Subjects: Visit to Aston; cost of living pressures; Aston by-election, Australians always paying more under Labor; Indigenous Voice to Parliament; Australia-China relations; Dr Monique Ryan; Queensland mining tragedy.
E&OE.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you for being here today. It’s great to be here in Wantirna South with Kirilly. We had a great catch up this morning with some locals just talking about local issues. There are a lot of families here in Aston who are really worried about the cost of living pressures. Many of the decisions that the government’s made in their short time in office have contributed to an increase in inflation, which means an increase in interest rates, and if you’re paying more for your mortgage under Labor, that’s no surprise because that’s just how they manage the budget and they manage the economy.
It’s not just your mortgage that’s going up under Labor, it’s also your electricity and gas bills. Labor promised that your electricity bill would go down by $275. The Prime Minister promised it on 97 occasions before the last election, but I’ll tell you this: he’ll promise it on no occasions before the Aston by-election, because, as it turns out, under Labor, power prices are going up by at least 56 per cent.
So, the bills keep stacking up under the Albanese Government and it’s clear the Prime Minister’s looking for all sorts of distractions and wanting to talk about everything else other than what is important to Australian families at the moment, and that is whether or not he’s got a plan to help them with their cost of living pressures, and clearly, given that they had a budget last October and we’re in the run up to the budget in May now, there’s no evidence of a plan to help Australian families whatsoever.
Happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
If you were in government, what would your plan be to help cost of living pressures?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think if you look at the last three decades, interest rates on average have been about 1.3 per cent higher under Labor than they have been under Coalition governments. Now, that’s not by accident. Economic events always come along – the GFC, Asian bird flu, downturns in the economy, and COVID obviously, economic shocks domestically and internationally – and you’ve got to provide the policies and put the policies in place that counter those impacts and provide support to families. Labor has made every wrong call so far. The carbon tax that they’re introducing is not going to be borne by the 215 companies, it’s going to be passed on to consumers, which is inflationary. We wouldn’t do that. When you look at their policies in relation to industrial relations, for a small business like this, paying more and more in their wage bill each week is inflationary and it’s going to provide a disincentive for them to employ workers. Everybody wants to see higher wages, but it’s got to be done in a responsible way because otherwise workers get more in their pay packet and then they end up paying that plus more for their mortgage each month. So, Labor has made a number of decisions which frankly have contributed to inflation, have driven up interest rates higher than what they need to be, and I think Australians are starting to recognise that.
QUESTION:
In Aston, obviously there is going to be a by-election soon. We know Labor have announced their candidate. Will you make any announcements today?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we go through a process in the Liberal Party where we’ll preselect our candidate and we’ve called for nominations. The Prime Minister’s got an advantage in his party where he can just appoint candidates and go straight over the top of the wishes of local members and not listen to the will of their local membership. So, in our party, we are much more democratic in that sense, and that’s a good feature of our party. But we’ll select a strong candidate. We want somebody who understands the issues here in Aston, understands what the response must be. I’m very confident that the people of Aston will see, in the Prime Minister, someone who has promised a lot and has delivered very little to them and their families. Labor demonstrated what they thought of Aston, when, in their first opportunity to give support to Aston, they cut five infrastructure projects here in Aston – important road infrastructure projects – and that was their demonstration of their view toward Aston. They took money out of Aston and put it into other seats.
QUESTION:
At the last federal election, Alan Tudge suffered a more than 10 per cent swing against him. Do you think that was a reflection of people being dissatisfied with the Party or with Alan Tudge?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, look, I think there’ve been a lot of personal attacks on Alan Tudge. The death threat against his daughter most recently is absolutely disgusting. The pressure through social media and the rest of it is deplorable. Alan, like all of us, made mistakes but my sense of his work on the ground is that he’s been a very popular local member, able to work hard and support his community through infrastructure projects, through advocating on their behalf, and that’s a reality for many seats at the last election where we had good candidates who suffered swings against them, because the Labor campaign was effective in a number of areas through lies and deception. That’s the way the Labor Party conduct themselves.
