mate, oi, oi, oi, oi! No, no, no! So things then got quite rowdy. The police tried to disperse the crowd. You would see in one of the videos one of these protesters fell to the ground. Hannah Thomas is her name, former Greens candidate in the Prime Minister's own seat.

She has suffered an eye injury and she has now released her own comments, of course, on social media today.

I look like this now because of Chris Minns and Yasmin Katli and their draconian anti-protest laws and their attempts to demonise protesters, especially protesters for Palestine. She has now been charged. She is one of five people who have been charged. Well, the police have confirmed in the last half hour that a critical incident investigation has now been declared. A critical incident investigation is whereby when there is a serious injury or death suffered when police are involved.

So what occurs here is there will be an independent investigation that will be led by the Professional Standards Command and there'll be oversight provided by the LECC, that is the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. And they will examine whether the police conduct on the scene was over the top. Now, obviously, Ms Thomas is claiming that's the case, but she now has her own charges to fight.

Until 6, this is Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. Call now, 131 873. We've been following the plight of people on the mid-north coast and the Hunter Valley very closely over the past month since I was broadcasting the program from Taree in the days after the floods.

And there has been so much frustration from everybody that I've spoken to, from farmers to small business operators to locals, about the way this flood and the emergency has been classified. Well, there was another protest in Kempsey yesterday, and more than 1,000 people turned out to take part in this demonstration. And the reason there is so much frustration...

is that this disaster had been categorised as a C. Now what that means is primary producers, farmers, they're entitled to government grants that are worth $25,000. But this is what's very confusing. From everybody that I've spoken to, they all tell me that the damage suffered during this flood crisis is a lot worse than what was suffered in this particular area in 2021-2022.

Yet that was a Category D and this is a Category C. Well, today the Minns government has now put an application in for Category D classification. It's the federal government that actually makes the decision on that. It's not the Chris Minns government. They have waited a while to actually put this application in, but they have now done it, better late than never. Michael Jeffery is a dairy farmer. He is the chair of Norco and took part in these protests yesterday. Thanks for joining us, Michael.

Thanks very much, Clint. I can really understand why you're so frustrated because I saw the damage that many people suffered, particularly around Taree, and it looked far worse than what is considered Category C.

Oh, without a doubt. And it's, you know, the Taree area has been hit by a one in 500 year event here on the Maclay in the Kempsey area, like a lot of other areas up and down the coast. This last flood has been higher than a lot of the other events that have been classified category D in the past. It's good that it appears the state government's now reacting, putting in this application, but it's still a decision for the federal government. So they seem to all be waiting a long time to make these changes. Yeah.

Far too long. Far too long, Clinton. I think, you know, we're about, what, 39, 40 days after the event now.

Farmers, small business owners have got to make serious decisions in a timely manner. We've got farmers that have got to make decisions. Do they cull more cattle to try and afford to buy the hay that feeds the rest of the herd? These are critical decisions that should have been made weeks ago. And I think that's just added to the frustration that this whole process has just taken so long and everybody feels as though we've been ignored.

And timeliness is important for farmers. I mean, many of our listeners aren't farmers, obviously, Michael. We broadcast primarily to Sydney. But just explain to me, you mentioned the decisions on feed, on hay. Why is it important that a fast decision was made?

Well, look, it's an incredibly tight A market. It's incredibly expensive. To give you an idea, in the first three weeks after the flood, for my own farm, I had to spend over $100,000 on four B double loads of hay. It's $26,000 a B double load, and we go through a B double load a week. Now, they're the sort of decisions that farmers have got to make almost on a daily basis. Do they cull more cows? No.

how do they find a way forward? How do they fix some of the damage that occurred? In reality, we're not even at the stage of even thinking about fixing some of the damage that's occurred. We're just trying to keep our cattle healthy and well fed. So tell me about your experience, Michael. How is your farm?

Look, we were completely underwater. We've reduced our milking herd from about 350 to 210. Production's now significantly destroyed. Our laneways, which are very expensive to fix, have been destroyed. And, you know, as I said, we've already purchased over $100,000 and I've ordered another $26,000 worth of hay today. And you guys do it tough enough dealing with the big supermarket chains as it is, I'd suspect.

