Subjects: Intergenerational Report; the Coalition’s plan to let older Australians keep more of what they earn; Queensland’s youth crime crisis; AEC referendum ballot requirements; the Prime Minister’s divisive Voice, Treaty, Truth proposal; Labor’s Qatar Airways decision that will keep airfare prices higher; Qantas.
E&OE
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joins us now from Brisbane. Peter, good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning Sylvia.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
We’ve got a lot to get through today, but first on this, Jim Chalmers saying the Government’s not contemplating changing the pension age but wants to give older Aussies the option to work longer if they choose to. Do you support that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we suggested that last year and Jim Chalmers dismissed it. Of course we want – if people choose to do so – for them to be able to work more hours. There’s demand in the economy for them, it’s good, particularly given their electricity bills keep going up and their cost of living pressures keep mounting under this Government. So, more flexibility in the welfare system is a good thing. More encouragement for people to work – it helps them, it helps the country.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Hard to look 40 years into the future at the moment when there are so many issues in the here and now though – not just cost of living. But let’s look at where you are in Queensland – the youth crime issue, the State Government now wanting to lock up youth offenders in watch houses indefinitely. Do you support that move?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Sylvia, the trouble is that there hasn’t been the planning for the corrective services system. So, if they had headroom problems or they didn’t have capacity within the youth detention centres, they’ve known about that for years, and if they’ve now ran out of space, well it’s a problem of Premier Palaszczuk’s own making. So she’ll have to explain why something that on the face of it is not acceptable, is something that she’s proposing.
But again, you look at the Prime Minister or Annastacia Palaszczuk, they talk this big game but they never do anything. Ultimately you end up with a crunch point, which is where we are in Queensland – people leaving their keys by their front door because they’re worried about cars being stolen, kids coming through bedrooms of a night time, rummaging through your bedside drawers, etc. It’s just completely unacceptable and it’s all of their own making.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
There’s a lot of fear in the community, but as a former police officer yourself, how do you feel about kids being locked up in adult prisons and watch houses?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the police won’t want that either, because there’s obviously a very significant supervision issue, which requires a lot of workforce hours and those hours then aren’t spent on the street prevent crime from happening.
I mean, the system here in Queensland around family services – at a much earlier point in the lives of these offenders – is completely broken as well. It’s dysfunctional, it’s not providing a deterrence, and now you’re seeing kids – particularly with social media feeds – stealing cars and rummaging through houses because, you know, they want the insta fame and the Government’s just encouraging it because it’s a revolving door system at the courts.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Yeah, Queensland Police have certainly already got their hands full, don’t they?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Now, this time next week, Peter, we will finally know exactly when we’ll be voting in the Voice to Parliament Referendum. But you say the Electoral Commission has sparked confusion over how it will count ticks and crosses on the ballot paper. Is this a storm in a teacup, though? Can’t voters just follow the instructions as they do at a general election?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Sylvia, normally the approach of the AEC is that if somebody’s intent is clear, then they acknowledge that as a vote, but what we’re seeing here is quite a departure from that. I just think Australians want to see a free vote, a fair vote, in a democratic society. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, the question is whether or not it’s a fair process.
The Prime Minister’s withheld detail for months and months, which I think has made Australians angry and suspicious, and now we’re seeing a process where a tick can count for a ‘yes’, but a cross won’t count for a ‘no’. Just make it a fair process instead of trying to load the system and trying to skew it in favour of the ‘yes’ vote.
The Prime Minister would allow tax deductibility for donations to the ‘yes’ campaign, but not to the ‘no’ campaign, and I just think that sense of equality in terms of the arguments, and people’s ability to make a decision, and for it to count, and for there not to be an effective gerrymander in place. I think that’s all important so that people have some respect of the process, but at the moment, it’s a real problem.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Well, it sounds like a change may come on that front, so we’ll watch that space.
PETER DUTTON:
That’s good.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Meantime, Qantas yesterday announced sky high profits; almost $2.5 billion. It’s jaw dropping. Meantime, the block on Qatar is continuing to raise eyebrows. Do you have any concerns, Peter, over the airline’s perceived influence over the Government?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Sylvia, I’ve got real questions over the Qatar decision. We’ve heard no coherent reason from the Government. If you’ve been reading Joe Aston recently in the Fin Review, I mean, it is quite remarkable, and there’s been no decision given that is logical and additional capacity in the system and that competition will bring downward pressure on prices. Anyone flying to Europe or Asia or the Americas at the moment realises that the prices are astronomical, so more competition and more flights on those routes will help.
It’s also a huge benefit for inbound tourism where those additional people coming in on those flights are spending money with cafes, and in restaurants, at tourist destinations, at a time when we need it, when the economy is starting to slow under this Government. So, there are many reasons why the Government should properly explain their decision, but, at the moment, it’s all over the place.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
In one word: Alan Joyce’s legacy?
PETER DUTTON:
It will be, look, I think to bring Qantas through the course of Covid, as we saw with Virgin, it was a tough period for those airlines. To be able to keep the company afloat during that period – with the support of a lot of taxpayers’ money – I think that will be one thing that he chalks up.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
More than one word, but we will take it!
PETER DUTTON:
Oh, I’m sorry!
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Peter Dutton, always appreciate your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
It’s all good. Thank you.
[ends]