Subjects: King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s visit to Australia; the Coalition’s plan to revive the home ownership dream and boost building across Australia.
E&OE.
NAT BARR:
Lidia Thorpe is facing backlash this morning after the controversial independent Senator interrupted the King’s speech. Senator Thorpe made her opinion of the Monarch very clear as he addressed Parliament House yesterday afternoon.
Despite the outburst the King voiced his enduring affection for Australia before touching back down in Sydney where he will today prepare for his final full day in Australia.
For more, let’s bring in Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning Nat.
NAT BARR:
You were in the chamber during the King’s speech, and of course when Senator Thorpe had that outburst. What was your reaction?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, my reaction was that, ‘here we go again’. It was entirely predictable, all about herself. It doesn’t advance any cause that she’s interested in. It’s really just a self-promotion thing, which is why I don’t think we should give it any attention. Unfortunately, it overshadowed what I think’s been a very successful visit so far. I think it was disrespectful, and most Australians dismiss it on that basis.
NAT BARR:
It was loud and kind of abusive. ‘F*** The Colony’ was one of the things that was said. Should she resign?
PETER DUTTON:
I think there’s a very strong argument for somebody who doesn’t believe in the system, but is willing to take a quarter of a million dollars a year from the system, to resign in principle. If you were really truly about your cause and not just about yourself, then I think that’s a decision that you would make.
NAT BARR:
You met with the king afterwards.
PETER DUTTON:
I did.
NAT BARR:
What was your chat like?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it was an honour to meet him, first. I’d met him previously in Brisbane, but he was very relaxed, actually, and I found him to be very easy to engage with. It was only a brief meeting, but it was good opportunity.
NAT BARR:
Strong crowds and people of all ages meeting both of them – that we’ve seen so far – do you think this will put the republic debate on the back burner for a while?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the PM’s pulled it from the agenda. There was a Minister for the Republic, and now the Prime Minister’s taken that title away. So, it’s obviously not a priority for the Government.
I mean, some of the points we made yesterday, which again were overshadowed by the silliness of Lidia Thorpe, but our system of government, our democracy, our rule of law has all been inherited from our British background. We’ve got a fantastic Indigenous heritage, we’ve got a great multicultural story, but we don’t spend enough time talking about the institutions and the way in which our country was set up and that we’ve benefited from the monarchy and the stability of it.
So, whether it’s through war or peace, we have always survived. We haven’t had civil wars, and in large part, I think that’s because of the stability and the independence of the monarchy and involvement in our system.
NAT BARR:
Let’s talk about your $5 billion housing plan. Obviously, a little bit of criticism about where the money’s going and how it’s going to be spent. Could you explain to us who’s actually going to get that money?
PETER DUTTON:
So, it’s really targeted at greenfield developments, Nat. So, we want to establish more supply in the housing market – and every economist says that’s what we need. We’ve had huge migration numbers over recent years and young Australians just feel locked out of the market. So how can we create an opportunity for them?
By talking to some of the councils, and we’ve talked to literally hundreds across the country. A lot of them say consistently, ‘look, we would go ahead with that 500 lot development but we just don’t have the balance sheet. We can’t afford to pay for the sewerage upgrade or the water upgrades, Sydney water’s got capacity constraints, and if we could get that extra road built – the connection road, we would open up that new estate’. That’s going to allow us to leverage in 500,000 new homes and I think that will help part of the housing problem.
There’s more that we’ll have to say on it over the coming months as well.
NAT BARR:
Okay. Peter Dutton, thank you for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure Nat. Thank you.
[ends]