The Pete George Experience: Unraveling AFL Drug Policy Controversies & The Reopening of China for Aussie Wine

00:00:15
Speaker 1: Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the Pete

00:00:19
George Show version called called. This was this week or

00:00:25
the week that was, so just a little bit of a plug here for me

00:00:32
, mate Colin. As you know, colin Lilly like his music and

00:00:40
appreciate his time when he gives me time to have a chat to

00:00:43
him. He's just, on Friday, released a new single which is

00:00:49
playing, called Honky Tonk Southern Skies, which you can

00:00:53
get on all the platforms and YouTubes and all of that, but

00:00:56
we'll play it loud and proudly at the end of the show. So this

00:01:03
week we have quite a few little topics to talk about. And the

00:01:15
first so we're going to talk about the AFL drug policy, if

00:01:18
you're into the AFL, but it's a bit more than just AFL, it's

00:01:24
something that I'll talk to in a fair bit. Then we've got the

00:01:29
China lifts wine tariffs and the repercussions of that, because

00:01:33
it's not as simple as people think it is. And then the South

00:01:40
Australian voice and the joke that's become South Australian

00:01:44
voice and the joke that's become so if you're a first-time

00:01:47
watcher, listener, because this show only goes live and there's

00:01:56
a replay. We don't edit this one , but we do make it all nice and

00:02:00
sound pretty for our podcast, which you can go and subscribe

00:02:03
to all of that at petergeorgecomau. But we're on

00:02:09
all the platforms, uh, spotify and apple podcast, these are. I

00:02:14
have radio um, amazon music, so we're on all of those and you

00:02:20
just search the pete george experience and you'll get this

00:02:22
show. So let's get into the first

00:02:29
topic and that is the AFL drugs policy which has now come to

00:02:40
light during the week last week from Andrew Wilkie, who's a

00:02:50
member of parliament, independent, in federal

00:02:53
government and in Australia we have a thing called

00:02:59
parliamentary privilege where you pretty much can say what you

00:03:04
like and not be prosecuted in any way, shape or form. And

00:03:10
during the week, andrew wilkie brought up about, uh, how the

00:03:15
afl is using their drug policy at the moment and basically what

00:03:18
happens is if a player goes out and goes to a party and has

00:03:24
drugs, what he now does is he goes to a private doctor. The

00:03:30
doctor says yep, you've got drugs in your system. I'm going

00:03:35
to give you like a medical certificate to say that you

00:03:39
can't play footy this week. And what that does is that stops

00:03:44
them from being caught in competition and there's a lot of

00:03:49
ramifications for that. And if the afl catches them three times

00:03:54
. They're out now if it's getting snipped off by a private

00:03:59
doctor, not happy about that. Because think about it in the

00:04:04
real world, and I don't call sport, which is an entertainment

00:04:09
, the real world. So, with that in mind, think about your job

00:04:22
and what would happen if you turned up to work and said I've

00:04:30
had drugs, I don't want to work today. I don't think it would go

00:04:34
down too well To the point where if you're a minor not as in a

00:04:40
person under the age of 18, but a minor in the mines, you were

00:04:42
drug tested and alcohol tested every shift and if you turn up

00:04:48
at any sign of alcohol or drugs in your system, you will be

00:04:53
sacked, because most of the guys are casual and it's a zero

00:04:57
tolerance, zero, zero tolerance of drugs and alcohol in your

00:05:04
system when you're working. And it should be no different for

00:05:08
the footballers. You know they carry on and say that they're

00:05:15
role models and everything. Well, role models don't really

00:05:20
promote the use of illicit drugs , and if I hear another person

00:05:27
say they're recreational drugs, you're a goose, absolute goose.

