The Karl Stefanovic Show

The tradie behind Thunder From Down Under, Vegas' longest-running male revue, on Western Sydney, the Gold Coast and going all in with it all off.
Billy Cross grew up in housing commission in Sydney's west and left home at 16 on his L's. He did a bricklaying apprenticeship, got the ticket and never laid a brick. Then a Gold Coast nightclub asked him to take his shirt off. He couldn't dance. He learned.
That show became Manpower Australia, then Australia's Thunder From Down Under. It's been stripping in Las Vegas since 1993, and working the Strip full-time since 2001. But first, he lost his shirt in London's West End. Well, most of his Australian tour money, he says.
Karl and Billy get into:
Leaving Liverpool at 16, and the bricklaying ticket he never used
Hens, mums and grandmas: the Gold Coast Monday nights that started it all
1,500 seats in London, and 16 turned up, he says
The VHS tape that got him a full hour on Phil Donahue
All in or go broke: the first male revue with a permanent home on the Las Vegas Strip
This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Rostering, payroll and HR for Aussie businesses: tanda.com.au
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#thunderfromdownunder #lasvegas #goldcoast

Immigration is the hottest issue in Australia. But there’s a layer most people never see, and it’s bringing you dinner.
Sydney restaurateur Mario Libertini has spent 46 years in hospitality. He runs two busy restaurants. The customers are there. The staff aren’t. He hasn’t found an apprentice in five years, and he says the only workers he can get come from overseas.
Karl and Mario get into why young Australians are walking away from hospitality, how the new visa rules are turning work into a game show, what it means beyond restaurants for aged care, childcare and the farms, and why, after 46 years, Mario wouldn’t open a restaurant today.
In this episode:
The big red button ad, and why it went viral

Why young Aussies stopped wanting hospitality jobs

The backpacker ballot and new student visa rules, explained

Apprentices, social media and the “elevator generation”

How to get young Australians back behind the bar

This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Find out more at tanda.com.au/karl
#immigration #hospitality #australia

Neville and Gladys retired to cattle country near Jandowae, Queensland, for peace, cattle and a view of the Bunya Mountains. Then some of the tallest wind turbines in Australia went up next door.
“I’m not against wind farms,” Neville says. “But you don’t want to be looking at them all the time.”
Karl heads out west to the Wambo Wind Farm to ask who decides where turbines go, and who lives with the decision. For the farmers hosting them, turbines are good money. The town gets a community fund. But for the neighbours who turned down the offer to host, it’s the noise, the shadow flicker, property values, and a community that’s been split.
Karl also hears from neighbour Fiona Duff, and from local member David Littleproud on setbacks, noise limits and who pays to pull them down in 30 years. Wambo was approved in 2020, before Queensland tightened its wind farm rules in 2025.

He was a Brisbane mechanic who mortgaged the house for a race car he built in his garage, then crashed it on live TV. Australia loved him so much it paid for him to go again.
Dick Johnson is a dying breed. A bloke who fixed his own car, paid his own way, and became one of the most loved sporting figures this country has produced. At 81, he’s still at it. His team won Bathurst this month.
In 1980, Dick mortgaged the family home to chase the biggest race in the country. He was leading when a rock rolled onto the track and ended it all on live TV. Then the phones lit up. Families and kids sent in their hard-earned cash and pocket money, Ford matched every dollar, and twelve months later Dick won the whole thing in a car the public paid for. He still has every letter.
Karl sits down with an Australian icon. Driving the family Holden to swim training at eight. National Service a few huts from Peter Brock. His first race in an $80 ex-taxi. Getting pulled over at 134km/h by a cop who’d chipped in for his comeback. The truth about who really put that rock on the track. And 56 years with Jill, because “if something was broke, we didn’t throw it out. We used to fix it.”
Plus his mum’s best advice: “Tell the truth always, you won’t have to remember a thing.”
00:00 Cold open
00:00 Bathurst 2026 and the fuel drama
05:02 “Before I fall off my perch”
06:43 Microwave pasta after winning Bathurst
09:46 Driving the family car at eight
13:39 National Service with Peter Brock
14:52 First race in an $80 ex-taxi
20:15 His first Bathurst
25:59 Mortgaging the house
28:14 The rock
33:17 Australia crowdfunds a comeback
40:02 Pulled over at 134km/h
44:06 Dick on Peter Brock
48:28 The Sierra years
53:38 Beating the factory teams at Silverstone
56:35 Roger Penske’s lifeline
58:56 A letter from Edsel Ford
61:24 56 years with Jill
62:20 Quickfire questions
This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Tanda makes it easier to be an employer. Check them out at tanda.com.au.
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#DickJohnson #Bathurst #KarlStefanovic

Insurance went up again? Shocker. An ex-insider says call their bluff.Luke Dugdell spent a decade policing insurers from the inside. Now he takes them on for a living. And shares some take-home hacks you can use today. His words: “they’ll charge you every dollar they can.”Ever called your insurer and watched the price drop? Tell us by how much.#insurancepremiums #karlstefanovic #costofliving