Subjects: State of Origin; Fadden by-election; Robodebt Royal Commission; support for families of deceased Australian soldiers; Reserve Bank Governor.
E&OE..
RAY HADLEY:
Every Thursday we try to speak with the Opposition Leader, the Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. He’s on the line now from somewhere in South Eastern Queensland. Peter Dutton, good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning Ray.
RAY HADLEY:
Happy with the Origin?
PETER DUTTON:
Happy it was a 2-1 outcome for this time round…but the Blues played well last night so credit where it’s due. I was surprised…even though the Blues had a home ground advantage, I still thought Queensland might have had the hunger to come through, but not to be last night mate. So yeah, great call and well done the Blues.
RAY HADLEY:
Well they won; 2-1 Queensland. You can’t take that away from them. Now, you’ve got a by-election. The Northern Gold Coast seat of Fadden. Now, I got a note from the Australian Electoral Commission – they’re a little worried. They’re way, way down on pre-polling at the moment and they’re reminding everyone that, of course, you’ve got to go along and have your name ticked off and vote and they’re concerned that maybe they won’t get the same turnout they normally would for a full election. But I guess with that 10.6 margin, you’re confident of holding onto it?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ve got a great candidate in Cameron Caldwell. I just spent the morning with him and we were just on the pre-polling booth at Runaway Bay. You’re right Ray, there’s just not the awareness that comes with a general election. So, there’d be a lot of people that probably haven’t even heard yet that there is the by-election on. So, for all of those locals, it’s obviously like a general election, it’s compulsory to vote. So please, go to the pre-polling booths today and tomorrow, or vote at one of the polling booths on Saturday.
Cameron’s a good candidate, a great candidate, he’s a former local solicitor, he’s a father and small business person. He’s been on council for 12 years and he’s been involved in a lot of projects; job creating projects and fighting back against the crime here on the northern end of the Gold Coast, which is a big issue, and I think he’ll be a really strong local member. But you never take any of these seats for granted, and the Labor Party’s been throwing a lot of mud and dirt and sort of this smear campaign, but I think most people will see through that.
RAY HADLEY:
It’s funny, you know, Cameron Caldwell – I’ve had a couple of meetings with him and Tom Tate as a ratepayer on the Gold Coast, and lobbying on behalf of people at Main Beach at different stages, I’ve got to say – and that was probably eight or nine years ago when I ran into him – but he was quite impressive at the time, and when he said he’d come back to me on behalf of the people who’d made representations to me, he did exactly that. We didn’t always get the result we wanted, but at least he was prompt in replying to tell me that he’d had no luck in getting the result we wanted.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, to be honest, I guess his demeanour, but he’s just a very affable person, very polite and he’s got a very strong work ethic. A lot of people – I’ve been to visit a few times into his electorate – but a lot of people stop him and say exactly that. They dealt with him on a council matter and he helped them out or steered them in the right direction, so he’s got a good reputation locally and I think he’ll be a strong local member.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay. Elephant in the room, Robodebt, the Royal Commission handing down the findings. Some of it has not been released in relation to some politicians and some public servants. The system described as ‘cruel and crude’. It appears to be a massive failure of policy and responsibility and it’s at the feet of your government during that period.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think we take responsibility for that which we got wrong. Obviously, there’s a desire for any overpayments of taxpayers’ money through any of the programs, that if people have been overpaid by the government, then there’s an expectation that they refund that, they return it back to the government, back to the taxpayer.
People work hard for their money, so there’s an expectation that if there is an overpayment because of an understatement of income, or an understatement of assets, etc., but the issues in relation to this program have been detailed by the Royal Commission. There’s obviously lessons to be learnt about the way that the system was designed, and that’s what the Royal Commission has concentrated on, and we should learn those lessons and the program’s obviously been redesigned since then.
A lot of it started under Labor as well, I might say, but Bill Shorten forgets to mention any of that and they’re using the by-election as an opportunity to try and get some political advantage out of this to swing voters, but I think people are smarter than that on the ground. Speaking with them this morning, I think that’s certainly the case.
RAY HADLEY:
Politically, and there are people within your own Party saying it’s time for the former Prime Minister to perhaps think about his future; Scott Morrison. He’s doubled down from overseas said, ‘no, I’ll be answering these allegations’, which he basically says are spurious, but it’s a bit hard to argue what the Royal Commission found. Is it beneficial to have a former Prime Minister sort of marking time in Parliament as opposed to getting some fresh blood in there and seeing what they can do?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ray, I think as has been the case with Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard or any of his predecessors, the Prime Ministers past have a special place in the Parliament and there’s an expectation that people either serve out their full term, or they go to a by-election depending on the circumstances. But my judgement has always been for former Prime Ministers, to pay them respect, and do that wherever it’s possible. Sometimes people like Mr Keating sort of push the boundaries a little bit, which make it hard to give them that respect, but I think it’s a decision ultimately for the individual.
