Subjects: Visit to Nelson Bay; Labor’s offshore wind proposal in the Hunter that will decimate the local environment and economy; Labor’s cost of living crisis.
E&OE
HOST:
Well, our Federal Opposition Leader is on the Central Coast today. We don’t have too many people visit, do we?
HOST:
We’re lucky that when they do, sometimes they just don’t even call us…
HOST:
Yeah, but we get on the bandwagon. Opposition Leader is Peter Dutton. He joins us this morning.
HOST:
Good morning Peter.
HOST:
Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning guys, how are you?
HOST:
Yeah, not too bad.
So did you hear Mr Overseasie before? He just called.
PETER DUTTON:
I did. I was pretty impressed, actually. I could barely distinguish between the two, and I listen to the real one pretty regularly.
HOST:
Yeah, oh it’s him for sure. That’s what we’re led to believe, anyway.
HOST:
But Dutto, I got to ask mate, if you were Prime Minister at the time, Australians, especially a lot of people here on the Central Coast, we’re suffering. We’re suffering with the high interest rates from the banks, with food prices, petrol, electricity, insurance. I’ve got an insurance bill for my house the other day, went up 70 per cent. If you were in charge, what would you do which is not being done now?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think a couple of things. First is you’ve got to make the decisions early on, and the problem is that the PM’s been distracted by the Voice for the last 17 or 18 months; and there are two budgets which have taken place; you can make decisions in those budgets which either make it easier for families or harder – and it doesn’t just happen overnight, there’s no silver bullet that you can fire to bring down insurance prices or bring down mortgages – but the decisions the Government’s made over the course of the last two budgets have really driven up inflation and that inflation and also their energy policy, which has driven up the cost of every part of the supply chain.
We were down talking to some strawberry growers the other day, the fertiliser cost has gone up because there’s a big energy cost associated with that, the cold room cost has gone up, the glass manufacturer has increased the bottle price by 20 cents a bottle. So, when you turn up to the supermarket, all of a sudden you’re paying an extra $20 bucks for the same groceries that cost you, you know, $20 less 12 months ago.
So, they’re the decisions that you can make to try and bring prices down, or you can make the wrong decision to pump a lot of money into the economy, which drives inflation up, and that’s the situation we’re in at the moment.
HOST:
Peter, the latest rhetoric it seems, is that petrol prices are going up and, you know, there could be another interest rate rise on the way that is going to break a lot of people who are already broken. Is there any way that a Government can stand in? Because it seems as though these big companies are making record profits year upon, year upon year…
HOST:
The Commonwealth Bank.
HOST:
And yet, we’re all being told that everyone’s doing it tough. I’ll tell you who’s not doing it tough, it’s big business. Can Government step in and do something about them charging us what they are?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, well I mean the other thing that’s really infuriating too, is that when there’s rate cut, they’re slow to pass it on, or if you’ve got, you know, if you’re a retiree and you’ve got a bit of cash to put on deposit, your interest rates don’t go up as quickly as the mortgage rates do if you’ve got a big mortgage.
So I mean, the first thing is that they’ve got to pass the cuts on when they happen, but that’s no time soon, and as you say, there’s a likelihood – I think the Reserve Bank Governor made this point during the week – that rates could go up another 25 points. Families are already stretched, and it’s not just families as well, it’s the small businesses that have got overdrafts, or people that have got a mortgage against their house for the local cafe or the local coffee shop, and they’re having to pass their costs on as well, or people are getting their hours cut back.
So it has a really negative impact across the economy, but again, that’s why if you bring inflation down then interest rates will follow down as well. But if you keep, the sort of policies they’ve got in place at the moment, you keep jacking up electricity prices – because if it was just your mortgage it would be bad enough – but as you say, I mean, you’re paying over two bucks a litre for a diesel now when you fill your car up, you’re paying more for your insurance and everything else, and it’s just layer upon layer that really is crippling families at the moment.
HOST:
Very much so. Now, Peter, what are you on the coast for? You’re at Terrigal this morning, correct?
PETER DUTTON:
Terrigal this morning – so I’ve just been for a walk on the beach actually, which is spectacular – we were here yesterday in Port Stephens looking at and speaking to the fishermen and the tourism operators – you know the real drama I think, and tragedy of these wind turbines that are going to, I think, spoil the migration patterns of whales, there’s a huge impact, negative impact on the tourism industry coming – again, if those people lose their jobs, well, they’ll end up losing their homes as well.
So, the consultation period has just been ridiculous. People haven’t been properly engaged and these huge 260 metre out of the sea wind turbines, the span of the blades is about the same as an A-380 aircraft, and the impact on the environment, the impact on the local tourism and local jobs is pretty profound. So, you know, those people are in a lot of distress and I think the PM’s got to pay a visit and listen to their very legitimate concerns.
HOST:
And you’re going up to Eastcoast Beverages. All we’ve got to tell you is you just remember the name ‘Sam’, because everyone’s name up there is Sam.
PETER DUTTON:
Got a coffee for Sam?
HOST:
Yeah, seriously! Sam Lentini. So you’re heading up there to have a look at the Eastcoast Beverages factory?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, and really again, just sort of a focus on cost of living. A lot of these small businesses, their insurance bills have gone up, their wage costs have gone up, everything’s gone up. So, the price of coffee goes up, and so that just continues to feed inflation.
So just talking to some of those businesses about the policies that we could implement to try and help them and reduce the costs that they’re having to pass on to consumers.
HOST:
Well Peter, thank you for calling this morning mate. You’ve got a Bro-To skincare prize pack. Bro-To is the go-to brand for Australian men.
HOST:
Are you allowed to take that?
PETER DUTTON:
I need all the help I can get.
HOST:
You want simple, reliable and effective skin care. Thank you for calling through, Mr Dutton.
Mate, hope it all goes well on the Central Coast and visit sometime soon again, mate.
PETER DUTTON:
Look forward to it.
HOST:
Please stay in touch.
[ends]