'When was the last time this happened?!' - Monster trucks sing anthem, prompting public discussion
14:31 Share

On Sydney Now. You can't handle the truth. The Straight Shooters. Lucy Zilich is our straight shooter for a Wednesday afternoon. She's been walking the streets of Bradfield over the past couple of hours. Ha, ha, ha.

Every week I'm somewhere, according to you, everywhere but here. Just before we get into the big issues that we're going to discuss, what do you make of what's transpired this afternoon with the confirmation that Giselle Kapturian has lost for the Liberals and it's been won by Nicolette Bullard, the Teal? It was a very tight race. And I want to pick up on the points that you made earlier in the program, which just speaks to how much scepticism and how much more scrupulous we need to be when it comes to the polls, right, and all of these... Yes, didn't they get it right? Well...

And I was, I think, you know, going back to the lead up to the actual election, I kept kind of reinforcing that message because we've seen it time and time again when the polls are suggesting that it's leaning towards this way and we were all anticipating that it was going to be a minority government and that, you know, Labor would have to strike deals with, you know, the Teals as well as the Greens in order to get things through in Parliament. And look at it. They're sitting on 93 seats and it was, you know, an overwhelming and historic victory. So...

For me, I think the bigger question was around, and I asked you this earlier off air, do you think that the Liberals will be in a position and the Captarian crew will be in a position where they would like to actually challenge this? Look, having been on Air for the past hour and a half since this news broke, I haven't been able to speak with my contacts within the Liberal Party. But what's your feeling? What do you think? My gut feel is they won't.

But being such a tight margin, I mean, we're talking about 26 votes here. I've just got a feeling they might just now want to put a line in the Senate and get on with the next parliament. Mind you, they have very high hopes for Giselle Kapturian. I've been told this by numerous people that the Labor Party at a New South Wales level really wanted her to win because they don't want her in state politics. She's well regarded. She's fantastic. So they don't want her switching her attention to a state seat in the next parliament.

state election. So look, I don't know because I have not spoken to people in the last... But she is a moderate too though, Clinton. She is a moderate. So would have it worked in Bradfield? I had a couple of our listeners make this point on the text line that if they had a right-wing candidate, they would have been successful. There you go. So this whole... What do you think? Do you think a right-wing candidate in Bradford would have been successful? Well, here's the thing, right? I don't live in that electorate, so I think it'd be more difficult for me to make a call on that. But what I will say is this, and it's been the point that I've been making this entire time, particularly in the fallout of the election, right?

The Liberal Party and, well, the LNP, they stood for nothing and they became nothing. So they were this kind of whitewashed, very much sort of, you know...

reticent side that didn't want to get involved in so-called right-wing politics, which I just seem to think are more commonsensical policies, because they were so scared of it being likened to being too Trumpian, etc. What I say to people is, tell me what you feel were the real right-wing radical policies that they pushed forward. This whole argument about, oh, they were too right-wing, my concern is that they actually weren't conservative enough. And

And when you can very, very rarely find too many differences between the parties, I think now you're having a problem where you think, well, who and what are we voting for now? They've got a serious identity crisis, the Liberal Party. I wish all the constituents of Bradfield and the other two seats all the best, but you wonder how effective they're going to be in the next term in Parliament because the reality is Albo does not need them now. No, he doesn't. He actually, in the previous Parliament,

Probably needed to be nice to a few of them because he knew, well, he thought, this was the indication, that it was going to be tight after the next election, that he might need their support. Doesn't have to worry about that now. 93 seats now, Mr Maynard. Wow. Now, I heard you went along to the monster trucks on the weekend. I did. It was an amazing experience. A big shout out to our very own Poppy here at 2GB, whom I badgered very politely to see if we could organise for myself and my family to go.

Because my kids, and especially my son, like all boys, just loves anything to do with trucks and dirt. And they were just aghast with excitement when I told them that we were going. But we got there. And we're all sitting there. Everyone's waiting very patiently for the show to get started and for everything to get going. They've got the people coming out and rousing the crowd and everyone excited and interested.

And then all of a sudden the lights went down and there was this voiceover that came over the announcement, PA, and they said, I'd like you to all please be upstanding. And I went, what? What's going on here? And then he said, for the Australian anthem. Are you standing? I'm standing.

