Subjects: Election speculation; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Ministerial reshuffle a test of the Prime Minister’s leadership; Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles – the hapless and hopeless Ministers who have failed to keep the community safe; Murray Watt’s rant against Operation Sovereign Borders and turnbacks in 2015 – now the frontrunner for Home Affairs; aged care; The Australian’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
E&OE
ERIN MOLAN:
Now, speculation is mounting that we could be headed to an election sooner rather than later, with the PM set to announce a new look cabinet on Sunday. Couple this with the fact that Albanese has been, well, particularly busy during the mid-winter break, announcing candidates, and the prospect of an end-of-year election looks all the more likely. Joining me now to discuss this and plenty more, the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.
Peter, welcome. Thank you so much for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure, Erin.
ERIN MOLAN:
Make a call for me – when do you think this election will be?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think it’ll depend on when the Prime Minister thinks that he can win it, or if he thinks the economy is going to sour further. I know a lot of people are really hurting in their budgets at the moment. People are finding it harder and harder just to keep their head above water. So, the Prime Minister will want to go before all of that becomes a bigger reality for Australians. So, there is, I think, a real chance that we go this year, and we may be in a negative quarter, interest rates may go up by 25 or 50 points, but every decision the Government’s making at the moment is just making it harder for Australians. Therefore, you’d imagine the Prime Minister wants to try and cauterise that.
But, look, we’re ready and we can contest an election whenever it’s called. Let’s face it, he’s been in Parliament almost 30 years. He’s a tricky politician. He’ll run when he thinks that he can win and if he thinks there’s bad news on the horizon, he’ll try and go before that bad news is heard by the Australian public.
ERIN MOLAN:
Can you beat him at an election?
PETER DUTTON:
There’s no doubt in my mind that we can beat him at the election. I think we have demonstrated ourselves as a united party. We’ve demonstrated that we have a level of bravery in terms of the policies that we’ve adopted. We took a position in relation to the Voice, we’ve taken a position in relation to energy, so that we can try and get prices down and make sure that there’s reliability and not blackouts in the system. I think because of our unity, we’ve demonstrated that we are a credible alternative and we’ve kept pressure on a bad Government.
I also think on the other side of the ledger, it’s obvious to all Australians now, the Prime Minister may not be a bad person, but he’s a shocking Prime Minister and he can’t make decisions that, ultimately, are in the best interests of our country.
ERIN MOLAN:
On the Cabinet reshuffle that will occur this weekend and announced, we believe, on Sunday. Obviously Andrew Giles, Clare O’Neil would be a little bit nervous. Anyone else you think? And what’s your advice to the Prime Minister in terms of what he should do?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, clearly you can’t release 150 criminals from detention and then it turn out that you didn’t need to do that. So I really think Andrew Giles’ position is completely and utterly untenable. So he should go – that should be the first test for the Prime Minister – and not just parachuted into another portfolio – he needs to go. There’s no way in the world the Prime Minister could credibly have Andrew Giles in a Ministry, given what he’s done so far. And Clare O’Neil, of course, is the co-conspirator to all of that.
I think there’s a lot of speculation at the moment around Murray Watt moving into the Immigration Portfolio. But have a look at Murray Watt’s track record when it comes to border protection matters. He’s spoken against Operation Sovereign Borders, against tough border security. He’s basically just a clone of Andrew Giles. So, you can change the sales person, but you still having them read from the same script. They’re weak on borders and people are getting to our mainland at the moment – the Labor Government has no idea who they are.
ERIN MOLAN:
You mentioned the fact that your Party is unified and other people have attested to that. Michaelia Cash was on this show a little while ago, saying of all her decades in politics, it’s the most unified. Will you make any changes to potentially react to his?
PETER DUTTON:
No, I made changes back in March – had a couple of changes – I brought Melissa McIntosh onto the frontbench, and she’s a great talent. I’m really happy with the team that I’ve got. So, I don’t feel any pressure to make any changes. I think the focus is on the Government at the moment because they’re a bad Government. They’ve had two years and I just don’t think there’s any Australian who could say that they’re better off today than they were when Mr Albanese was first elected. Could you imagine where our country will be in three years’ time? I really think the Government has demonstrated they’re just not up to the task.
ERIN MOLAN:
On the cost of living – I love to use real life examples on my Hughesy, Ed and Erin radio show, we do a segment called ‘Secret Lives of Sydney’. Now, it’s usually quite salacious in its nature. It’s things that people are hiding from partners or family. But the woman we had on this morning was talking about the fact that she is hiding the fact that she is now homeless from her parents and her husband’s parents. He works full-time, yet they are homeless because they cannot afford rent. And that was our ‘Secret Lives of Sydney’. What have we become?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I mean, it’s really upsetting and heartbreaking to hear those stories and people who are working more hours, they’re not keeping their head above water. We’ve had 12 interest rate increases under this Prime Minister. He promised to reduce the power bills of Australians by $275 per year, and yet we know that people are paying $1,000 more for their electricity prices, and it just doesn’t stop there. When you go to the supermarket, you pay more for groceries.
Look, I was stopped this morning by a fellow at the airport who said, ‘look, I just can’t keep up with the increases in my electricity bill’. And he wasn’t a business owner, it was just a household bill that he was talking about. But it’s not just your household bill, it’s the farmer’s bill, and it’s the cold storage for the groceries, and it’s the transport company. All of their costs have gone up.
So, when you have a look at Labor’s energy policy, their renewables only policy is driving prices up and across the economy. So, it means that that’s fuelling inflation and when inflation’s up under Labor, interest rates are always higher.
ERIN MOLAN:
It’s utterly crazy – as is this stat: it was revealed earlier in the week, but I was listening to Luke Grant on 2GB this morning, and he made the point that it hadn’t been made a big enough deal of, and I agree entirely. Four in 10 nursing home residents continue to be malnourished. Now, I thought one of Labor’s big grand promises ahead of the last election was to fix this industry. What has happened?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I mean, the short answer is not much. And again, people who have worked hard, people who have contributed to our society and to our community over a lifetime, deserve dignity and respect in their retirement and particularly in aged care facilities. The Government promised that they would put nurses in 24/7 – that is just another broken promise. It hasn’t happened. We’ve said to the Government that we would support sensible changes to make sure that aged care can get back on a proper path so that we can provide support to older Australians. We’re just not seeing the action from the Government. Again, you’ve got somebody in Anika Wells who’s got the training wheels on, you know, talks a big game and shouts and screams in Parliament. But, as you know, and, as Luke points out, the situation hasn’t improved in those aged care facilities for many Australians. So, we’re prepared to support sensible policy changes. But what we’re seeing from the Government at the moment, two years in, is just yet another broken promise in relation to aged care.
ERIN MOLAN:
Peter, quickly, before I let you go, The Australian’s 60th anniversary event last night, you were there. I was clearly not invited, which is somewhat hurtful! But what was it like? I heard that Lachlan Murdoch spoke brilliantly.
PETER DUTTON:
He gave a great speech actually. It was good to see he and Sarah, but many others there as well who have been involved in the journey of The Australian newspaper. I think it’s an institution for our country. It was set up by Rupert Murdoch, and it was designed as a national paper that covered issues important to Australians. They are a driver of debate.
It was really great to be there to see John Howard, and to see many other Australians last night. There were some pretty impressive performances. It was a nice opportunity to celebrate a very significant contributor to the Australian way of life. It was nice to be there with Kirilly as well, so we had a nice night.
ERIN MOLAN:
I was about to say, not that looks matter, but that green sparkly dress she wore – she won the night for me, hands down!
Peter, thank you so much for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Erin.
Take care. Thank you.
[ends]