Jodi Lee: Hello and welcome to Covet, a podcast that helps you figure out what's going on in the news and how you feel about it.

Annie Pullar: Here to guide you through the biggest stories of the week, we are your hosts, I'm Annie Puller, and this is Jodie Lee.

Jodi Lee: On this week's episode we dive into

Annie Pullar: Where Australia will be in 40 years from now, where apparently having fewer kids, older populations, but somehow getting richer, we unpack all the bold predictions.

Jodi Lee: Princess Diana's brother in law, Earl Spencer, is spilling all the tea, claiming his former brother in law, King Charles, was giddy over the death of his former wife.

Annie Pullar: And it is officially the best weekend of the year. The Brisbane Lions are going for a mighty three-peat. Kylie Minogue is taking over the Coliseum, aka the MCG. My three favourite things are colliding, but we're also unpacking what the hell is happening with the NRL's grand final entertainment. But first let's go to our honourable mentions. These are the stories that don't quite warrant a deep dive, but are worth getting your head across.

Jodi Lee: The first one is that less than a week after we were warned that an AI bot could literally destroy the human race, an open AI agent has breached Australia's Medicare systems. Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, made this announcement from New York. We're told that an open AI agent had been tasked with investigating or researching Australia's medical spending, but it quite literally went rogue. It broke through a firewall and it accessed sensitive data on the Medicare system. We're told that people's specific details haven't necessarily been leaked, but Anthony Albanese has met with the owner, Sam Altman of OpenAI. He said he kept this news private from the Australian public so as not to cause too much alarm.

Annie Pullar: I mean, it certainly raises questions about our own cybersecurity. But moving to our next honorable mention, and speaking of the US, Donald Trump has once again ended up in court, very much in hot water over his treatment of the media. Of course, last week Trump banned several mainstream outlets, including CNN, Politico, and MS Now, from White House briefings and press conferences, accusing them of reporting what he loves to say as fake news. Now that prompted quite a unified response from rival networks Including Trump-friendly Fox News. They refused to provide the shared camera crew that normally follows the president around. That meant for several days some of Trump's appearance actually didn't end up on mainstream news getting that coverage. Three of those outlets actually then sued, arguing that Trump was effectively punishing them for reporting that he didn't like. A federal judge then stepped in and has ordered the White House access be reinstated to these outlets, saying That the ban was likely unconstitutional. The White House argued that this was all about national security, but the judge firmly rejected that, And in quite an extraordinary move, the White House hit back even further by launching its own 24-7 YouTube channel dubbed Trump TV, which critics are now labelling state-run propaganda.

Jodi Lee: Well, I mean, that's that is what it is. but our third honorable mention this week is that the Sydney Swans players, dubbed the Pullman Five, have sensationally and very publicly returned to the club for the first time after that alleged wild night of partying. In case you don't remember, the players were stood down from the club. They'll miss their the club's attempts at a finals campaign, and they were also banned from all Australian selection. After a night of partying at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne, where three women made allegations of sexual assault. But this week, those players, Isaac Heaney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordan, and Riley Bice were seen for the very first time all together. They walked through the front doors of the Sydney Swans headquarters past our TV news cameras, and once inside, it's said that they all individually addressed both players from the men's and women's team and Sydney Swans staff about the incident. This could really pave the way for all five of those players to return for the preseason. There's also talk that they might even be at the Sydney Sword. Sydney Swan's Best and Fairest Awards that happen, I think, later this week or early next week. But it's definitely the first time that we've seen them. As for the Victoria Police investigation into those allegations of sexual assault, well, it is still ongoing. It's important to note though that Riley Bice has been cleared and is currently only working with police as a witness, but no charges have been laid against any of these men.

Annie Pullar: I mean, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in Swan's HQ when they reappeared. it just it would have been so uncomfortable, I think, for everyone involved. But shall we move to our first story?

Jodi Lee: Yes, and this story is so fascinating because it's really a look into Australia's future, right? The government basically maps out what Australia is gonna look like over the next 40 years, or sorry, in 40 years from now, via this intergenerational report. It does this every three years, and there's been seven of them. And basically what it's told us is that we'll be older, we know that, there'll be way

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: more of us. AI could basically, as we already know, change entirely the way that we live and work. But more interestingly than ever, it's that we're having fewer babies and somehow we're all gonna have to pay for it.

