Subjects: Australia Day; the Coalition’s plan to protect children from online harm; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Labor’s energy policy trainwreck.
E&OE.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
River 94.9, Marnie and Campo for Breakfast. Joining us now is the Federal Opposition Leader, Member for Dickson, the Honourable Peter Dutton. Good morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning, guys. How are you?
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
Very well, thank you.
MARNIE TITHERADGE:
I’m good.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
Now, you’ve made headlines this week – we’ve been talking about it all week – the pubs that have cancelled Australia Day. You had your say on it. What is your opinion?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think like most Australians, I believe that we live in the best country in the world and we should be prepared to defend it, and we should stand up for our values – and Australia Day, Christmas Day, Easter, they’re all very important days, sacrosanct days, on our national calendar.
I think people in the corporate world who feel they want to impose their own views of the world on us, or if they’re embarrassed to be Australian, then I think we should push back on that, and that’s what I think a lot of people have done in response to this crazy call.
MARNIE TITHERADGE:
Well, I think they have, and I guess in the essence of what the day means for people who do want to celebrate, they will, I guess, in their own right, but they’ll also have an opinion on people who don’t want to, which is, obviously why it’s such a contentious issue, I guess?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think that’s right, Marnie. I think if we were saying on the other side, ‘look, we think it’s unacceptable that you’re not celebrating Australia Day, that you’re an individual who is concerned about the day and the significance for you is something different’, well, we live in a democracy, and that’s your right as an individual to do. But when you have a corporate out there saying that ‘we’re not going to celebrate Australia Day, we’re ashamed of it’, then I think that’s at odds with what their responsibilities are, and at odds with, frankly, their staff and their customers as well, who are more than happy to celebrate it or not. That’s the choice of the individual.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
Why do you think there’s still an attack on our culture? What’s the issue, why are they doing this?
PETER DUTTON:
I think there is a lot that our universities have to answer for. I think there are many people in high-paying jobs in listed companies and other big corporations who are told by their HR departments and told by bankers out of New York and others that this is what is required, ‘we’re not going to give you capital’, some of the industry super funds say to the companies that ‘we’ll invest in your company, but here are the requirements, here are all the conditions that you need to abide by’.
Again, it’s similar to the Voice where people had their different voices – for and against that particular referendum question – but we did it respectfully, and we didn’t need to know from Coles or Qantas or Woolies what they were doing and that we should think according to their outlook on life. Their job is to provide airfares at the cheapest possible price and take care of their staff, and Woolies and Coles and this pub group are supposed to be there to provide a good service to their customers and take care of the staff, and that’s where it starts and stops.
MARNIE TITHERADGE:
There’s been a lot of talk, of course, this week, too, on the under 16 ban on social media. What are your thoughts on that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve been pushing really hard for this because I just don’t think there should be a different set of rules that operate online that operate in the real world. The adult content and what’s being fed into their minds is leading to a lot of self-harm, mental health conditions, and it’s just not the safe environment for children under the age of 16. As Home Affairs Minister, we negotiated with Facebook and Apple and others to try and get them to take down content of child sexual abuse videos and photos, they refused to do that and I just think it shows that they look at our children as profit items, and that’s not a regime that we should tolerate.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
There is the argument, though, you’re taking the power away from the family, the parents.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Campo, I think some of the people that we’ve spoken to, the parents who have lost children, children who have got eating disorders, trying to recover, and they’ve just been really fed a particular narrative because of the algorithms online.
So, I think there’s a responsible way in which we can approach this, I think it’s a measured way, and most of the parents we’ve spoken to say thank goodness, because it allows us to say to our children, ‘well, it’s against the law and therefore you can’t go on social media’. Whereas for many families, it’s a tortured conversation because the kids are under pressure, social pressure at school with their friendship groups to join social media, and they’re saying to the parents, ‘well, all the kids at school are doing it and why can’t I?’. Hopefully we can protect kids online, which is the real objective.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
The economy, we were talking to Ross Greenwood earlier this morning, and Ross was basically saying that it’s looking quite gloomy, the economy. Can you talk on that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think Ross is right. The Reserve Bank Governor, who’s independent here, has been warning the Federal Government and the Queensland Government, the State Governments across the country, for a while that the continual spending is fuelling inflation, and when that happens, interest rates will stay higher for longer, because we’re seeing in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in New Zealand, in Canada, that interest rates have already started to come down, and in Australia, they should have already started to come down, as well.
I think that’s the best thing that we can do to help people, because you can give an energy supplement and you can provide support, but it’s sort of a sugar hit and then the prices just go back up and people struggle with the next bill that they receive. Whereas if we can manage the economy well, then we can reduce the inflationary pressures, and it’s not just the interest rates. People know when they’re going to Coles or Woolies of the IGA, when you’re going to the fruit shop or to the butcher shop, all the prices are up because it’s their power bills that have gone up as well – to run the cold rooms, or to grow the fruit and veg. All of that food inflation is being fed by this renewables-only energy policy as well, which is all about 100 per cent renewables, which is just adding to the cost – and now unreliability. They’re talking about the prospect of blackouts, which is obviously a disaster for families and businesses as well.
MARNIE TITHERADGE:
Okay. Thank you.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks guys, appreciate you having me on. Thank you.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
Our pleasure, Peter. Thank you so much.
PETER DUTTON:
I just want to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas. Thank you, particularly to Marnie & Campo on the Breakfast Show at 94.9, it’s a great radio station, and I hope you have a very healthy, happy, and safe holiday season for Christmas and the New Year – and please take care.
PAUL ‘CAMPO’ CAMPION:
If the Prime Minister wants to respond to anything that the Federal Opposition Leader said, he’s welcome to call us – 3813 1949.
[ends]