# Paul Murray Our Town: Mackay | 31 May

An episode of [Paul Murray Live](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/376966263), 31 May 2026, 49 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/be3abd48-25e5-45a6-aede-ac2a00524a12/7f5bbedb-938f-444e-b8e8-b45b00c3b380/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=95971714-8fe6-4855-b1fe-ac2a00524a12

Labor's failing to sell their budget, Mackay veteran reflects on service. Plus, the unique energy of Queensland rugby league. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Live from Mackay, Queensland.
[0:03] Speaker 2: This is Paul Murray Live, Power Town, Cana, Australia.
[0:09] Speaker 3: Game Mackay, how are we Haggard's Queensland.
[0:12] Speaker 2: Had Queensland, you know.
[0:15] Speaker 3: I fuck, I'd have the blood transfusions. I'd become a Queenslander.
[0:18] Speaker 3: But alas, the best I can do is show you
[0:20] Speaker 3: this phenomenal part of Australia where we are right now
[0:24] Speaker 3: where right now, in and around the harbor. The sunset
[0:28] Speaker 3: here is going to be eleven out of ten and
[0:31] Speaker 3: I wanted you to be able to see it. If
[0:34] Speaker 3: you haven't already thought about it. Mackay is a absolute
[0:37] Speaker 3: must when it comes to turning up and turning up
[0:40] Speaker 3: here for a holiday. If you've got it in you
[0:42] Speaker 3: change your life and movie because it is a spectacular
[0:45] Speaker 3: joint with wonderful people, and tonight we're going to celebrate
[0:47] Speaker 3: everything from the with Sundays all the way through to
[0:50] Speaker 3: the cane fields and so many wonderful people, including a
[0:53] Speaker 3: VC recipient who is in this area. We will get
[0:56] Speaker 3: to all of that before our show is done. First,
[1:00] Speaker 3: as always, we start the program we're the celebration of
[1:02] Speaker 3: the greatest government of all time.
[1:04] Speaker 2: But before we get to that.
[1:05] Speaker 3: You may will have noticed that the news over the
[1:07] Speaker 3: weekend is that the machinery of the Liberal Party is
[1:11] Speaker 3: now being taken over by Tony Abbott, the former Prime
[1:13] Speaker 3: Minister is back in the saddle, of course, as the
[1:17] Speaker 3: man running the show. This is really important for them obviously,
[1:20] Speaker 3: not just in the battle with one nation, but getting
[1:22] Speaker 3: match fit, particularly after the last election. Now, before I
[1:26] Speaker 3: get into what his promise is and what his hope is,
[1:28] Speaker 3: and I, for one, as a long term fan, I
[1:30] Speaker 3: think he's exactly the steal in the spine that they
[1:33] Speaker 3: need organizationally as well. But I want to show you
[1:36] Speaker 3: about how the Canberra media always gets what the Canberra
[1:40] Speaker 3: media wants. Now, in two thousand and seventeen, there was
[1:46] Speaker 3: a report which was done by Andrew Proben. Andrew Probin
[1:50] Speaker 3: now works for Channel nine, but he used to be
[1:52] Speaker 3: the chief political correspondent.
[1:53] Speaker 2: Over at the ABC.
[1:55] Speaker 3: Now he referred to Tony Abbott as the most destructive
[2:00] Speaker 3: politician of recent years.
[2:02] Speaker 4: This is what he said, Tony Abbott, already the most
[2:06] Speaker 4: destructive politician of his generation, now intends waging war on
[2:10] Speaker 4: what he calls environmental theology. If this tells us anything,
[2:15] Speaker 4: it's that Malcolm Turnble can't do anything to appease Tony
[2:18] Speaker 4: Abbott on climate action.
[2:23] Speaker 3: Tony Abbot was the problem in the Malcolm Turble era
[2:26] Speaker 3: of that government. But that particular comment got banged by
[2:30] Speaker 3: the Umpire, who is looking into the codes of the
[2:34] Speaker 3: ABC Act with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which
[2:38] Speaker 3: said although the statement was very brief, its impacted. Its
[2:42] Speaker 3: impact was heightened by the fact that it was delivered
[2:45] Speaker 3: by the ABC's political editor in reports in the report's
[2:48] Speaker 3: only piece to camera. It was not in keeping with
[2:52] Speaker 3: the ABC's requirement to present news with due impartiality. Accordingly,
[2:56] Speaker 3: the ABC breached the standard of its own code. Did
[2:59] Speaker 3: he get, of course not. Did he get a couple
[3:02] Speaker 3: of weeks without pay?
[3:04] Speaker 2: Of course not.
[3:05] Speaker 3: And remember what the current boss of the ABC tells
[3:08] Speaker 3: us about the people who work for it today.
[3:12] Speaker 5: The ABC is not an especially left wing or right
[3:16] Speaker 5: wing organization, and in fact, the majority of ABC journalists
[3:20] Speaker 5: I would defy anyone to know how they vote.
[3:24] Speaker 1: No, I reckon, I can guess.
[3:27] Speaker 3: The reaction to Mackay may tell you how I truly
[3:29] Speaker 3: feel on the inside as well.
[3:31] Speaker 2: Well.
[3:31] Speaker 3: Fast forward now twenty twenty six Toty Abbott is the
[3:34] Speaker 3: president of the Liberal Party.
[3:36] Speaker 2: It is a voluntary position.
[3:37] Speaker 3: It is one where again it is about helping the
[3:39] Speaker 3: team that supported him as an MP and minister and
[3:42] Speaker 3: then of course the Prime Minister. Well guess who did
[3:45] Speaker 3: the report on Channel nine now that he's at Channel
[3:49] Speaker 3: nine about the bloke that he referred to as the
[3:51] Speaker 3: most destructive politician of his era. Well, firstly, here's the
[3:55] Speaker 3: intro to their absolutely impartial story.
[4:00] Speaker 6: Maybe in a life or death struggle for political survival,
[4:03] Speaker 6: but former Prime Minister Toney Abbott is being hailed as
[4:06] Speaker 6: their possible savior today elected the next party president.
[4:13] Speaker 3: Of course, the first Liberal leader since John Howard to
[4:15] Speaker 3: win from opposition. Winning ninety seats in the Parliament. Wasn't
[4:18] Speaker 3: a squeaker. Was a big win, getting rid of the
[4:21] Speaker 3: carbon tax, stopping the boats, let alone everything else that
[4:23] Speaker 3: was achieved. Well did that get a run in Andrew
[4:26] Speaker 3: Proben's report on Channel nine.
[4:29] Speaker 2: No, just the greatest hits of what Twitter used to.
[4:31] Speaker 3: Winge about when it comes to the former prime minister.
[4:34] Speaker 3: This was the news this weekend.
[4:37] Speaker 4: As an onion eating national leader, he sought to exercise
[4:41] Speaker 4: muscular diplomacy.
[4:43] Speaker 7: Look I'm going to shirt front mister Putin.
[4:46] Speaker 4: Not that he had to speak to know what he
[4:48] Speaker 4: was thinking, and I work on.
[4:50] Speaker 8: An adult six line to make ends meet.
[4:56] Speaker 3: Seriously, that's the bio that they've served up of a
[4:59] Speaker 3: former prime minis okay, one who, of course one seats,
[5:02] Speaker 3: unlike Turnbull who lost seats, and unlike any liberal leader since,
[5:07] Speaker 3: has been able to keep the number up around ninety seats.
[5:12] Speaker 3: The report continues again, the person who should have, at
[5:15] Speaker 3: the very least have been penalized, I would suggest, should
[5:18] Speaker 3: have lost his job from the ABC for breaching the
[5:21] Speaker 3: codes when it comes to impartiality, who was rewarded with
[5:24] Speaker 3: a job in commercial television, And knowing this history, they
[5:28] Speaker 3: again got him to tell the story of Tony Abbot.
[5:32] Speaker 3: Now I show you all of this not as some
[5:34] Speaker 3: sort of Tony Abbot sicker fan, but just to remind
[5:36] Speaker 3: you about how the media can always spin the ball.
[5:39] Speaker 3: Now you know, I've got an opinion, I never hide it.