I think it’s Scott’s decision as to whether he stays or goes. He’s a good representative for his local community and he’ll make the decision that’s right for him, and to be honest, I think for people who have served their country as Prime Minister – as will be the case for Mr Albanese I hope after the next election, that we win the election – then the expectation is that he would go to a by-election or he’d serve his full term and that’s really then a judgement for him.
In the Senate, of course, you can have a casual vacancy and you don’t cause a by-election – it’s much easier process – but that’s not the way the law operates in relation to House of Reps seats. I understand it’s annoying for people have to go out to a by-election, but in the end, we live in the best democracy in the world and we should be very proud of that.
So Scott – in relation to the Robodebt inquiry – he’s issued a statement and he’s refuted some of the findings that have been drawn and he’s pointed out that it’s contrary to some of the evidence that was given. Now, that can be tested, but I’ll make this important point Ray; we live in a country where you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty and we need to be careful – particularly in recent years, the advent of social media and the rest of it – that somehow people are guilty and need to prove their innocence. That is not how our system operates regardless of who you are. If you’ve done the wrong thing and there’s a finding of guilt, then you should be held to account for that and answer it and cop the penalty; but we don’t find guilt before innocence, and this is not a judge and jury process, but there are lessons to be learned and that’s the situation that we’re in at the moment.
RAY HADLEY:
Just something that came in this morning from one of my listeners in rural New South Wales, I shared it with my listeners just prior to the last news bulletin, and given your standing in the defence community as a former Minister.
She writes to me, ‘we buried our soldier son last month, he served twice in Afghanistan. He suffered terribly with PTSD over a number of years. We applied for a $2,000 funeral benefit through the DVA. We were then advised we didn’t qualify because our son had $5,000 in the bank. A lousy two grand to help bury a soldier. Another kick in the guts from the department’.
We’ve gone to the DVA – Department of Veteran Affairs – and asked the question. I guess the point being; are we going to means test deceased soldiers when they’ve served in the way that this young man served his country?
PETER DUTTON:
No, we shouldn’t, and we’ll get onto the Minister’s office straight away to see what the story is because we should have a greater respect for those who’ve served in uniform and it breaks my heart to hear the news for this digger’s family, and particularly his parents.
We ask a lot of them and we, as I say, one of the big reasons, one of the most significant reasons that we live in peace and tranquillity and able to raise our kids in relatively peaceful times is because of the sacrifice that those diggers have made over many, many generations. So, they too deserve additional recognition and they should be accorded better respect than what you’ve reported Ray. So we’ll follow that up.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay, we’ll get it to your office. Now, just the other thing, the Treasurer has all but confirmed that Philip Lowe is for the high jump and a new Reserve Bank Governor will be appointed. I noted yesterday he said that he would either consult, or has consulted with Angus Taylor. Are you aware of any of those discussions?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, I am. I’ve spoken to Angus about that and he’s in discussions with Jim Chalmers. Look, a couple of points; the government’s got a short-list of names and they’ll work through that, so we respect that process.
I appreciate the fact that the Treasurer has reached out because the Reserve Bank is one of the country’s most important institutions, it’s like the High Court, we don’t want political appointments and it’s difficult for the Governor of the Reserve Bank – whoever it is – to start announcing interest rate increases. In the end though, the Reserve Bank Governor is just the messenger. He or she has to deal with the prevailing economic conditions and Philip Lowe has just been responding to the decisions made by the government.
If the government keeps pumping money into the economy, in an inflationary environment, the Reserve Bank will keep putting up interest rates because we don’t want that high inflation to become embedded in the system or we’ll end up in a dire economic position very quickly.
So, whoever the person is that’s appointed, we’ve made it clear to the government we don’t believe it should be somebody who is ‘familiar’, if you like, to the government, somebody who has been working very closely with the Treasurer, or the Finance Minister, or the Prime Minister. The independence of the position is sacrosanct and that’s why we want to support – in a bipartisan position – the ultimate appointment.
We’ll support the government when they make the announcement, but not if it’s somebody who is tainted, or can be seen to be tainted – even if it’s somebody of a very high calibre and character – and whether it’s been somebody that’s worked closely with the Liberal or Labor government before.
The Reserve Bank Governor has the independence because they need to make tough calls in our country’s interest, even if they’re unpopular calls. We don’t want somebody there who’s been involved in the political process at a senior level, and I think that’s a very important point to make, and we’ve made that clear to the government as well.
RAY HADLEY:
Okay, we’ll talk next week. Thanks for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you Ray. See you mate.
[ends]