Subjects: Visit to Tangney and WA; the Liberal Party’s candidate for Tangney – Mr Howard Ong; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Labor’s visa and immigration policy shambles; the Prime Minister’s failed Voice referendum that divided our country and wasted $450 million; October 7 attacks.
E&OE.
MICHAELIA CASH:
It is fantastic to be here today at the Mount Pleasant Bowling Club in the electorate of Tangney, with Howard Ong, the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Tangney, and of course, with the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, and his wife, Kirilly.
This is a cost of living election. We’ve got over 200 people here today and the issue that they continue to raise – and Howard knows this well, he is out and about every single day on the ground, talking to the people of Tangney, and in particular, as a former small business person himself, the small businesses in Tangney about the pressures they are under. When Howard asks people, ‘do you feel better today than you did just over two years ago when Mr Albanese was elected’ – the overwhelming answer is no. We know that because of the decisions of the Albanese Government. We said life wouldn’t be easy under Mr Albanese, and unfortunately for all Australians, including obviously the people here in Tangney, that’s now their reality.
But of course, Peter has been coming to Western Australia now for decades. He is a good friend of Western Australia. Kirilly, herself, was born here, in Western Australia, and in fact lived right here in Mount Pleasant. Peter gets Western Australia. He gets the issues that matter to us. But more than that, unlike Mr Albanese – who is all words and then you look at his actions and they are actually detrimental to our great state – Peter has a plan for Western Australia, a positive plan that will make a difference in the lives of all Western Australians.
So, again, fantastic to be here today with over 200 members of the community backing in Howard Ong as the next Liberal for Tangney. Howard, would you like to address everybody?
HOWARD ONG:
Thank you, everyone. Thanks for coming. It’s good to be here today at the Mount Pleasant Bowling Club. This is a thriving club within the seat of Tangney.
More importantly, as we go around Tangney today, speaking to people, people are doing it tough, as Michaelia said. Whether it’s family, whether it’s business, whether it’s young people unable to buy into a home. So, we present a credible alternative now – the way forward. Enough is enough, and we’ve got to get the country back on track.
It is so good to have Peter here today to present that – to spearhead the effort for us. So over to you, Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
Fantastic, Howard. Thank you very much.
In Howard Ong, we’ve got somebody who is a local who understands the local community, and he’s worked hard and will continue to work hard to represent this local community. He will be a passionate advocate for WA and for the people of his local electorate after the next election, when he’s elected as the Member for Tangney. Howard, I want to say thank you very much to you and to your family for the way in which you have sacrificed, the way in which you have worked hard, you’ve given back, and to step up to be in public life, it’s incredibly inspiring and thank you very much indeed.
I’m really pleased to be here today with Michaelia Cash, obviously with Senator Matt O’Sullivan, and Senator Slade Brockman as well – three passionate West Australians. They’re great advocates for this state on many issues that are important to the local community. Over the course of the last few days, and over the course of the next few days, I’ll be taking the opportunity – and have taken the opportunity – to speak with a lot of people in small business, in local communities, to get a better understanding of the issues that are affecting them on the ground.
It’s obvious that every Australian at the moment, to be honest – particularly if they’ve got a mortgage and it’s gone up on 12 occasions under this Government, if they’ve got an electricity bill which has gone up dramatically and is likely to go up much, much more with the Albanese Government’s renewables only policy – speaking with all of those people, they are concerned about not just today, but tomorrow. They’re worried about whether their businesses are viable. They’re worried about whether they can afford to keep the heating on and to be able to eat at the same time – if they’re pensioners or if they’re self-funded retirees on a fixed income.
The Prime Minister has had the opportunity through three budgets to make it easier for Australians – to make the economic decisions to make it easier. But instead, the decisions taken have actually made it harder. So, I think as we go across the country, but particularly as I go across WA, it’s obvious that we need to get our country back on track. There is a better way. The Prime Minister is a weak leader, and he’s demonstrated that in relation to a number of issues.
We live in a precarious period, and we need to make sure that we can keep our borders secure. I don’t think Australians want a ‘Voice 2.0’ in the form of Makarrata, or whatever it is that the Prime Minister’s proposing next. There is money in the budget and we know that there is a plan, but the detail, like he did on the Voice, won’t be released by the Prime Minister before people vote at the coming election.
So, I think there are a lot of issues that people are very interested in at the moment. But what I do know, and I’ve been back to WA on 16 occasions since having been elected as Leader, but I’ve been coming here from the time I was elected to 2001, as Assistant Treasurer to Peter Costello, as a Health Minister, as the Home Affairs Minister, the Immigration Minister and the Defence Minister. I know that our country, our economy nationally, can’t operate, can’t function, without the economy working well in WA.