[5:42] Speaker 3: But they look down on people like me, They look
[5:44] Speaker 3: down on people like you for watching channels like ours. Well,
[5:48] Speaker 3: see if you can spot the opinion in this news story.
[5:53] Speaker 7: Persuade a skeptical public that we remain the most credible
[5:59] Speaker 7: alter party of government. Going back to the future with
[6:03] Speaker 7: a kind of side serve of nastiness.
[6:06] Speaker 4: Tony Abbott becomes party president at the Liberal's lowest ebb.
[6:10] Speaker 4: He's a fighter and as a political leader, he's never
[6:13] Speaker 4: been shy defining himself by what he opposes.
[6:17] Speaker 2: Stop the boats, scrap the carbon tags.
[6:20] Speaker 9: The.
[6:23] Speaker 3: Two things that meant he won the election and absolutely
[6:27] Speaker 3: did in Kevin Rudd and the Julia Gillard era. No,
[6:31] Speaker 3: he's not to be remembered for that. He's to be
[6:33] Speaker 3: remembered for all of the things that the people who
[6:36] Speaker 3: never voted for him hated him. And unlike any other
[6:40] Speaker 3: modern political figure who normally up stumps and runs off
[6:44] Speaker 3: or in the case of turnbull sits silent while seeing
[6:48] Speaker 3: the cancer of the Teals start to eat in to
[6:51] Speaker 3: the seats that he took for granted when he only
[6:54] Speaker 3: just won straight after the Liberal Party broke itself by
[6:57] Speaker 3: becoming like the Labor Party and changing its lead. He's
[7:00] Speaker 3: coming back to help the team that he believes in.
[7:03] Speaker 3: Who could possibly have a problem with this, like dislike vote,
[7:07] Speaker 3: don't vote, but the idea that that was the way
[7:10] Speaker 3: that hundreds of thousands of people learnt about Tony Abbott
[7:13] Speaker 3: and his return to Parliament. Well, that tells you everything
[7:16] Speaker 3: about the mountain that is always in front of people
[7:19] Speaker 3: on the center right of Australian politics. As for what
[7:22] Speaker 3: he actually said in the speech, well, I'll show you
[7:25] Speaker 3: his pitch to the Liberal Party.
[7:28] Speaker 7: Our challenge is to persuade a skeptical public that we
[7:33] Speaker 7: remain the most credible alternative party of government in this country,
[7:40] Speaker 7: and to persuade people what I absolutely believe in the
[7:44] Speaker 7: marrow of my being, that we remain the best hope
[7:49] Speaker 7: of better government in this country.
[7:53] Speaker 3: Frightening and of course that don't run it because they've
[7:56] Speaker 3: got to get in all of those greatest hits. I
[7:58] Speaker 3: always talk about gallery games that talk about politics, and
[8:01] Speaker 3: it's why they hate me so much. But thankfully we
[8:04] Speaker 3: don't care, do we, all right? In terms of Pauline Hanson,
[8:07] Speaker 3: she was out and about today. She was on Sunday
[8:09] Speaker 3: Agenda with my colleague and friend Andrew Clanel, where she
[8:12] Speaker 3: was being pushed about all sorts of policies, but also
[8:15] Speaker 3: talking about that mega pole that we showed you last
[8:18] Speaker 3: week where if things remain exactly the same and obviously
[8:21] Speaker 3: Tony abbitope would be for that not to be the case,
[8:24] Speaker 3: but she'd be on her way at the very least
[8:25] Speaker 3: to having a pretty sizable share of the Parliament. But
[8:28] Speaker 3: if there was a mega Knight, could she be the PM?
[8:32] Speaker 2: Do you want to be Prime Minister? Pauline Hanson? Do
[8:36] Speaker 2: I want to be Prime Minister? Well, I'll tell you what.
[8:39] Speaker 2: I won't knock the job, Andrew, because I believe that
[8:42] Speaker 2: I have the ability to do it.
[8:44] Speaker 10: I'm not going to underestimate myself or say no, I
[8:47] Speaker 10: can't do it.
[8:48] Speaker 11: Do you have confidence you would have a team or
[8:50] Speaker 11: could pull together a team that could form a competent cabinet?
[8:55] Speaker 2: You bet, I do. I certainly do.
[9:01] Speaker 3: All of that Upnoutskynews dot com dot Au. Now, Makai,
[9:04] Speaker 3: were you excited by the budget? Did the budget make.
[9:09] Speaker 2: Well? Hay? I mean they thought it was fantastic.
[9:12] Speaker 3: And why because, of course, after making the decisions that
[9:15] Speaker 3: they did which screw over particularly people over the age
[9:18] Speaker 3: of fifty. Well, it was all cuddles. You remember that
[9:20] Speaker 3: in Canberra a couple of weeks ago. And unlike much
[9:23] Speaker 3: of the add that exists in the media, we're not
[9:25] Speaker 3: going to forget. We're going to keep talking about it
[9:27] Speaker 3: because it still is up and before the Parliament. But
[9:30] Speaker 3: you may remember that in part of the shell game,
[9:33] Speaker 3: the slide of hand, the es that.
[9:35] Speaker 2: Was being served up a couple of weeks ago.
[9:37] Speaker 3: The reason every one had to pay new taxes, the
[9:40] Speaker 3: reason everything was going to change was because of housing
[9:45] Speaker 3: for young people.
[9:47] Speaker 12: Posers to change the tax system to give young people
[9:50] Speaker 12: a fair crack. You know, it's locking the entire generation
[9:54] Speaker 12: of the Australians out of.
[9:56] Speaker 2: The housing market.
[9:57] Speaker 12: As a result of our tax changes, will be said,
[10:00] Speaker 12: many five thousand Australians will be able to get into
[10:04] Speaker 12: their first home.
[10:05] Speaker 10: It's about housing and tax and it's also about intergenerational
[10:09] Speaker 10: aspiration and opportunity as well.
[10:14] Speaker 3: Jim Chalmers Queenslander of the Year, Right, No, I thought so.
[10:19] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:19] Speaker 3: Now, of course, what is incredible is that I have
[10:22] Speaker 3: also shown you over the past few weeks they can't
[10:25] Speaker 3: well lie straight in bed, or lie about the lie,
[10:27] Speaker 3: or pick the lie that is the best lie to
[10:29] Speaker 3: be able to convince people that they're definitely not lying. Well,
[10:33] Speaker 3: despite the fact that all of these changes and we've
[10:35] Speaker 3: shown you how unpopular that they are. We've shown you
[10:37] Speaker 3: what the consequences are well, apparently it's all about making
[10:40] Speaker 3: sure that younger people can buy houses. As we all know,
[10:43] Speaker 3: the issues central to that is your ability to be
[10:46] Speaker 3: able to save enough money for the property that you
[10:49] Speaker 3: want to purchase, not necessarily all of the negative gearing. Well,
[10:53] Speaker 3: the government came out today and said, and I quote,
[10:57] Speaker 3: the budget will not be a main driver. If house
[11:00] Speaker 3: prices ie, it becomes easier for a young person to
[11:04] Speaker 3: buy a house. So their excuse for doing what they're doing,
[11:08] Speaker 3: they aren't even standing by.
[11:10] Speaker 2: A couple of weeks.
[11:11] Speaker 3: Later, unsurprising Lee Clueless Claire O'Neil, well you did it
[11:14] Speaker 3: again on Telly today.
[11:16] Speaker 13: Look, I think there's a bunch of economic models out
[11:19] Speaker 13: there that are in the news, and I'll let the
[11:21] Speaker 13: modelers speak for themselves. What I can tell you is
[11:24] Speaker 13: that the tax changes we're making in the budget are
[11:26] Speaker 13: not the main driver of that what house prices in
[11:28] Speaker 13: our country move. The biggest driver of them is what
[11:31] Speaker 13: goes on with interest rates.
[11:34] Speaker 3: Now you know how they normally say, pa, pick a lane.
[11:37] Speaker 3: I'm just going to say pick a lie, pick one
[11:39] Speaker 3: lie and.
[11:40] Speaker 2: Stick on it.
