E&OE
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Questions remain this morning about the economic cost of the Prime Minister’s push for a snap public holiday if the Matildas win the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
While, Anthony Albanese is set to take the case to state leaders at National Cabinet tomorrow, the Opposition has backed concerns from small businesses worried about the impact during a cost of living crisis.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joins me right now. Good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning Shirvo.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
So, are you against this? Do you think it’s going to cost small business?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Shirvo, they say that it costs the economy about $2 billion, and there are a lot of small businesses who are struggling to pay their power bills at the moment, just like families are. So we don’t want to have that big hit on them.
I think a better way to spend the money is to create a legacy – of not just the Matildas – but the Diamonds, who just had a very successful campaign, obviously the Women’s Ashes team in the UK who had success.
Two hundred and fifty million dollars is what we’re proposing to spend on an upgrade of facilities so that young girls at sports clubs, and you know right around the country, don’t have to get changed in the car park or don’t have to go to the toilet in the boys toilets or, you know, in the change rooms.
I think that would be a lasting legacy and a great outcome for participation in female sports. Those young girls, I think they deserve better facilities, and I think, frankly, that would be a great legacy for our country.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Well, you’ve made an announcement about future funding, we’ll get to that in a moment. Just on that day off; my wife runs a small business, completely understand the impact it can have. Is there a way the government can ease the pain for businesses on a holiday like this – getting rid of penalty rates etc.?
PETER DUTTON:
Shirvo, I just think the administration of it is just mind boggling what you’d have to do to provide that support. Look, everyone wants a public holiday, but I think the PM is just in search of his sort of ‘Bob Hawke, America Cup’ moment and I just think it’s overreach.
I think the lasting legacy would be to provide support to those young girls who are really inspired now by what they’re seeing from the Matildas and the Diamonds and others right across every code.
I don’t think we should underestimate how much small business is hurting, you know people putting their hands in their pockets because they’re struggling to pay their mortgages and insurance premiums are going through the roof. The same problems that we have, you know, as families have, small businesses have.
So I just think we’ve got to weigh all of that up, and I just think there’s a better way than what the PM’s promoting.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Bob Hawke didn’t give a day off, he just said; ‘if they don’t turn up to work, don’t fire them’.
PETER DUTTON:
That’s true.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Moving on. Today you’ve announced a $500 million commitment to a new sporting facilities infrastructure fund – half funded by the federal government, half funded by the states. I mean, look, I’m a former athlete, I love the sound of this. How do you deliver it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, you can deliver it to clubs that have a need for an upgrade of those facilities. As I said, you’ve got young girls getting changed in the car park in between the two open doors on the car because there’s no female change rooms. I’ve seen photos of sporting clubs where there’s no shower cubicles, there’s just three or four shower roses, and boys and girls are supposed to go in there and have a shower after a game. I mean I just don’t think it’s up to scratch.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Just finally, the Prime Minister made claims yesterday in an interview about polling that’s showing a slump in support for the ‘yes’ vote. He called them ‘fanciful’ and said the statistics were not an accurate representation of how the Australian public felt about the proposal. What do you say to that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Shirvo, I don’t know what it will take for the PM to start listening to the Australian public. People are asking him for the detail, they’re adults, they want to be informed when they cast their vote. Everybody wants a better outcome for Indigenous Australians, but a lot of people are suspicious when the PM on one day says that, you know, ‘this is the greatest change it can ever be made’ and then on the next day says, ‘well, it’s only a minor change that might work, that won’t affect you’.
If you’re going to change our nation’s rulebook, in the biggest proposal since the Constitution was formed at the time of Federation, you need to properly explain it, and I think that’s why people are suspicious of why the PM won’t provide the detail, and I think that’s why ultimately, they’ll vote ‘no’.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Peter Dutton, thanks for your time today.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks mate.
[ends]