SARAH ABO, HOST: Welcome back. Well, annual inflation has cooled to a two-year low, raising hopes that interest rates will steady and dare we dream even fall in the second half of the year. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and 2GB's Chris O'Keefe. Good to see both. Senator, we'll start with you. It's been a tough two years for so many as we know. Does this give us a little bit of breathing space?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Well, it certainly gives us a lot of encouragement. Sarah, we know that, people are still experiencing tough times across the country, but it does give an encouraging, sort of look ahead. We've certainly been working very hard around cost-of-living issues more broadly with, cheaper childcare, cheaper medicine. Looking at the electricity bills and certainly improving, the wages certainly in the care sector, Sarah. But we've got a way to go. But yes, this is really encouraging news.
ABO: Chris, the government will run with this is a good sign for them, especially off the back of these tax cuts. And economists are concerned that that might actually impact rising rate hikes.
CHRIS O'KEEFE: Bad economists , they're like undertakers. They just want to bury everybody. Just cheer up guys. It was good numbers yesterday. It's good news for the economy. We haven't seen hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs. We're likely to hit the target level of inflation that Phil Lowe took us down this track, you know, 18 months ago, two years ago. The guy looks like a genius now, the governor of the Reserve Bank. All everyone did was hop into him. And now he's done exactly what he was planning to do. Now, in terms of the tax cuts, I wouldn't worry about it. It's the same pool of money that the RBA had already priced into their inflation forecasts when the legislated Scott Morrison tax cuts were coming through anyway. It's just being redistributed a little differently. Sure, there's some evidence that shows that a lot of people on lower incomes do spend it. But realistically come on. Inflation is coming down. Unemployment's at a good level. It's good news. The economists who just want us to bash inflation over the head and put everyone out of work, just go back to sleep.
ABO: Oh positive Chris O'Keefe to start with, how about it! Well let's move on now because this is another interesting one. Enraged parents and former students have met outside an elite private old boys school in Sydney's inner west protesting the decision to allow girls to enrol. Senator, they're fighting to save a tradition that's more than 160 years old. I don't know, what do you reckon?
MCCARTHY: I've been watching the different stories on this, Sarah. And what I've also seen, too is, even the principal's come out and said that he's had, many consultations, I think over 40 last year. So they've obviously been discussing it as a school community. So what's happening now I think is really quite messy in terms of, the result, this is not new. They've been speaking about this for quite some time. So I thought it was, okay, democracy in action. The parents were having their say yesterday. But, let's see how they go for the remainder of the year. But you know, this was a decision that obviously the school has been dealing with.
ABO: That's right. And they want to phase it into 2033. I don't understand why there is so much anger about this, Chris. I mean, I mean, I get the tradition aspect and I get that generations of families have gone to this school. I completely respect all of that. But the notion that, you know, girls injected into a school is going to change education. I'm not sure about.
O'KEEFE: Of course it's not. The only thing I'd say on the flip side of that, I don't see a whole lot of girls schools inviting boys in. It only seems to be boys schools inviting girls in.
ABO: Well, why?
O'KEEFE: I don't know the answer to that. But what I will say is this, there are heaps of options out there. I know Newington very well. I know a lot of Newington old boys. It's okay guys, that was a very small group of people out the front getting very emotional about something. Now you're talking about tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of boys that have been educated at Newington. And we saw what? A handful of people protesting out the front. Look, there's options, if you want to send your boy or your girl to a single sex school, more power to you. But there's plenty of options for that. Now, if this school has made the decision based on a consultation process, you can poke holes in the consultation process all you want, but ultimately they've made the decision to go co-ed. If you don't like it, send you boy to an all boys school. There's stacks around.
ABO: Yeah. Well that's right. The options I think is the biggest argument isn't it? All right. Well New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says a planned rock concert in Sydney on ANZAC Day will not go ahead after uproar by veterans groups. Senator, it's called pandemonium 2024 with acts like Alice Cooper and Blondie. It's on after the march. Do you find it offensive?
MCCARTHY: Well, it was interesting. I think it was more around the fact that it's so close to the to the march, Sarah. So I'm not surprised that the veterans have raised their concerns. I would have thought something later in the afternoon or evening, might have been possible, but clearly the Premier has made a decision on it, that it's not going to happen at all. Maybe there were checks and balances in place that were missed in the decision making here, but, the veterans have rightly raised the concerns, in terms of their views and, in terms of the march. And I think the Premier has listened to that for this year's ANZAC Day.
ABO: There's talk about moving it, but there's also that argument about, you know, it's okay to play footy on Anzac Day, but not necessarily a music festival.
O'KEEFE: Sure. But I don't like it. It's ANZAC Day. We can't agree on anything in this country, but we can agree on AZNAC Day. That's something that we all step back and revere. It is Australia's most important day. You can't have rock concerts at the Domain, a block away from where the ANZAC Day march is in the middle of Sydney. You can't have it. Just forget it. And the fact that the organizers thought that this wasn't going to blow up in their face, I think is a little bit silly of them. And whoever the people were that signing it off. Well, they need to be hauled into offices... I think this was very avoidable.. Very avoidable.
ABO: Exactly right, why let it get to this stage now and only suddenly realize.
O'KEEFE: You can't have rock concerts on ANZAC Day. Forget it, it can't happen.