Subjects: Julian Leeser; the Prime Minister’s Canberra Voice proposal; cost of living pressures; Labor’s tax hit on low and middle income earners; Jack’s Law; NRL.
E&OE
PETER FEGAN:
I’m pleased to say the Opposition Leader joins me on the line. Opposition Leader, thank you for your time this afternoon.
PETER DUTTON:
My pleasure Peter. Thank you.
PETER FEGAN:
Look, I want to start off with Julian Leeser. You spoke to him earlier today about this. We’ve just heard a grab from him saying that he’d spoken to you about his position. What’s your thoughts on his resignation?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Peter, he’s a dear friend and he’s a great person, a person of very strong character. I think there are good and bad people on both sides of politics and Julian is one of the best. He sort of quite separately and uniquely I suppose in a way, had been involved in the Voice – the thought, the concept, working it up – well before he got into Parliament. So his history is quite different to others.
But, as he pointed out in his press conference today, he didn’t go with rancour or badwill toward the Liberal Party or me – he had some very kind things to say – his view is that the government has poorly handled the Voice. They haven’t properly explained it. He doesn’t believe that the words are sufficient and he’s going to campaign now for a change of the words and we’ll see if any change takes place. But he’s pointed out that, you know, he’s worked on this issue for a long time and his point of view now is at odds with the overwhelming majority – I think the words he used – the overwhelming majority of people within the Liberal Party Party Room who don’t support the Voice and that was the basis on which he made his decision today.
PETER FEGAN:
Opposition Leader, could I ask you this because I’ve been to a couple of your press conferences where I’ve asked you questions on the Voice. Now, I’m like you, and again, I think you should be commended for your comments on this because I don’t understand it. I’m not against it. I would love to see more Indigenous representation within the Commonwealth. We’ve already got plenty of it there. My questions are, you know, what I want to know is; where does this person sit in Parliament? Is it a man or woman? Are they going to be within the Upper House? Are they going to be a Minister? You know, there’s all these talks about committees that will oversee this and that which just costs taxpayers money. Is it a ‘no’ for good or is it a ‘no’ for now because you would like to know more about it.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Peter, I’m pretty transparent. I’ve been in public life for a long time. As Defence Minister, as Home Affairs Minister, I always asked myself the question with any of these issues; ‘what is in our country’s best interests?’ We all want to see a better outcome for Indigenous Australians. We don’t want to see the tragic scenes in Alice Springs, but we also understand that billions of dollars have been spent trying to provide a better life for Indigenous Australians and it hasn’t worked.
The Voice therefore, I think has a lot of attraction, particularly to young people because it’s the vibe of it, which is exactly what the Prime Minister wants to carry it across the line, but I think when people stop and say and ask the question exactly as you’re asking, what is it about? How would it work? Would it improve lives? Is it going to change our system of government? These are all questions we’ve asked of the government, of the Prime Minister, and they refuse to provide the detail because I don’t think they know the answers to all of the questions.
So, to answer your question directly; it’s not an elected position. It will be an equal balance, as I understand it, of men and women of Indigenous heritage or people who identify as being Indigenous. They are appointed, as I say, not elected, and they represent Indigenous people across the country. That’s the proposal.
One of the major difficulties is that it’s enshrined in the Constitution and you can’t pass any law in the federal Parliament, even if you’ve got support of both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party and the Greens and the Teals, you can’t pass a law which overrides the Constitution, which is why you need to get a change to the Constitution right in the first place.
The legal advice that we’ve seen so far is that by putting the words that the Prime Minister is proposing into the Constitution, the Voice not only has a say on Indigenous matters, but it has the ability to make representations to the Reserve Bank, it has to be consulted on defence decisions, it must be consulted about decisions that Treasury is making around taxation and it’s essentially another arm of government. It will require literally thousands of public servants at the cost of billions of dollars and there’s a question mark about whether a Canberra voice with 24 appointed people – many of whom will be academics and come from the capital cities – are actually going to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.
PETER FEGAN:
I couldn’t agree with you more and I think that that’s the question that needs to be answered and I think that’s a fair point made by yourself and the Liberal Party. I’ve got to ask you this though Opposition Leader, we have seen New South Wales swing to Labor. We saw South Australia swing towards Labor. The Liberal Party has been criticised of late for maybe conservative politics may be over here in this country. We see that the country now is the majority Labor Party. The Liberal Party has a lot of work ahead of itself.
I know that you’ve probably been busy behind the scenes, but can you see why people might criticise your decision here, might criticise the Liberal Party with not being on board with this decision? This part of history?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Peter, our job is to represent what’s in our country’s best interests and as I say, that’s what motivates me. It’s the decision I’ve made and that our Party Room’s made. It’s not Julian being at odds with me, it’s the overwhelming majority of our Party Room who believes that we should say no to this voice.
We believe in enshrining in the Constitution words around Indigenous Australians and that heritage. We accept that. We believe in a local and regional voice or a local and regional body so that we can hear the needs and provide some practical support and cut out the bureaucracy. We don’t support creating a great big new bureaucracy that’s Canberra based and is going to swallow up billions of dollars. Now, if that puts us at odds with, you know, a lot of people who are just supporting the Voice on the vibe, well, I’m not going to apologise for that. I believe we’re standing up for what we believe in.
We’re saying that the rule book of our country, the Constitution, which has kept us safe and, you know, the best country in the world with a stable democracy, that in large part is because of the work that our forefathers did in building the Constitution, and if we’re going to change it, it needs to be for good reason, and you need to be very mindful of the intended and unintended consequences.
