Subjects: Australia Day; Woke Woolworths’ Australia Day farce; the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership; the Government’s failures on cost of living; Labor’s energy policy shambles.
E&OE
LUKE GRANT:
Every Thursday, when he can, Ray speaks to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. He joins me on the line this morning. Good morning, Peter Dutton, hope things are good.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning, Luke. Very good, thank you, mate.
LUKE GRANT:
Not at all.
Topic that’s got lots of attention obviously in the last 12 hours or more – caused outrage among our listeners, I can tell you: a decision made by Woolies and Big W to axe the selling of Australia Day merchandise for more than I think a thousand Woolworths stores and more than 150 Big Ws across the country. What do you make of that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, like your listeners – and I’d say the vast majority of Australians – I think it’s an outrage, to be honest. Brad Banducci, who’s the CEO of Woolworths, was very forward-leaning, as they say, when it came to the Voice, and remember, Big W stores were broadcasting not just a Welcome to Country when the store opened, but also preaching that you should vote for the Voice.
Now it seems that Brad Banducci’s following in the CEO mould of Alan Joyce and doubling down and deciding that they’re not going to stock these materials to celebrate our national day. I think it’s up to customers whether they want to go in and buy the product or not. If they don’t want to celebrate Australia Day, well that’s a decision for them, but I think people should boycott Woolworths. I would advise very strongly to take your business elsewhere and go to IGA or Coles or Aldi. I think until we get common sense out of a company like Woolworths, I don’t think they should be supported by the public.
As we saw with Alan Joyce and Qantas, it seems that these CEOs are out to try and please the Prime Minister with these stupid decisions. It doesn’t make any sense to me because it’s not what the customers or their employees want.
For Woolworths to start taking political positions to oppose Australia Day is against the national interest, the national spirit. And most Australians, I think, just want to go to Woolies and get groceries at the cheapest possible price because a lot of them are struggling to pay the bill when they get to the checkout at the moment.
LUKE GRANT:
Well, you don’t go to a supermarket do you – you might go there to buy toilet paper – you don’t go there to learn how to think about things. And you’re right, people will form their own view, as we did about the Voice. But Peter, that’s very strong suggesting that people boycott the joint.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think there’s a very strong argument for it. I think Australians have been reasonable in relation to a lot of these issues, and as I say, if it’s your decision not to celebrate Australia Day, well, that’s not something I agree with, but that’s your decision and I respect that. But I don’t want to go into Woolworths and be told how I need to vote, how I feel about Australia Day. If I want to go into Woolworths and purchase all of the paraphernalia to celebrate Australia Day with my next door neighbours or my family or my mates, well that’s something that I should be able and entitled to do.
Other companies haven’t done it and on that basis, I think Australians should boycott Woolworths. I think Brad Banducci should come out and announce that he’s reversing the decision. It’s a bad decision, it damages Woolworths, it embarrasses the employees and I think the Prime Minister, frankly, needs to call it out because these CEOs do believe that by making these crazy decisions, somehow they’re signing up to the woke agenda of Anthony Albanese and pleasing the union bosses in the super funds who invest into these big companies. I think the customer should have the final say here, and that’s why I think people should take their business elsewhere.
LUKE GRANT:
It’s changing the nature of the country almost by stealth, isn’t it? It’s not going as far as to cancel the day, but, you know, we’ll effectively cancel any connection we have with the day. And that might be simply by not offering things that celebrate the country with a flag on it. And again, you mentioned it to do with the Voice.
I grew up thinking that a corporate Australia were more aligned to the values of centre-right politics and were more interested in their bottom line than these other issues. What’s happened to business leaders? What’s happened to business generally that they’ve, you know, we’ve – for want of a better expression – gone weak at the knees every time there’s a new way or a woke way of doing things suggested by government.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Luke, as I say, I think they’re trying to please their investors, they’re trying to please the political leader of the day, and this is why they came out in support of the Voice, and why when the Prime Minister spent almost $450 million on the Voice and I think a lot of Australians said, ‘you know what? I thought I was the only person thinking that this was a bad idea in my workplace, and as it turns out, 6 or 7 out of ten believe exactly what I do’. That’s a similar scenario when it comes to this issue.