Annie Pullar: I mean, it all sounds too good to be true, but I as we were sort of delving into this story, I did think that we would be quite a vibe at 70 and 76 years old, probably still sitting here and gas bagging. But let's get into the nuts and bolts

Jodi Lee: Hmm.

Annie Pullar: of this intergenerational report. So it's obviously been being released by Treasury, which is that government department that essentially advises on the economy, the budget, the country's finances. They do all of the spreadsheets and basically churn out, you know, predictions. So every few years it's It sort of looks at the trends happening around us, the state of the world, what's happening overseas, and it basically asks the question, if this keeps on going, where does Australia end up?

Jodi Lee: Yeah, and I think what's fascinating is that the government sort of earmarked five key categories for change that it thinks will impact us the most over the next 40 years. Obviously, my ADHD brain loves the five categories. but they are AI, an aging population, the energy transition, so the move toward renewables, changes to Australian industries, and then what it also calls this geopolitical fragmentation. So that's a really large term that sounds super bureaucratic, but it's basically how wars trade disputes and the like, which we've seen play out over the last year, certainly with the Strait of Homuz and the war with Iran, how those kinds of geopolitical situations will impact the way that we live and work and spend and make money here in Australia.

Annie Pullar: I think the part that's really grabbed me and clearly the rest of the country, because it's generated a lot of headlines this week, but apparently by 2066, the number of Australians aged over 85 is expected to triple. And I feel like that sounds insignificant when you just throw it out because it's obvious that we're all getting older. But the point is that there's going to be more people that are sort of heading for the 100 rather than that younger demographic particularly. children being born. So while it's great news that we're living longer, it does sort of come with a cost. if you think about it, if we have more people in their 80s and their 90s, it means a much greater demand on healthcare, aged care, and and who's going to be looking after all of these people. Like.

Jodi Lee: Yes, well, and the biggest issue there is what they call intergenerational inequity. So this idea that older people will be much better off than the younger people. And we're already seeing that. Statistics tell us that people like us, born not so much us in the 80s, but definitely us in the 90s, are accumulating less as adults than people who were born in the 70s and even the 60s. Our parents. That's not for lack of trying. That's as a result of the circumstances that we were born into. And if you ask the federal labour government, Government, the likes of Jim Chalmers will tell you that that is exactly why they made those big budget changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing to try and help younger people get ahead. But it begs the question: if younger people are already worse off, who is going to be paying for these older people when they are no longer working and relying on the system? And that's what this report basically calls generational inequity.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, and I think it's even more concerning when you look at the predictions about starting a family because we're hearing or we already know that the fertility rate is sort of sitting at a record low. So right now it's about 1.5 children per woman, and that's expected to dip even lower. I think we need to explain what that

Jodi Lee: Yes.

Annie Pullar: fertility rate actually means though.

Jodi Lee: Okay, First of all, can I just say I absolutely hate the term fertility rate because traditionally the word fertility, and it's it's sort of funny, but it's not funny at all. This the term

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: fertility is used to talk about whether or not you are physically capable capable or able to have a child. And that's actually

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi Lee: not what we're speaking about here. This should really be called the reproduction rate, because it's the rate at which families and women are actually having children. So the rate at which we are reproducing. And you're right, it's at the moment it's sitting At one and a half children per Australian woman of childbearing age. But it's it's forecast to drop to 1.34. And I don't think that it's a surprise that that's happening. It's become incredibly expensive to live and function in this country. And so women are working longer, they're working harder. You know, in the 1950s, you had one parent go to work and one parent stay at home. It was simple. But now Very few Australians can afford to live like that. So you have women working into their twenties and certainly into their thirties and delaying having children for some of them for some of them it means that they then can't. And for others it also means that they might not be able to afford to.

Annie Pullar: Well, I actually read this interesting statistic that back in the 1960s, the average fertility rate was three children per woman, which gives you an indication of how far this number has come down. And we talk about why this is happening. I don't think there's any sort of silver bullet answer to this. And I really feel like I somewhat fit into this category. You know, I've just hit 30 years old. Typically back in the 1950s, I probably would have had a couple of children by now, but I think because I've ultimately Put work first, building a career. I've felt that I've been afforded the opportunity to delay having kids. And we also have, you know, this emergence of IVF, and there's a lot, there's a lot of other ways that we know that we can sort of safeguard ourselves. But the other part of this is when you do go back to work as a woman who has a child, a large chunk of your salary is also going to childcare. And I think that that probably acts as not a deterrent, but definitely it contributes to people maybe putting putting off, you know, starting a family.