Speaking to a lot of people from the mining sector, it’s hard to get a mine approved. It’s hard to get the most basic of applications through and we’re seeing capital leave WA to go to Africa or elsewhere, where those companies, with a global competition for their capital, those countries at the moment are winning out against WA – and that’s a disaster.
So, a Government I lead will make sure that we put WA front and centre of our economic policy. We want to support mining, we want to see it thrive, because when WA is strong, our country is strong.
It’s great to be back here and great to be here with Kirilly as well – as Michaelia pointed out, she spent the first eight years of her life here, in Mount Pleasant, and is very proud of her WA origins – so, very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton – 2,000 Palestinian refugee visitor visas are about to expire. How many should get refugee status? And do you think the necessary security checks are being done?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I don’t think the Prime Minister’s taken the pulse of the nation here in relation to this issue. Australia is a very compassionate society. We have a generous intake, particularly through the Humanitarian and Refugee Programme. We’re the second most generous nation on a per capita basis compared to Canada. We take people through the Refugee and Humanitarian Programme – but we do it in a measured and managed way. You can’t be taking people out of a war zone. In some cases, the Government has approved a visa in one hour, in other cases, in 24 hours. We need to make sure that biometrics tests are undertaken. We need to know who is coming to our country. If the Prime Minister can’t give a guarantee to the Australian public that those checks have been done, then I think it’s reckless of the Prime Minister to be bringing people into our country from a war zone, particularly if there is doubt about identity, if people are travelling with paper documents. It’s hard, obviously, to verify the authenticity of documents without a functioning regime or government or databases to check against.
I think the Prime Minister here is looking for a political dividend domestically, when really what he should be most interested in is how he can keep our country safe and secure. You won’t keep our country safe and secure if you bring people here from a war zone, without the proper checks, and all of the checks that need to be done with our allied partners – in particular, the United States. So, I think the Prime Minister needs to be very careful here. If there is to be an extension of visas, then they can be an extension of a temporary-type visa. But to grant a permanent visa, with all of the welfare benefits that might go with it, I think Australians in the middle of a cost of living crisis would believe that the Prime Minister, again, is showing how out of touch he is with the everyday Australian.
QUESTION:
Can you just clarify what type of visas these Palestinians in Australia should be put on, once their temporary visas expire?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the Government can extend the temporary visa. If there’s a concern about people returning back to an uncertain part of the world, then they have the ability to put people on to an extended Temporary Protection Visa or an extension of the visitor visa as it now operates. The Minister has great power in relation to the Migration Act, and the discretion is there to be able to do that. But it would be the wrong decision for the Government to take to put people on to a permanent arrangement given that the conflict in Gaza will be resolved at some point.
As we know, we’ve got to be careful about pull factors here as well. The Government’s had boats that have made it onto our shores – including onto the north-west of our country, in this great state – undetected. The resources that they’ve pulled out of Operation Sovereign Borders, they’ve watered down Operation Sovereign Borders by not having Temporary Protection Visas, and all of that is a green light for people smugglers.
So, there are many different elements to what the Government’s presiding over here at the moment. They made a catastrophic decision in relation to allowing 151,152 criminals to be released into the community unnecessarily, and people have suffered as a result – including here in Western Australia – where these people, some of them, have gone on to commit further crimes.
QUESTION:
Just on the Makarrata Commission, is the Government breaking an election promise by not delivering it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the Prime Minister’s talking out of both sides of his mouth – which normally he does. He goes up to Garma and tells people that there’s going to be a whole panacea and a whole rollout of new policy. He comes to Canberra or comes to WA and tells people there’s nothing to see. It’s exactly what he did in relation to the Voice. The Prime Minister can’t be trusted here. We need practical solutions for people in Alice Springs and Laverton and Leonora. We need to find housing. We need safety for women and children. We need to make sure that there’s employment and education and health services.
The Prime Minister is promising solar panels, and he’s promising a Voice 2.0. The first Voice was at a cost of $450 million. The Voice now, that the Prime Minister is talking about – Voice 2.0 – is a form of Makarrata Commission or truth telling. We don’t know the full detail. What we do know is that there’s money in the budget for it, but that the Prime Minister won’t be honest and upfront with the Australian people. I don’t think the Prime Minister heard the Australian public at the Referendum. The Australian public spoke in a majority to say they didn’t want the Voice. If the Prime Minister didn’t hear that message, then the Australian public is right to deliver a message to the Prime Minister that they don’t want the Voice or Voice 2.0, and they can deliver that message to the Prime Minister at the next general election.