Well, look, I think this is the key point. Farmers don't want a handout. We don't want a handout. The trading environment that we have to operate in is largely determined by government and government policies to a degree. The impact of the floods, government...

decisions and government policy has an impact on that when we consider the increased pork and flow because of levies around towns or highway bypasses. There's just not the margin there for farmers to be able to top this sort of a hit.

and this money, if it does come through, isn't just for the individual farmers. That money will get spent back in the local community and supports local businesses that are also struggling, and there's a huge multiplier effect from any funding that comes into the region. Keep up the fight, Michael. The attention now turns to the federal government. It'll be their decision whether this is a Category D. It should be. Thank you, mate.

Thank you very much for your time. Michael Jeffery, who's a dairy farmer, the chair of Norco, took part in the protest yesterday at Kempsey. So the men's government finally has done the right thing here, putting an application for Category D disaster funding. It's now up to the feds. Foreign Minister Penny Wong is here to save the day. Thank goodness. Good luck. She is travelling to Washington to argue against the Trump administration's

move to increase tariffs and she'll be joined by Kevin Rudd. Now just bear in mind they haven't secured a meeting with Donald Trump himself and Anthony Albanese. He can only dream of having a meeting with the US President. I think that members of the US administration who meet with Senator Wong and at least she's going and Ambassador Rudd, I don't think they'll be shaking in their boots but in a week's time these new tariffs are due to come into effect and

Mr Albanese has spoken about this today and he says the government is not giving up on trying to secure these reductions in tariffs. We'll continue to put our case forward that it shouldn't be 10, it should be zero. That is what a reciprocal tariff will be. We have a US free trade agreement of course and we're put forward.

very clearly our arguments will continue to do so. Donald Trump himself says countries all over the world will soon hear from the US and his administration about their final determination on tariffs. We'll say congratulations, we're allowing you to shop in the United States of America. You're going to pay a 25% tariff or a 35% or a 50% or a 10%. So it's part of Mr Trump's negotiation.

It doesn't really help that the PM can't actually get a meeting with the US president. We can understand why he didn't in a G7. Donald Trump had to leave Canada early, but obviously he wasn't going to get one at NATO either. Otherwise, Albo would have been there. And then we continue to have Kevin Rudd as our front man for the negotiations. Just remember...

But before Kevin Rudd was our ambassador, when he was just our former PM, he said that Donald Trump was a destructive president, a traitor to the West. And before the last election, this was Donald Trump's position on the Rudster. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he's not the brightest bulb, but I don't know much about him. But if he's at all hostile, he will not be there long. Well, he's still there.

So I don't hold much hope that Mr Rudd is going to have much joy as he negotiates with the White House. 18 past five. The jury is now out in the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial in Victoria. Seven News tonight reporting that supporters of Patterson have actually erected black tarps in the last couple of days around her home in regional Victoria. The 12 jurors have begun deliberating. She, of course, has been charged with three counts of murder, jailed,

Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather all died after eating mushrooms at her home. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson...

was the survivor. Of course, Aaron Patterson has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Word on the street, thanks to Temper. Temper, a great night's sleep, night after night. The difference is Temper. If you see something around Sydney that you want us to investigate, send me an email, 2GB.com. We've got some good issues we're going to have a look at this week as part of Word on the Street. Don't forget, the email is best2GB.com. Lots of feedback here about how expensive it is to go out in Sydney and maybe buy a beer.

have a few drinks. There's a suggestion today that Sydney needs an official rebrand because we're not doing well compared to other cities, that our nightlife is poor. Well, based on the feedback I'm getting from you, the reason we're struggling is because it costs too much to actually go out.

John says, I just got back from a holiday in Greece and the prices of food and other things there were so cheap compared to Australia. A meal for two, $25. Having some chicken out in Sydney. Packet of cigarettes over in Greece, $7.50. I'll have something to say about that in a moment. This one from another one of our listeners. Talking about cheap beer, you go to Lidcombe Bowling Club. They sell schooners of tap beer, $6 all day, every day. Look, clubs are very different to...

Pubs are there to make a profit. Clubs do reinvest in their membership base. Blair says, here in Airlie Beach, so up north, a pint of beer is $18.50.

