Now I've lost an

ear.

No, you're good.

Now I've got both ears back.

So when an aircraft's at the gate, that's kind of in the Qantas-controlled ramp area, right? Or whichever airline.

So in terms of control on that very part of their own ramp, they do their own dispatch.

They control their own pushback, right? So they'll push the aircraft back.

And that's the dangerous

Do you think we're edging closer to something similar being launched again and, and the UK being involved?

Well, the reality is that, uh, it's necessary that there should be, um, international naval efforts to, uh, keep, um, maritime trade routes open because you can jolly well have a war and enjoy it and-- but when you-- that starts to spill over to you're interfering with international trade, then you cross a line, and that's where it's the business of the international community, rightly so, to intervene and, and do something about it.

One of the things about the, uh, the Babel Mandand, the, the Red Sea in particular, and indeed the Straits of Hormuz, is that these have presented a limited corridor which, uh, rebel groups and, uh, even state actors in the Strait of Hormuz can launch very low-cost attacks, very effective low-cost attacks against shipping.

And in order to respond to that kinetically, you've got to expend very expensive missiles.

And that's a, um, a game which is a risk to the bottom and, uh, one which, uh, in many respects is difficult to take part in.

So what are you left with? Um, you're left with the options of and listening to your podcast yesterday, talking with the Yemenis expert talking about, um, going on the ground.

That's one option.

And do you think that's something that for all of Trump's declarations of we're sending help has actually been sorely lacking in this conflict?

I need to move it on and then Or did you ask somebody else about that? Did they come to you and say, this is non-core? How did you manage those sort of things?

Yeah, well, I've had a bit of both, actually.

I've had businesses where we've invested and grown.

We've grown organic markets without acquiring assets to get into them.

And as you well know, I've been on buy side and sell side of a number of deals through that time up there.

I think there's a few key things.

I mean, I think I said earlier, I mean, it's really important to get the best people you can to work with.

As you grew in your roles and you took on more people and more countries, how did you manage up? Was there a skill in managing up? You work for some big organisations.

Is that something like the wigs and the, were you always a drama kid? Had you always been playing around with different voices and characters or is it just something that came out in boredom?

Well, no, I've always been very weird, you know, that's like always been me.

You know, I was such a drama kid in school and loved performing, was always doing little shows with the, like for the family and everything.

And so I've always had this very theatrical side, but like, sadly, like I dropped out of high school and then lost my way a bit and like got into a, just like a boring, like job that I did not like at all and then was just stuck in that kind of rut and then kind of lost my confidence to perform and then I kind of found it again working in radio I like went to tape and I did a course in radio and then climbed my way up in the kind of radio world um And that kind of brought back a lot of confidence for me.

But then TikTok and social media was what really kind of, I stepped back into kind of that really owning my theatrical side.

You know what I mean? And then also like dealing and learning more about myself and growing and I don't know, learning to love who I am without sounding like super like quirky.

You

know? But, like, I just feel like every episode I'm like, oh, who's Claire going to fix now? You know, like, what's the medical drama? What are we battling? Like, you know, like, what's – do you know what I mean? And, like, yeah.

I think we would have expected him to be sort of, you know, talking about that by now, unless he's going to suddenly, when the nominations open, say, aha, here are my 81 MPs.

Well, I think he's also, without declaring already, I think he's indicated that we need to focus on 3%, at least.

3.5% would make us safe.

Because in the modern world, and I think that there's many people who made the general rank better suited to talk about these things than I, but my business for the last 20 years is subversion and counter-subversion.

And in the modern world, war is a spectrum, and we're already at war.

And the attacks are happening in cyber.

20th century dead letter box and that sort of thing, that's old hat.

You have to be the best person for the job.

What do you make of it?

Well, a- as you say, the, it's, uh, it's smoke and mirrors because only 10.3 billion of the 15 billion, which is m- about less than half of what's required.

We know it's 28 billion required.

The, they've stamped up, uh, a, a notional 15 billion, but in reality 10 billion.

So it's about a third of what's needed.

Um, and so we, we are, um, we- The co- the country is, is not properly defended, and it's the first duty of government to do that.

Yeah.

It might be an insidious invasion from within.

Mr. Collins also hasn't been offered accommodation.

If I had a house come up, I'd move into there straightaway.

Motels is just not gonna cut it for me for a short period of time.

Like, I need something more permanent.

Despite all the welcome goodwill from volunteers and community groups, the number one priority remains finding somewhere safe to live.

It, it affects your mental health tragically.

Like it, it's, it's not good.

It's not good.

Mm.

And I started out, like, work days, whatever, grinding, did regional, moved all the way, and then as I started to apply for these, like, bigger city jobs, the feedback I got from, honestly, I reckon, like, every content director that I spoke to was like, "You're a bit too gay.

Like, your voice is too feminine.

You need to, like, dial it back in to-"

But I, I think, do you have a bit of shame? Like, did you feel that energy from the outside industry?

Yeah, I feel like there's some people, like, I don't know, that you feel a bit, like, "Oh, sorry," like, uh, you know, I'm, like, "I'm nothing." You know what I mean? Um, and I feel like I do that to myself sometimes where I'm like, "Oh, no, I'm..." But, like, I really don't need to do that.