Jodi Lee: Yeah, I don't think it's only the ch the cost of childcare. It's also just the inequity between the school system and the work system in Australia. So there's this amazing advocate called Georgie Dent and she heads up The Parenthood, which is an advocacy network for Australian parents. She spoke at the Australian Press Club this week in Canberra and it was so powerful. She actually put some really honest and stark statistics and numbers to this issue of slowed reproduction and the challenges facing Australian families. And I want to read them to you and then we'll have a listen to some of what she said. But the parenthood analysis found that the cost of raising a family in Australia has jumped by a hundred. 134% in just 20 years. So that's

Annie Pullar: Wild.

Jodi Lee: that's when I was a teenager in high school. That's when I graduated

Annie Pullar: Mm-hmm.

Jodi Lee: high school. It was 134% cheaper to have a child. One child now costs an Australian family about $17,800. For two or more, that's you know, upwards of $36,000, $37,000. But let Georgie Dent paint the picture because she's brilliant.

Annie Pullar: I mean, a big part of this right has to come back to parental leave as well and and making sure people are afforded the opportunity to be able to take leave to look after their kids. My my biggest sort of takeaway from what Georgie is saying is that Australians aren't deciding they don't want kids. They just actually can't keep up with with what they cost, the time commitment that it takes into raising a child and managing a million other things in your life. Like

Jodi Lee: Yeah, the other thing she flagged, which I had never stopped to consider, but it's so bleedingly obvious, is that a child in school has an eight-week holiday over Christmas and then typically

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi Lee: two-week holidays every 10 weeks after the term. So let's say call it 12 weeks of h school holidays a year. A working Australian in a full-time job. gets four weeks of annual leave. So even if

Annie Pullar: It doesn't add up.

Jodi Lee: even if you have but even if you have two working parents who take all of their annual leave during school holidays and separate from one another, you're still left with four weeks of unpaid care a year. It's just ludicrous.

Annie Pullar: It is. What's interesting is when you look at what's happening overseas as well, like countries like Asia have tried cash payments, cheaper childcare, housing support. Even in China, they made condoms cheaper to try to try to curb the the sexual rates. not sure if that worked, but remember the baby bonus here. I think we've spoken about it on a previous episode. So the Howard government basically introduced this baby bonus back in 2004, essentially giving families a three thousand dollar bump. To encourage them to actually have a baby. It did lead to, I think, a slight increase in births, but it never sort of reversed that long-term decline that we started to see. So, I mean, the problem is you can't essentially pay people to have children. It's it's a nice sweetener, but.

Jodi Lee: But sorry, we just w w we just said a child's gonna cost you seventeen thousand eight hundred dollars over their lifetime and you're like, here's three grand to get you started.

Annie Pullar: I mean, to be completely honest, I'd take it.

Jodi Lee: I don't know about that. I find but you know what is interesting

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: is that even so we obviously know that more over the next forty years more Australians are going to die than will be born. No. Is that true?

Annie Pullar: That's wild. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. More Australians are gonna drive and be born.

Jodi Lee: But our population is still predicted to increase. So we're tipped

Annie Pullar: Yes.

Jodi Lee: to increase to a population of forty million. that has to have a lot to do with migration. You have to think where else are the people coming from?

Annie Pullar: Yes, you're absolutely right, because we need skilled migrants in this country to be able to stabilize our population and essentially fill the void that is being left by, people aging into their eighties and nineties. We need them filling those aged care jobs, those health care jobs, and also contributing to the economy. I think obviously the difficult part here is getting that balance right. We've spoken time and time again about you know, the housing shortage in this country, but we could go on forever about all of the issues that are set to affect Australia in the next 40 years. I want to leave you with something positive though, Jody. Women are apparently expected to live to about 90. So we've got a lot more in us.

Jodi Lee: The old duck's got a little life left in her. How good. speaking of old crusty ducks, why don't we move to our second story of the week? And it is, of course, about the royal family in the UK, our favourite topic. As I mentioned at the start of the show, Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has released this tell-all book called Swan Song, Diana, My Sister. And it's basically revealing all the sordid details of what happened inside the royal family, inside the firm, after. Princess Diana passed away. The most explosive claim that I think has hit every headline around the world is that Charles, who was by the time she passed away her former husband, given they had divorced, apparently told Earl Spencer, Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough.

