Australia's Immigration Has Taken a Dark Turn & the World Needs to Know | Erin Molan

0:00If you bring people into your country who want to kill you, then you basically gift them the opportunity to come in, do that and destroy your entire livelihood. And it's what we're doing. So it's about bringing people in. Yes, we need to do it still, but so much less. Hundreds of thousands we're bringing in. We don't have the infrastructure. Even if you take culture aside and you take the kind of impact that it's having there completely out of it and you look at just from a logistical infrastructure point of view, We are crippled. We are crumbling under it. But governments are lazy and they don't care.

0:35They just want to get in. They want as much tax as they can possibly get. And that's essentially it.

0:47All right, I'm Dave Rubin. This is The Rubin Report. And joining me today for the first time on The Rubin Report, although I'm very confused as to how this has not happened before, is the host of The Erin Millan Show. Erin Millan. Erin, hello. Dave, thank you. Finally. I mean, I've been waiting, desperately hoping for the call. It hasn't come as yet, but finally you've woken up to yourself. I thought you had good taste. I know. I truly, I don't know how this did not happen before. We only have now spoken for 30 seconds before this recording started. And I said to you, you were on my short list of sane people.

1:23And unfortunately, that list keeps getting sort of shorter and shorter. But so real quick, for someone watching this that doesn't know you, I think they'll garner something by your accent in just a moment. But can you give a little kind of 101 on who you are? And then I think it'll become obvious very quickly why I'm such a fan of what you do. Absolutely. My name is Erin. I've been in Australian television and radio for 20 years now. But prior to this kind of current space, which is political commentary, national security, foreign affairs focused. I was a sports host, so a sports anchor. I was the kind of Erin Andrews of Australia, they used to say, the first woman to host Friday Night Football and lots of different sporting programs.

2:02And about three years ago, moved to Sky News Australia. Politics and foreign affairs was always the love. I'm the daughter of a major general and a senator who cared deeply about not just his country, but Western civilisation and all the things that go with that. So that was always the passion. I got a little bit tired, Dave, of talking about blokes' groins at 11pm on a Friday night. I thought there's got to be more to life as I approach 40. If this is my purpose, then I really need to rethink and relook, which I did. And yeah, entered a whole new world. That all kind of fell apart at the end of last year in a lot of different ways.

2:39I basically was forced into going independent for the first time in 20 years, lost all of my jobs. And look, some of them related to the goings on in the world, others, i.e. Sky News, I was far too expensive for them. They said budget reasons, so I'll take that. I'll take that and decided to kind of head out on my own and have been doing it for, say, the past three or four months. And yeah, it's been incredible. I focus a lot on the Middle East. I think that's where I became a little bit known to American and Middle Eastern audiences was my commentary surrounding Israel post-October 7. And not for a second did I think any part of it would be considered controversial, Dave, but this is the world we live in.

3:18I stood for Israel, the innocent victims of that heinous attack, and I condemned absolutely and staunchly the perpetrators of that attack. And for some reason, that seemed to anger a fair few people. But for me, I go to bed every night, absolutely assured that I'm on the right side of history. And yeah, it shapes a lot of what I do now. Yeah. So I think already people can see a few things here. So you were part of mainstream, you know, people don't know. I actually wanted to be an ESPN anchor, a sports center anchor when I was a kid. So you had this, that's why Sage Steele and I always hit it off because she had my dream job.

3:52She ended up doing politics. You know, everyone knows I was in Australia for a couple of weeks in November and we just, you were actually on our side of the pond at that point. So we missed each other. Australia, I find to be a very, very interesting place because you guys are basically the size of the United States geographically, but you're in a very remote part of the world. You're an island that's a continent. We've got 350 million people. You've got 27 million people. But the big thing that you guys seem to be struggling with is something that we're all struggling with in the West, which is this immigration situation.

4:25And I thought in Melbourne particularly, it was very, very obvious. We spent a couple of days there and we were all kind of like, well, where are the Australians? Where is Crocodile Dundee? He doesn't seem to be here. I've been looking for him for 20 years, Dave. If you found him before me, I'd be really annoyed. He's a little older now. The skin is probably a little more crocodile-like. I think he still lives in Australia, right? Look, do you know what? But I have this on Breakfast Radio. I used to be part of a comedy trio, which will surprise a lot of people, a lot of our audience at the time as well.

