Steve Price:
My God. I mean, awkward. Here to discuss this and more news of the week, Senior Fellow Institute of Public Affairs, Mia Schlicht, and Sky News regular, Joe Hildebrand. Donald Trump never fails to surprise Joe.
Joe Hildebrand:
Oh, I just love him. And this is why you have Donald Trump. If you want someone who’s going to follow all the protocols and someone who’s going to sort of bow and scrape and say all the boring beige, diplomatic niceties that mean absolutely nothing, don’t go with Donald Trump. But if you want someone who is just going to go where no man, where angels fear to tread, no man is dared to go before, he is the guy. And I thought this was absolutely hilarious. I think you have to remember with Trump, first and foremost, he’s an entertainer. He’s an entertainer who just happens to be President of the United States. And I for one as an audience member, I’m very entertained.
Steve Price:
Yeah. Well, as I said, I’ve been to Japan a lot. And so a mate of mine pulled me aside. First time I went there and said, “Mate, whatever you do, don’t ever mention the war.” And I certainly haven’t done that. Mia, the Victorian Coalition, they’ve been this week ramping up their social media attacks. It’s taken them long enough to work out that, that’s what you need to do. Here’s a quick edited grab of what they said about what should have been the start of the Commonwealth Games this week.
Jess Wilson:
Today would’ve been the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games here in Victoria.
Roma Britnell:
The $15 billion discus.
John Pesutto:
How far can taxpayer money be thrown into waste and corruption?
David Southwick:
High jump, highest taxes and highest debts.
Jess Wilson:
Budget bombed.
Steve Price:
Apart from John Pesutto’s jeans, I reckon it’s pretty good.
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, look, it was certainly attention grabbing, Steve. That is for sure, and that’s a good thing because for a long time here in Victoria, the Liberal Party has kind of been nowhere. So it’s great to see them grabbing those headlines. However, I think now the next step for them is that great, you’ve got the state’s attention. Now, what are you going to do with it? The message is just as important as the way you’re delivering that message. So the message can’t just be these are all the terrible things that Labor’s doing. We need a little bit more. What’s the Liberal Party going to do about that? What’s the next stage? What are their policies that they’re going to roll out? So I think this is a great start for them, but now we need to see a little bit more.
Steve Price:
Yeah, Joe, it’s interesting. The Liberal Party, obviously, clearly with the polls going against them and One Nation on a surge, are in real trouble, but they’ve managed to find two remarkable women to lead in South Australia, Ashton Hurn and in Victoria Jess Wilson. So I don’t know where they’ve been hiding these great candidates and leaders all these years trawling through all these conga line of blokes who are no good. Those two are outstanding candidates.
Joe Hildebrand:
Yeah. Look, it’s a tried and true tradition from both parties where you go through all the blokes and then when you’re in a completely unwinnable position, you roll out a female candidate who you probably should have rolled out a long, long time ago. And it’s kind of like a, “Oh, you wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, would you? Oh, look, I’m a brand new face. I’m not the one you’re angry at. He’s gone.”
They did it with Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan, now obviously got Jess Wilson in Victoria, who I think is a strong candidate. I think they do have a chance and I don’t think One Nation will be as strong in Victoria as it will be in other states. Obviously, South Australia tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath for the Libs. That is not Ashton Hurn’s fault, but it is just a fact of life. And maybe if they had to put her there one leader ago or two leaders ago, instead of the bloke who was racking up on his kitchen bench, things might have actually been different and the Libs might’ve been in with a chance.
Steve Price:
100%. Mia, this could only happen in Victoria. Commuters are being mourned that you should be careful of the new tap and go. So they’re a hundred years behind, you’ve been able to do this in Sydney forever, but the new myki readers can apparently read your phone and your credit cards in your purse or your wallet and start charging you for a train fare that you never took. How only in Victoria could that happen?
Mia Schlicht:
I know it is quite unbelievable. I’ve just come back from a trip to Japan with some friends and their transport system is night and day. We could only dream about having a system that works that efficiently here in Victoria, but at the end of the day, it’s just another failed project rolled out by a financially bankrupt government who is completely incompetent. And this story gets a little bit worse because when you look at one of the key players who was involved in the rollout of this new project, Jeroen Weimar, he was also the Commonwealth Games Chief and he was also the COVID-19 responder. So this guy has a history of botching the roll-outs, yet we continue to rely on him and now he’s on about a $700,000 pay wicket. It is just unbelievable. And once again, it is Victorians who are paying the price.
Steve Price:
He’s one of those blokes who keeps getting jobs. Joe, I know Chris Bowen is spending the day in Brisbane and is his role as the cop negotiator and we’re in the middle of a fuel crisis. What does he think he’s doing?
Joe Hildebrand:
You know what? This reminds me of the Woody Allen joke at the end of Annie Hall where there’s two sort of grumpy old ladies having dinner and one says to the other, “The food here is terrible.” And the other one says, “I know, and in such small portions.” And I sort of felt this way when Scott Morrison left for Hawaii in the middle of the bushfire crisis and Bowen goes to a conference, which is at least work related in the middle of an energy crisis. People are saying, “This guy’s terrible. He’s absolutely hopeless. He’s no good. He’s useless.” And then it’s, “Oh my God, he’s gone. What are we going to do without him?” I think we’ll be all right.
Steve Price:
You couldn’t read about it, Joe. You couldn’t actually read about it. Thank you both. Appreciate you very much.
This transcript of Mia Schlicht on Steve Price Sky News Australia from 20 March 2026 has been edited for clarity.