[11:40] Speaker 3: But of course they couldn't in bed and therefore, like
[11:43] Speaker 3: a pretzel. They just can't continue. But their expectation is
[11:47] Speaker 3: everyone moves on, no one cares. Well, plenty of people do,
[11:50] Speaker 3: regardless of whether it's in beautiful sunsets like this or
[11:53] Speaker 3: in the coldest parts of Tazzy that are watching us
[11:55] Speaker 3: as well tonight.
[11:56] Speaker 2: People know what this is. They see it for exactly
[11:58] Speaker 2: what it is. Well.
[12:00] Speaker 3: Also worth noting too is that the Prime Minister and
[12:02] Speaker 3: the Treasurer, the great titans of the Australian economy, the passengers, well,
[12:09] Speaker 3: you need to remember that inflation, of course was higher
[12:12] Speaker 3: than the rest of the world even now after the
[12:15] Speaker 3: Iran war. Will remember it was higher than the rest
[12:18] Speaker 3: of the world before the war. Don't take it from me,
[12:21] Speaker 3: Take it from the person who increased interest rates twice
[12:25] Speaker 3: already this.
[12:25] Speaker 2: Year, before the third one a couple of weeks ago.
[12:29] Speaker 14: We have a situation in austraight a pride to the war,
[12:32] Speaker 14: where we had demand above supply, the ability of the
[12:35] Speaker 14: economy to supply the goods and services that will being
[12:38] Speaker 14: demanded in total, including by government and by the private sector,
[12:42] Speaker 14: that was outstripping the ability of the economy to supply it.
[12:46] Speaker 14: That's why inflation was rising.
[12:51] Speaker 3: Well Unsurprisingly, the clariny, clueless Clarinel was turning around and
[12:56] Speaker 3: trying to say that, of course rents are not going
[12:58] Speaker 3: to increase.
[12:59] Speaker 2: There will be no giant.
[13:00] Speaker 3: Rent increases as a result of investors slowly but surely
[13:04] Speaker 3: having to get rid of the properties, or future people
[13:06] Speaker 3: being able to buy an investment property. Why does this
[13:09] Speaker 3: matter not because I'm looking to back in the mustache twirling,
[13:13] Speaker 3: cigar chomping landlords of Australia. Because remember, seventy one percent
[13:17] Speaker 3: of anyone who who has an investment property has one,
[13:21] Speaker 3: just one alone. And of course, if your rents go up,
[13:24] Speaker 3: that might be because interest rates keep going up, and
[13:27] Speaker 3: interest rates keep going up because inflation keeps going up,
[13:30] Speaker 3: and our inflation is higher than the.
[13:32] Speaker 2: Rest of the world.
[13:33] Speaker 3: But this minister says rents are definitely not going to
[13:36] Speaker 3: go up, no matter how expensive it is for the
[13:38] Speaker 3: person who actually owns your rental property.
[13:42] Speaker 13: Overall, the pressure on rents will actually be downwards. That's
[13:46] Speaker 13: because we're building more homes and rental prices are set
[13:50] Speaker 13: based on how many rental properties we have and how
[13:53] Speaker 13: many people are in the market.
[13:54] Speaker 2: Were you prepared for the fallout on the rental front?
[14:00] Speaker 13: If I'm really respectful of people's experience, the people who
[14:05] Speaker 13: are providing rental properties for the instances that you've just
[14:09] Speaker 13: talked about, their circumstances don't change because of this budget.
[14:13] Speaker 13: So I'm respectful of what's going on out there. But
[14:17] Speaker 13: the evidence of the modeling work that's been done in
[14:20] Speaker 13: the budget is that this will have almost no impact
[14:23] Speaker 13: on rent.
[14:25] Speaker 2: Now.
[14:25] Speaker 3: I've been honestly thinking about how to say this all weekend,
[14:28] Speaker 3: trying to work out whether I want to say this
[14:29] Speaker 3: all weekend, trying to work out whether I can put
[14:32] Speaker 3: up with the meeting that's going to happen tomorrow if
[14:34] Speaker 3: I say this, But I'm going to say it anyway.
[14:37] Speaker 3: Just because you put a cherry on top doesn't make
[14:39] Speaker 3: it ice cream. I understand, Makay, you get it. Well,
[14:43] Speaker 3: that's of course what they're trying to do right now. Hey,
[14:46] Speaker 3: just before we get to the celebration of this region
[14:48] Speaker 3: and particularly show you what it's like to get closer
[14:50] Speaker 3: to those with Sundays and to be able to experience
[14:52] Speaker 3: some beautiful people in a wonderful boat, and you're able
[14:55] Speaker 3: to do that soon, I just want to give a
[14:56] Speaker 3: shout out and a strength and love to one of
[14:58] Speaker 3: the great icons of this country, that John Farnham. He
[15:01] Speaker 3: confirmed this weekend that he will no longer be able
[15:03] Speaker 3: to sing publicly. Sadly, we will never hear that incredible
[15:06] Speaker 3: voice again publicly. There will be a celebration of his artistry,
[15:11] Speaker 3: of his words and of his passion at a special
[15:13] Speaker 3: event raising money for the cancers that mean he can
[15:17] Speaker 3: no longer sing publicly. And I'll tell you more about
[15:20] Speaker 3: that as it all happens, all right, So let's get
[15:23] Speaker 3: to Mackay again. This sunset is only going to get better,
[15:26] Speaker 3: It is only going to become more spectacular. And again
[15:29] Speaker 3: another reason why we're out and about here in McKay
[15:32] Speaker 3: and we want to be doing it outside with all
[15:33] Speaker 3: these beautiful people. McKay itself, well, exactly where is it?
[15:37] Speaker 3: Queensland would be the main one. You probably couldn't.
[15:40] Speaker 2: Walk from Brisbane, I would suggest, all right.
[15:43] Speaker 3: You probably wouldn't want to walk from Rocky and maybe
[15:45] Speaker 3: not from Townsville. But there are plenty of people that
[15:47] Speaker 3: are joining us tonight that are coming from all over
[15:50] Speaker 3: this region and coming down to say gooday. In terms
[15:53] Speaker 3: of the demographic it's about one hundred and twenty eight
[15:55] Speaker 3: thousand people who live here now.
[15:57] Speaker 2: The median age is thirty eight.
[15:58] Speaker 3: And if you weren't born in you were probably born
[16:01] Speaker 3: in New Zealand. All right now, any kiwi's in the
[16:05] Speaker 3: crowd tonight, Hello, lovely to see you. Excellent, good, Well,
[16:08] Speaker 3: I'll give you a shout out and hung it everyone else, won't.
[16:11] Speaker 3: I appreciate that you're here. All right now, let's celebrate
[16:13] Speaker 3: what it is like to go and meet beautiful people
[16:15] Speaker 3: and see incredible things. Here's our day on a boat
[16:18] Speaker 3: in Mackay.
[16:21] Speaker 2: Wow, you've got to see what's under the water. It's
[16:24] Speaker 2: even more beautiful than the stuff you can already see.
[16:27] Speaker 2: I'll load it in the sky here in MacKaye. But
[16:30] Speaker 2: before I show you a together, how do I get here?
[16:33] Speaker 8: I'm there the great people who could bring you.
[16:51] Speaker 2: The first thing is first, you have the best office
[16:53] Speaker 2: in the world. Does it ever get old?
[16:57] Speaker 15: No, you can see this never gets old. Well, this
[17:00] Speaker 15: is amazing, you know, beautiful Saint Bee's Island there in
[17:03] Speaker 15: the background. Magic winter day here in McCoy. You'll see
[17:08] Speaker 15: it in people. They jump on the boat. No one
[17:10] Speaker 15: knows each other. Within an hour, an hour and a
[17:12] Speaker 15: half on a day trip, you see it and people
[17:15] Speaker 15: just you can just feel everything drops off of them,
[17:18] Speaker 15: completely relax and chill, and absolutely they love it.
[17:22] Speaker 2: When we said there's not a nude cruise.
[17:23] Speaker 3: Relates an emotion, it's an emotional.
[17:33] Speaker 16: We've just had.