I just think the PM’s trying to drive this through on the vibe at the moment, and I think by election day when it is, you know in 2025, people will know that we’ve stood up for principle. We stand up for managing the economy well because it’s what gives us the best chance of providing a good health system and providing support to keep our borders secure and our defence properly funded. That’s what the Liberal Party stands for – for making sure that people can be rewarded for their hard work and that they can make choices around education and private health and making sure that we have a strong public health system. They’re the values that we stand for, and I think they’re timeless, and over time, people will see us stand up for these issues, which we believe in, that we fight for, and we don’t just, you know, go with the flow, and go with the trendy issues out there.
PETER FEGAN:
That’s true. You don’t.
PETER DUTTON:
I want to make decisions that are going to benefit all Australians, and if you cop some flak from time-to-time, well, I just think that’s what leadership is about.
PETER FEGAN:
Joining me on the line is the Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
I just want to touch on some other topics before I do let you go. Let’s talk about the cost of living. I did Erin Molan’s program a week and a half ago and that was on the same day that I did a story up here for Channel Nine on we’re going to start seeing registrations go up here in Queensland, we’re going to see energy bills rising here – not just in Queensland – but across the country. We see on the weekend that the low and middle income tax offsets will be scrapped. I want to get your thoughts on that, and I also want to get your thoughts on, you know, a lot of these low income earners, Opposition Leader, were the ones that voted Labor in, that gave them this bit of faith. You know, they were told that they were going to get an offset on their power – that never happened. Are we seeing more broken election promises here?
PETER DUTTON:
Well very much so Peter. I just think we’re yet to recognise that people are, you know, doing it tough at the moment. Your mortgage is going up, petrol prices are up, electricity is up, your insurance bill is up, when you go to the checkout, you’re not getting as much for, you know, the $100, $200 that you spent before, and now on top of that, the government’s decided to abolish this income support, which meant that for about 10 million Australians, they were getting a benefit of about $1,500 dollars in their pockets every year.
The government on the eve of Easter decides to trot out a decision that they’ve made, that they’ll ultimately have in the budget in May – when people are heading down the coast or up the coast or they’re more interested in easter eggs, than they are what’s going on in federal Parliament – they slipped through this tricky move where they abolish this tax offset, this tax reduction and it means for 10 million low and middle income Australians on incomes of under $126,000 a year, they’re going to be $1,500 dollars less in their pockets under this Labor decision. I think it’s very tricky to roll it out there when people have knocked off work and are having a few days off and at a time when people can least afford it.
PETER FEGAN:
It is a difficult time for everybody. Opposition Leader, I know that you know the Beasley family, I’ve talked about this off the top of the program. We broke some big news that Jack Beasley’s killer is appealing his sentence. As a former police officer, I’m sure this concerns you, but I mean, as a father it might concern you, as a politician I’m sure it concerns you. I can’t understand how they are allowed, after already being given a discount, they’re allowed to try and appeal it further.
PETER DUTTON:
Well mate, I don’t get it. I mean as a father, your heart breaks for Brett and Belinda and their family to lose their son in his prime. I mean they can just never recover from it, and you know that as a parent that you could just never deal with that grief and that loss and your lifetime sentence can get no reduction, and that family will live with that pain forever, and somebody who’s caused that loss to that family finds themselves in a position where they can get a good lawyer, they get a discount, they’re back out on the streets in a handful of years and what sort of message does it send to other people that commit these sort of crimes…
PETER FEGAN:
One hundred per cent.
PETER DUTTON:
…that are out with their friends carrying knives. Completely unacceptable. I think part of it, to be honest, with all due respect to the judiciary, is because firstly of the laws that we have in our state which have been watered down over a long period of time, and secondly, appointments, a number of the appointments that the Palaszczuk and the Beattie and the Bligh Governments have made to the judiciary have been people who aren’t tough on law and order and don’t give strong sentences. It’s part of the reason you find yourself in a crime dilemma that we are in at the moment, there’s no deterrence…
PETER FEGAN:
Yeah, it leaves you shaking your head.
PETER DUTTON:
…And good people are the ones who are suffering.
PETER FEGAN:
I don’t understand it. Before I let you go, this is another tough one. I’ve got Terry Reeder from the Dolphins on after this. I’m Broncos, I’m Broncos all the way Opposition Leader. I’ve got to say that I know you were a Broncos fan, but I know that the Dolphins are dear to you and you had a lot to do with trying to get them in. Have you changed? Are you a Dolphins man now, or are you still Broncos?
PETER DUTTON:
Nah mate, I can’t change teams.
PETER FEGAN:
Oh good!
PETER DUTTON:
I’m still a Broncos man. Bit shattered against the Raiders.
PETER FEGAN:
Oh yeah terrible.
PETER DUTTON:
But look, it’s such a fairytale the Dolphins and full credit to all of the crew supporting Wayne Bennett, (inaudible) and all of those lifelong Dolphins supporters. You know, we did a lot of work to get it up and running and it would be a fairytale if they won the Premiership. Long way to go, but I mean I was a big fan of the Cowboys after the Broncs, but I’ve probably got Dolphins in the second place now. So, it’s tough in a head-to-head, but…
PETER FEGAN:
It is tough.
PETER DUTTON:
…I think, anyway both teams are playing well.
PETER FEGAN:
It’s great for the game. There’s an old saying that you know of course Peter Dutton, and that is if the Broncos are doing well, the game’s doing well. Now we’ve got the Dolphins doing well. Wayne Bennett’s smiling. It’s a great place to be, Queensland at the moment, not a cloud in the sky. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, really appreciate your time this afternoon.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you mate. Take care.
[ends]