Annie Pullar: I mean, whether it was said or whether it wasn't, it really hasn't aged well, has it, when you consider the world's love and fascination for Diana, including my own. There's obviously been countless books, documentary, TV shows, The Crown, and endless conspiracy theories about her death. There was also that famous BBC interview where she sort of sat down and blew open the lid on her marriage. But I think that this book hits differently because it's actually coming from, someone inside her circle. her younger brother who has fiercely stood by her side, before her death and after her death.

Jodi Lee: Yeah, they were incredibly close and he's always stuck by Princess Diana and really tried to immortalise her and continue her legacy. So you might remember that he very famously walked behind Princess Diana's coffin in her funeral procession with Prince Harry and Prince William, who were very young at the time. He delivered the eulogy at her funeral, and he's also spoken about her so much since she passed, as I said, trying to keep her memory alive. he said that this book is his final attempt. Given he's also coming into his older years. This is his final attempt to try and really jot jot down everything that he knows and remembers. But some of what he remembers is incredibly brutal. Again, he's taken a swipe at Charles and he said that after Princess Diana passed away and Charles delivered the news to the young princes William and Harry, that he spoke with Charles over the phone, and there was something very unsettling, he says, about how the now king sounded.

Annie Pullar: I mean it's kiddie.

Jodi Lee: Giddy. He says giddy. That is quite an accusation.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, but it's also what he writes in the book and I want to read you a direct quote from it. He said, I suspect the prince's reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of the one he did not. So reading between the lines, he's obviously speaking about Camilla there.

Jodi Lee: Yeah, well, we knew that this was happening. This is nothing new. So obviously, for people who aren't as au fay, shall we say, with the firm,

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: that The story goes that Prince Charles married Princess Diana because she was beautiful and she fit the bill and she came from an aristocratic family and she was, you know, due to make the perfect princess, but he never really loved her, and that he'd been in love his entire life with Camilla Parker Bowles, who at the time was married to someone else and had children. Obviously, now we know her as Queen Camilla. But the allegation here is that basically when Diana died in those incredibly tragic circumstances in the car. crash in Paris, that Prince Charles was relieved because he felt like it finally freed him up to publicly sort of show his relationship that he'd been having in private with Camilla for a really long time.

Annie Pullar: I mean, yeah, I think everyone knew that there was the third person in the marriage. what's interesting about the allegations that have been levelled is Buckingham Palace Almost never responds to you know royal speculation like this. There are so many royal books that are dropped, every second week with scandalous claims and bombshells, but this time it actually was forced to put out a statement and it said, While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and colour memories in ways others do not recognize, even many years. After such a loss. So

Jodi Lee: See, I actually think this is such a boss move. And I don't think that this is the palace being forced into saying something. I think this is a strategic smack down by the palace. Listen to the wording.

Annie Pullar: Mm.

Jodi Lee: the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment, and colour memory. He's they're basically saying that Earl Spencer is a liar.

Annie Pullar: Well, they're having a serious hit at his character and asking us to question it. That's what's happening.

Jodi Lee: Correct. Yeah. And so I think it's strategic. I don't think anyone can force the palace to do anything. The only other time I've seen them do similar is after Megan's interview with Oprah. You'll remember they they published a

Annie Pullar: yes. Yeah.

Jodi Lee: very scathi a very clever similarly cleverly worded but scathing smackdown of her and some of her allegations in that interview. It is just a masterclass in my view, in reputation management, shall we say?

Annie Pullar: Hmm. Well, if you listen to Spencer, it's classic gaslighting.

Jodi Lee: Well it is. That's exactly what they're doing. He is right on that. They can agree on that.

Annie Pullar: Yes. Well you can you can understand why he's fuming over it. I mean, this is his perspective. He's saying, I was there, this is my sister, I heard what Charles said. Apparently he's a he's a historian, so this is really sort of taking a hit to his own ego because he's like, hang on a second, my job is to essentially, you know, record the facts, recount history, and you're basically accusing me of, you know, making the whole thing up. Why

Jodi Lee: Well, hang on a sec. Because some allegations have actually been made up, not a quite against

Annie Pullar: Well yes.

Jodi Lee: King Charles. So let's so okay, so he's obviously made those big bombshell claims about the now king. He's also taken aim at another very famous person and made some pretty strong allegations that have since been debunked and that person threatened legal action because of it. So his credibility

Annie Pullar: Yes, and

Jodi Lee: is kind of shocked.