00:05:31
They're illegal and they should not be used and they should be

00:05:34
not classified a recreational drug, because a recreational

00:05:38
drug means that they are, to me, legal. So the AFL need to really

00:05:45
look at this and how they do it. Uh, waiter or water, depending

00:05:49
which school you came, came from they're the governing body that

00:05:53
looks after pretty much all sports and they do random

00:05:58
testing. So if you get caught by them, it's normally, uh, four

00:06:02
years and sorry, there's something flying around, so it's

00:06:09
um, it's just something that um, I just think that the afl start

00:06:22
to lose their ways on a few things, but sticking with AFL,

00:06:34
because I know Les Tweddyman from AFL days and he's a friend

00:06:36
of my mum's. My mum knew him pretty well.

00:06:40
Passed away yesterday, age 76. Passed away yesterday, age 76.

00:06:51
And what Les did for the disadvantaged youth and the

00:06:53
abused youth is something to behold, and I think pretty much

00:06:58
everybody was happy when he was given the Order of Australia for

00:07:04
his work with underprivileged kids and even the homeless, it

00:07:11
didn't matter what age they were . Les was pretty good. So

00:07:15
condolences to his family and all I'd like to say is thank you

00:07:20
, les, for doing the work that you did and bring it out in the

00:07:22
open like you have, and well done on a life that will leave a

00:07:30
legacy. So, vale Les Tweederman. So now you know I'm not the

00:07:42
healthiest of specimens and I've been patching myself. Hang on,

00:07:50
I'll take this off these little fellas and they've helped me get

00:07:57
me back on my feet and they basically juice up your copper

00:08:04
peptides and all that kind of stuff and stem cells and a whole

00:08:07
heap of stuff. But what I wanted to talk about is that they've

00:08:11
got me to a point where I can go and mow the lawns and everything

00:08:17
once again without nearly dying every five minutes. So the good

00:08:22
thing about that is I've come across an Australian company

00:08:27
that make sunglasses. Now these guys are down in Talabajara,

00:08:34
which is just a small suburb in the Gold Coast, and they are

00:08:39
called gidgieeyescom. Now, I highly recommend you go and get

00:08:46
them. They've got basically a safety glass in them and they're

00:08:50
really comfortable, really light , and I just thought I'd give

00:08:53
them a shout out. I got these at Kent Suttlery out at Stanthorpe,

00:09:00
if you go to the equestrian shops. They're designed for

00:09:02
equestrian riders, but they're there for everyday use Super

00:09:07
light, super great and, yeah, happy to happy to wear them.

00:09:12
Pretty sure, they may be made in china, but they're an australian

00:09:14
company and let's support australian companies as much as

00:09:19
we can. So this is um. So this is going to lead me into

00:09:35
our second topic, which, if you don't know, if you're around the

00:09:38
world and you're watching this replay or listening to the

00:09:39
podcast, in 2020 or 21, during the pandemic, our Prime Minister

00:09:50
of the time, scott Morrison, questioned where the Wu flu

00:09:59
started from and basically he said to China come on, let us

00:10:06
know what's happened. And instead of letting us know what

00:10:10
happened, they put tariffs on a lot of our product and main two

00:10:18
wine and beef. Their wine sales to China were exceptionally good

00:10:27
. They loved their wine and then they slapped tariffs on to the

00:10:30
point where it was pointless the Australian growers sending wine

00:10:35
to China. They didn't outright ban it, but the tariffs were

00:10:39
that high that you know, absolutely ridiculous,

00:10:58
ridiculous. So what does this mean for Australian winemakers?

00:11:00
And A it means we've got a lot of juice here in Australia which

00:11:02
is good in some ways but not good in others. But I get sick

00:11:09
and tired of the press saying that the Australian winemakers

00:11:18
have now got a billion-dollar industry to sell into or they

00:11:24
can get their billion dollar, because I think it was close to

00:11:26
a billion dollars that we were exporting. Well, the hard thing

00:11:30
in the hard reality of a tariff like that being dropped on um

00:11:37
winemakers or a country of winemakers, is that you may have

00:11:43
had a billion dollars, that you may have had a billion dollars

00:11:48
in sales, but now that billion dollars is gone it's been a

00:11:50
couple of years, so the void would have been filled by other

00:11:54
countries, probably Spain, america, who else is it? Maybe

00:12:05
the French, maybe, but there would have been quite a few

00:12:10
people benefit from the tariffs being put on Australian wine. So

00:12:15
bear with me, I just need a drink.

