Rita Panahi:
Joining me now is Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, Daniel Wild. Dan, how do you see the survey, and what did you make of Pauline Hanson’s performance at the press club today?
Daniel Wild:
Well, I thought Senator Hanson’s performance was very strong at the press club, I’ve got to say. The issues that she was discussing are the issues that matter to Australia’s future. I think her assessment of multiculturalism was spot on, as was her assessment of net-zero and various other issues including the gender ideology. So what I think is very exciting about this time in our country is the strictures of debate are being blown open. I can’t remember the last time somebody at a national press club address went through so many issues that were sacred cows. You’re not supposed to debate these things, you’re not supposed to question multiculturalism, for example.
So I think that this is a very significant moment for Australia’s future. And what I’m encouraged by is not so much the politics of it, whether it’s One Nation, Liberal, National, but that we’re having the debates that matter. We’re debating important things in this country. So I think that this will further open up the debate, which is a very important thing for us.
Rita Panahi:
Now she focused heavily on immigration, housing and labor’s budget lies during this speech, but there was an interruption. I’m just going to play you a short clip of leftist activists and the role they play today.
Pauline Hanson:
Of the 4,400 people surveyed, 19% said they’d eaten food from a rubbish bin in the past 12 months. 35% of parents said their children had gone to school hungry.
Rita Panahi:
Yes, that was courtesy of GetUp. Daniel, the activist group put down that poster to try to embarrass the One Nation leader. Did it work?
Daniel Wild:
No, it didn’t. It was pretty lame, I’ve got to say. The other thing, I’ve sort of got to question this a little bit. I mean, how could this happen without the knowledge of the National Press Club?
Rita Panahi:
Exactly.
Daniel Wild:
I mean, how could someone sort of get into the position of loading up a banner in that spot? I mean, they had to be behind the scenes. I don’t know. It just seems very strange that this was allowed to happen. I can’t help but think there’s someone on the inside that allowed this to happen. You could get rat bags that get into an event, that happens frequently. And if that was the case of some hecklers yelling out, then you’d say, “Well, that’s just part of the parcel.” But this seemed different. It seems very odd to me that this happened.
So I think the National Press Club needs to give an explanation and they need to give an apology to Senator Hanson and also to everybody that was at the event for this happening. I don’t think that this has happened to another leader of a political party. So it seems very odd. But no, I don’t think this has any impact on One Nation at all.
Rita Panahi:
No, I don’t think she missed a beat. She didn’t look embarrassed at all. Why would she? Now, One Nation has promised to cut the tobacco excise by 50% and to freeze indexation until June 2028. Pauline Hanson says the excise has made tobacco products so expensive. It has led to Australian tobacco consumers buying from illegal traders, buying in the black market, which is now valued around $5 billion, Dan. And of course here in Victoria, we’ve had a crime wave sparked by this illegal trade.
What do you make of this policy? I’m sure there’ll be all sorts of health bodies and activists who will say this is a step backwards. But there’s no doubt that these taxes have made the illegal trade just too attractive for everyday people. You’ve got people who are law-abiding citizens who are buying their cigarettes on the black market.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah. I mean, it’s far more common to buy something on the black market than the legal market at the moment when it comes to tobacco. And you’ve pointed out the crime and the fire bombings and everything that goes with it. It’s also this absurd situation where if the excise were to be cut, you would actually get more revenue, right? Because people would go back to the legal market. When you’re buying off the black market, obviously you’re not paying any tax on that. So the government gets $0 out of every transaction paid on the black market.
So moving people back to the legal market is going to be a benefit, even if you just look at it from the revenue perspective, and that’s not including the crime and everything else that goes with it. I think it’s really quite extraordinary though that we’re in this situation where it’s just so obvious you cut the excise, like I say, you’re going to get rid of the crime or reduce the crime and you’re going to get more revenue in the door. I just think it makes sense.
Rita Panahi:
If you’re going to have cigarettes available, and they are a legal product, then you can’t impoverish people who use the product, who are addicted to nicotine. Now lastly, on Pauline Hanson, she’s responded to celebrity chef Neil Perry, who said he’s going to leave the country if she ever becomes prime minister. Have a listen to her response.
Interviewer:
Do you think Pauline could be prime minister of Australia?
Neil Perry:
I wouldn’t think so. But if she is, I will be leaving Australia.