But a lot of the investors, a lot of the industry super funds who are investing into Woolworths and ASX companies otherwise demand all of these woke agendas, and the CEOs and the boards believe that they need to implement it, and it means that the people like Alan Joyce become very friendly with Anthony Albanese; people like Brad Banducci become very friendly with Anthony Albanese, and they subscribe to that left wing ideology. That’s why I’ve said repeatedly that the modern Liberal Party is the friend of the worker and the small business owners and employees in that business. We’re not the party of big business, and I don’t pretend that we are.
For these companies to continue to act the way that they do, the customers need to send a very clear message to them that nonsense has to stop. If you’ve got spare time and you’ve got spare cash, bring down the prices of your items and provide support to families.
LUKE GRANT:
Spot on, spot on. Couldn’t agree with you more. I have to tell you, I’m being smashed with people saying ‘good on you, Peter Dutton’. So there’s a quick straw poll, if you will.
Now, Chris Bowen, as we like to call him ‘Bobo’, has come out yesterday and had a crack at you. I know you’d like to respond. Here he is:
[excerpt]
CHRIS BOWEN:
I’ve previously said that Peter Dutton would be a worse Prime Minister for the climate than Scott Morrison. I now say, given that they are hinting they won’t have a 2035 target and will leave the Paris Accord, he will be a worse Prime Minister for the climate than Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott, and that takes some doing.
[end excerpt]
LUKE GRANT:
People just want to pay their bill, don’t they?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, if they can afford to do it, they pay their bill. But, look, I mean, that is a perfect endorsement from Chris Bowen because everything that Chris Bowen predicts, the complete opposite happens.
Don’t forget, he was the Minister that presided over a complete failure of our borders. Thousands of people came in on his watch, they drowned sea, he put kids into detention. It’s not that many years ago. He was also the Minister for FuelWatch and Grocery Watch, which turned out to be a disaster. Now, he’s presiding over a ‘renewables only’ energy policy that’s driving people’s prices up. It’s costing $1.2 to $1.5 trillion. So, if you think your power bill is expensive now under the Albanese Government, wait for the next year or 2 or 5, it’s going to continue to go up. He’s proposing to build 28,000km of poles and wires through productive farmland and national parks to distribute the energy from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. He’s the bloke who’s advocating for the 260 metre towers in the water off the Hunter Coast which it will be a disaster. So, Chris Bowen could possibly be – there’s a lot of competition – he could possibly be the worst Minister of the Albanese Government, which is not a crown that anyone would want to wear.
LUKE GRANT:
No. And before I let you go, I’ve got to ask you this. Jason Falinski is in The Aus today saying, you know, we’ve got to sort out a 2035 target – that is, the Coalition have to sort out a 2035 target. Again, the reaction I’ve had today, people are sick of the bickering. They don’t want it. They just want to be able to pay their bill. I know it’s just pause, repeat, delay – that’s what it feels like. But we don’t have to complicate things, what’s Falinski trying to do? He’s going to sabotage things I fear.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the policy that we take to the election will be decided by our Party Room. Jason’s not in that Party Room, and it’s the elected members who will make the decision and we’ll announce the policy in due course, as we did with the Voice. I know Jason had a different view in relation the Voice, but we take a decision as a Party Room, and as the leader, I’ll make the decision as to what targets we adopt and those that we oppose. In the end, we are looking very clearly at the moment about whether any target that Chris Bowen’s promising is ever achievable, and by sending businesses offshore, by saying to manufacturers – which is what Labor’s doing at the moment – ‘turn your power off in the afternoons so that when people get home from work, we don’t have blackouts’ it’s driving our economy over the cliff…
LUKE GRANT:
It’s madness.
PETER DUTTON:
…and this Government is slowly strangling the economy through their energy policy.
LUKE GRANT:
They are.
Peter, I’ve got to leave you there. I’m so sorry, I’m about to bump into news. Good of you to talk to me. Thank you so much for your time.
[ends]