Subjects: Visit to Reid; Liberal Party candidate for Reid, Grange Chung and his strong history of community service; Labor’s cost of living and energy crisis hurting families and small businesses; debit card surcharges; the Prime Minister’s property portfolio; Middle East tensions and Israel travel advice update; sanctions on Iranian individuals; Papua New Guinea NRL team deal.
E&OE.
MELISSA MCINTOSH:
Good morning everyone. I’m Melissa McIntosh, the Member for Lindsay in Western Sydney, also the Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney.
It’s wonderful to be here in the electorate of Reid this morning with the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and our new candidate Grange Chung.
We’ve been speaking with small businesses in this wonderful coffee shop here in Abbotsford about what matters most to them, and small businesses right here in Sydney, just like across the country, are doing it tough. Energy prices are number one. Cost of living – just that uncertainty, whether customers are going to be coming through the door on that very day, people’s own power prices in their homes that they’re struggling with. This is all playing out, having a huge impact on small businesses.
So we’ve sat around the table, we’ve listened to people here today and we’ll be taking those away. It’s been wonderful to have that as a very first introduction to our new candidate, who I’d like to introduce you to now.
Thank you very much Grange.
GRANGE CHUNG:
Thank you Melissa.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m humbled and delighted to welcome Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, and Melissa McIntosh, the Shadow Minister for Western Sydney, here to Reid.
As Melissa alluded to, we’ve been speaking to the small business owners here in Reid about the pain that Labor’s cost of living crisis is bringing upon them.
My name is Grange Chung and I’m the Liberal Candidate for Reid. I’m a former Navy commander, airline pilot and engineer. I am looking forward at the next election, or I’m seeking at the next election, to move from serving our country in uniform to serving the people in Reid as their representative.
I’m distressed at the direction Labor is taking this country and the pain its cost of living crisis is bringing upon the families and businesses here in Reid. I will fight for Reid to ensure that it receives the services and infrastructure it requires and which only a Coalition Government can bring.
Thank you all for coming out to Abbotsford today. Thank you for your time, and now I ask Mr Dutton to say a few words. Thank you all.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Grange, thank you very much. Thank you Mel for being here as well, as the Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability – a huge issue for families and small businesses. There’s exponential growth in people’s power bills. Every time you get a power bill, it’s going up and up and we now know the energy regulator is talking about there being disruption to power – that is blackouts and brownouts under the Government’s renewables only policy.
I want to say thank you very much to Grange Chung for sticking his hand up and for caring so much about his community, about his country and what he’s been able to achieve already in his life is something that is truly admirable. But to now want to represent this local community of Reid and to be in the Federal Parliament, to work hard on behalf of his local constituents is a true reflection on his character and his desire to help people and to advance the interests of the local residents and businesses here in Reid.
As we know, Australian families are really struggling at the moment. The cost of living crisis is hitting communities right across the country. Families are paying almost 20 per cent more in their costs under this Government compared to only a couple of years ago. We know that insolvencies are up, we know that manufacturing insolvencies over the last two years have increased threefold, and there are many businesses closing at the moment. There are many businesses where their margins are being squeezed, they’re putting staff off. We know that people are getting second and third jobs just to pay their bills, and we know under this Government that despite the fact the Prime Minister promised to have cheaper mortgages and cheaper electricity, that interest rates in this country have gone up on 12 occasions under the Prime Minister.
Australian families really are shrugging their shoulders, just asking what’s going to be next under this Government? The reckless spending has to stop because we need to get inflation down. Interest rates have already come down in the United States, in Canada, in New Zealand and in the United Kingdom, and they’re comparable economies. If inflation is holding high here, why is that the case when it’s not in other jurisdictions? It’s because of the Albanese Government and the bad decisions that they’ve made. We know that they spent $400 million – more than that, on the Voice, and they were distracted for the first 16 months of this term of Parliament, not making the decisions to foresee what was inevitable in terms of what was coming down the line on inflation. The Government just didn’t prepare for it and Australian families are suffering as a result of that.
I’m very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, just something on a topic that may affect small businesses. Do you support the banning of debit card surcharges?
PETER DUTTON:
I note what the Prime Minister’s had to say on this, but this is actually plan for a plan. I mean this Prime Minister always promises, but never delivers.