QUESTION:
On to some other matters, as it stands, do you believe the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum will succeed or fail?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, firstly, I want to thank the members yesterday for their engagement with Julian Leeser and myself. It was a constructive discussion. We were frank in our assessment: that our belief is that the way in which the Prime Minister has just not been across the detail when it comes to the Voice, or frankly, many other matters. I think the Voice is not going to get up and I don’t think it’s going to be successful, and that’s because the Prime Minister’s had this half-hearted effort in relation to just not explaining the detail, not being across the detail. I think it’s tough for a lot of Australians when they’re being asked to make a change to the Constitution – our nation’s founding document – and yet they don’t have the detail from our Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s making a conscious decision to withhold that information.
QUESTION:
Do you support Scott Morrison’s push to consider sanctions against China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang?
PETER DUTTON:
I think it’s important to stand up for the values that we believe in. We believe in the rule of law, we believe in democracy, we believe in human rights, and where countries – whether it’s China or elsewhere – are committing or are alleged to be committing human rights abuses, then we’re right to call that out. As a responsible global citizen, Australians would expect us, where we see human rights abuses, whether it’s in Iran, China or Russia or other parts of the world, our country – and this is not a partisan issue, it’s not just a Liberal view, it’s a bipartisan view – that we would call out that behaviour, that conduct, and in many instances at the UN or elsewhere, we would speak out against it or indeed we would take action otherwise.
So, human rights abuses – including against Australian citizens in China under President Xi – is very concerning. That doesn’t mean we don’t have the greatest of respect for Australians of Chinese heritage. They’re wonderful people. But our reflection is on the administration run by President Xi and there are global concerns, including at the UN, about the allegations being made of human rights abuses and the treatment of the Uyghurs, the sterilisation, the re-education, the internment of these people is a travesty, and I think we’re right to acknowledge that.
QUESTION:
In regards to calling it out and sort of taking that stance, do you consider, like a push to put sanctions against China though, as part of calling it out?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think what’s important is for us to stand up for our values: to make sure that we express our values without fear or intimidation, and we support others that are in the same situation, countries who are like-minded and have shed blood, frankly, through world wars to enjoy the society that we do. We want other people to live in freedom and not to be subject to those abuses and that violence. I think it’s right that we call it out and the next steps from there are for others to consider.
QUESTION:
It’s understood that Monique Ryan and Sally Rugg are going through mediation, there might be a hearing in court today. Do you think this sort of raises the argument that Independents might need more staff?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think what we would expect from Monique Ryan is just honesty about the situation. We don’t want to tolerate a situation where staff are being treated inappropriately, and if that’s happened and Monique Ryan’s made a mistake, then I think people would be more forgiving, more understanding, more accepting, perhaps, if there was honesty. So, all I hope is that Monique Ryan is honest with the people of Kooyong and just tells the facts, sticks to the facts and allows her employee to be heard and that process will take place. So, let’s see what the evidence provides.
QUESTION:
Final question – obviously, there’s a really awful mining tragedy in Queensland. There’s been a couple over the last few years, particularly with underground mines. Do you think there needs to be a bit of an overhaul in safety or work regulations?
PETER DUTTON:
Well firstly, as we said in Parliament yesterday, we were really hoping and praying and really seeking out a miracle that these two men would be found alive. Tragically, they haven’t and their families and the community – particularly that greater Cloncurry area, but the mining community, otherwise, there are 500 miners or staff who work on that mining site – they’ll all be completely devastated.
So, I just acknowledge that loss, particularly for the families, the loved ones, anybody going to work should come home safely, and there will be a review, obviously, into the safety conditions and the protections that were there and if there are enhancements that are needed, I’m sure they’ll be adopted. But I finally want to say thank you very much to the rescue workers.
We should never forget in our country that when we’re in our darkest hour, in our hour of need: an ambulance will turn up, a police officer will turn up, a firey will turn up, somebody from the Australian Defence Force will turn up to provide support. When we’re all running from harm’s way, those people are running into harm’s way and they’ve got families like the rest of us and we should acknowledge the work of the rescue workers, their deployment of the drones, of every technology, technique and expertise that they’ve developed over a long period of time was put into play in trying to recover those men and to save them, and tragically that hasn’t been the case in this circumstance.
Thank you very much.
[ends]