00:12:22
So, consequently, the Australian wine market has become a little

00:12:28
bit stagnant. Yes, it's good that the tariffs have come off,

00:12:33
so it means that they can at least try to market into the

00:12:39
Chinese market once again. However, I don't think it's

00:12:44
going to be that simple, with the Chinese being the Chinese.

00:12:49
So what I think will happen is that, even though the tariffs

00:12:53
are being, lifted and I don't know what the Australian

00:12:56
government has given them in return.

00:13:00
But I can't see them selling much wine to the Chinese market.

00:13:04
I think they'll still dig their heels in. I can't see them

00:13:06
selling much wine to the Chinese market. I think they'll still

00:13:10
dig their heels in. It's like the same thing that happened

00:13:17
with our lobsters the Chinese were just letting them fly over

00:13:19
and then refusing them because they had some sort of disease or

00:13:22
whatever. A lot of our animals are the cleanest in the world.

00:13:30
Disease or whatever, where a lot of our animals, um, are the

00:13:33
cleanest in the world. So, yeah, so that's the china tariff lift,

00:13:36
and I just think it's a farce. Shouldn't have gone on in the

00:13:39
first place. Um, and now it's just got to be a joke for the

00:13:45
Australian. But the flip side to that is they went out and

00:13:54
actually found new markets. So it's not all doom and gloom. So

00:13:58
it's pretty good to see that they used a lot of initiative.

00:14:05
See that they used a lot of initiative.

00:14:13
And the final bit of all what's happened during the week is the

00:14:14
South Australian Voice. Oh, I spelt that wrong. We'll get that

00:14:16
down quick and we can change that real quick. You watch this.

00:14:23
You watch this Got to love StreamYard with their banners.

00:14:27
Bang, there we go. So the South Australian voice.

00:14:30
So what is all of this about? Well, back in October last year,

00:14:36
the Australian people voted for an Indigenous voice to

00:14:41
parliament and it was going to be put into our constitution

00:14:50
parliament, and it was going to be put into our constitution and

00:14:58
the and then the people had the choice to vote it in or vote it

00:15:03
out. And that's one of the things about the Australian

00:15:07
political system and our constitution that we have the

00:15:13
final say on it. And if you'd like to learn more about

00:15:17
Australian politics, you should do the right thing and subscribe

00:15:28
on YouTube and give us a like and all that kind of stuff,

00:15:31
because I'm doing a series on about how Australian politics

00:15:35
works. There's a lot of people that I

00:15:36
listen to overseas and they don't have a clue. They're like

00:15:41
deers in the headlights when it comes to our politics. So I've

00:15:44
got to be doing that. Like these in the headlights when it comes

00:15:44
to our politics, so I've got to be doing that. The first episode

00:15:55
of that comes out on Monday, the 1st, so you'll be able to listen

00:15:58
and watch that. So, basically, what happened? It was 60-40,

00:16:07
pretty much all around the country, except for the place

00:16:09
that's 10 minutes outside of Australia, which is Canberra.

00:16:13
They voted for it to go in, so it was never going to get up.