How could anybody afford to drink beer? A listener sent me a message a couple of days ago asking me to stop talking about illegal cigarettes and illegal tobacco. He was pleading with me, saying, we can't afford to buy the real stuff. If we keep talking about this, the government might actually wake up and do something about it. So please don't draw attention to it anymore. Well, it's too late for that because plenty of us are now talking about this scourge. And here's the reason we're talking about it. Innocent people are being shot and more people...

will have their lives put at risk unless this industry, this illegal industry, is brought under control. It is now two weeks to the day. The two gunmen entered that kebab shop in Auburn, M Brothers Kebabs, and attempted to commit kill Samanjan Azhari for a fourth time. This Azhari seems to have a knack of escaping execution-style murders. They didn't manage to kill him, but they did manage to shoot an innocent woman,

who was just doing her job, making kebabs. Police are still looking for the gunman. I've got full confidence that the cops will find those responsible. Task Force Falcon doesn't muck around. But Azari is considered a key underworld figure in this city. Why are his opponents trying to kill him? Well, we don't know. That's not clear. But in court documents, he's been linked to a huge tobacco rip at Condell Park. Now, a rip is where one criminal gang tries to steal from another criminal gang.

And it's staking this particular rip $4.5 million worth of illegal tobacco. And that's the problem. The criminals are moving from cocaine. They're still doing it. They're still trading in cocaine. But increasingly, they're trading in illegal tobacco because there's so much money to be made.

The entire illegal tobacco market, as the name would suggest, illegal, is controlled by criminals. And they control their trade with violence. And innocent people are being caught up in the violence that's now happening. Over the weekend, the state opposition unveiled a policy which will see tobacconists selling fake cigarettes shut down. And they're going to put some legislation to Parliament. But they don't have the numbers in Parliament, so it might not get anywhere. Kelly Sline, the shadow health minister, was with Ben Fordham yesterday.

This morning, talking about it, and I'm going to talk to Ryan Park tomorrow on this program about what the government's doing about tobacco control. The Coalition has also revealed the only new money in the budget to deal with tobacco issues is $2.4 million to develop an app to discourage young people from vaping.

And then over five years, there's $48 million to double the number of health inspectors and to roll out a new tobacco licensing scheme. So I'll ask the health minister about that tomorrow. But far tougher action than that is needed. The opposition's shut down policy is a start. But we need to reduce the demand for illegal tobacco. And that starts, as unpalatable as it is, it starts with reducing the federal excise rate.

And if that doesn't happen, this trade is just going to continue because I understand why you want to buy cheap cigarettes. Completely understand.

But the result is innocent people are being caught up in violence. Michael on the text line says it is impossible to fix the problem with cigarettes now. It's just the same as drugs. We're now fighting an unwinnable war, just like drugs. And they're no different. It's now never going to change. While a legal packet is $50, they will never win the battle. And that's why I think the government's going to have to look at the exercise. As difficult as that is, and I hate smoking as much as the next person who doesn't smoke.

But we've now got a situation that usually law-abiding smokers are now doing the wrong thing. Hey, I did say I'd give you those clues again for Blues Clues, your chance to win State of Origin tickets for Ben Fordham tomorrow. It's a Who Am I? I'm the Blues' most successful coach, winning six series and drawing one. I'm the Blues' most successful coach,

I'm a member of Channel 9's commentary team and I host my own podcast, Six Tackles with Gus. Make sure you're listening to Ben Fordham tomorrow when he asks, who am I, for our Blues clues and your chance to win tickets to Ampile State of Origin Decider. There is nothing like it. Let's check our news headlines. MUSIC

Good afternoon, Clinton. A critical incident investigation is underway after a former Greens candidate was injured during an arrest at an unauthorised pro-Palestinian protest in Belmore. Hannah Thomas sustained a serious eye injury.

A measles alert has been issued for Sydney. The infected person visited the Sir Reuben restaurant in Roselle on Sunday the 22nd of June and Concord Emergency Department on Saturday the 28th. Juries in the mushroom murder trial have wrapped up deliberations for the day. Two jurors were balloted off, leaving five women and seven men to decide Erin Patterson's fate.

And a hiker missing from the south coast has been found. The 38-year-old man was dropped off for a camping trip south of Nowra last week and has been found uninjured in thick shrub. In sport, veteran Australian batsman Steve Smith is confident of returning from injury in this week's second test against the West Indies.