Annie Pullar: Yes, so enter Piers Morgan into the chat. Of course he somehow found a way into the center of this. So for anyone

Jodi Lee: Never far from controversy, old Piers.

Annie Pullar: No, no, loves it. A magnet for it in fact. But for anyone who doesn't know who he is, he is one of Britain's sort of most famous media figures. He used to front a big television morning show there, then went out on his own. But he really sort of made his name in this notoriously aggressive British tabloid press era, which was largely reporting on the royal family. So this scandal goes back to 1993 and it basically centers around a privacy scandal when Diana was secretly photographed working out in the gym. in a leotard, which I mean is bad. so those pictures were published in the Daily Mirror without her consent. And in his book, Spencer actually links Morgan back to those photographs, claiming he was the editor at the time who essentially pressed publish.

Jodi Lee: Yeah, and the pictures are alleged to have been stolen as well. That's the other thing. So they say it was a gross breach of her privacy on more than one front. The issue with that allegation is that Piers Morgan wasn't working at the Daily Mirror at the time those pictures were published. And he's publicly come out not only to say that, but to prove it. It turns out at the time the pics were published, he was working at the paper's competitor, a rival paper called The Sun, and he didn't become the editor of the Daily Mirror until two years. years later. So Earl Spencer has apologized, but it has shot his credibility. And Piers Morgan isn't backing down. I mean not that you'd expect him to back down from a fight. He loves this shit. But he's basically still threatening legal action.

Annie Pullar: Yeah, and he's not gonna go anywhere anytime soon. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that I don't think King Charles is ever going to escape Diana's memory or legacy. She, in fact, you could argue is now the third person in Camilla and the King's marriage. But yes.

Jodi Lee: Very true. The other thing I'll say about this is that memory is always going to be subjective. it's

Annie Pullar: Yes, true.

Jodi Lee: always going to be based off your relationship to a person at the time, how you felt what your experience was. So I think it's tricky to ask what is and isn't true. What might have been true for Earl Spencer through his own experience and pain may not have been true for King Charles in the reverse. But one thing is true: Piers Morgan was not the editor of The Daily Mirror.

Annie Pullar: It really is a he said he said, but should we move to our final story now? And I I actually can't contain my excitement for this weekend. Like I feel like someone has just awarded me the lottery, to be completely frank.

Jodi Lee: You are hilarious. So obviously Annie and I are, after we record this episode, are both descending on Melbourne for the best weekend on the Australian sporting calendar, despite which team you support. It is, of course, the AFL Grand Final. The Brisbane Lions will take on the Fremantle Dockers. And the Brisbane Lions, who Annie is just a

Annie Pullar: This is

Jodi Lee: freaking tragic for, are going for an historic three P. That means winning the Grand Final three years in a row.

Annie Pullar: it is giving me nostalgia for the early two thousands and I might just say I'm not just a tragic, I'm a lifer. I was actually there in the

Jodi Lee: Sorry, I just love how you don't remember the Y2K bug of 2000, but you distinctly remember as a tiny child Brisbane winning the flags in the early

Annie Pullar: Bis

Jodi Lee: two thousands. No, no it won't.

Annie Pullar: This is just like never gonna go away, is it? Like I anyway, obviously the big story coming out of the AFL grand final, or leading up to the grand final, I should say, was whether Brisbane Lions star Lockie Neal would or wouldn't play. Now, for those who don't follow AFL like we do, last weekend when the Brisbane Lions played against Hawthorne, there was a big scandal on the field when Lockie Neal arguably gut-punched a player Jack Guinness in the stomach. He argues that it wasn't a gut-punch. Punch, it was essentially just a strike. So, regardless of very stupid move with very big consequences, he was essentially ruled out a one-ban game suspension, which would fall directly on the day of the grand final, meaning that he couldn't play. And this was big news because we know it's no big secret that Lockie Neal is leaving Brisbane to head to Collingwood. So it meant that really he wouldn't get a chance to have his last game with the team that he's already won, two premierships with.

Jodi Lee: So Brisbane obviously fought this one match ban. It lost and then it launched an appeal. And Lockie Neal sensationally won that appeal. It was agreed that he'd pay just a $10,000 fine in exchange for the ability to play in the grand final. It's insane when you think about it that other players have missed games for similar instances of gut punching and the like. But Lockie Neal has managed to cruise on through and he'll be taking to the MCG on.