QUESTION:
The Prime Minister insists he’s not changing his position. Do you agree?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, what’s the money in the budget? If the Prime Minister says he’s not changing his position, what is his position and why is there money in the budget for a Makarrata Commission? Why has taxpayer’s money already been spent on establishing a Makarrata Commission? What will it do? Who will be appointed to it? What impact will that have on Indigenous people and communities and business?
The Prime Minister, again, is treating people as he did through the course of the Voice by starving them of the detail that they need to get a better understanding of what he’s proposing. He does believe in the Makarrata Commission – he’s said it on numerous occasions. He does believe in truth telling – he’s said multiple, multiple times. When you listen to him in Question Time, he’s hedging his bets because he wants to tell one part of the country one thing, and another part of the country another thing – which is exactly what he did on the Voice. He divided our country, and he’s seeking to divide our country again, and I don’t think Australians will support that.
QUESTION:
Will you attend Garma next year if you’re elected as the PM?
PETER DUTTON:
I made a decision in relation to Garma this year that I wouldn’t attend and I conveyed that to the organisers. Garma, as Jacinta Price has pointed out, is not going to deliver the practical outcomes that we want. I want to see housing for Indigenous women and children and their families in remote parts of the country. I want to make sure that we’ve got kids at school. I want to make sure that we can reduce crime rates. I want to make sure that we can provide the health services that Indigenous Australians deserve.
There’s an enormous amount of money that goes into the funnel in Canberra, and it’s a trickle when it gets out at the bottom. The Prime Minister has done nothing to address that. The only thing he’s suggesting now is that you employ tens of thousands more bureaucrats in Canberra, which is not going to help WA, it’s not going to help the Northern Territory, it’s not going to help Far North Queensland. It’s going to make it even more difficult for Indigenous communities.
Again, I just don’t think the Prime Minister is listening to average Australians at the moment. They want to make sure that when they’re working hard – and they’re working longer than they’ve ever worked, because they have to try and provide food on the table and keep a roof over their head during Labor’s cost of living crisis – they want to know that their taxpayers’ dollars are being spent efficiently, and at the moment, the Prime Minister can’t give that guarantee.
QUESTION:
What do you make of the PM’s new plan to close the gap by using economic empowerment through the net zero transition?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, I mean the Prime Minister’s out there with slogans and solar panels for communities. Solar panels aren’t going to keep women and children safe in Alice Springs. Solar panels aren’t going to provide the housing for people who are living rough at the moment, or in town camps in Alice Springs, or Laverton or Leonora. The Prime Minister’s got this pipe dream, but it never turns into reality.
This is a Prime Minister that promises everything and delivers nothing. So, I just think look at the Prime Minister’s track record. He’s had two years to try and provide practical solutions and outcomes for Indigenous communities. The indicators under the closing the gap indicators – they’ve gone backwards under this Prime Minister. So, let’s be honest and talk about, not his words, but what he’s put into action. He’s done nothing. He’s spent half a billion dollars on the Voice and divided the nation.
QUESTION:
Would you progress truth telling between First Nations Australians and Governments?
PETER DUTTON:
No, I’m not. No, I’ve been very clear about it. I’m going to provide practical support. I want kids to go to school. I want them to come home to safe households. I want women not to be subject to domestic violence. I want to make sure that we have a health system that improves infant mortality, that extends the life of Indigenous Australians. I want to make sure that we’ve got maternity services in regional areas, including here in WA. I want to deliver the practical things that, when you go to those communities – the Prime Minister hasn’t been to Laverton or to Leonora, he flies over plenty of times, he hasn’t been to Alice Springs to talk with people in the community about what’s important to them.
When you speak to the women and to the elders in those communities, they’re the things that they want. They want – not unlike any other mother or father in a capital city – they want a safe household, they want a safe community, they want to provide for their kids. They want a good school and good education for their kids, and they want health services when they need them.
The Prime Minister is bogged down in this bureaucratic process, which is doing nothing for our country other than wasting your taxpayers’ money. People are working harder than they ever have and the money is being wasted. I want to be a Prime Minister who can deliver practically for Indigenous Australians, so that we can help improve their lives.
QUESTION:
Are you planning on visiting any of those regional towns you just mentioned – Laverton, Leonora – on your trip to WA?
