In this interview, Adam Creighton appeared on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research on Criminal Justice.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Rita Panahi:
… joining me now for more on this is chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs, Adam Creighton. Adam, you are a new resident to Melbourne. What are your perceptions of the CBD? Can it be turned around?
Adam Creighton:
Well, look, I think it can be turned around, but it’s a great thing that serious Melbourne personalities like Eddie McGuire finally are speaking out and hopefully that does prompt the government to change its stance on crime. I mean, the statistics are true, crime has been increasing, but it’s also a perception thing, just like he was talking about.
And it’s the reputation of Melbourne, I think both domestically and internationally has just been taking a massive beating in the last few months, especially, and frankly since COVID for various reasons, as we’ve discussed. And I think that this really matters. As a resident, as someone who’s recently bought property here, and that would include tens of thousands of people, you want your city to have a good reputation. And currently, it does not.
Rita Panahi:
It doesn’t, but I think it’s entirely deserved. I don’t think it is a perception issue. I think it’s a reality issue.
Adam Creighton:
Oh, no. It’s real.
Rita Panahi:
Victoria’s got a record-breaking crime wave right now, so that’s not in contention. And I’m in Sydney every weekend for outsiders, and so I see the Sydney CBD during the weekend and it is thriving. There’s people everywhere. The restaurants are full. It is so different to the Melbourne CBD. If there’s not a major event happening, it’s dead. It’s scary, it’s depressing.
Adam Creighton:
No, sadly, that’s true. No, it’s my perception too, especially living in South Bank. There’s all these high-rise towers, but where are the people.
Rita Panahi:
Where the people?
Adam Creighton:
Especially on the weekend.
Rita Panahi:
Oh, gosh. Now Cessnock City Council in the New South Wales Hunter region has come under fire for its lethargic response to complaints about a homeless encampment set up in the town’s Main Street. Residents have been complaining about the encampment for weeks. They say it has transformed a once-save recreation area into a hotspot for open-air drug use, sex acts, and aggressive behaviour, deterring families from visiting.
The council has only now taken action, ordering the occupants to clear off the site by earlier today. And it’s only come about, Adam, because this video that has been posted online went viral, just showing how bad the situation is. And so often now, authorities only act when vision like this goes viral.
Adam Creighton:
Exactly. Look, it’s one of the virtues of social media that we do find these things out. I think the general point is, I think a permissive attitude to taking drugs in public has failed internationally. I think we have to admit that. And so that is relevant here. But I think the more pertinent point is probably that rents are spiralling out of control in these regional towns, and it is pushing people into homelessness. This is because of immigration, largely, I would say. That is one of the key factors. I think I saw in that article that rents I Cessnock in four or five years or up 30%.
Rita Panahi:
Wow.
Adam Creighton:
Right? I mean, that’s enormous. These people’s incomes would not be up 30% in four or five years, and so some of them are going to be ticked into living on the streets and this is what you get. And so quite understandably, people are furious. Sadly, the council doesn’t have much power over that. I’d say it’s the federal government ultimately. And these are just the social examples, the social fallout, if you like, of this high immigration policy.
Rita Panahi:
Now, Anthony Albanese has come under fire for wearing this T-shirt. Let’s have a look at it, as he arrived in Sydney last Thursday following his first state visit with US President Donald Trump. Now, he is fully aware that T-shirt says Joy Division, which is a band, and he’s fully aware of the dark meaning behind that band’s name, former Leo Burnett Australia Chair Nigel Marsh told the Prime Minister during a podcast back in 2022 exactly what the name of the English band Joy Division refers to.
Nigel Marsh:
Do you know where the name comes from?
Anthony Albanese:
No, I don’t, actually.
Nigel Marsh:
It’s awful. In 1955, a Holocaust survivor wrote a book called The House of Dolls, and it’s about, unfortunately, the truth of the Germans in the concentration camps had divisions of women who were forced into enslaved prostitution for the SS. And they were called joy divisions.
Anthony Albanese:
Oh, really?
Nigel Marsh:
Oh, my God. Yeah.
Anthony Albanese:
You should edit that out of the podcast just for the sake of the listeners, so that they can continue to enjoy it. But that was so dark.
Rita Panahi:
Well, you can continue to enjoy the music of Joy Division, but what about the wisdom of wearing a T-shirt that says Joy Division?
Adam Creighton:
It’s very strange. I mean, he obviously does know the meeting behind it. I don’t understand why-
Rita Panahi:
That was only 2022, so he hasn’t forgotten.
Adam Creighton:
He certainly wouldn’t have forgotten. Also, the more general point, wearing a T-shirt as you get off the plane, you’re the prime minister of Australia.
Rita Panahi:
But he’s keeping cool Adam.
Adam Creighton:
This is a serious country. I mean, can you not wear a T-shirt, especially one like that. Anyway, look, I question his judgement there. I mean, let’s hope he did forget. Okay? Otherwise, it’s very weird.
Rita Panahi:
I just know, if it was a liberal prime minister wearing that same T-shirt or another T-shirt with a band name that had that sort of origin, wow. Can you imagine the outrage?
Adam Creighton:
No. Well, in fact, I hadn’t even heard this until you had on [inaudible 00:05:12]-
Rita Panahi:
Steve Jackson in the Australian newspaper highlighted it, again, because I’ve got to say, I am not fully across Joy Division’s work.
Adam Creighton:
I’m not-
Rita Panahi:
I wasn’t aware of that, but obviously the prime minister is a big fan. Now, Argentina’s president, Javier Milei’s Libertarian party has won a big victory in national legislative elections. The results should help Milei push ahead with his radical overhaul of Argentina’s long-troubled economy. He’s already got that work well underway.
Adam, this is enormous. I mean, what he has been able to achieve in a short period of time in Argentina when again, the world’s media was in meltdown. He was called the Argentinian Trump and he was going to destroy the place. And he is a great admirer of Donald Trump, and he has slashed inflation by numbers you would not think would be possible in that time.
Adam Creighton:
No, the rate of inflation has gone from something like 250% a year to 30% a year now, so huge reduction. Obviously more to go, but that’s an incredible result. First budget surplus I think for decades. Poverty rates have actually fallen, and this result is just extraordinary. Most polls had him getting about 25% of the vote. It looks like he’s going to get 41%, his party.
Rita Panahi:
Wow.
Adam Creighton:
41%, which is huge. And the Peronist, the opposition, that’s the party that’s been responsible for the decline of Argentina, I think they’re going to get about 27. So this basically means that he has more than one third of the seats in the low house and the upper house, and that basically means he can press on with his reform agenda and he can’t be vetoed by the legislature.
So it’s all good news. It’s very great. He’s got two more years of his presidency, of course, and now he’s been emboldened by a great victory. So I think the Argentinian people have said, we do not want to go back to that past.
Rita Panahi:
No, that socialist past, and that’s what it was. And it absolutely destroyed the economy and the living standards of that country, a country that was once very prosperous. And you’re going to be in Argentina in a few days.
Adam Creighton:
That’s right.
Rita Panahi:
So enjoy that, Adam Creighton-
Adam Creighton:
[inaudible 00:07:11].
Rita Panahi:
… and come back on the programme.
Adam Creighton:
Indeed, I will. Maybe from there we could do it too.
Rita Panahi:
Oh, why not?
This transcript with Adam Creighton on The Rita Panahi Show – Sky News Australia 27 October 2025 has been edited for clarity.