[17:34] Speaker 17: All of our guests today have been taken up to
[17:36] Speaker 17: the beach They're going to hang out on the beach
[17:38] Speaker 17: there for a while, have a bit of a swimming
[17:40] Speaker 17: out crystal clear water and it's a nice twenty three
[17:43] Speaker 17: degrees in the water today, so you feel a little
[17:46] Speaker 17: bit fresh but still lovely. And then you know, they
[17:48] Speaker 17: get the opportunity to explore the beach a little bit.
[17:51] Speaker 17: There's plenty to see up there and some really cool
[17:53] Speaker 17: little creeks up in the back. They've got morning tea
[17:56] Speaker 17: over there now and then when we bring them back
[17:59] Speaker 17: with us some lunch and head to our snorkel location.
[18:03] Speaker 3: Well, I'd love to pretend this is my own private island.
[18:06] Speaker 3: The joy of this is that it's for everyone, owned
[18:10] Speaker 3: by the Queensland Government, managed by National Parks. But let
[18:13] Speaker 3: me give you an idea of where we are. We
[18:15] Speaker 3: are at the southernmost end of the Sundays and we're
[18:19] Speaker 3: right in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
[18:23] Speaker 2: The water is just as good as it looks on TV,
[18:26] Speaker 2: but there's only one way to make it better. Swim.
[18:37] Speaker 15: You've got a magic little snorkeling area about three meters
[18:40] Speaker 15: of water. Beautiful white sand, coral blens comes out of
[18:43] Speaker 15: that sand, and you know all types of beautiful corals
[18:47] Speaker 15: from your plate corals to your n enemies, to your
[18:50] Speaker 15: fish life, your little nemos and dory swimming around.
[18:55] Speaker 17: Honestly, Mackay is going to be the next destination. That's
[18:59] Speaker 17: essentially we're working on between all of us locally right now.
[19:03] Speaker 2: We have so much to offer here.
[19:05] Speaker 17: We have this incredible reef, beautiful islands, the most pristine rainforest,
[19:10] Speaker 17: and then another hour past the rainforest, we're in the
[19:13] Speaker 17: convenient outback.
[19:15] Speaker 1: Every trip we've done.
[19:17] Speaker 17: Everyone gets off going that was fantastic, doesn't matter whether
[19:20] Speaker 17: it's a sunset. We do the Valentine's Stay dinner, that's
[19:23] Speaker 17: really cool. Our day trips out to the islands and
[19:25] Speaker 17: the overnight charters.
[19:27] Speaker 2: For us to kick is.
[19:28] Speaker 13: The guest love it.
[19:29] Speaker 17: So that's what we're here for.
[19:31] Speaker 2: We have a passion for the water.
[19:33] Speaker 15: We have a passion for the marine, like seeing people
[19:36] Speaker 15: at the end of the day going well and still
[19:39] Speaker 15: talking about it. On our trip, Pane Paul, that's our
[19:44] Speaker 15: day adventure with Nautical by Nature out to the beautiful islands.
[19:48] Speaker 3: What do you think once in a lifetime experience, one
[19:52] Speaker 3: that I will remember for the rest of my life
[19:54] Speaker 3: and one that I look forward to sharing with everyone
[19:56] Speaker 3: in my life. Come to Mackay, Sagada mentioned my pay
[20:00] Speaker 3: full price. That's the way to be, oh, I.
[20:02] Speaker 2: See, thank you for having you on board.
[20:12] Speaker 3: I'm very pleased to say that the Luise Adrian and
[20:15] Speaker 3: Admiral Simon is here as well.
[20:17] Speaker 2: Thank you guys.
[20:18] Speaker 3: You had a one but you we're wonderful hosts. Their
[20:20] Speaker 3: passion for this region is infectious. Mackaya is a tourist destination. Honestly, Again,
[20:27] Speaker 3: if you're a person who's no disrespect to the Townsvills
[20:30] Speaker 3: and Cans, if you've been to those, awesome great, but
[20:33] Speaker 3: you've got to get Mackay in on the list. This
[20:35] Speaker 3: is a place where you can go by yourself, with
[20:37] Speaker 3: your mates, with your partner, with the family and getting
[20:40] Speaker 3: out and seeing that stuff.
[20:41] Speaker 2: Honestly, the beauty of that beach.
[20:43] Speaker 3: Yes, as I was floating around doing my best in
[20:45] Speaker 3: the interpretation of the beach whale. I was just sitting
[20:49] Speaker 3: looking back and you're looking back at the islands, the water,
[20:53] Speaker 3: the boat. Honestly, you felt like you were in Italy's
[20:55] Speaker 3: This is, of course an experience. At another reminder, you
[20:58] Speaker 3: don't have to go to the other side of the
[20:59] Speaker 3: world see the best of the world, because we have
[21:02] Speaker 3: it here. So thanks again, guys, I really do appreciate
[21:05] Speaker 3: it all right.
[21:08] Speaker 2: Now.
[21:08] Speaker 3: One of the greate Australians is Keith Paine, and he
[21:10] Speaker 3: is very passionate about MacKaye. Keith, of course, was the
[21:13] Speaker 3: recipient of the Victoria Cross back in nineteen seventy for
[21:17] Speaker 3: bravery and valor. His efforts in Vietnam legendary, including a
[21:22] Speaker 3: firefight where he was able to save forty wounded soldiers
[21:27] Speaker 3: and to be able to save their life. It was
[21:29] Speaker 3: a privilege of a lifetime. And I know I just
[21:32] Speaker 3: said that about the water, but I say it about
[21:34] Speaker 3: this experience as well, to be able to go and
[21:36] Speaker 3: see him on the other side of town. A bit
[21:38] Speaker 3: earlier today, I wanted to ask you that Queenslanders are
[21:43] Speaker 3: special people. In MacKaye seemed to be particularly special, strong, resilient.
[21:51] Speaker 2: What is it about the people of MacKaye that you
[21:54] Speaker 2: have loved to be with for so long.
[21:57] Speaker 9: I think the first first thing they they pulled together
[22:05] Speaker 9: a friendly and I think there is a feeling of belonging.
[22:19] Speaker 9: You got to you come from Mackay, right, Yeah, I'm
[22:25] Speaker 9: from Mackay.
[22:26] Speaker 2: A special club.
[22:28] Speaker 9: Yeah, Mackay came to me in nineteen fifty six or
[22:34] Speaker 9: the middle of the fifties.
[22:36] Speaker 2: I can't quite remember the year.
[22:39] Speaker 9: The military had a big exercise up here at the
[22:43] Speaker 9: time and I wasn't part of that unit at either.
[22:48] Speaker 9: I was instructing a National salesmen and we were called
[22:54] Speaker 9: up here to be umpires for the exercise up at Youngler.
[23:06] Speaker 9: Had a bit of a time off and I enjoyed
[23:11] Speaker 9: my stay in Mackay. We still had World War Two
[23:17] Speaker 9: chaps looking after the RSL. The people were very friendly
[23:23] Speaker 9: towards the RSL and the military.
[23:28] Speaker 2: I want to ask you about.
[23:31] Speaker 3: The day that led to the Victoria Cross and you
[23:34] Speaker 3: referred to yourself in many interviews as being the Johnny
[23:38] Speaker 3: on the spot. But what you did and how many
[23:42] Speaker 3: people you saved, have you come to accept how exceptional
[23:50] Speaker 3: that was.
[23:54] Speaker 9: Yes, acts such as that are rare, but they are
[24:05] Speaker 9: bought on not only by the enemy but by other friendly,
[24:18] Speaker 9: friendly troops. The whole action started off with.
[24:30] Speaker 2: We knew.