Smith has been sidelined after dislocating a finger. Clinton, more news at six. Thank you, Katie. 14 degrees in the city, 13 in the west. And don't forget the Bombo Genesis forecast for tomorrow. Deb Knight hosting Money News tonight from seven o'clock. Hello, Deb. Hello to you, Clinton. Happy end of financial year. Well, I did describe... Break out the champagne and the fireworks. Well, I did describe it earlier today as New Year's Eve for accountants because...

Stop those fireworks. Could not be further from the truth. This is their night of nights. And then tomorrow, it's like Christmas Day and New Year's Day all wrapped into one. Yeah, the nerds love it. The financial nerds love it. They're going off. But they have good reason to love it because it's been an absolute tear. Listen to those fireworks go. The share market finished...

over 10% higher for the financial year, which no one would have predicted back in April when we had the market crash off the back of the Liberation Day tariffs from Donald Trump. So super funds, the share market performed really strongly this financial year. So it's been a really great way if you've got money and all of us do with our super funds.

in shares. We all benefit that. I just touched a little earlier on Penny Wong's trip to Washington that she'll be taking. The Trump administration should announce in the next week or so what the finalisation of tariffs is for the whole world. Well, July 9 is the date that's looming, the deadline for when the country-specific tariffs will resume. And so the deals are being done. That's leading to a lot of optimism too within Australia

not just our own market, but markets around the world. The Wall Street finish was close to record highs on Friday, and that saw our share market have a really strong day. We shot out of the blocks, the ASX 200. It was up one third of a percent or 28 points higher. Again, inside of all-time highs and healthcare stocks, they really led the way. But it is that hope of a deal being done. We've already seen China and the UK doing trade deals with the US, Canada, Taiwan, India.

India, Indonesia all expected to. Canada's lifted the tariff that it put on tech companies as a bit of a peace offering. But we'll find out if Australia is the beneficiary of this, hopefully very soon. Now, Deb, do you know this TV show?

That is the theme to Squid Game. Oh, yeah. I believe the most successful Netflix program of all time. I think I might have heard it being played on one of my TV watching teens over the course of the weekend, watching Squid Game. Squid Game 3 was released. The series 3 was released on Friday night. I fell asleep during the first episode. That's riveting, huh?

Were you just tired? I must have been tired. It's a very confronting program. Doesn't everyone die? Don't they all get killed? The whole aim of it, basically. It's actually pretty horrible stuff. But Netflix is accounting for a huge proportion of our TV viewing now. Streaming services are on the rise. We know that. Of course we do. But Netflix is the big dog here in Australia. About 10% of all eyeballs is what it captures. It's followed by YouTube, which has got about 8% of the market.

And they're all dwarfed, of course, by the aerial TV. That accounts for just under 62% of all viewing. But the fact that the streaming services are rising and increasing as much as they are, advertisers are putting dollars into it. And the younger demographics, any young person who ever watches Free to Wear in your life, I'm not sure, the rise and rise of the streaming services...

Of course, it's all sort of settling down, but it's just interesting. Austam has released the survey, the research today, of who is capturing which eyeballs, and yet Netflix is the big player from the streamers. I was probably about six or seven years ago, I was co-hosting a technology hour on the radio.

And our expert at the time was telling me he had kids who were about five and six. And he was telling me that his kids never watched free to wear. And this is five or six years ago. And I couldn't quite understand what he was talking about, but, but he's being a tech expert. His house was ahead of the game. They were very much watching streaming services then. So it's not,

it's not necessarily brand new technology, but it's just gone crazy. Yeah, and the fact that people watch it on anywhere on their own devices. But we know that the free-to-air is looking at ways of capturing the market. Okay, we are owned by Nine Entertainment, but you've got to say with Nine, they've certainly been ahead of the game for the commercial free-to-air TVs because they've had a lot of success with Stan. And knows for a fact that it's new services and it's sporting events that are the

Big tentpole things that people keep coming back to. So, you know, Nine leading the way in a lot of those areas. Look, we have no knowledge of this as a case, but there's been reports over the weekend that when the NRL broadcast deal comes up for negotiation, Nine reportedly will put the foot forward to bring it all into stand and Nine.