5:01But we had this game, Alive or Dead, because I am really across world events in a way that not a lot of others are. Have you died? No clue. It's the one space I cannot keep up with. So we would play this game. And right now I'm thinking Crocodile Dundee, I don't know if he's even still alive. Mick Dundee is alive. Someone confirm. We're going to have him there. I'm getting a nod. Mick Dundee is alive. Yeah. Well, that is wonderful news. Paul Hogan? Paul Hogan, of course. Paul Hogan, he's alive. He's alive. He's your national hero. I know. This won't be listened to far and wide, will it? No, of course not.

5:38But look. But talk to me a little bit about the immigration situation there, because the country does seem to be grappling with something in a really weird way, because, again, you guys are so remote. Everyone kind of thought, I don't know, we're just going to like surf and have great abs. and then this thing happened and now it seems like you guys don't know exactly what to do with it. Yeah, it's a fascinating area of discussion and it's also somewhat terrifying in lots of ways and I guess different to the United States, particularly prior to Trump. We differ from you guys in that ours is legal.

6:10The vast, in fact, almost all of it is legal immigration and we have governments who rely heavily upon that for their bottom line because it suits them immensely. Who it doesn't suit is not only everyday Australians who can't afford to enter the property market, who can't find jobs, who wait in traffic for hours and hours, who struggle to get medical care and all the facilities, but also the incredible immigrants who have come to Australia over the last 100 years or so who have contributed immensely to this country. I mean, they came to this country for a reason, and now they look around and they don't recognise the country that they fled their own homes for.

6:45And you've got to put people into two categories. You've got an issue with there's too much of it. The volume needs to come down significantly. And you can't argue against that. You look at rental lines for people trying to find homes in Australia now, and they are kilometres long. It is insanity. It's insanity. And that's not just in elite suburbs. That is everywhere. But you look at the calibre of person coming in. And this matters. And it's not racist to talk about it. It's not racist to say that people we want to come into our country must in some way, shape or form, base level respect what we value.

7:22Even if they don't want to jump on board with it, they have to respect our right to value what we value as a nation and not try and change that. And the issue we have now is that we've welcomed so many people into our country who don't align with what we believe in. I look at October 7, and this is not just what happened on that day. The issue is so much bigger, as we're seeing in Europe, in the UK particularly, in America as well. But two days after, prior to an IDF boot hitting the ground in Gaza, we saw people, Australians, who had obviously come to this country, but Australians in this country now, celebrating outside the Opera House.

7:57And those images went around the world. And what terrified me, Dave, and I'm sure you can relate to this. And they were saying gas the Jews, by the way. They weren't saying gas the Israelis. And again, this is before they... Absolutely. And celebrating. So there was no, I mean, even the people who, you know, the pro-Palestinian protesters post, you know, the war in Gaza, who pretend and purport to care about kids in Gaza, none of them do for a millisecond, we know that. These guys couldn't have even pretended to care because nothing had happened in Gaza as yet. All the bloodshed was in Israel.

8:30The only blood in Gaza was the blood of the hostages who'd been dragged back and they were celebrating on the steps of the Opera House, images plastered around the world. And what I thought at this moment, not overly surprised because there is evil everywhere you go. You will never rid nations entirely of people who are evil. What terrified me was the silence of my fellow Australians in the face of this. And I thought this is a moment for our country to come together, and I'll link this back into immigration, to come together and our leader in particular and say this is not who we are. This is not what we stand for, not on my watch.

9:03And we failed miserably. and not just leaders, not just those in the community in positions of power, but everyday Australians were silent and I thought we've got a real problem here. We've got a real problem. Who are we? Who did my dad go to Iraq for? Who did our forefathers go to war for? What did they go to war to protect? And my dad used to always talk about this when I was younger and he was in Iraq and ran the war for a year for the US forces. He was the first Australian general to ever do so, chief of operations. And we would talk to him when he came home. He would talk about al-Qaeda, about the Taliban, about the kind of evil that he faced, and he would talk about what they would do.