Annie Pullar: He's just the cockroach that can't be squashed.

Jodi Lee: he's a man who loves attention. Let's not forget that he's

Annie Pullar: I I was about to say.

Jodi Lee: been at the center of another scandal this last season. If you don't follow footy, you've definitely followed the fact that he quite

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: publicly cheated on his wife Jules with her best friend and broke up a marriage. So yeah, I don't think he's I don't think he minds the spotlight.

Annie Pullar: No, no chance that that attention is disappearing anytime soon. I mean, I'm obviously biased because I'm a Brisbane Lions lifer, as I said. I actually think that we could win this game without him anyway. I also thought that him missing the grand final, not being awarded the opportunity to play, would have probably been a step too far. You know, his track record was used as the reason for why he was granted this game. He's played 320 games without a single suspension. He's also obviously a Brownlow. Medalist winner. So I think I I get the precedent is difficult, but I think that he deserved to play.

Jodi Lee: Look, jury's still out on that one. But even

Annie Pullar: Yeah.

Jodi Lee: if you're not a fan of the footy, the other big thing that is happening at the MCG on Saturday is that it is actually a Kylie Minogue spectacular.

Annie Pullar: Yes.

Jodi Lee: the Queen, what do we call her? The princess or the Queen of Pop?

Annie Pullar: I think we can call her the queen. I think she's queen status.

Jodi Lee: She is queen. She's also a Melbourne, so this is a homecoming of sorts. Kylie was locked in over five months ago to be the headline act at the grand final, and it is going to be unbelievable.

Annie Pullar: Arguably just as excited for that performance, but it's also opened up a can of worms in another code, if we can call it that. So, speaking of musical acts, the NRL is obviously in a world of pain. Its grand final is on the October long weekend, but it was revealed this week that Tones and I, who was sort of the big headline act, was approached to perform but then suddenly declined.

Jodi Lee: Yes, so the background here is that the NRL and the AFL are always at loggerheads over who is the more impressive code of football in Australia. the people at the top, particularly Peter Valandis, who's the executive chairman of the NRL, love to hit out at the AFL about TV viewership numbers and how much money they make. So that's where this that's the context for this debate. The AFL in the past has had the likes of Katy Perry, you know, Tina Arena, some really big names. But yeah, less than three weeks out, the NRL has no musical headline act for its grand final, which apparently has really pissed off the broadcasters, understandably. But basically, Tones and Eyes Camp says she was only approached about three weeks ago. They said she Really tried to make it work, but that ultimately she had prior commitments in the United States with an artist by the name of Mac Lamore. So she physically couldn't be in two places at once. That's been debated by the NRL, who says that actually they had some creative differences with Tones and Eye. The NRL alleges that they wanted Tones and Eye to sing her hit song Dance Monkey. They claim she refused to do that, and therefore negotiations fell apart. So just on background, that is Peter Vallandis saying that they don't even need a musical act anyway, and that the money is better suited spent on young kids.

Annie Pullar: Find this really Surprising when you consider that what only a few weeks ago the NRL signed this record broadcast deal with Fox and Nine for what like five billion dollars and now they can't put on a headline act. But it's worth sort of going into the numbers here because apparently putting on a grand final sort of headline performance with an artist like Tones and I costs close to a million dollars, which Peter Valandi says sort of works out to be about $90,000 a minute for 11 minutes of music. So there he is saying that he'd rather spend that money on underprivileged kids, grassroots, footy, really bringing up the next generation, helping vulnerable communities. I mean, I'm all for it. I think absolutely that's that's an amazing way to spend funds, but why can't we have it both ways is my question. Shouldn't you be doing that anyway and also putting on a performance?

Jodi Lee: Well, I will say that the NRL does already fund participation in footy for underprivileged kids. So it's already spending money on charity. But just park that for a moment. This just seems to me like an incredibly convenient attempt to backtrack on something that hasn't quite worked out. You know, only this time last year, Snoop Dogg was performing at the AFL grand final, and this same bloke, Peter Valandis, was calling it a dog act, saying it was, you know, trying to talk it down. And basically, yeah, they see it

Annie Pullar: Rich.

