PM 'proud to be a houso' + Why Elizabeth Holmes is going viral again

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:08)

Hello, happy Monday, and welcome to The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you. The first clip of a documentary we didn't know was coming has gone absolutely gangbusters viral. It's an unsettling conversation between convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder, the director of this doco called You Can See Everything.

Michael Sun (0:27)

It's just so creepy, and there's like so much lingering silence, so many sticky questions. You kind of see her like almost bobbing around in the frame, and then at the end of the trailer, it's revealed that she's, you know, soothing her baby with her leg.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (0:41)

A chat about Elizabeth Holmes and why we're obsessed with her and this new doco is coming up in the second half of this episode. But first, let's get into the headlines with Chris Spyrou on Monday, the 14th of September.

Chris Spyrou (0:54)

Morning, Sacha. We start the week with more calls for Pauline Hanson to apologise, this time over comments she's made about Anthony Albanese's mum. In a resurfaced clip from her appearance on Carl Stefanovic's podcast, the One Nation leader said this about the late Maryanne Albanese living in housing commission.

SPEAKER_4 (1:11)

He said his mother lived in the same one. She was born in for 65 years.

SPEAKER_5 (1:14)

Sorry, that's not on to me. It should be limited time.

Chris Spyrou (1:17)

Hanson also appeared to mock the Prime Minister for talking about his time growing up in social housing.

SPEAKER_4 (1:22)

I've actually grew up in a housing commission house.

SPEAKER_5 (1:24)

You have no idea how hard it is to grow up in a housing commission house. Oh my god.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:30)

An emotional PM hit back yesterday saying he was proud to be a house-o.

SPEAKER_6 (1:34)

Tea of what's weakness, nastiness, nastiness and spitefulness.

And I am stunned at these comments. If Pauline Hanson wants to criticize me, then that's fine. But my mother was way out of Pauline Hanson's league, way out of it.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (1:56)

So the PM's mum died at the age of 65 back in 2002 after suffering with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, which meant she relied on the disability pension. But Albo shared this story of how when he was first born, she'd look after him during the day and then go and clean at night to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. Criticism of Hanson has come from across the political spectrum. Trade Minister Don Farrell has slammed her comments as appalling and un-Australian. Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie too has weighed in, which maybe isn't surprising given he's a vendetta at the moment against One Nation. But he said that Pauline Hanson is not fit to be Prime Minister and mothers should be left out of politics.

Chris Spyrou (2:35)

While former political rival and ex-PM Scott Morrison has also spoken out saying, quote, bringing a politician's family members in whatever guise into our political or policy debate betrays a fundamental lack of decency, civility and judgment.

Sacha Barbour Gatt (2:49)

Now, interesting to hear from ScoMo, given that he lost to Anthony Albanese back in 2022 for the prime ministership. And we don't really hear from him that much out of politics. And it's interesting that he's kind of come forward. He spoke to the financial review and made those comments.

But yeah, he clearly has an opinion on that and Pauline Hanson. Look, Barnaby Joyce was approached by The Daily Telegraph, which is a News Corp paper, and was asked whether he thinks that Hanson should apologize. And he kind of made these strange cryptic comments saying that he was deeply concerned that politics is, quote, going a little Hollywood.

He accused Albanese of being all log cabin stories, which I take to mean like maybe being sentimental or sharing like emotional or personal stories as part of his prime ministership. And he continued saying politics is not a beauty pageant nor a reality TV show. And we seem to be hearing more and more of that. So I guess I will say, I think a politician, no matter where they sit, sharing personal stories of their life and how that's come to shape their beliefs and how they want to approach politics, I think is fine to hear from. I like hearing about the people who are in those positions.

How did you come to have that viewpoint on a certain policy or what's shaped your world view? So I think Barnaby Joyce, referring to Albo talking about growing up in social housing as a log cabin story is a bit of a stretch.

Chris Spyrou (4:20)

Yeah, to be honest, I don't really understand. I don't know how to make sense of anything of what he said in that interview. But I will say this, Pauline Hanson has long been making fun of Albo because of this. And she says that you need to get on with it. You were a child of social housing, but you can't keep reminding us and can't keep bringing up because you have accumulated all this wealth and you've done all these things. And that seems to resonate with a particular portion of One Nation voters that I've spoken to. They're like on with the sob story. You have investment, you're fine to carry on.