PETER DUTTON:
I’ve been to all of them. I’ve been to Laverton and Leonora. I’ve been to Alice Springs. I’ve been to Darwin. Obviously, I’ve been to a number of other communities and we’ve engaged with Indigenous leaders, many of them, and they’ve come to Canberra as well. But I’ll tell you this, not one of them has said to me that employing another 10,000 – or now 30,000 in total – public servants in Canberra at the cost of $24 billion over four years, is going to improve the lives of people in any part of the country, to be honest.
QUESTION:
Just bringing it back to WA – sorry to interrupt. We’ve heard a lot in the media about how you’re not cutting through with WA voters. Do you think this trip is addressing that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, I mean the Labor Party will push that line. I feel very much at home when I come to WA. I think there’s a great affinity between Queensland and Western Australia. I’ve been coming here for decades, as Michaelia points out. I want to make sure that we can continue to drive this economy, because if Western Australia doesn’t perform well, then we’re not paying for roads, we’re not paying for schools, we’re not paying for the NDIS, we’re not paying for aged care. And more than that, I want to see infrastructure improve, I want to make sure that we can provide the health services. I don’t want to see a deterioration in the living standards, I want to see an improvement. And I want to see WA continue to be the amazing state that it is and I’ll continue to come here as I have in the past.
QUESTION:
There are media reports that the Government will potentially limit TV gambling ads, but not ban them completely, and there will be a full ban on gambling ads on social media. Do you think this will be effective?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, a couple of points. I mean, the Prime Minister again, has been umm-ing and ah-ing over this issue for the last two years. He had a report given to him, he’s now requiring media companies to sign non-disclosure agreements – which is inexplicable because it’s not a national security matter, it’s not market sensitive and it’s all about trying to have this secrecy shrouding many of these discussions, as they’ve done with religious discrimination and other issues as well. It’s about a Government that’s operating in secret. If the Government’s about to implement a regime which is going to have negative impact on the economy or on some of the media companies, then I hope that he’s had the conversations with those companies to understand what happens in relation to existing contracts, what that means for consumers, for employees, for businesses that employ a lot of people around the country.
We want to see sensible policy in relation to advertising and gambling policy, but if the Government has been at sixes and sevens as to what to do over the course of the last couple of years, and they’re just trying to clean barnacles off before they get to an election, I’m not sure we’re going to end up with the best policy. So, let’s see what it is they propose, but I understand the angst of a lot of companies at the moment.
QUESTION:
Just back on the Gaza conflict – have you chosen a side on the Israel conflict? And what message do you want to send by meeting Benjamin Netanyahu?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I want to send the message that that every Prime Minister before Anthony Albanese has sent. When Bob Hawke or Paul Keating or John Howard, every Prime Minister since then, has met with Israeli leadership and with members of the Israeli Cabinet. They are our most important partner in the Middle East. I don’t want to see any conflict. I don’t want to see any children hurt or harmed. I want to see peace and safety and security restored across the Middle East. Let’s be realistic about the situation that we’re facing here. I’m going later today to see an exhibition here in Perth that’s been put on by the Jewish community of the atrocities that occurred on the 7th of October.
The terrorist attacks that we saw on the United States by Al-Qaeda, had a response from President Bush at the time and thousands of people were killed in those attacks on New York and elsewhere in the United States. Twelve hundred people were slaughtered and gunned down by the Hamas terrorist organization, when they entered into the kibbutzes and they went to mow down people, who were young people, at the music festival – they did it with callous intent.
Let’s be realistic about Hamas: they are like Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation, and they are, at the moment, sacrificing people in the Palestinian territory, hiding weapons amongst hospitals and holding people still to this day. Over 100 hostages are being held, including women and children in the tunnel network. So, this is about making sure that we stand up for what is right – and what is right is to be with countries who share values with Australia.
The Jewish community has contributed significantly over a long period of time. And, do you know, when you speak to Holocaust survivors who have been here since 1945, we should always remind ourselves that six million people were gassed and murdered in Germany in the 1939 to ‘45 period. You have a situation where those Holocaust survivors in 2024, in our country, are saying that they’re thinking about moving back to Israel, that they now feel unsafe in our country.
So, this Prime Minister has departed from the practice of every predecessor, and it is no wonder that the level of anti-Semitism has risen in our country. It is a moment of shame for this Prime Minister. It’s one of the worst parts of his leadership – and there have been many – where he’s let Australians down. But this is the weakest Prime Minister we’ve seen in our lifetime. He doesn’t have the ability to stand up for our values and what we believe in and what we’ve fought for over successive generations, and I think for that reason, the Prime Minister stands condemned in relation to this issue.
Thank you all very much.
Thank you.
[ends]