9:39We obviously had really lively discussions around the dinner table. We didn't have friends over often, clearly. But when he would tell us these stories of how terrorists would attack them and the kind of methods that they would use, and we would say as teenagers, but why do you have to follow the rules when they don't? And he'd say, well, if we don't, then what are we fighting to protect? What are the values of this country? There's no point in us fighting to protect our country if we're not upholding the values of it, even against an enemy who doesn't. And I think about that so often. And I look at a country now where a lot of people here actually don't hold the values that people prior to us have died for.

10:17And I look at the kind of country that exists now and what will continue to exist if we continue along this trajectory. I've got a seven-year-old. I'm terrified about it. And I see the same thing in the UK to an even greater extent. And you see it all over. And again, I make the point that we've had, you know, Italian immigrants coming to Australia, so many different incredible Chinese, Indian, who have all come in and for the most part embraced our way of life and contributed immensely to our nation. You mentioned our populations. You know, we need people coming in. And it's a wonderful thing if you come in and you say, hey, I'm going to keep parts of my own culture.

10:52That's really special to me. And we're going to do great things and we're going to share it with you. That's wonderful. but don't try and destroy the elements of our culture and our country that make us who we are and attracted you to us in the first place. And the people who are angriest about this are people who have come to this country who are second generation Australians. Because they say, my parents literally gave up everything to give us a better life, to bring us here. And now look at this shit show. So how do you deal with that? That seems to me to be the big issue. And when I bring on people from the UK or from other countries, mostly Western Europe, they never, I can never get a straight answer from anyone on what you would really do, right?

11:32Everyone's like, well, we have to control the border more. We have to do more on immigration, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You guys, at least, as you pointed out, your version of immigration has, there is no, in essence, illegal immigration. It's that each successive government decides how many people to come in, but there just is a problem. But now you're referencing the homegrown thing, the second generation thing. You know, when we were in Melbourne, everybody was, I thought people were joking. They're like, don't get stabbed by a machete. And then it turned out that basically on every other street corner, there were boxes for people to put their machete in, in case you were thinking about stabbing somebody and you decided not to.

12:05They have machete boxes. I mean, it's, yeah, what a caring, considerate person to renege on that plan. But so what, so, right. So what, right, exactly. You're walking to stab somebody and then you suddenly have your come to Jesus moment. But what do you do? I mean, what do you think? Do you think your country will do something. Absolutely. But we need a government in place who's got the balls to do it. And excuse that phrase, I'm an Australian, so we kind of lean into that kind of language. It's far more effective. But you look at our current government, you look at our prime minister, who was pro-Palestinian, and I always do the little because it is never about, if it was about pro-Palestinian, you would be supporting the only country trying to rid the innocent people in Gaza of the people trying to destroy them, which is Hamas.

12:46So they're not pro-Palestinian. But our Prime Minister was there as a uni student, 18 years old, marching with them. And the left-leaning suicidal empathy that Dr Gard Saad refers to so often is rife amongst Labour ranks. And unfortunately, the Conservative Party completely capitulated at the last election. But we've got a couple of really good people that if we can get into power, Andrew Hastie, for example, a former soldier, really common sense, and his hardline stance on immigration is what we need. and it's not about not being kind. It's not about not having empathy. It's about taking care of the people we have in this country and protecting them.

13:24I said this a couple of days ago or a couple of weeks ago, forgive me, something to the effect of, you know, if you bring people into your country who want to kill you, then you basically gift them the opportunity to come in, do that and destroy your entire livelihood, and it's what we're doing. So it's about bringing people in. Yes, we need to do it still, but so much less. Hundreds of thousands we're bringing in. We don't have the infrastructure. Even if you take culture aside and you take the kind of impact that it's having there completely out of it and you look at just from a logistical infrastructure point of view, we are crippled.

