Neil Mitchell
Australian journalist and radio presenter
76
APPEARANCES
14
PODCASTS
Nov 5, 2026
Tony MoclairHOST
I can't imagine that the attempt to roll that back would be a popular one, Neil.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I mean, if you had enough evidence to prove it was causing serious crashes, and this was more neurological evidence rather than anything else, they said if you're using the phone when driving, even hands-free, it uses the same parts of the brain as it does to drive.
Neil MitchellGUEST
You detect fewer hazards, you respond more slowly, you don't register things you see properly, as I said, four times more likely to have a crash, and the distraction continues for five minutes after you hang up.
Neil MitchellGUEST
If you're having a lovely, friendly little conversation with your wife, that's fine.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But if it's the boss telling you you're an idiot, you're a bit more distracted.
5 MINS LATER
Tony MoclairHOST
I can't imagine that the attempt to roll that back would be a popular one, Neil.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I mean, if you had enough evidence to prove it was causing serious crashes, and this was more neurological evidence rather than anything else, they said if you're using the phone when driving, even hands-free, it uses the same parts of the brain as it does to drive.
Neil MitchellGUEST
You detect fewer hazards, you respond more slowly, you don't register things you see properly, as I said, four times more likely to have a crash, and the distraction continues for five minutes after you hang up.
Neil MitchellGUEST
If you're having a lovely, friendly little conversation with your wife, that's fine.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But if it's the boss telling you you're an idiot, you're a bit more distracted.
5 MINS LATER
Karl StefanovicHOST
How does he justify, how does he explain how after all that time in power, they'll somehow miraculously find the magic wand?
Neil MitchellGUEST
And there's a bit of buyer's remorse in the Labor Party about that at the moment.
6 MINS LATER
Karl StefanovicHOST
How has Ben Carroll handled that? Because the eyes of the nation will turn on this result.
Laura SpurwayHOST
Here he is, the man, Neil Mitchell, with his finger on the pulse of all things political, as you always have, Neil.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Laura, a couple of leaks today, a couple of red-hot tips, and one of them goes to the issue of whether Jess Wilson is too young to be Premier.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I've been told in a number of focus groups run by the Liberal Party to test the waters for their advertising and everything else that the issue has been raised that she is too young, or important, too inexperienced to be Premier and people are nervous about it.
17 MINS LATER
Neil MitchellGUEST
Laura, a couple of leaks today, a couple of red hot tips, and one of them goes to the issue of whether Jess Wilson is too young to be Premier.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I've been told in a number of focus groups run by the Liberal Party to test the waters for their advertising and everything else, that the issue has been raised that she is too young, or important, too inexperienced.
Laura SpurwayHOST
Here he is, the man, Neil Mitchell, with his finger on the pulse of all things political, as you always have, Neil.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Laura, a couple of leaks today, a couple of red-hot tips, and one of them goes to the issue of whether Jess Wilson is too young to be Premier.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I've been told in a number of focus groups run by the Liberal Party to test the waters for their advertising and everything else that the issue has been raised that she is too young, or important, too inexperienced to be Premier and people are nervous about it.
17 MINS LATER
Neil MitchellGUEST
and this is an awful one because it's a member of parliament, and if it is targeted, but we don't know why.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Local members, as you well know, often get in disputes with local constituents over road widening or heaven knows what.
Neil MitchellGUEST
The accused man comes from a tiny little town with 416 people, Tarawingi, and who knows what's going on here?
Neil MitchellGUEST
There are a lot of assumptions, and that's why I say let's just focus on her survival and caring for her family.
Neil MitchellGUEST
... has been blown by, by being paid to companies that didn't, weren't entitled to it.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Now, if Jess Wilson doesn't see that and say, "Righto, public service turned on its ear." I don't know who was responsible, at what level they were.
Neil MitchellGUEST
You've got elderly people, and it's part of the problem, elderly people lying on beds in those areas for 24 hours.
Neil MitchellGUEST
The Australian newspaper's report, it's an IBAC report, the Independent Crime Commission.
