Subjects: Cost of living; Premier Malinauskas’s return of the CFMEU’s donation; Labor’s hypocrisy on CFMEU donations; Visit to the Redlands; small business; China; Labor’s broken promise on electricity prices; Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
HENRY PIKE MP
It’s great to have Peter Dutton here in the Redlands today. We’ve been meeting with local families and local businesses talking about the pressures that the current economic climate is imparting on them, and it’s been very interesting to hear about the impacts that rate rises, that increases in fuel costs, that even the increases in everyday groceries are having on local families and local businesses. Peter, over to you.
PETER DUTTON
Henry, thank you very much. Look it’s great to be in your electorate, thank you very much. We’ve had a really good meeting this morning with some local mums, just talking about local issues, particularly those who are in small business, just the pressure within their businesses at the moment: some starting to feel the economy contract. Obviously, everybody feeling the increased cost of living pressures, whether people are at the bowser or whether it’s in their mortgage repayments, whether it’s in their checkout bill when they go to the supermarket – every pressure continues to mount on families. The Government obviously went to the election with a promise to reduce electricity bills by $275. They’ve now walked away from that promise, which is going to hit families really hard. So, we have to work hard as an opposition to support good policy but also to call the Government out on their broken promises, and this is a fundamental promise given on 15 occasions by the Prime Minister before the last election.
I want to say thank you very much to Elijah for having us here, to his family business. Family businesses like this give the first start in life for a lot of younger people who are working part time, whether it’s at school or at university. They give people flexibility when they’re studying and when they’re raising their kids. So, the Liberal Party, the LNP, has always been about supporting small businesses and we’ll do that in our policies that we support, and that we will propose, in the run-up to the next election.
Just a couple of other points. Firstly, in relation to the situation in South Australia with the CFMEU. It was a bad decision by Labor in South Australia to accept a donation of $125,000 from the CFMEU, but credit to the Premier for giving that money back because of the vandalism and repugnant attacks that took place on the Master Builders in Adelaide. It’s quite a contrast, I’ve got to say, to the Prime Minister, who, his Party has taken millions and millions of dollars from the CFMEU over the course of the last decade and we know that hundreds of CFMEU officials have been charged with much more serious offences than even the wilful damage – as bad as it was that we saw in South Australia – and yet not one dollar has been given back to the CFMEU. In fact, the CFMEU continues to donate to Anthony Albanese while their thugs go around attacking people on worksites – extortion, assaults, these are common place incidents for those of the CFMEU, the links to bikie networks etc. It’s completely and utterly unacceptable. The Prime Minister has to show the leadership that the South Australian Premier has shown and give the money back – and for Anthony Albanese to stop taking the money from the CFMEU. The lawlessness, the activities that they are involved in is a complete affront to the rule of law and to people right across the country. So, I think the Prime Minister should listen to people in the suburbs who would be completely and utterly aggrieved by what they’ve seen by way of conduct of the CFMEU. We’ve seen it commented on by Justices in the Federal Court, in the High Court and in the lower courts, because the assaults on women at building sites, the assaults on contractors, the stopping of pouring of concrete, are completely unacceptable and the Prime Minister really should step up and show leadership.
Happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST
What do you make of the escalating tensions between China and Taiwan? And should the Government bring forward the submarine deal delivery by buying vessels made overseas?
PETER DUTTON
Well, I think any Australian is now seeing what we’ve been warning of for the last few years. China is a very different country under President Xi. The activity in Taiwan, around Taiwan, the activity in the East China Sea, which is what has got Japan particularly worried. When you see what’s happening on the land border between China and India, where Indian troops have lost their lives over the last few years. These are all deeply concerning acts and we should stand together with countries to condemn the actions of China because they are provocative, and it can result in an escalation. Nobody wants to see conflict or war. We want to see peace in our region. But the acts of aggression from China at the moment are quite phenomenal and I welcome the comments of Richard Marles when he says that we can get the submarines earlier, particularly if we can buy them directly from the Americans or from the Brits. I spoke about this only a few months ago.
It’s absolutely essential that we acquire the capability to provide a deterrence. We are an island nation, in the middle of the Pacific and we have a particular responsibility, not just to our own country, but to keep peace within our region as well. So that’s what we would support. I said before that we would support good policy and whilst the Government criticised me at the time for saying that we should buy submarines directly from Connecticut or out of the United Kingdom, whichever boat it is, a nuclear vessel which has an intact reactor that lasts for 32 years without having to be refueled should be part of our fleet, and soon as we can acquire that, we become a safer nation and that deterrence is particularly important, in my view.
JOURNALIST
Do you think that it’s inevitable that Australia would be dragged into a conflict over Taiwan? And do you think Xi Jinping would be emboldened by the actions of Vladamir Putin?