00:16:20
People in Australia don't like the Constitution being tampered

00:16:24
with and when you put race into the Constitution it gets a

00:16:27
little bit dodgy and, as you've listened to previous episodes,

00:16:32
my great-great-grandmother was Aboriginal, so it's neither here

00:16:36
nor there for me. So, with that in mind, the 60-40 no to having

00:16:45
South Australia put one in place , their own little voice, which

00:16:52
basically means that if there's a new bill or anything, they

00:16:57
have to run it past them. They don't have to listen to what

00:17:01
they have to say. There's no obligation, but there is an

00:17:07
obligation. Basically if they turn around say no, you've got

00:17:10
to take that into consideration. So they went and elected the

00:17:16
people to be the voice of to the Parliament for the indigenous

00:17:23
people of South Australia, which which is a southern state here

00:17:29
in Australia. They what's the best way to put it? They did the

00:17:39
vote I think it was last weekend and there's 25, nearly 26

00:17:47
registered Indigenous people in South Australia. So when there's

00:17:57
a vote like this that costs money. The Australian Electoral

00:18:00
Commission gets involved because they manage all of our voting

00:18:08
systems here and I'll be explaining that in a couple of

00:18:11
episodes of the government thing . So they went to all of this

00:18:19
part and parcel. They nominated all these people and just on 10%

00:18:28
of the population voted. Now, some of the reports are

00:18:34
that some of the people that are now the voices to Parliament had

00:18:38
six votes, some had one, some had none. So it's a farce, none,

00:18:52
so it's a farce. And what I encourage is that the Indigenous

00:18:53
people, peoples of the world, if you're in a position to run for

00:18:56
politics, run and be the voice of Indigenous people, like the

00:19:01
11 that we have in federal government now Lydia Thorpe,

00:19:05
jacinta Nappajima-Price, linda Burney, and there's a whole.

00:19:14
They're the main ones that I know of, but there's a whole

00:19:17
heap of them. So, once again, a Labor Party and I'm sorry to go

00:19:24
down this path, but a Labor Party has not listened to the

00:19:28
people, gone against the people, wasted money and they're going

00:19:35
to have a voice, but from what I have heard, it's going to take a

00:19:42
while for the Liberals, which is the opposition, to get in the

00:19:46
power in South Australia, but once they get in, they'll revoke

00:19:50
it, I think, because we can't have a country split on race. As

00:19:57
far as I'm concerned, that may upset people. I know it'll set

00:20:01
up a couple of people that I'm friends with, but that's my

00:20:06
thoughts and views. So, um, yeah, so that's roughly

00:20:12
what's happened during the week. Um, from a personal point of

00:20:16
view. Um, I have had a little bit of a scare with the heart,

00:20:21
but I can't find anything wrong with it. I had my chest pounding

00:20:26
like it was just about to jump out of my chest, but I'm all

00:20:32
good now. Made the lawns, done all that kind of stuff, we're

00:20:36
heading back to Bali, and that's going to be another series that

00:20:40
I've got to do before we head off, on how to successfully get

00:20:46
through a great trip in barley and we, and so there's a few

00:21:02
tricks that you need to do to make A arriving there very easy

00:21:08
and B getting around very easily . So we'll get into that as well

00:21:13
. So that's the show nuts and bolts of it all.

00:21:23
I haven't, I've got to fire up Colin again. He should come up

00:21:29
in a sec. Here we go with Honky Tonk

00:21:31
Southern Sky but, as I said earlier, make sure you do those

00:21:38
three things Like subscribe and click the notifications,

00:21:57
notifications and follow us on Facebook twin or X is now it's

00:21:59
called and on Spotify, apple and all that kind of stuff. And,

00:22:01
until next week, have a good week and, as I always say, when,

00:22:06
when you wake up, always be the best version of yourself. And

00:22:13
let's finish this show and have a good listen to Colin Lilley.

00:22:15
Honky, his lips, everything was forgot.

00:22:28
Speaker 2: Gotta roll with the punches. Money don't grow on

00:22:34
trees. Jesus begging on the corner and the devil do what he

00:22:40
please. The day I heard Buck Owens, I got down on my knees

00:22:53
and surrendered to that great honky tonk, honky tonk southern

00:23:06
sky. When I found my first saloon I thought it would be my

00:23:10
last, but the sins of the Father helped me To drink away all my

00:23:16
past. When you find the needle, you get lost in the stick. No

00:23:25
one ever thought a soul like me Would ever find my way back.

00:23:33
We'll be right back. The day I heard Hank Williams, I got down

00:23:44
on my knees and surrendered to that great honky-tonk,

00:23:54
honky-tonk southern sky. We've got to roll with the punches

00:24:13
Smiling on broad trees, jesus begging on the corner and the

00:24:20
devil do what he please. The day the devil heard Loretta land, he

00:24:26
got down on his knees and surrendered to that great

00:24:35
Honky-tonk southern sky. You.