Yeah, well, it's a really... And Fox tells ownership has changed now to the international company design, so it's a different ballgame. Yeah, and we know Stan is capturing a lot of the big sport events, so, yeah, it's continuing. My kids watch Free to Wear, they watch A Current Affair, I make them on a Saturday night. Deb, we'll hear you with money news tonight from 7 o'clock.

You want to know what's happening in Sydney? Stay tuned to Sydney Now with Clinton Maynard on 2GB. Now, I'm just having a look here at the 2GB presenter tips for round 17. And I'm just going through the tips here. It appears one of our analysts who was paid for his expertise when it comes to rugby league to analyse the game in depth, to provide cutting commentary...

tipped five out of eight on the weekend. And I can just see somebody who's just paid to present a general radio program, Sydney Now, tipped eight out of eight. Hello, MG. Oh, my goodness, my goodness, my goodness. Good afternoon, Clinton. Well done, buddy. Well done on picking the round. I think it was a...

A very hard round to pick, and the fact that you did it gets you off the bottom of the ladder. And unfortunately, Marcus Levy now sits at the bottom of his own. Levy, the head of the continuous call team, is coming last. I'm coming second last. But at least I tipped. And you know how I got to eight, MG? You know what the secret was? Yeah, I know. You picked against your shark. Being disloyal.

I know. I can't say anything more about not picking your sharks because you had the last laugh. It looks like Gal was the only one to tip the sharks. And if a club immortal didn't tip the sharks, we'd have real problems. Very, very true.

What have the Origin teams announced today? Well, they were. Last night, they started to filter through. And New South Wales, obviously, named the same 17 with young Jacob Kiras earning himself the 18th player jersey, which is a nice reward for him. And especially with Brian Toto in a little bit of doubt, he would be a fantastic fix on that wing. Meanwhile, Queensland have delivered not one, but two bombshells. The first...

The return of Papa, Josh Papalihi at 33. He retired from rep footy in the lead-up to the 23 Origin Series. The second one, perhaps one of the boldest calls in Origin history, is naming Gemmett Shibazaki in the centres. He's a 26-year-old journeyman,

He skyrocketed into the Queensland team just months after he joined the Broncos. Listen to this, on a train and trial contract. So this is one of the best stories in rugby league this year. Along with his centre, Toya, who basically was picked after playing 10 games.

for the Roosters, they were perhaps the least experienced centre duo ever in origin. So well done. Well done for being bold, Billy Slater. I commend him for it. And we're going to hang on our hands quick in a week and a half. Look, I'm not going to tell Billy Slater how to pick his side, but I think it's a bit of a curious one because I think Valentine Holmes plays better

In the centres than the wing? I'm with you. And you could then, you keep him in the centres, you keep Hammer on the wing, and then you bring Rhys Robb, Rhys, who's me what? Walsh. Walsh, my brain's just eluded me there. Maybe he's not got confidence in Rhys Walsh's fitness? Shit.

Well, that's what he said. He said his knee is still a problem. I thought he might have went similar to what you said. I would have said maybe Val Holmes in the centres and maybe bring someone like a Murray Tuolagi onto the wing and put the hammer full back. But he did score four tries on the weekend, the hammer. So he's in scintillating form. And I think it's with the former Calum Ponga of late, and let's say our best to Calum Ponga, who had a Liz Frank injury. So basically he's...

His season's over. It's not just his season over. It's the Newcastle Knights' season over. Yeah, it is, mate. Every week they don't win. Adam O'Brien's name gets mentioned as one of them coaches who might sell. But Desi Hazle probably leads it now after having the Titans on the bottom of the ladder. Now, I thought this was a bolt from the blue late this afternoon. You might have more intel than me that Freddie Fidler has rejected the chance to be the Kangaroos coach.

I must confess, it shocked me, yeah. I haven't really spoken to Freddie about the role in the lead-up to this decision, but I thought the job was his, basically. I thought that he would get the job. But now I suppose it's out of Cameron Smith and Kevi Walters for the job, and both have represented Australia with a plomb. And the cover of the position will go to one of them guys, I would imagine.