[24:34] Speaker 9: North Whip's regiment, one of the north His regiments, was
[24:40] Speaker 9: coming in on Benhead. We knew that they they came
[24:47] Speaker 9: in from the west. We knew they also that another
[24:53] Speaker 9: one of the regiments was coming down from the northwest
[24:58] Speaker 9: of the hochem Men trial for Benhett. Our operations were
[25:04] Speaker 9: deep penetration operations into the jungle. We flew in and
[25:10] Speaker 9: we flew out. We got stuck into the enemy, and
[25:15] Speaker 9: the enemy got stuck into us. And when I got up,
[25:18] Speaker 9: the hair made sure that the hill was clear before
[25:24] Speaker 9: I bought the rest of the people up, and I
[25:29] Speaker 9: jumped on the radio, my radio, and I got in
[25:34] Speaker 9: touch with the Australian on Hillsee hundred, and I asked
[25:40] Speaker 9: him to go and get the mortar and fire to
[25:46] Speaker 9: the southeast. Fire one flare to the southeast so that
[25:52] Speaker 9: I could get an idea of where I was. And
[25:57] Speaker 9: we did that, and I puff and I watched seeing
[26:00] Speaker 9: the bloody flash of the water, a little two inch
[26:03] Speaker 9: water for sixty mil sixty mill right there, And I said,
[26:10] Speaker 9: remain where I'll be with you one zero over. So
[26:16] Speaker 9: we went down and across the little creek and got
[26:21] Speaker 9: in there on the hill six hundred.
[26:25] Speaker 2: What was it like the day you received the cross?
[26:30] Speaker 9: Well, hearing about it is the first thing. It happened
[26:38] Speaker 9: in the news media, bloody room in Side Gone. The
[26:46] Speaker 9: announcement was made and I said, oh god, yeah, oh well,
[27:01] Speaker 9: just another ward that the receiving of the cross occurred
[27:11] Speaker 9: in Brisbane.
[27:12] Speaker 2: Tied up at Pink and bear Wolf.
[27:14] Speaker 9: The Queen and the royal family had come over.
[27:22] Speaker 2: What did she say to you?
[27:26] Speaker 9: Oh? Well, I normally would read uh, a key part
[27:33] Speaker 9: of the citation, but she said, you have carried out
[27:41] Speaker 9: all these actions. You were brave enough to do that.
[27:46] Speaker 9: You'll be brave enough to stand there and hear the
[27:50] Speaker 9: whole citation read wow.
[27:53] Speaker 2: Wow.
[27:59] Speaker 3: To all the people that are watching right now, they've
[28:02] Speaker 3: known your name for a long time, they've been proud
[28:04] Speaker 3: of you for a long time.
[28:06] Speaker 2: What do you want to say to.
[28:07] Speaker 3: The people who admire you and like me, thank you
[28:12] Speaker 3: for your service and your passion.
[28:15] Speaker 2: To the country.
[28:20] Speaker 9: I'd just like to say to the people. Look, I'm
[28:25] Speaker 9: just another RISI and in the field, when in service,
[28:35] Speaker 9: you do what you have to do. At the time
[28:39] Speaker 9: that it has to be done and noted the public
[28:48] Speaker 9: that the bravery right throughout Australia is not uncommon. And
[28:54] Speaker 9: I thank you all for your best wishes. Bye world.
[29:05] Speaker 2: Kay what an absolute privilege. He's in his nineties now,
[29:09] Speaker 2: we of course.
[29:10] Speaker 3: Recognize that he and everyone who served their country are special.
[29:14] Speaker 2: A reminder, of course, there.
[29:15] Speaker 3: Are just four living recipients of the VC and one
[29:19] Speaker 3: of them is an absolute champion living here in Mackay.
[29:22] Speaker 3: Quick breakback with more a special gift from Harvey Norman
[29:25] Speaker 3: to the people who are joining us.
[29:26] Speaker 2: Here by the harbor. We'll talk some footy and even
[29:29] Speaker 2: some sugarcane.
[29:39] Speaker 16: This program is brought to you by Harvey Norman. Now
[29:42] Speaker 16: half yearly clearance on now, best Brands, best Range, best Prices.
[29:49] Speaker 16: This program is brought to you by Harvey Norman. Now
[29:52] Speaker 16: half yearly clearance on now best Brands, best Range, best Prices.
[30:03] Speaker 2: The moon is rising right now are here in Mpie.
[30:07] Speaker 3: Now, I'm very specific that the moon is rising because
[30:10] Speaker 3: we've got two local legends when it comes to rugby league,
[30:13] Speaker 3: Renee and Emma here. And Emma pointed out quite correctly
[30:16] Speaker 3: that when I keep pointing to the sunset. The sunset
[30:19] Speaker 3: happens in the west, so thank you for putting me
[30:21] Speaker 3: in my place, and I appreciate that You're undred percent correct,
[30:24] Speaker 3: But the glow of the sunset, the reflection is here.
[30:27] Speaker 3: I do appreciate it. Ladi's loves to see you both.
[30:29] Speaker 3: So Renee, let's start with you. You're a pioneer for
[30:33] Speaker 3: women's rugby league. You of course captain the Marones and
[30:37] Speaker 3: then when your Korea finished up as a player the
[30:40] Speaker 3: world of NRLW, you started having norm in a massive
[30:44] Speaker 3: supporter of women's rugby league for a long time. What's
[30:46] Speaker 3: it like to wear that magical color and represent this
[30:49] Speaker 3: magical state.
[30:50] Speaker 10: Yeah, well, firstly, thank you for highlighting our region, Paul,
[30:54] Speaker 10: it's greatly appreciated. We're one of a fortunate enough of
[30:57] Speaker 10: many sports people in MacKaye to go on and succeed.
[31:02] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[31:02] Speaker 10: I was fortunate enough to start in the early days
[31:04] Speaker 10: and be a part of the game in its infancy
[31:07] Speaker 10: with the support of Harvey Norman coming on ten years ago,
[31:10] Speaker 10: and then to see it go from strength this rank,
[31:12] Speaker 10: there's just been phenomenal. And to see the many young
[31:16] Speaker 10: women and girls now running around playing our great game
[31:19] Speaker 10: is something I'm really proud of.
[31:21] Speaker 3: So obviously the opportunity for women and girls to be
[31:25] Speaker 3: able to play and to play from a young age
[31:27] Speaker 3: is very different now than when you first started. But
[31:30] Speaker 3: again we're not talking about when you were playing in
[31:32] Speaker 3: eighteen forty two. We're talking about relative recent history. But
[31:36] Speaker 3: what was it like here to be a young girl
[31:39] Speaker 3: wanting to end playing rugby league?
[31:41] Speaker 9: Here?
[31:41] Speaker 2: Who were you playing with and against? Yeah?
[31:43] Speaker 10: So I actually had to stop playing when I was
[31:46] Speaker 10: twelve because there wasn't a pathway for young girls, like
[31:49] Speaker 10: you've got to stop playing nicked sports at that age.
[31:52] Speaker 10: So I went through netball and then got back into
[31:55] Speaker 10: football later on through a friend. And yeah, unfortunately go
[32:00] Speaker 10: down south, so back in those days, like everywhere you're
[32:04] Speaker 10: off and fine, you've got to go the S E
[32:05] Speaker 10: corner to chase your dreams. To now see the strength
[32:11] Speaker 10: that the games come to, where our local legends can
[32:14] Speaker 10: stay at home, male or female, and be a part
[32:17] Speaker 10: of the pathway system and then obviously go on succeed
[32:20] Speaker 10: like this kid next to me is truly wonderful.
[32:24] Speaker 2: Well, let's talk to the kid, Emma.
[32:26] Speaker 3: Origin is massive now it always has been, but a
[32:30] Speaker 3: million people watching each of those games of the recent series,
[32:36] Speaker 3: do you feel the eyeballs that are on you because
[32:39] Speaker 3: they are so many?
[32:40] Speaker 2: Now?
[32:41] Speaker 18: Yeah, I like reflecting even back on in like twenty
[32:45] Speaker 18: twenty three, my first year of origin, obviously there was
[32:48] Speaker 18: only like a standalone game and then it went to
[32:50] Speaker 18: two games, but now there is the three. I feel
[32:54] Speaker 18: like each year it is growing bigger and bigger. And
[32:56] Speaker 18: I felt definitely this year that was the most eyes
[32:59] Speaker 18: like watching us and you could definitely feel it in
[33:02] Speaker 18: the crowd. But even when they speak about it on
[33:04] Speaker 18: like it was the most watched game on TV for
[33:07] Speaker 18: the whole year, And that's like overruling the men too,
[33:11] Speaker 18: So that's pretty special.