Ben Fordham:
Neil Perry reckons he’ll leave the country if you become prime minister.
Pauline Hanson:
Fine. So what? That doesn’t worry me. I couldn’t care less. What’s his problem? I’ve got too many other bloody good people out there who wants me to be prime minister to make a change their life. So one who doesn’t, good.
Ben Fordham:
You’re not going to rush off to one of his restaurants tonight?
Pauline Hanson:
I’ll take him to the … I don’t think I’ve ever been in his restaurant. I do my own cooking, Ben. Everyone loves my cooking.
Rita Panahi:
Dan, that’s a pretty good response I’ve got to say. That’s very relatable and it ends up making Neil Perry look like he’s rather precious and out of touch.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? I mean, we’ve seen this time again. We saw it with Trump, didn’t we? All the time. All of these celebrities say, “If he’s going to win, I’m going to leave.” And no one cares really. And I think it diminishes the celebrities that are involved. I mean, I think Neil Perry is a very accomplished restaurateur and a chef and someone who’s had a lot of great accomplishments, but people will now look at him through a different lens. They say, “Look, you’ve weighed into this political debate. It just sounds like you’ve got sour grapes.” I mean, we live in a democracy. People are going to disagree and if you can’t cop having someone as PM who you don’t like, then that says a lot more about the individual than it does about anything else, I think.
Rita Panahi:
And it says a lot also about what you think of your country. If someone you don’t like is elected prime minister and that’s enough for you to abandon your country, then how much do you actually like Australia? Now, want to play you a clip of this clash between opposition treasury spokesman Tim Wilson and employment minister Amanda Rishworth. It happened on Today Show yesterday, and it really kicked off when Rishworth said that Wilson had argued for the government’s tax changes in his book.
Amanda Rishworth:
Maybe you should table your book, because of course you’ve argued for these changes also. So, these has been a [inaudible 00:07:25]-
Tim Wilson:
No, grow up, Amanda, that’s not true. That’s simply not true.
Amanda Rishworth:
Well, you’re telling me to grow up.
Tim Wilson:
Small businesses all around the country are screaming for help-
Amanda Rishworth:
All right. Good one. Take that advice.
Tim Wilson:
… and your answer to this is to turn around to censor and silence them. There’s a point in which Australians are going to have their say.
Amanda Rishworth:
That is just not true.
Tim Wilson:
You didn’t give it to people at the last election.
Amanda Rishworth:
That is not true.
Tim Wilson:
You didn’t give it to people at the last election. You lied before the Australian people the last election.
Amanda Rishworth:
That is not true.
Tim Wilson:
You’re now ramming us through the parlour-
Amanda Rishworth:
I’m going to stop you right here.
Tim Wilson:
[inaudible 00:07:50] At what point are Australians get to have their say about this [inaudible 00:07:53]?
Karl Stefanovic:
It’s still running hot.
Rita Panahi:
You know what? On television, you’re always told do not speak over each other because it frustrates the audience. I’ve got to say, I like it. I like just people yelling at the same time and you can’t really work out what anyone’s saying clearly. But does Tim Wilson have a problem? Because there are extracts in his book which seem to suggest that the changes the Albanese government made he perhaps advocated for. He certainly made some comments about intergenerational inequity in that book that seemed to mirror Labor’s current rhetoric.
Daniel Wild:
Look, I don’t know whether he’s … I would find it very odd if he had said in his book what the government is currently doing in the budget. But I think the issue here is obviously the budget is very unpopular, and I think Australians do like to see people take the fight to the government, but maybe he sort of went a bit overboard, I think. I think he’s probably getting verballed there by Amanda Rishworth a bit as well.
I will also say that my colleague Adam Creighton was also verballed by the treasurer. The treasurer claimed that Adam supported the government’s changes as well, when clearly he did not. There was a component to do with the taxation of inflation, which economists widely considered to be a bad thing that he had said is a bad thing, but in terms of the minimum rate of 30% that clearly hadn’t been supported.
So they’ve got form here in trying to verbal people. So I don’t know. I mean, maybe it will be an issue for him. I don’t think it is, but look, we’ll wait and see what happens.
Rita Panahi:
Dan Wild, thank you so much for your time.
This transcript with Daniel Wild talking on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia from 17 June 2026 has been edited for clarity.