But yeah, Freddie, I suppose he's excited that he wants to concentrate more on his media. He's obviously got a podcast. He works with Channel 9. So, you know, I suppose when you go on a kangaroo tour, which this kind of is one for eight weeks, it's a long time to be away from your family and friends. Oh, yeah, yeah. Look, it's up to him. And Freddie's great at what he does with the media. So we would miss him if he had to reduce some of those commitments. I just reckon that the kangaroo, I think it's fantastic they're going to bring kangaroo tours. I just, I don't think this is the case. But,

I hope when this tour happens at the end of the year, they play a couple of midweek games against Wakefield and Hull.

Yep. I don't think they're going to, but that'd be great. Oh, they should be. I grew up like most kids watching the Kangaroo Tour as you get up at three in the morning or two in the morning and watch their midweek games against Warrington and Huddersfield and all that type of stuff. Now, I think they're going to United Emirates for a couple of games, I think. I don't really know the itinerary, but then they had the Ashes series against the Englishmen over there, which they'll be willing. They're going to be willing. I think we'll be too strong for them, but

They're going to be a willing counterpart. Yeah, well, the Poms will find a few more Australians. They can convert, like, Victor Radley and AJ Brimson. Well, Victor's dad's English. Victor's dad isn't. Well, it doesn't mean he's English. Well, he's got the genes, mate. He's got the shark genes. He's got the English genes, mate. You know what I mean? I've got grandparents. I've got grandparents who are from Tonga and Samoa.

I'm not. Yeah, so you're laughing at me. I do, right? Wow. I have a... And my grandma was from Fiji. I'm from all over the islands, right? Does that mean I could play for Samoa? Yes, it does. That's ridiculous. Have you seen how I'm built?

I would love to see you on a footy field with shoulder pads and a tape around your head and getting that ball up the sideline. Go, Clinton, run, mate, score, go. Hey, MG, quick one without notice. Coles has just, this has just come to me, Coles has just announced they're recalling their one kilogram jars of Coles Smooth and Coles Crunchy Peanut Butter.

No. The best before dates of the 5th of February, 2027. So if you've got the smooth peanut butter or the crunchy, one kilogram, best before the 5th of February, 2027, take it back to your coal supermarkets. But it does raise the question, MG, what do you prefer? Smooth peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter? Crunchy every day of the week. You know, apparently you can actually buy a combination of the both. Oh, no. Right? Wow. It's called smoochie.

It's PICS Smoochie Peanut Butter. It is the perfect blend of smooth and crunchy peanut butter in the one jar. You know what? That's the name I'm going to call my next dog, Smoochie. Smoochie. Good on you, MG. We'll talk tomorrow. See you, buddy. Bye-bye. Yeah, just confirming on a serious note, if you do have in the cupboard Coles Smooth Coles Crunchy Peanut Butter in the big one kilogram jar with a best before date of the 5th of February, 2027, you're

A recall has been issued. There is potentially some contamination and it can cause illness if consumed. So please take it back to Coles Supermarkets if you do have that peanut butter. Music

Okay, it's time for Clinton's quiz. I need two contestants to play this afternoon. I've got double passes this week to give away to the F3 Polo event. I heard Fordo talking about this. This is a day of polo, music, fashion and food. It is F3 Polo. It's an experience like no other at Centennial Park, Saturday, November 8th, but we have tickets to give away. You can check out all the details at this website, f3polo.com.au.

Hit the phones now if you'd like to play the quiz. 131 873. Police have just told us they've charged 89 people and 72 drivers who've returned positive drug tests during a high visibility road operation across Sydney, the Illawarra and the South Coast across the weekend. Operation Fume ran from Saturday night through until Sunday morning. So effectively Saturday night, early hours of Sunday morning. It targeted drug and alcohol related driving offences right across the city, but also on the South Coast.

Over the period, they breath-tested 4,850 drivers, 25 positive breath tests. But they conducted 525 roadside drug tests, so much fewer, but they found 72 positive, including cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine. 310 traffic infringements issued, 52 speeding fines.

43 unauthorized drivers. So what did 43 unauthorized drivers consist of? 14 who had a suspended license, 25 didn't have a license at all, and four had been disqualified.

Let's find some winners. We've got a double pass to give away to this fabulous F3 polo event.

which is an unforgettable day of polo, music, fashion and food at Centennial Park. It's coming up later in the year in November. If you want the details, f3polo.com.au. Jess, have you ever been along to polo?