Jodi Lee: as conversation. Competition when I really think that, like me, you can be just as into both codes. But so it's convenient. At the time he was, you know, talking down Snoop Dogg, saying that the NRL had this amazing vocalist and that everything was going to be amazing at rugby league's grand final. Now, two weeks out, he's saying, we don't even need a vocalist at all, we don't need a headline act. It's obviously convenient because the plans have just fallen through. That's clearly what's happening here. Also, a little bit like Earl Spencer, old Peter Vallandy's numbers. just don't quite stack up. In one interview he's saying that the cash could help twenty thousand kids. In another interview he's saying it's two thousand or three thousand. So which one is it, Peter? Give it to us straight.

Annie Pullar: Peter, we're attacking we're attacking your track record here and your memory's not looking good. I guess the bigger rebuttal is that maybe it was never either or, if that makes sense. Like the pre-game show isn't Arguably ever really for the the true fans that are there to watch the footy. It's for the millions of people who are watching at home. It's also for those that probably don't engage with NRL on a weekly basis. They might not have a team that they absolutely root for, but they're gonna turn up for that headline act. Like if it's Katy Perry or Snoop Dogg or whoever it is, they're gonna wanna watch them perform, they're gonna wanna watch that spectacle. So I don't know. I think this is just one big mess. I agree with you that I think it's very convenient that they're now saying that, you know, they never wanted tones and eye anyway and that the money can be diverted to better resources. But I still think that there needs to be some level of musical performance for, the the biggest stage that we put our athletes on.

Jodi Lee: Totally. And the game is unbelievable. Like rugby league, it's a stellar production. I was at the grand final last year. I mean, it's a brilliant game. I just have one thing to say to Peter Valandis. Mate, you've got to diarise these kinds of big decisions. It's very simple as somebody who is a gross procrastinator and a last-minute Larry like myself. Mate, all you've got to do is flick back four months in the calendar, chuck it in the diary in April, call tones

Annie Pullar: Chuck it in the diary, Peter. It's not that hard.

Jodi Lee: and I flicker off a schedule the email, and then it's done. We don't have to wait. till three weeks out. But there is a very fake he does need some help with with his some planning and preparation. But

Annie Pullar: He needs a little help with his calendar planning, doesn't he?

Jodi Lee: as always, there is a hero in this story. And there's another

Annie Pullar: yeah.

Jodi Lee: knockabout Aussie bloke who has offered to step in and save the day.

Annie Pullar: I've been living for this. I really think it is time that we get around Channel. I mean we already get around Chanternol, but this is his time to hit the big stage. I've always loved him ever since his Australian Idol days. I am gonna come

Jodi Lee: You really?

Annie Pullar: out. Yes, I'm not kidding. I run to Shannon Knoll's song Lyft. It got me through a marathon a few years ago, played it on repeat three times. It it speaks to me. I don't know what it does, but honestly, it just sends me. So Shannon has apparently already come out. He's been hitting all of the media this week. He was on the Today Show yesterday and he practically said that he'd do it for way under a million dollars. So there you go, Peter Valandis. You've saved some money and you've got a true Australian icon.

Jodi Lee: And a yeah, and answers landed in your lap. I think it's hilarious. He's famous for saying what about me? And now he's saying what about me, Peter?

Annie Pullar: What about me?

Jodi Lee: Put me on.

Annie Pullar: just I I think that it would actually go off if they locked him in and I mean

Jodi Lee: dunno, like Kylie Minogue, Shannon Noel, I love the game of rugby league, but like

Annie Pullar: I don't wanna put down NRL fans, but he is pretty fitting for an NRL audience.

Jodi Lee: my god, sorry, can I just say, as someone who lives and breathes the game of rugby league, you are the Shannon Noel fan here, not me.

Annie Pullar: I reckon if you quizzed NRL fans across the country, they would have Shannon Noel on Spotify. They'd be banging along to his hits.

Jodi Lee: All right, well I will say to wrap this one up that Peter Volandis, he's never won to shy away from controversy and this week, or actually yesterday, he was on camera saying there could be a surprise in store for the NRL grand final. So maybe all of this is just a PR stunt. Maybe they've got some massive American headline act and he just wanted to try and draw attention away, as he's done very successfully from the AFL.

Annie Pullar: Maybe they've got Earl Spencer doing a a reading of his new bombshell book. Anyway.

Jodi Lee: I don't think that'd go down so well.

Annie Pullar: Thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of Covered. As always, hit us with any story suggestions. We'd love to hear from you. And we'll see you next week.

Jodi Lee: Bye.