Subjects: Workplace culture and allegations of bullying in the Deputy Prime Minister’s office; Australia-China relations; election date speculation and Bill’s retirement.
E&OE.
SARAH ABO:
Parliament has yet again been rocked by allegations of bullying after a former staffer of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says she was forced out of her job.
For more, let’s bring in Minister for Government Services and the NDIS, Bill Shorten, and Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning.
SARAH ABO:
Good to see you both this morning. Bill, this is worrying. One of Labor’s most senior female staffers saying she was bullied and still suffering the ongoing effects. Is there a problem with Parliament’s workplace culture?
BILL SHORTEN:
Well, the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, addressed this in Parliament yesterday. Out of respect for the people involved and because of the prospect of legal proceedings, there’s not much more I can comment about on the individual matters.
In the general issue – Labor’s very committed to improving the culture and professional conduct at Parliament House.
SARAH ABO:
I mean, Pete, accusations of bullying, sadly, are not new in Parliament. No party, including your own, seems immune to this. The Greens are also in hot water right now with staff claims of a toxic bullying culture. It does sound like something’s not quite right in Parliament House?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Sarah, it of course happens in the media industry as well – and across many workplaces. So, bullying is not acceptable and there are processes in place to investigate it.
One of the revelations obviously yesterday was that the Prime Minister’s office had been involved in this matter for months and months and there’s still no resolution to it. So, you would have thought the priority for the Prime Minister’s office would be to find resolution and to find a satisfactory outcome by way of mediation or support for the individual involved.
Had the shoe been on the other foot, of course, the Labor Party would be completely outraged and calling for sackings of Ministers, etc – as they did in the Morrison Government – but I think Mr Albanese’s office has obviously had a real role to play here and they need to answer why it’s dragged on and on and on, and they’ve just been incapable of resolving it.
SARAH ABO:
Bill, is there an answer to that?
BILL SHORTEN:
Well, I don’t think there’s anything more that I can add beyond what Richard said yesterday. I mean, there is the prospect of legal matters, and, as Richard said, out of respect for people…
SARAH ABO:
No, I understand that. I guess more broadly…
BILL SHORTEN:
…there’s not much more I can say, I’m afraid.
SARAH ABO:
…given you guys are representatives of the Australian population. But we can move on now.
Australian lobster will be back on the menu in China as the final sanctions on live exports are lifted. Bill, 95 per cent of the industry’s market was China. This has been a long time coming and will be a big relief for the industry.
BILL SHORTEN:
Yeah, it is a bit of good news, really. The world’s a very difficult place, but this is a bit of good news. The Prime Minister and the Chinese Leader were able to sort this out. It’s worth $800 million the lobster industry in Australia. But it actually comes on top of the resolution of lots of matters since Labor got in.
When we got in there was a $20 billion ban on Australian products, but now coal, cotton, wheat, barley, timber logs, copper ore extract, nearly everything’s now had the boom lifted, and so this is good news for Australia’s lobster industry.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, you can add wine to that list as well.
Pete, the ban on live exports of lobsters has been in place since late 2020. The last time the Coalition was in government relations with China were at rock bottom. Clearly things are on the mend now, though?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s a really good outcome for the WA lobster fishing industry, and let’s hope that we can continue to expand the trading relationship with China. They’re our most important trading partner, but we are also a sovereign nation and we stand up for our beliefs and what’s important to us. That’s what we did in government.
We’re happy for the industry to continue to grow and there are issues that we have to stand up for, and presumably the Prime Minister is doing that at the moment; issues that are important to our national security, and no doubt the Prime Minister will have more to say about that when he gets back.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, we’re still waiting for the exact details on when and how, but Peter, they’re concerns that we should be a bit more cautious dealing with China or not?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Sarah, again, if you look at what’s happened, for example, around 5G, the decision we took when we were in government to exclude high risk vendors from the 5G network was all because the intelligence agencies were saying to us that we couldn’t allow our telecommunications network to be compromised. We’ve got autonomous vehicles and remote monitoring devices, so we took a decision that was in our country’s best interests. It upset the Chinese at the time, and that’s the sort of thing that you’re talking about. But the alternative to that is to take a decision that’s not in our country’s best interest, and that’s not what we did. We did it in a respectful way, but we put our interests first, and at the same time, we want a very significant relationship with China as a trading partner to continue to grow. It’s good for our economy and it’s very good for theirs as well.
SARAH ABO:
Alright, it seems talk of an early election has been quashed. Pete, I hate to come to you again, but you were the one wanting the PM to go early. The speculation is it won’t be until March, maybe even May. How do you feel about that?
PETER DUTTON:
To be honest, watching the Albanese Government at the moment, I’m happy to see it go longer, I think, Sarah. They are contorting into a knot at the moment. The Prime Minister hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing, and I think Bill Shorten might be thinking about delaying his retirement because whilst he’s going in February, there could be an opportunity still left – one shot left in the locker, as they say, Bill. I’m not sure whether you want to rule it out this morning or you’re rolling your sleeves up, what’s happening?
BILL SHORTEN:
Oh Pete, I genuinely look forward to your happy McHappy sessions every Friday where, you know, even from lobster to anything, you can see the downside in everything. It takes a real skill to extract the negative out of everything but you know my man, you are the Jedi Master.
SARAH ABO:
Will you hang around, Bill? Will you hang around if we go to March or May?
PETER DUTTON:
But you coming out of retirement, Bill, it’s a positive! Yeah, it’s you coming out of retirement!
BILL SHORTEN:
No, I know. Oh, listen, I know that Peter’s coming…
PETER DUTTON:
You’re watching a slow-motion train wreck with the Prime Minister and here you are still lurking in the background. Helpfully, of course!
BILL SHORTEN:
Oh, no, Pete, I know that in your own emotionally complicated way, you’re saying you’re going to miss me, and that’s okay! I think at the election….
PETER DUTTON:
It’s not just me, it’s Albo as well!
BILL SHORTEN:
We will go our term and we’ll have the election and…
SARAH ABO:
Alright. Well, listen…
BILL SHORTEN:
Yeah, I’ve never been so popular!
SARAH ABO:
We’ve still got the two of you until February together. That’s guaranteed.
BILL SHORTEN:
You’ve still got me! You’ve still got me.
SARAH ABO:
So, I really appreciate you joining us today guys. Have a great weekend.
[ends]