Mate, let me tell you something, Clinton. Let me tell you something. I stood. I just about... We're both standing, aren't we? I just about fell out of my chair when they said that. And I put my hand on my chest. My singing is horrendous, by the way. My husband will attest to that.

but I stood loudly and proudly and I belted out this Australian anthem and my daughter looked at me and she said, Mum, what's this? To her credit, she's only six. She's only just started school this year, but I thought, better have a word to her school about what's this nonsense. But the thing that...

that it was really touching to me was that we still had a sense of Australian pride in our country. We still had an element of patriotism and this group of really hard-working fantastic Australians who just love putting on this show for young kids and their families were really interested and invested in being able to showcase their sense of patriotic pride and the

question that I had when I left, right, and I remember I called, you know, a couple of friends. I said, you're not going to believe this. They played the anthem at the Monster Truck Show and they were like, that is awesome. But the conversation then led to this question, which was, when was the last time

time that you actually sung the anthem. Can you remember, Clinton? It would have been. Can our listeners, our wonderful listeners, when was the last time you sung the anthem? Having kids, you go to a few school events at times, and schools do, depending on your school, our schools have still sung the national anthem before various occasions, so I have done it there.

Back in the 80s, I think when I'd go along to a football game, as in just a Cronulla Sharks NRL match, I think they did the anthem at standard... It wasn't the NRL back then, it was the New South Wales Rugby League. I'm pretty sure you did the anthem at the start of the game. Wow.

Wow. Maybe not every club game, but they certainly do now with State of Origin and Grand Finals. Of course, and the Anzac Test. I remember there was a bit of a controversy at the time when they started winding it back, but the point was made, oh, look, we don't want to overuse it. And look, and I completely understand that, right? And when you canvas this with people, they sort of think, well, where do you feel it would be most appropriate then? I mean, you're not going to expect children to stand up every day in school and recite the Australian anthem, but it raised that question of are we...

Are we patriotic enough in this country? 131873. Lucy Zelich is with me. 0460 873873 for your text messages. Mary says, I last sang the national anthem at our school reconciliation assembly earlier in the week. That one's from Mary. Some calls on this one. Kim's in Liverpool. Hello, Kim. Hi, Clayton. Hi, Lucy. Hi, Kim.

I'm a big fan of yours, Lucy. I'm right on board with all your ideas. And yours too, Clinton. But it was Anzac Day for me. And that would have been a real... Thank you, by the way, Kim, for your nice words. But was it a really special moment for you, it being Anzac Day in particular? Always. Very proud. We used to sing it every day at school. You know, not just assemblies. Wow. But in my day, it was every day. So we all knew the words and...

You know, these days, especially with the other verse, people get lost. They do. Okay, Lucy, do you know the second verse? Or very scratchy. And I'm ashamed of that, I'll be honest. I'm ashamed of the fact that I don't know the second verse as well as what I should. But it wasn't something that was very, that was pushed on us. No, no. Actually at school. Hello, Ben.

Hey, how you doing? Good, Ben. Yeah, they're at the Easter show. Every night in the main radio, they sing the first two verses of the anthem. That's amazing. Do you know, it's funny you mentioned a rodeo there, and this was by comparison in the United States for me when I was watching this very cheap and nasty, I'm sorry, I'm ashamed to admit it, but cheap and nasty reality show a few weeks ago, and they literally played the anthem. There were only probably about not even 100 people there before this kind of bullfighting spectacle that was going on at this spic town. Yeah.

that none of us really would even know if we were to hear it. But that's sort of the element of patriotism that goes on for a lot of them in America. In the United States, their anthem is sacred. It is. Their bullfighting is as well, but the anthem is. But isn't there something beautiful about that, Clinton? Yeah, absolutely. There is something very special about it. And you consider also the fact that I think it's roughly, it's either 46 or 47, I could be stand corrected on that, out of the 50 states, of the kids every day they get up and they pledge allegiance. Greg in Cronulla. Hello, Greg.

Yeah, good afternoon. I'd just like to make a comment. The last time that I sung the national anthem was at the ANZAC test between the dragons and the roosters. I've been to one of those tests. It's pretty special, isn't it?