14:00We are crumbling under it. But governments are lazy and they don't care. They just want to get in. They want as much tax as they can possibly get, and that's essentially it. So it's got to be – we're lucky. It's policy. It's good, strong policy and a population who recognises it. And I reckon we're getting close. We were close at the last election and then there was just a capitulation. And I think, you know, the Liberal Party, which is a conservative party here, completely panicked. They lost their way. They forgot what they stood for. They started to backtrack on different things. They panicked with Labor's attacks and they just capitulated essentially.

14:35But a strong opposition to come in and say, hey, this is what we're going to go to the election on, immigration. So your kids can rent a bloody property when they're 20. not be at home with you when they're still 50, even though I would love my daughter to still be at home with me at 50. But I think that's a strong policy. You'll see what happens. Wait, you mean when you're 50 or when she's 50? I mean, I'm so far away from 50, Dave, I couldn't even imagine that time. When she's 50, she's all I've got. Then it would be nice. You know, it's interesting. You referenced your liberal party, which in essence is to us would be a more conservative party.

15:12But you guys at least understand what the word liberal in the classical sense means. But I think people then get confused. So if your liberal party is quote unquote conservative, then the people that are conservative, what would they be considered from an American? They're like more nativist, right? Like, is that fair to say? How would you describe or what was it? Do they call it the Australia First Party? So they're essentially the Liberal Party, the coalition. So they actually have a coalition with the National Party. So the National Party of Australia. So they're all kind of on this side. And look, we've had, you know, John Howard led that party, who was without doubt our greatest prime minister, an incredible leader.

15:52But there's just no backbone. Like, where's the backbone? You look at Millet in Argentina and he said, you know, and it's a translation, so if it's not entirely accurate, forgive me, but something to the effect of at the end of politics, most people will not like you. So you might as well do what is right. It doesn't matter what you do in power, most people will have a reason to not like you. So do what you believe in and do what is right. And we're seeing just over and over politicians with no backbone who are unwilling to do what might be short-term hard for the long-term good of their people.

16:21And this is why we put them in these positions to do exactly that. You know, one thing that I thought was particularly interesting while I was there was that most people, and I get that only, you know, a certain type of person is coming to a Dave Rubin show or saying hi to me on the street. So I understand that it's a self-selected move. But one of the things that I really thought was interesting were there were so many people that were even coming to my shows who were hugely pro-America, pro-freedom, obviously pro-Australia, all those things. But the Australian affect, in some sense, still seems to have a version of Trump derangement syndrome that I think most of America has gotten over.

17:00I'm not talking about the crazy progressives here and I'm not talking about the ladies of the view. But there was, as Gad, you mentioned Gad before, he always calls it an aesthetic injury. And it seemed to me that the Australians had the aesthetic injury issue with Trump where they were like, yeah, I agree with this, that, the other thing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, I don't like the way he talks. And we're just kind of over that here. Dave Rubin, you are brilliant because you've absolutely nailed it. And one of the ways, and I can almost pinpoint the moment with Peter Dutton, who is a very close friend of mine, who I'm such a big fan of, who was a leader of the Liberal Party heading into the last election.

17:35He was a defence minister, Homeland Security, our version of it. Phenomenal. Former police officer, a really, really decent, hardworking, super smart guy. And the second that the Labor Party started to launch these kind of Trump attacks, and refer to it as attacks on him, they started to suddenly tie themselves in absolute knots, trying to distance them. And my whole thing was lean in, lean in. But that also may not have been the best advice and they didn't follow it regardless because you're right, there still exists this element. And even in people who, yes, they'll say, oh no, absolutely, stop illegal immigration, stop the drugs coming in, cut down on crime, absolutely.

18:17DEI, sod that, we don't like DEI, but Donald Trump, oh, no, I remember that. You're so right. And I hadn't quite put it in my head in that way, but it still exists to a significant degree in the types of people that have moved beyond it in your country. And obviously they have more exposure to him there and maybe the parts that our Australians are exposed to when you look at mainstream media, and that's a whole other conversation. But the vast majority of it, apart from, say, you're Australian, you're Sky News Australia, a couple of conservative radio stations. The vast majority is 6pm news, Channel 7, Channel 9, your two highest rating newsers in the country that the vast majority of the population will watch.