PETER DUTTON
Well, as we know, there is a very strong relationship now between President Xi and President Putin and that should send a cold shiver down anyone’s spine. What you’re seeing in Ukraine at the moment is sanctioned by China. So, when you look at the egregious actions, the unlawful war that’s taking place in Ukraine at the moment – condemned by almost every country around the world, except for Iran, except for North Korea, except for China. This is the company that China is keeping. It’s unacceptable. We have a very important trading relationship with China. We will see that continue, but we want there to be peace in our region so every effort should be designed to keep peace within our region, to keep our country safe and to work very closely with allies to deter China from taking any action against Taiwan.
JOURNALIST
We have seen you draw comparisons on broad ties within the CFMEU and Labor over the past couple of weeks, really hammering home that donation point. Are you concerned that the Federal Government will put in place election donation rules, similar to what’s in Queensland already and are you gearing up for that fight?
PETER DUTTON
I think if you look at what Labor has taken from the CFMEU – at a time when the CFMEU officials have been charged with assault, with extortion, with all sorts of stand over tactics – it shows that the Labor Party when it comes to the issue of donations and political donations, don’t occupy any moral high ground at all. At least the South Australian Premier has given back $125,000 to the CFMEU because he showed concern, as he should have, at the wilful damage undertaken by the CFMEU officials. And yet the Prime Minister and his Party have been taking donations from the CFMEU at a time when these officials have been before the courts, charged with very serious offences. They’ve been condemned by judge after judge after judge who have criticised the actions of the CFMEU and millions of dollars are flowing, these rivers of gold flowing from the CFMEU into the Labor Party at a time when the CFMEU officials are being charged with serious offences. It’s completely unacceptable and shows, I think, very poor leadership by the Prime Minister. But it’s clear that the unions are back in charge. The unions are talking about strikes right across the country at the moment and when you see the actions of the CFMEU, it is an appalling situation. The Prime Minister should stand up to them, instead of taking money from them.
JOURNALIST
Does the Coalition believe aged care workers deserve higher pay?
PETER DUTTON
Yes we do, and we’d support that. The Fair Work Commission is obviously looking at this issue at the moment. The Government will make its own submission. But we want to support extra pay for aged care workers, but at the same time, we want to make aged care affordable for residents, particularly those that are on an Age Pension and those who can’t afford to go into aged care. We’ve got a time where there are higher acuity needs, the issue particularly around early onset dementia, the higher care needs for people is a real issue. So, the Government promised at the last election that they would fix the situation in aged care and I just want to make sure that they are not making a bad situation worse in aged care. But we certainly support an increase in pay for aged care workers.
JOURNALIST
How much of a pay rise?
PETER DUTTON
Well, that’s an issue for the Fair Work Commission.
JOURNALIST
Should Nancy Pelosi have gone to Taiwan or was it inappropriate and has it just accelerated tensions?
PETER DUTTON
Well, yes, she should have, and I’m pleased that she did because the reaction from China is completely over the top and it’s disproportionate to the visit by a Speaker of the House of Representatives in the world’s biggest democracy to visit an independent country. Nobody advocates – not the United States, not Australia – for changing the circumstances in relation to Taiwan. Nobody’s arguing for there to be a breaking of the current arrangements, I should be very clear. But at the same time, the Chinese Government’s reaction under President Xi has been wildly disproportionate and I think that when you look at what we’ve had to say when we were in government over the course of the last couple of years, this has been entirely predictable. China is amassing nuclear weapons. When we say that we’re in a period similar to the 1930s, that is not made up, it’s not exaggerated. We’ve all been reading the intelligence for years now, which causes us deep concern. And what do I want? I want to make sure that we can continue to live in a peaceful region. But the actions at the moment are causing deep distress, not just to the Taiwanese, but to every country within our region, including, as I say, Japan. When you see what’s happening with the situation in the Himalayas against India, it’s very, very concerning.
JOURNALIST
Would you go to Taiwan if you were invited?
PETER DUTTON
It’s not something that I would contemplate. I don’t think that helps the situation and I think we’re better off not to involve ourselves in political stunts, but to do what we can to speak honestly about the situation. One of the things I’ve tried to do over the last few years is to be very frank about the situation between China and Taiwan. China has experienced what they describe as, you know, as a century of humiliation and they’re worried about the reunification of Taiwan. They see that as absolutely essential and that’s the reality of China’s approach.
JOURNALIST
Would you support the Government’s position to block a new coal mine in Queensland, despite the potential impact on the Great Barrier Reef?
PETER DUTTON
Well, I think they should adhere to the law. If people meet the environmental conditions and the planning conditions that need to be met to build whatever development it is, then they should approve that development.
[ends]