Neil MitchellGUEST
They covered it up, took it out of the figures, Ibex says, so the minister didn't know.
Neil MitchellGUEST
... has been blown by, by being paid to companies that didn't, weren't entitled to it.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Now, if Jess Wilson doesn't see that and say, "Right, our public service turned on its ear." I don't know who was responsibly, at what level they were.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But some s- [laughs] some retail analysts say that stores like David Jones and Myer are really struggling to survival.
Neil MitchellGUEST
So where do you shop? Do you still go there or do you go online? Myer's, uh, there's some writedowns in this, but they had a net loss of 270 million last year.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But, but David Jones had all these, uh, brands pulling out- The stores just seem to me out of date, out of time.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Does anybody go there? And if not, where do they shop? Do they go online? Do they go to Kmart? Do they go to Target? Where do you go?
Neil MitchellGUEST
I was wandering through an apartment store the other day, and I just felt like a time warp, and I wondered do people still shop there? Like you, it used to be a special thing to go there.
Neil MitchellGUEST
In fact, I worked there as a kid on weekends and school holidays and things at Meyer Chadston.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But some retail analysts say that stores like David Jones and Meijer are really struggling to survival.
Neil MitchellGUEST
So where do you shop? Do you still go there? Do you go online? Meijer, there's some write-downs in this, but they had a net loss of $270 million last year.
Tony MoclairHOST
Is there anything else on your mind this afternoon that you came for us to ponder?
Laura SpurwayHOST
Are we ever going to be in a position where that is something that is seriously considered as an election policy?
Neil MitchellGUEST
Well, look, there are 58 days to go, and I guarantee they will sp- spend billions that we haven't got in those 58 days.
Neil MitchellGUEST
There'll be little, "Vote for me and I'll give you free beer on a Tuesday" or something.
8 MINS LATER
Neil MitchellGUEST
This state election, and there's a poll out today, I reckon it's the least predictable election I've ever seen, and I've been covering it for 40 years or more.
11 MINS LATER
speaker_13AUDIENCE
Oh, look, she's so attached to... all that we do look i got really sick not long ago about four years ago and she developed the same illness which was quite extraordinary so we're very connected deeply connected yeah it's incredible
AndyAUDIENCE
I
Neil MitchellGUEST
I asked him about Chinese cars specifically, and he said, yeah, China's hacking into everything.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But he said most Australians need not worry about it because they haven't got secrets.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But if anybody is talking about anything sensitive, which means commercial as well as security issues, don't talk in your car, any car, because they're all connected.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Don't talk in front of your iPad or any other devices because anything connected can listen to you.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I asked him about Chinese cars specifically, and he said, yeah, China's hacking into everything.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But he said most Australians need not worry about it because they haven't got secrets.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But if anybody is talking about anything sensitive, which means commercial as well as security issues, don't talk in your car, any car, because they're all connected.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Don't talk in front of your iPad or any other devices because anything connected can listen to you.
Neil MitchellGUEST
I asked him about Chinese cars specifically, and he said, yeah, China's hacking into everything.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But he said most Australians need not worry about it because they haven't got secrets.
Neil MitchellGUEST
But if anybody is talking about anything sensitive, which means commercial as well as security issues, don't talk in your car, any car, because they're all connected.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Don't talk in front of your iPad or any other devices because anything connected can listen to you.
Russel HowcroftHOST
Is it because there is some messages or message that he does want to get out there into the public?
Sharri MarksonHOST
Now, the scariest warning to come out of it was about the risk of an Iranian assassination attempt.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Yeah, there's a lot of scary things in it, although Mike Burgess does stress nothing is about to happen.
Neil MitchellGUEST
thinking of trying to assassinate Australian Jews, Jewish leaders, on Australian soil.
Neil MitchellGUEST
is this real? Is there really a problem with teachers? I We put a little grab out of this onto the socials, onto Facebook in particular.
Neil MitchellGUEST
Is it that much of an issue to people that they're worried about what their kids are copying in the classroom?
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