Yeah, look, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. And I think it was a lot of patriotism towards my country. But the thing that I did make a note on was when the cameras stand over the sides that were competing in the game, I reckon less than 50% of...

were actually singing the National Anthem. The majority of them, more than 50%, were just not even singing. And I thought that's sort of a bit of an indictment on the day. Yeah, it is a little bit, but there's a lot of emotion as well, though, at those Anzac Day events, which I think is great. Huge. Frank on the text line. Yes, singing from my hymn sheet here, Frank. Excellent job by Formula One's Oscar Piastri because he is rejuvenating the Australian National Anthem overseas because he's on the podium every week.

And he's won more Grands Prix. He's won five Grands Prix this year. It means the Australian National Anthem.

It's getting its run. It's being played. Net zero. Net zero. Let's talk about it. And this one was a really interesting one for me because, I mean, I've been very vocal and staunch in my support for Australia dumping net zero. I think this entire pursuit is driving us into economic ruin. And much of that was actually found in a report that emerged this week. New analysis has revealed that federal climate spending has risen to $9 billion per year.

year and that's from the Institute of Public Affairs and it's shown that spending on climate related programs has increased 15 fold over the past decade so where we were spending about 600 million dollars annually it's now gone to 9 billion and this all has occurred in the last decade so since 2015 I mean it is remarkable to me the amount of money that is being thrown at this and

And when you consider that all we have heard from the Albanese government and Bowen in particular is that this is going down the renewables path especially is the cheapest form of energy and that we are going to now see an increase in our electricity bills from July 1, it flies in the face of all Australians and the fact that this is – and it tells us all it's a fact that this is all just nonsense.

I have a $500 Winston with a Y voucher to give away in the last hour of the program. 131873, Lucy Zelich is with me. Lots of text messages here about the National Anthem and it seems that motorsport is leading the way. So, supercar races, apparently the anthem is played before every supercar race. Matt says, at my kid's primary school, we sing it at the Friday assembly and we, yes, we sing the second verse. Hello, Karen. Hello.

Hi. Here standing up on the arms moment was last year's A-League grand final in Gosford. It was about 20,000 people all singing it. And, yeah, it sounded fantastic. I think everyone in the stadium was...

singing it. Oh, that's beautiful, Karen. And it just produces real chills down your spine moments too. And I've been up at Gosford there, the Central Coast Stadium. It's a beautiful part of the world. God's country, many will argue. But especially a fantastic result for the Central Coast too, that comeback victory over Melbourne City in that grand final. Great game. But it's something that when you are in a crowd of people, it's something as parochial as sport as well. It just elicits so much pride in you. And that's what I love about it.

Yes. Yep, definitely. Good on you, Karen. John's in Roseville. Hello, John. G'day, Clinton. G'day, Lucy. Hello, John. I belt it out every Monday morning. Every Monday? Every Monday morning. The local school, I'm next to the local primary school, they belt it out every Monday morning at ten past nine and I'm in my house, I can hear it, and I belt it out too. Good on you, John. What a patriot and what a great servant to the country you are. I love that.

Thanks for calling, John. Chris on the text line says, Can I reference also why there's a reason and there's a method to my madness for bringing all of this up is because we talk a lot about in the context of our younger generation and how there is this waning sense of patriotism.

How we're raising them now on this diet of we need to be ashamed of Australia because of our history. We're also seeing really tragic numbers when it comes to ADF recruitment. I mean, I think it's since 2012, the Australian Defence Force has consistently failed to meet yearly recruiting targets. And the army in particular is struggling. There is a reason for that.

So when it comes to these conversations, a lot of it for me is because we need to start instilling a sense of pride amongst our youth because this is a beautiful country that we live in. Hey, just quickly, we're almost about to wrap up. Have you had dramas stepping in dog poo or dog poop? Not dog poop. People letting their dogs off leads. We were at a beach. Yeah, we were at a beach a couple of summers ago and I won't name the beach. It's in the eastern suburbs because it's the locals' beautiful little well-kept secret. A

A dog off the leads popped our beach ball and snatched my daughter's sandwich literally out of her hands. Increase the fines for dogs that eat sandwiches. Lucy Zelich, back with me next Wednesday afternoon. Thank you, Lucy. Thanks, Clinton. Coming up after the news, we'll have a look at these GDP figures. What do they actually mean? The shadow treasurer, the new shadow treasurer, Ted O'Brien, joining us.