I actually, I spent two weeks down in Victoria at a polo training club as a stable hand. Oh, really? So I absolutely love it. It's amazing. I mean, I can't do it, but watching them train the horses to do it is incredible. Wendy, have you ever been to the polo? I've been to the polo cross and I played polo cross when I was a lot younger. Right.

We've just a little bit of a step down from polo. Still, we've got a lot of people interested in polo listening to this program and didn't realise. Wendy, you can go first. Your 30 seconds starts now. Aldi was founded in which country? Germany. Correct. What is the name of Donald Trump's wife? Melania. Correct. What are the two colours in the Scottish flag? Blue and white. Correct. Name the eldest son of Prince William.

Could be future king. Pass. George. And who is the federal... I'll finish this one. Who is the federal opposition leader? Mrs. Lee. I'll give you that. Susan Lee. She's not making a real good impression so far if you don't remember her first name. You're on four, Wendy. Okay, Jess, your 30 seconds starts now. Who are the current Formula One Constructors World Champions? They won last night's race as well. Pass. McLaren. Where was the NATO conference held last week?

Or Canada? No, the Netherlands. In what year did the Penrith Panthers and the Cronulla Sharks enter the Sydney Rugby League competition, 1963 or 67? 63? No, it's 67. How many legs does a three-legged dog have? Three. Correct. You got one, Jess. I got one. I tried. Sorry, Jess. Thanks for playing. Hey, well done, Wendy.

Thank you. We'll send you out some tickets to go along to the F3 Polo event, which is November 8th in Centennial Park.

Fabulous. Thank you so much. And 2GB. Good on you, Andy. Henry Lawthorne Drive is closed in both directions between the M5 and Cheetle Street. East Hills has been a crash there involving a truck and a van. Please avoid the area if you can. Coalsmooth. I shouldn't laugh. This is an issue. Coalsmooth and crunchy peanut butter. Those one kilogram jars are now being recalled with a best before date of the 5th of February, 2027. We've given lots of messages about this.

David says, regarding peanut butter, the best peanut butter is actually Aldi's American Style Crunchy. It's yum. Robert says, don't tell me the recall is because it may contain nuts.

A preview of what's coming up on Wide World of Sports. Thanks to the most Australian Kia ever developed. Kia's first ever ute, the Kia Tasman. Request a test drive. Find out more at kia.com.au. The ping pong champion himself, Adam Hawes, hosting Wide World of Sports. Did you win your ping pong match? You know I'm up against Levy. Tomorrow. So Levy won his first round. Yeah, so he's going head to head with me tomorrow. Who did you play in the first round? Mia. Mia.

Oh, from digital? Podcasting? Yeah. It was a tough battle, but I emerged victorious. I'm up against Brian from our sales department, who I understand... Brian's got nothing. Oh, no, I haven't played since I was 12. Hey, congratulations on your 8 out of 8. How about that, eh? You are flying up the ladder. Disloyalty finally pays off. Well done. Hey, we've got a big show coming up. Brad Fittler's coming on, as you touched on with MG. Yeah, he's rebuffed the kangaroo's job, so he won't be replacing Mal Meninga. So this will be his first comments on that.

Freddie's got to do what's right for him, but I think it's a bit of a disappointment for league fans. I think it would be great. Yeah, I thought he was a good fit. So we'll get all the answers from the man himself when he joins me on Wide World of Sports. Who's next? Is it going to be Cam Smith? Is it going to be Kevi Walters?

They could be next cabs off the rake. The thing is with that Cam Smith, I mean, he's considered maybe the greatest of all time, but he's never coached before. I know. Tell a lie. I think he coaches his son on the gold. Yes, that's true. Yeah. So many questions. His son's in the under eights, mind you. We'll also discuss your Sharky sliding out of the top eight. Thanks for that. And we'll cross to Wimbledon with Craig Gabriel. It gets underway tonight. Just in regards to the Sharks, just bear in mind, you put the buys. If everyone gets the even amount of buys, the Sharks are actually well entrenched in the top eight. You're out of the eight.

Thanks. Pawsey coming up with Wildwood of Sports tonight from Sixth Point. Deb Knight with Money Usually Seven before John Stanley in the evening. Don't forget, Ben Fordham tomorrow giving away State of Origin tickets. You need my clues. Thanks to your company over the past few hours. That's in the end.