[33:12] Speaker 2: Good stick it to them. Well done. Now, what is
[33:15] Speaker 2: in the power aid?
[33:16] Speaker 3: What is what is what is special for representing Queensland?
[33:20] Speaker 3: Because there is something magical where people are always lifting,
[33:23] Speaker 3: there's always something there's they're always particularly good at being
[33:26] Speaker 3: able to find that extra reason to play that extra
[33:29] Speaker 3: bit harder. What is it about representing Queensland that you
[33:33] Speaker 3: think gives you the edge before the whistle even starts.
[33:37] Speaker 18: I think not only you represent yourself, but you're representing
[33:40] Speaker 18: your community and all the people that have backed you
[33:43] Speaker 18: and supported you the whole way of your your career,
[33:47] Speaker 18: even when you're a little kid, supporting you. But I
[33:49] Speaker 18: think Queensland is we have something different in our blood
[33:52] Speaker 18: than the Blues. I feel like they don't really understand
[33:55] Speaker 18: origin and how much it means. And yeah, us Queens
[33:58] Speaker 18: stick it up, my love Seenlanders a something else.
[34:03] Speaker 3: Yeah, and Renee, let's talk about women's sport of course,
[34:05] Speaker 3: Harvey normandvery particular in their focus and their long term
[34:09] Speaker 3: focus of it. How important is it that people like
[34:11] Speaker 3: yourself are involved in pathways making sure that dreams can
[34:15] Speaker 3: come true?
[34:15] Speaker 10: Absolutely, Katie Page, We're fortunate enough when she first come
[34:19] Speaker 10: on board in twenty seventeen, it was our World Cup
[34:22] Speaker 10: year and she actually come down and played a game
[34:24] Speaker 10: of touch footy with us women on the beach and
[34:28] Speaker 10: ran into a forward. Mind you, she did so we
[34:30] Speaker 10: could have heard a penny our pin drop when she's
[34:33] Speaker 10: full and fallen down. There's our major sponsor.
[34:36] Speaker 2: She would alive, but she did.
[34:37] Speaker 10: She's a wonderful advocate for our game and women in
[34:42] Speaker 10: sport in general, and we would certainly be lost without
[34:45] Speaker 10: her support.
[34:46] Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, give them a round of apause. Good
[34:48] Speaker 2: on you. Guys.
[34:48] Speaker 3: Thank you two local heroes doing it for Queensland, another
[34:52] Speaker 3: one doing it and again thank you very much to
[34:54] Speaker 3: Katie Page and the good people of Harvey Norman. They
[34:55] Speaker 3: are the reason we're able to travel around the country
[34:58] Speaker 3: and bring you such beautiful and magical places like this
[35:01] Speaker 3: and a wonderful joint just out of town and a
[35:03] Speaker 3: very special person to meet there. The world of cain
[35:07] Speaker 3: growing and sugar cane has been synonymous with this region
[35:10] Speaker 3: and another tourism opportunity you can get and stay amongst
[35:14] Speaker 3: this stuff too.
[35:15] Speaker 2: Have a look. Mackay is the sugar capital of Australia.
[35:25] Speaker 3: This farm here, the Oda Farm, is a particularly special
[35:28] Speaker 3: one because you have the chance to be able to
[35:30] Speaker 3: stay here. You get the chance to meet incredible people
[35:34] Speaker 3: like its owner Corinda family, and you're able to become
[35:38] Speaker 3: fast friends. But one of the best things about staying
[35:41] Speaker 3: here is to learn the lesson that sugar doesn't just
[35:44] Speaker 3: turn up in a shop.
[35:45] Speaker 2: It's grown in a field. There's incredible hard work.
[35:48] Speaker 3: Behind all of that and it can't happen without the
[35:51] Speaker 3: great beauty that is Coinsland.
[36:00] Speaker 2: Get a canda. I've been looking forward to this. What
[36:04] Speaker 2: a piece of paradise.
[36:05] Speaker 19: You've got absolutely the best paradise.
[36:07] Speaker 2: Ay, this is great. How big is this doing?
[36:09] Speaker 19: About four hundred eight?
[36:10] Speaker 2: Because this just a baby all right, you're going to
[36:12] Speaker 2: show me around? Absolutely right?
[36:21] Speaker 19: Oh wow, okay, this is definitely my little place of paradise. Ah.
[36:27] Speaker 2: How's this built for lovers at sunset?
[36:29] Speaker 19: So we put this in for a couple of reasons,
[36:31] Speaker 19: because I want someone to be able to enjoy my
[36:34] Speaker 19: farm the way I do. We do some weddings from here,
[36:36] Speaker 19: We do all sorts. But you know what we can
[36:38] Speaker 19: do photo shirts, We can do anything from here. Beautiful
[36:40] Speaker 19: place to have your family photos, your name it, it's perfect.
[36:44] Speaker 19: We build it ourselves and it's built on a site angle.
[36:47] Speaker 19: Why because you see the sun go down over here
[36:49] Speaker 19: and hopefully eventually I'm going to see the sunrise come up.
[36:52] Speaker 2: How good is that? This is a beautiful square?
[36:58] Speaker 1: Silence?
[36:59] Speaker 19: Silence? Isn't it good? Even if you get some breeze here?
[37:02] Speaker 7: Oh?
[37:02] Speaker 19: You got to listen to is the birds?
[37:07] Speaker 2: So how important is it to you?
[37:09] Speaker 3: Not just that there's beautiful things for people to see,
[37:11] Speaker 3: whether they understand what you do Heresoltly sugar doesn't just
[37:14] Speaker 3: turn up in a shop.
[37:16] Speaker 19: Absolutely and I think that's where I come in. There's
[37:19] Speaker 19: a lot of people out there have no idea where
[37:20] Speaker 19: their food starts. They all think it starts and supermarket
[37:23] Speaker 19: shelf and definitely doesn't. And what it takes for farmers
[37:26] Speaker 19: to get it from a field till paddy, there's big
[37:29] Speaker 19: things in that. It doesn't just happen easily. It doesn't
[37:31] Speaker 19: happen overnight.
[37:33] Speaker 3: And is it like dairy where the price sometimes whoever's
[37:38] Speaker 3: buying it.
[37:38] Speaker 19: At the moment, it's fairly low. Sugar is probably at
[37:41] Speaker 19: its lwest price. But that's what happens in agriculture. And
[37:45] Speaker 19: I guess that's what I want to get the city
[37:46] Speaker 19: people used to In agriculture, it goes like this, It
[37:49] Speaker 19: goes up and down. You have weights. We don't always
[37:51] Speaker 19: have good We're not like them. We work out in
[37:54] Speaker 19: fields where it's cold and it's tipe. We're not in
[37:56] Speaker 19: a heated, air conned office. And we don't just get
[37:59] Speaker 19: a paper in our backs every week.
[38:06] Speaker 3: How long does it take to take sugar from an
[38:09] Speaker 3: empty field into something that comes off the farm so.
[38:12] Speaker 19: We have grown to get it to the days is
[38:15] Speaker 19: around twelve months were harvest in this area from around
[38:19] Speaker 19: June to December. That takes six months to harvest all
[38:22] Speaker 19: of my four hundred acres.
[38:25] Speaker 3: Keep showing me around, Keep showing me around. So tell
[38:30] Speaker 3: us the story of sugar from cane.
[38:32] Speaker 19: As it's put in the ground, it's buried, usually has
[38:35] Speaker 19: fertilizer goes in awhere, that's nutrients to food. It given
[38:37] Speaker 19: its fust a lot of food as it's planned in
[38:39] Speaker 19: the ground, and then it just grows from when we
[38:42] Speaker 19: plant it till getting a first harvest off it is
[38:45] Speaker 19: twelve months.
[38:46] Speaker 2: What physical product gets sent off farm?
[38:49] Speaker 19: Do we cut like this? So when it gets cut,
[38:51] Speaker 19: the harvest is cut it off. You hope that out
[38:53] Speaker 19: of all these you get ten to fifteen billots out
[38:55] Speaker 19: of every stick, and that's what goes to the mill.
[39:00] Speaker 19: Jada's over two hundred different varieties of sugar cane two hundred.
