Rita Panahi:
Joining me now is the Institute of Public Affairs Executive Director, Daniel Wild. Dan, the poll also revealed 27% favoured taxing inheritances of more than a million dollars. Labour does love the politics of envy, and I think we’re going to get a fair dose of that in this budget.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, I think that’s a pretty safe bet. These policies are typically popular with Labour and Greens voters, even if they’re not that popular with the public at large. And what was interesting about all of those proposed revenue measures is none of them were above 50% for the public as a whole. So it will be interesting to see. I think more generally, when you look at the news poll, I think that Matt Canavan, assuming the leadership of the nationals has made a very big difference, and that probably explains a significant part of why the coalition has basically started to close the gap anyway with One Nation. He’s been very assertive, very direct on policies. And also I think critically, he’s somebody who has been consistent over many, many years on policies like net-zero where he was opposed to it from the very start.
And so when you look at it, I suspect it’s actually the nationals that are dragging up the coalition vote rather than the Liberal Party at this point in time. But now that the Liberals have rolled out the immigration policy, which I think is a very strong policy, I suspect that that will carry favour with the public as well.
Rita Panahi:
Yes. Well, we need to see some numbers. They’re talking about values, which is fantastic, but let’s see what that target figure is for the immigration policy. They’re sitting on that at the moment. And I think, Dan, we’re going to hear this term intergenerational inequity a lot as Labour try to sell this budget. How do you think that’s going to go over with the Australian public? We are in a cost of living crisis, and I think it’s quite an easy sell to pit Australians against each other and say people who are earning more than you should carry even more of the weight.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, I think that’s right. The intergenerational equity is probably going to be a code word for tax increases. So I think we need to keep an eye out for that. There is a genuine issue with the next generation of Australians coming through and the kind of economic opportunities that they have, particularly as it relates to homeownership, but also the job market, what kind of jobs are available to them. And in many ways, they are victims of a broken set of institutions, in particular our education institutions. Our schools and universities are not only not preparing younger Australians for a job, but they’re also basically leaving them with a broken culture and a divided culture, teaching them very negative things about Australia and our history and our place in the world.
So it is true that there’s an intergenerational problem there, but the issue is often when labour approaches this issue, it’s just to increase taxes on those who have gotten ahead and redistributed like they did with the hex when they took 20% off hex debt. That’s great if you’ve got hex, but what about if you don’t go to university or what about if you did go to university and you paid off your hex yourself? I always thought that policy was terribly unfair.
Rita Panahi:
Now to Ben Roberts-Smith, who’s made his first public statement since being granted bail. Australia’s most decorated veteran spent nine nights in custody after he was charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. He has not entered pleas to the charges, but has consistently maintained his innocence.
Ben Roberts-Smith:
As I’ve always maintained, I categorically deny all of these allegations. And while I would have preferred these charges not be brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally clear my name. I’m proud of my service in Afghanistan. While I was there, I always acted within my values, within my training, and within the rules of engagement.
Rita Panahi:
And he had this to say about the manner he was arrested as he asked for privacy for his family.
Ben Roberts-Smith:
I would ask that the media please allow my family their privacy at this time, particularly my children, who have already unfortunately suffered through a deliberate sensational arrest that was made last week, an unnecessary spectacle.
Rita Panahi:
Dan, his lawyers are also considering an application to permanently halt proceedings because of concerns that he may not get a fair trial.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah. Well, I think these concerns are pretty well-founded. It would be difficult to have a completely untainted trial given his profile and given the nature of the accusations that are made. And also given the media spectacle that Ben Robert Smith Riley referred to, I do think that the way in which he was arrested was curious. Obviously the media was tipped off and obviously it was designed to generate a certain spectacle around it, which raises questions as to the manner in which this has been undertaken.
I think the other issue here is the amount of time. This has been 10 years that this process has been underway. And if he has transgressed or if he has done something wrong, then sure, he should be held to account as anyone should be, but it’s hard to understand as to why this is taking year after year. And that’s not to mention the morale impact that this must be having on others in the military. I mean, we need more people putting their hand up to sign up to our military at this time. We need more money in defence. And I think this is just going to have the negative effect, which says to people, basically, if you’re accused of something, then you’re going to be hung up in front of the media. I just don’t think that’s very helpful.
Rita Panahi:
And there were reports over the weekend about some of the people testifying against him being granted immunity after admitting to killings. So that in itself I think raises all sorts of questions. If someone has admitted to killing somebody and they are granted immunity in exchange for their testimony against Ben Roberts-Smith. Now let’s talk about Green Senator Mehreen Faruqi. She was confronted by activist Pete Zagulas at Sydney University over the weekend after she voted against a motion to investigate fraud in the NDIS.