We’re very happy to look at anything the Government’s going to propose, but it’s not an announcement. It’s just that they’re looking at it and it could come in in 2026. Australian families need help now from this Government, and instead of making good decisions, the Government’s made bad decisions.
QUESTION:
But in theory, do you support it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’re happy to look at what the Government’s providing, but at the moment it’s a plan for a plan. The Government promised to introduce reforms to online gambling – nothing’s happened. They promised to introduce age verification – nothing has happened. The Government makes all of these announcements, but never delivers anything, and I think this is just the latest example.
QUESTION:
The Prime Minister has spent $4.3 million on a new home on the Central Coast. What do you make of that amid a cost of living crisis?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s a matter for the Prime Minister, but I wish he and Jodie well. They’re obviously planning for the next stage of life post politics, and I wish them well in that.
The Prime Minister can answer questions in relation to it otherwise, but the home owners in Australia that I’m worried about at the moment are people who can’t afford their mortgages.
People have had 12 interest rate increases under this Government, and interest rates should come back, as they’re doing in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, but because of Mr Albanese’s bad economic management, we’re seeing inflation remain higher here and therefore interest rates remain higher as well.
QUESTION:
Do you think it was an overreaction for the Government to upgrade Australia’s travel warning to Israel to ‘do not travel’?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the Government’s issued the advice, and I’d just say to all Australians that people should visit the SmartTraveller website and see the most up to date information.
In terms of the logic and the rationale and the decision making process, Penny Wong would be able to provide that explanation, but the announcement having been made, Australians should heed the advice of the Government and not travel when they’re advised not to travel.
QUESTION:
Should the Government consider repatriation flights, as have been offered to people in Beirut and Lebanon?
PETER DUTTON:
No.
QUESTION:
And Labor has also announced sanctions on five Iranians linked to Iran’s missile programme. I’ll repeat a question to you that I asked you a couple of weeks ago: should the Government be less targeted and just basically announce that the Iran Revolutionary Guard – just confirm it as a terrorist organisation?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, I believe that they should and I think there’s a compelling argument for that to happen. I think the Government has done the right thing in listing these individuals, but it should apply to the Iranian Guard as well. It’s a statement of the obvious. When people are talking about using nuclear weapons, when people are attacking a democracy like Israel, that’s a very significant issue, and I think it should be addressed. I don’t understand the Government’s hesitation in doing that.
QUESTION:
Just on PNG, the Government is trying to secure an agreement from PNG to curb security ties in China, in return for funding for an NRL team. Does the Coalition believe that’s a wise approach?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’ve had some preliminary discussions with the Prime Minister and with Peter V’Landys and other people in the NRL, and I’ve also had a conversation with Prime Minister Marape as well. The Government’s offered to give us full detail, which we don’t yet have, and I’ll wait until we get that detail before we make any comment in relation to it.
QUESTION:
But do you back efforts to use NRL to secure Australia’s strategic position?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, out interest in the region are absolutely paramount, particularly in a very difficult time. So, I want to make sure that we can work with near neighbours and there’s a lot of work that we did when we were in government, including with Papua New Guinea, to make sure that there’s a family first approach in our region, in the South Pacific.
I want to make sure that we can continue to have very close ties with PNG and other countries and there are different ways that we can do that. We’ll seek information about whether this is the most appropriate way from the Government, and we’ll make an announcement in due course.
QUESTION:
Just on the travel advice – we’ve heard from members of the Jewish community that a lot of them were actually looking to head back to Israel in solidarity, to visit friends and family. Those plans are now all up in the air. What message do you have to members of the Jewish community who are seeing this news as a setback?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think there are many people in the Jewish community here who are shocked and horrified, as all decent Australians are, by the level of anti-Semitism that we’ve seen in our country. This Government has treated the Jewish community very poorly – there’s no question about that.
The Government has issued advice in relation to travel and people should heed that advice. It’s based on intelligence, or it’s based on security assessments, and we don’t want Australians going into harm’s way. I understand the frustration that many Australians will have when there’s travel advice that they don’t go to a particular country, and they’re separated from family and business interests and other reasons that they might want to travel, but they need to heed the advice from the Australian Government.
Thank you.
[ends]