[39:03] Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite version of sugarcane?
[39:05] Speaker 19: The one that grows the best and gives me the
[39:07] Speaker 19: best result?
[39:08] Speaker 2: Spoken like a true farmer, Well played.
[39:16] Speaker 19: Welcome to the other love of my life, obviously other
[39:19] Speaker 19: than my husband and my kid.
[39:21] Speaker 2: Of course, this is my love shaking looking all this.
[39:30] Speaker 3: Now, if you think that taking care of sugarcane takes love.
[39:33] Speaker 2: This takes love.
[39:35] Speaker 1: Absolutely what a collection.
[39:37] Speaker 3: How long have you been collecting all things and anything
[39:40] Speaker 3: to do with John Deere.
[39:42] Speaker 19: So we've been collecting for five thirty years. And it
[39:44] Speaker 19: all started back when our son was just a baby
[39:47] Speaker 19: and I talked you boughty mesas deer replica machine, tractor,
[39:52] Speaker 19: whatever you want to call it, and it started a
[39:53] Speaker 19: bit of a collection. I guess some people call it
[39:55] Speaker 19: a passion some way, or call it an obsession, but
[39:59] Speaker 19: it's all here. If you visit id Farms day and
[40:01] Speaker 19: you do a full tour, oh you can come in
[40:03] Speaker 19: and do a single tour with this and work it
[40:05] Speaker 19: with me. When I've got time to do.
[40:07] Speaker 2: It, come to Mackay.
[40:10] Speaker 20: It's a Carinda and the teamd idea absolutely spectacular.
[40:21] Speaker 3: Corinda's Hill story is something we could have done a
[40:24] Speaker 3: whole package on herself. She had an aneurysm a few
[40:27] Speaker 3: years ago in Tasmania. It turned her life around and
[40:31] Speaker 3: she came up here and she's making an incredible success.
[40:33] Speaker 3: The personality personality plus so all the details about how
[40:37] Speaker 3: you can see her and jump on the boat and
[40:39] Speaker 3: make sure he's up on our Facebook page before we're
[40:41] Speaker 3: done tonight more at a moment here live from Mackay.
[40:45] Speaker 3: This is Paul Murray, live out town. Thanks for the
[40:47] Speaker 3: very good people of Harvey Norman.
[41:01] Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
[41:02] Speaker 2: Here in Makai.
[41:02] Speaker 3: The man who is lucky enough to be able to
[41:03] Speaker 3: represent this region and much of North Queensland in the
[41:07] Speaker 3: Federal Parliament is Andrew Wilcox and he joins us now.
[41:09] Speaker 2: Canday Andrew, how are you, mate?
[41:10] Speaker 1: Paul? Thanks very much for coming. I really appreciate it.
[41:12] Speaker 3: Oh what a wonderful joint this is. Now, your history
[41:15] Speaker 3: was as a tomato man, wasn't it.
[41:17] Speaker 1: That's right all right?
[41:18] Speaker 2: How long were the family involved in that? One?
[41:20] Speaker 1: Years and years? I did twenty two years myself in
[41:23] Speaker 1: Bowen and finished that. And now I get to look
[41:25] Speaker 1: after this beautiful part of the world.
[41:26] Speaker 2: It's pretty good.
[41:27] Speaker 3: Which requires more fertilizeder the bs that comes out of
[41:30] Speaker 3: government or how we grow tomatoes these days?
[41:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, I tell them what. I think there's more down
[41:35] Speaker 1: than camber be. I think they do us and we
[41:39] Speaker 1: use tons of it. Let me tell you that now.
[41:41] Speaker 3: As you know, there's always a feeling and anyone you
[41:43] Speaker 3: have a chat to in the North there's so much
[41:47] Speaker 3: prosperity that is created here that in a state sense
[41:50] Speaker 3: buggers off to Southeast Queensland, in a national sense, ends
[41:54] Speaker 3: up in other parts of the country. You've played such
[41:57] Speaker 3: a key role in trying to fight to keep some
[41:59] Speaker 3: of that here, to bring some of that back.
[42:01] Speaker 2: How important is.
[42:02] Speaker 3: It that the people that are actually working their ass
[42:04] Speaker 3: off get some of it back.
[42:05] Speaker 11: Well, that's my full time job is making sure that
[42:08] Speaker 11: I can take the voices from Central Queen's, then from
[42:11] Speaker 11: my Electric, from a guy through the Tansil down to
[42:14] Speaker 11: Canberra and explain to them exactly what we do.
[42:16] Speaker 1: There's plenty of people in the city.
[42:18] Speaker 11: They're happy enough to eat the attacker, but they don't
[42:20] Speaker 11: know where it comes from. So I know you've just
[42:23] Speaker 11: been out the Corinda today and she showed you exactly
[42:27] Speaker 11: what all the cane. So we've got cane down this
[42:29] Speaker 11: part of the world.
[42:30] Speaker 1: In the middle of.
[42:31] Speaker 11: The Electric We've got a lot of big horticultural crop,
[42:34] Speaker 11: about half a billion dollars worth there and then that
[42:37] Speaker 11: all feeds the city.
[42:38] Speaker 1: So very very important.
[42:39] Speaker 11: As alls we ask with very simple people up here,
[42:41] Speaker 11: is we generate a lot for the country.
[42:44] Speaker 1: We just want something back.
[42:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, good, that's only fair.
[42:47] Speaker 3: What I also love about the Queens Anderson general, particularly
[42:49] Speaker 3: regional Queenslanders, is their bes detectives, sensational and their aim
[42:54] Speaker 3: is right on.
[42:56] Speaker 2: So they don't hold back.
[42:58] Speaker 3: When you know what's going on and they tell you
[43:00] Speaker 3: or this isn't enough, go fight.
[43:02] Speaker 2: How good is that?
[43:03] Speaker 3: And sometimes obviously people might get up in your grill,
[43:05] Speaker 3: But that's what we.
[43:06] Speaker 1: Like, right. It makes it easy to do my job though.
[43:08] Speaker 11: The people in my elector doors and the people in Makai,
[43:11] Speaker 11: they deal in three things. They deal in honesty, integrity,
[43:14] Speaker 11: and truth. And there's not much truth coming out of
[43:16] Speaker 11: Camber at the present bought in time. I've had a
[43:18] Speaker 11: gutful of it. But when I'm going around the place,
[43:20] Speaker 11: they give me the ammunition that I need to go
[43:23] Speaker 11: down and I just tell them the truth.
[43:24] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[43:24] Speaker 3: Correct, Well, they don't like it at the moment down
[43:26] Speaker 3: there because there's this budget and I'm obviously hard line
[43:29] Speaker 3: on it, which is that it is a line in
[43:31] Speaker 3: the sand, it is an attempt to change the country.
[43:34] Speaker 2: There's many examples of all of that.
[43:37] Speaker 3: But we were just talking before we came on air
[43:41] Speaker 3: that they're making some changes when it comes to the
[43:43] Speaker 3: healthcare of veterans.
[43:44] Speaker 2: I mean we just saw Keith before.
[43:47] Speaker 3: Instead of you know, as much as you need, it's
[43:50] Speaker 3: a cap on five grand a year now.
[43:52] Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly right, Paul.
[43:54] Speaker 11: This budget though it doesn't need any carve out, it
[43:56] Speaker 11: needs a priest, I can tell you, it needs to
[43:58] Speaker 11: have as last rites administer it and needs to be
[44:01] Speaker 11: dead and buried. It is a troch here, high spending,
[44:04] Speaker 11: high taxing, and the people who put their bodies on
[44:06] Speaker 11: the line, the lives on the line so we can
[44:09] Speaker 11: enjoy this beautiful lifestyle near they're capping. They're Allied Health
[44:13] Speaker 11: at five thousand dollars a year now. They never never
[44:16] Speaker 11: capped their service when they went overseas and four for
[44:19] Speaker 11: us say why should we cap them now when they've
[44:23] Speaker 11: come home?
[44:23] Speaker 2: Bloody oats, bloody oat. Send the message, McKay, send the message.
[44:27] Speaker 12: Get on you.
[44:27] Speaker 2: Andrew Well said, all right.
