Late Night Live — Full program podcast · ABC Australia

Bruce Shapiro on Trump's State of the Union, Catholic Church High Court loss and do Australian cities have a guaranteed water supply?

·55 min·3 clips

Climate change can mean both wetter places and drier places, Stuart Kahn says.

1. Late Night Live links Donald Trump’s State of the Union, the Catholic Church’s High Court loss, and Australian water supply under the episode title “Bruce Shapiro on Trump's State of the Union, Catholic Church High Court loss and do Australian cities have a guaranteed water supply?”. 2. David Maurer hosts the program from Gadigal land, Bruce Shapiro comments on U.S. politics, Judy Corton represents victims of institutional child sexual abuse, and Stuart Kahn is Professor and Head of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. 3. The episode asks whether Trump’s speech, the High Court’s AA ruling, and Australia’s water planning all show institutions under pressure to answer for the consequences of power. 4. Shapiro says Trump’s State of the Union came when poll numbers were plunging among independents, Latino voters, young voters, and anxious Republicans. 5. Shapiro describes the speech as unusually long and says it turned gallery recognitions into a “royal, medal-laying ceremony” with military members, law enforcement officers, and the U.S. hockey team. 6. Shapiro says the speech “broke the bullshit detector” with counterfactual claims about the economy, immigration, crime, and other subjects. 7. He says the dominant thread was violence, listing “shootings and stabbings,” plus “slashing, shooting, kidnapping, hit and run, shot in the head” and “blood all over the aisle.” 8. He argues the speech used the language of true crime and tabloid headlines to hold attention for 90 minutes while also attacking Democrats in the chamber. 9. He says the applause ritual made Republicans look like a loud but diminished faction rather than an expanding national consensus. 10. Shapiro says the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling was a “warning shot” against unbridled executive power and that Trump had damaged himself by antagonising the justices. 11. Corton says the National Redress Scheme is a “farce” that protects institutional assets and imposes a $150,000 cap. 12. She says the scheme’s payment bands are tied to crude categories such as whether “something went into a hole somewhere,” and that accepting $30,000 can end future legal rights. 13. Corton says AA’s High Court win matters because it uses a “non-delegable duty of care” rather than the older employment test. 14. She says Byrd and DP was a setback because the High Court held priests are not employees, despite church control over where they live, what they do, and what they are paid. 15. She says AA involved Father Ron Picken, a 13-year-old boy, religious instruction at a Newcastle high school, and abuse connected to the presbytery. 16. Corton says the new test is broader because a bishop need only foresee harm to a child, not specific sexual abuse, and that this could extend to schools, scoutmasters, the Salvation Army, or coaches. 17. Kahn says climate change may bring more rain in some places but also stronger extremes, and that cities cannot move to where the rain falls. 18. Kahn and Maurer speak in a practical interview style, with follow-up questions pushing from climate science into politics, costs, and household rationing. 19. Listeners interested in U.S. politics, church liability law, and urban water policy. 20. Listeners wanting light entertainment or a single-topic chat.

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