Pete Zagulas:
Hey, Mehreen Faruqi, why did you vote no to Pauline Hansen’s motion to investigate NDIS fraud? Why is she touching me? You can’t touch me. I just want to know why are you so against it? I don’t understand.
Rita Panahi:
Dan, why can’t she answer that simple question? Surely a senator can articulate why she voted against a certain bill. I find the whole spectacle there curious. She’s got her little posse trying to interfere with the cameras and the independent journalists there instead of just simply answering the question.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, I would’ve thought it’s fairly straightforward to give an answer. And it’s always the case that when you’re walking away from someone asking questions, it looks like something is a bit suss. Even if it’s not, it just looks like you don’t want to take the question. And if you don’t want to take the question, people assume that you’ve got something to hide. And clearly when we look at NDIS, there’s a massive issue with the spending, with the fraud, with the waste, with the abuse of that system, and we need to look into it. I think it’s pretty obvious the amount of money that’s being spent. The growth in spending on the NDIS is way faster than the growth of our entire economy, meaning that the NDIS is chewing up more and more of our economy every single year. I would’ve thought it’s entirely sensible to look into that matter. And if you don’t want to look into it, then there should be an explanation.
Rita Panahi:
Now, One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has called out the government for its failure to prepare for the Iran war, speaking to Sunrise who said Australia needed to deal with the cards that have been dealt.
Barnaby Joyce:
We’ve got to prepare ourselves better in the future. We were not prepared for this and if something like this happens again when it concludes, and we all hope and pray that it does as soon as possible, we have got to be vastly better prepared than we were this time because in some areas, this is a train wreck and it’s getting worse economically.
Rita Panahi:
It’s hard to argue with that. We’ve been entirely reactive throughout this entire crisis. The PM claimed over the weekend that Australia has always backed and end to hostilities in Iran, which is precisely what the Iranian regime would want. I would’ve thought Australia wouldn’t want the Iranian regime to continue. There seems to be no moral clarity. There seems to be no medium to long-term planning. All the focus is on what’s happening this week.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, it’s day-to-day politics, which has dictated pretty much the government’s entire foreign policy approach, whether it’s Iran, whether it’s the issues in the Middle East and antisemitism and so forth, it’s all been about politics and this is no exception. I think what Barnaby Joyce said is 100% right. We have to be more prepared. I mean, how can we be in a situation where we are an energy rich country, whether it’s oil, gas, coal, uranium, we have now a shortage or a potential shortage of liquid fuels where we import 90% of our liquid fuels.
Now, the blame for that is not just on this government, this has been happening for a long time. It was Scott Morrison who brought in net-zero, which was sort of a nail in the coffin of a lot of those refineries who can’t afford to pay the price of these policies. But nonetheless, we need to be better prepared. There’s no reason we can’t be. There’s no reason we can’t be more self-sufficient. I guess the only reason really is shortsighted political leadership that, as I say, is focused on day-to-day politics rather than the long-term interests of our country.
Rita Panahi:
Well, they don’t seem to be deviating from their net-zero ambitions at all. This crisis isn’t serving as a wake-up call to perhaps look at the fact that we are resource rich. We could be energy independent and completely avoid the current issues we’re seeing and also become an energy superpower, be able to provide other countries with the resources we have, but that hasn’t even come into the thinking thus far, Dan.
Daniel Wild:
No, it hasn’t. And I don’t think it will, unfortunately. I think you’re spot on with that. Iran, if anything else, should have been an off-ramp for Chris Bowen and the climate change ideology, and it’s becoming clearer by the day to Australians that this just isn’t working in our national interests. I mean, we have to be able to make things, we have to be able to build things in our country. And in order to do that, we have to have cheap energy. I mean, you can’t manufacture anything in this country because it is too expensive to do so. And I’m not saying that our energy costs are the only factor, but they are a key factor, and it is also something that we can pull the lever on. I mean, these aren’t just externally determined conditions that we need to respond to. We can control the costs in our economy, at least as it relates to our energy costs. And as you say, not only that, but we can really achieve a lot of economic gains and growth through exporting our resources, which can earn a lot of revenue for us.
Rita Panahi:
Daniel Wild, thank you so much for your time tonight.
This transcript of Daniel Wild on The Rita Panahi Show Sky News Australia from 20 April 2026 has been edited for clarity.