[44:29] Speaker 3: So what is the area need? What would you like
[44:31] Speaker 3: to be able to achieve for it in the next
[44:33] Speaker 3: of a while.
[44:34] Speaker 11: Well on the theme we just had when I first
[44:36] Speaker 11: come to this place, and I wanted to have an
[44:39] Speaker 11: RSL wellness hub, in particular for our return service people.
[44:43] Speaker 11: There's about four thousand return service people and their families.
[44:48] Speaker 11: There's an opportunity down to Illowong now to have that.
[44:52] Speaker 11: Like I said, people put their bodies on the lines,
[44:54] Speaker 11: their lives on the line. We should look after them
[44:56] Speaker 11: when they come back in.
[44:58] Speaker 2: Yeah, very much.
[44:58] Speaker 11: The Bruce Highway is an another thing that needs enormous
[45:01] Speaker 11: amount of attension and running from Makaia through to Townsville,
[45:05] Speaker 11: it's rated is the worst section of the whole of
[45:07] Speaker 11: the Bruce. I'm constantly lobbying for funding for that. We're
[45:11] Speaker 11: having a lot of tragedies in our neck of the
[45:13] Speaker 11: woods and it's just simply not good enough.
[45:14] Speaker 1: I don't want to see anym more lives lost.
[45:16] Speaker 11: And probably locally the road from Acasia out from Occasia
[45:21] Speaker 11: back into the city it's like a parking lot certain times.
[45:25] Speaker 1: Of the day, so we need to do something with it.
[45:27] Speaker 3: And then when your leader Mt Canavan also talking about
[45:30] Speaker 3: how you know this inland Rail on the decision to
[45:33] Speaker 3: basically you know, pull upin huge problems that are going
[45:38] Speaker 3: to come from that.
[45:38] Speaker 11: Well, the biggest issue is the current government doesn't understand
[45:41] Speaker 11: about rural and regional Australia, so they don't understand that
[45:44] Speaker 11: we need all those routes to be able to get
[45:46] Speaker 11: our produce to market, our supplies up from the city.
[45:49] Speaker 1: You know, a lot of them have been just political.
[45:51] Speaker 11: Staffers or union hacks and don't understand the real world.
[45:54] Speaker 11: That's why it's my job to explain it to them.
[45:56] Speaker 11: And that's what I'm doing and a pleasure the man
[45:58] Speaker 11: doing it. Good on Andrew, thank you very much, appreciate
[45:59] Speaker 11: your thank you.
[46:00] Speaker 2: Following non socialist get in touch. Thank you Andrew. Stick
[46:03] Speaker 2: about because we've got something special from.
[46:05] Speaker 3: Madi your friends at Harvey Norman and we'll see what
[46:07] Speaker 3: happens for the good people that have turned up here tonight.
[46:09] Speaker 3: Remember all of the businesses and locations here. Will make
[46:12] Speaker 3: sure that there's information up at skyte News dot com
[46:15] Speaker 3: dot au and make sure that you come to Mackay.
[46:26] Speaker 3: Welcome back to Mackay, specifically the Mantra in mckaye. Beautiful facility,
[46:31] Speaker 3: lovely people and thanks to the very good people of
[46:33] Speaker 3: Harvey Norman.
[46:34] Speaker 2: We've got a special gift to give away.
[46:36] Speaker 3: We've got three sets of headphones and I will go
[46:39] Speaker 3: to the good people that are sitting behind us right now.
[46:41] Speaker 3: So if you hear your name getting called out right
[46:44] Speaker 3: now just hand in the air, and you're going to
[46:46] Speaker 3: get a good pair of Sony headphones thanks to Titan,
[46:50] Speaker 3: I think and the team at Harvey Norman here in MacKaye.
[46:53] Speaker 2: If I got that right, haven't I? Titan? Good love
[46:55] Speaker 2: you to see you mate. All right?
[46:56] Speaker 3: So first and official, if only I could have beautiful
[46:59] Speaker 3: bat girls. But the last you're gonna put up with
[47:01] Speaker 3: me and imagine me and a bikini. But here we go,
[47:03] Speaker 3: all right, the first one and we're not of the
[47:05] Speaker 3: Sony headphones.
[47:06] Speaker 2: Bring them to me so I can show some product
[47:07] Speaker 2: here on the telly.
[47:08] Speaker 3: Right, all right, it is none other than thanks mate,
[47:11] Speaker 3: these lovely Sony headphones. So I understand how it works.
[47:14] Speaker 3: It's business, all right. Which is the Sony headphones. Louise Plan,
[47:20] Speaker 3: Louise Plans.
[47:22] Speaker 2: Oh well, this is what a fit up this is?
[47:25] Speaker 9: Now?
[47:26] Speaker 2: You saw you saw it? Right?
[47:27] Speaker 9: All right?
[47:27] Speaker 2: Congratulations? All right?
[47:29] Speaker 3: Second one here, all right, call out your name? Who
[47:32] Speaker 3: wants to be called? Who wants to win these teas?
[47:34] Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, come, what's your name? Tell me your name?
[47:37] Speaker 2: All right? Good?
[47:37] Speaker 3: Yep, cool, good, all right? All I heard there was
[47:39] Speaker 3: one person who I think is called Trevor. But we'll
[47:41] Speaker 3: see what happens?
[47:42] Speaker 2: All right, Jamie willis Jamie.
[47:47] Speaker 3: We gotcha, all right, thanks to the good team, tied
[47:51] Speaker 3: en to the team at Harvey Norman.
[47:53] Speaker 2: You get the Sony headphones, all right, Lucky last, and
[47:57] Speaker 2: I'm going to come and give you a cuddle. Whoever
[47:59] Speaker 2: this one is, you get an ex a hug from me.
[48:01] Speaker 2: All right, stand by, stand by, Here we go. The
[48:04] Speaker 2: final winner is Reece William Reese. Where are you?
[48:10] Speaker 16: Oh baby, big fella?
[48:13] Speaker 3: Congratulations, my friend, congratulations?
[48:16] Speaker 2: And how old are you? Champ fourteen? You're fourteen? All right?
[48:19] Speaker 2: So do you watch the show or have you been
[48:21] Speaker 2: dragged along by someone who watches the show with my dad? Ah? Good,
[48:24] Speaker 2: well done dad. You're training them right?
[48:26] Speaker 1: I like it? I like it all right?
[48:28] Speaker 2: What do you like about? Mkay?
[48:30] Speaker 1: I like the scenery.
[48:31] Speaker 2: It's pretty good here, isn't it? People? All right?
[48:34] Speaker 6: Yeah?
[48:34] Speaker 2: Hardcore a little bit. Yeah, that's all.
[48:36] Speaker 3: It's good to be enjoy your headphones, mate, Thank you?
[48:38] Speaker 3: Right where you can listen to the podcast of Paul
[48:40] Speaker 3: Murray Live and everything else.
[48:41] Speaker 2: It's done dot com.
[48:42] Speaker 3: Do ain't you zing zing? Thank you guys, do appreciate it.
[48:45] Speaker 3: Thank you everyone for being here tonight. It means the
[48:47] Speaker 3: world to us. Thank you MacKaye, thank you Central Queensland,
[48:51] Speaker 3: thank you to Mantra, and thank you of course for
[48:53] Speaker 3: the wonderful people of Harvey Norman as well as that
[48:56] Speaker 3: opportunity to.
[48:57] Speaker 2: Be with Keith, to be on the boat to go
[48:59] Speaker 2: to the sugar.
[49:00] Speaker 3: This is just scratching the surface of a wonderful place
[49:03] Speaker 3: to come and visit. And I reckon once you here,
[49:05] Speaker 3: you're going to start doing the sums about how you
[49:07] Speaker 3: can turn this into the place that you call home.
[49:10] Speaker 3: One more time, Thank you Mackai, thank you everyone watching,
[49:13] Speaker 3: and we'll see you again tomorrow night back in the
[49:15] Speaker 3: man Cave for another edition of Paul Murray Live for
[49:19] Speaker 3: Our Town. We'll see you again around the country at
[49:21] Speaker 3: the end of next month.

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