18:57And when I say vast majority of the population, I'm talking about mums and dads, people who are not then going to go and Google the conflict in the Middle East and, you know, fact check what's been told to them. Just everyday Australians who have a million pressures on and get their one hour of news, what they see are elements that only back up their Trump derangement syndrome. Imagine if all you watched on your free-to-air networks was CNN and then you had to make an assessment on a leader in another country and that assessment is what they're making essentially on Donald Trump. So you're absolutely right.

19:29Unless you watch, say, Fox News or you get your media from elsewhere, if you're an everyday Australian whose cost-to-living crisis, you're working multiple jobs, your husband's an arsehole, your kids are driving you spare, it's not that you're not smarter are engaged. You just don't have the capacity to then go and look elsewhere. You get what you're given, you trust your news source and you go, oh yeah, he's a bit of a dick, isn't he? Rather than actually looking at a whole picture, you know, looking at a grab where he says something to a reporter. And even I was like, you know, that's not really, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of rhetoric, but overall he's doing a superb job in the ways that actually matter.

20:04But I feel like Australians aren't getting that. So it's such a, it's a key point you've just nailed. Yeah, well, I brought it up with many people. I would say that sort of thing. And to me, the line that I always use on this, maybe you can use it if you want, is basically, I don't think you can tell the guy who did the thing that everyone said couldn't be done, how to behave. Right? Like he did the thing. Everyone said it can't be done. He did it multiple times. So it's like, it doesn't mean you love all of it, but you just have to kind of The way I've always said it, Dave, and ever since, you know, and Lara Trump's a very good friend of mine.

20:36I've said it to her as well. Would I want him to marry my daughter? No. Do I think he is the leader for our time? Absa-bloody-lutely. Mind you, I could grow. He's, you know, he's growing on me. But yeah, he's doing a phenomenal job in the ways that actually matter. And we as a country who is reliant upon America for our security, unfortunately, we're not self-reliant. There is no one I'd rather in that position than Donald Trump. So the other thing that I thought was interesting about the country that I didn't fully realize is how you guys still seem to be stuck on international climate arrangements and things related to energy.

21:15It came up over and over and over again in the Q &As and the conferences I spoke at. Energy, which is obviously important, and you guys are very energy rich, although it sounds like a lot of that energy doesn't go to you. We sell a lot of it, and then we buy it back at twice the price. It's insanity. So that's one version of it. But the other version is that you guys seem to still want to hit all of these kind of artificial mandates of these globalist accords. And I went to these conferences and I was like, guys, from an American perspective, I don't know what you're talking about anymore. No one cares about this stuff.

21:49You know, I think the real moment for me, and I covered it, Joe Hockey, who was the Australian ambassador, fairly close with Trump, used to play a bit of golf with him, went to the DNC. and the five-day big conference that they have. And his assessment afterwards, and this is the most recent one prior to the last election, was I was at this four years ago and climate change was probably mentioned by every speaker ten times, even in a two-minute speech. It was mentioned once, once at the last one. So if the Democratic Party have kind of realised, yeah, we need to pivot, then surely the rest of us need to follow suit.

22:28And I find it, I mean, care about the environment, absolutely, we all should, we need to. But what our country and our governments have committed to is utterly ridiculous. It's embarrassing given what the rest of the world continues to do. It makes no difference. Particularly for us, it makes no difference. So we are, again, crippling ourselves. It seems to be a real theme here to try and appear to be good, decent people who care. It makes no sense. And I feel like you're right, though. I was having this discussion yesterday with a friend who's just developed a really clever renewable energy and it comes off waste matter or something, really clever, really smart.

23:08But the discussion wasn't about, oh, it enables me to go and boast or, you know, it gives us brownie points because we look like good people. It's, this is smart. It makes sense. We still use coal up until we need to and da, da, da, da, da. We've got to bring that element back to it. But at the moment, we're signing up to stupid things. And look, you know, even the Liberal Party, who initially were, you know, were roped into it and agreed, which was just stupid. But I understand why, because as you said, a lot of the country still thinks that that we should be doing this stuff, even though it doesn't make a difference.