Subjects: Visit to Pearce; Liberal Party Candidate for Pearce, Jan Norberger’s strong community connection; Labor’s cost of living, energy and housing crisis hurting families and small businesses; the Coalition’s plan to revive the home ownership dream and boost building across Australia; Covid Inquiry Report; the Prime Minister’s flight upgrades and his cosy relationship with Alan Joyce; Queenslanders vote for a better way with a Crisafulli led LNP Government; UNRWA.
E&OE.
MICHAELIA CASH:
It is fantastic to be out here at the Leapfrogs Café in Wanneroo to welcome back, yet again, Peter Dutton the Leader of the Opposition to Western Australia. In fact, Peter, it is a very warm welcome for you today! You were only here but a few days ago and the weather has changed since. This is a perfect Western Australian welcome yet again for Peter Dutton.
It’s also fantastic to be here with our Liberal Candidate for Pearce in Jan Norberger. Jan knows this area incredibly well. He bought a house here with his family 19 years ago, he is raising his two children here and he is someone who gives back to his community. That is reflected today in the number of community groups that came along to show their support for both Jan Norberger and for Peter Dutton.
When you talk to these community groups and Jan and I and Linda Reynolds, we are out there every single day talking to people. The one question that you ask them is this: ‘do you feel better off today than you did when Mr Albanese was first elected?’. And the answer resoundingly now is ‘no’. People are doing it tough because of the decisions of Mr Albanese, and in fact, here in Western Australia, it is so disturbing to hear reports now that people, because of the cost of living crisis, are having to forgo medical services that they need. Why? Because they just can’t afford them.
But again, it is fantastic to have Peter Dutton back here on the ground in Western Australia, but also to be joined by the fantastic Jan Norberger, a local here, the Liberal for Pearce. Jan?
JAN NORBERGER:
Thank you, Senator – indeed. Look, thank you Senator, and thank you to Peter. It’s fantastic to welcome Peter back to the electorate of Pearce and what a fantastic opportunity it was this morning to meet with local residents, volunteer groups, the local fire brigade, charities – a real cross-section of what makes our community great.
As wonderful as our community is, and as much as we do love it, the resounding and repeating message continues to be that the community is hurting. The homegrown inflation cost of living crisis is hurting. People are worried about where their children are going to be able to afford to live in the future, whether they will have the same opportunities of homeownership that others have had in the past. The charities are telling us that the need and demand on their services is more than ever before.
So it’s an amazing community, it’s an aspirational community, but it is one that is really seeking strong leadership and sensible economic management to help Australia back on the right track so that people can pursue their dreams and aspirations and achieve together.
Thank you, Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you very much mate.
Thank you very much, Jan. It’s great to be here with you mate and with your family and the community groups that have been represented here today. These are people who are volunteering in their community, they’re people who give back to the community and many of them don’t have a lot of money, but they know that a lot of Australians are doing it tough at the moment. They’re helping people with disabilities, they’re volunteering in the local fire brigade – these are real salt of the earth West Australians and it was really great to be here with them today. So thank you very much, Jan.
Jan Norberger is somebody has given an enormous amount to his local community. He’s passionate about making sure that Pearce can be well represented and that he can provide support to a community that does need more housing, does need more infrastructure.
I also want to say thank you very much to Michaelia Cash and to Linda Reynolds and to Dean Smith for being here as well. I think it shows a united front from the Liberal Party in this campaign and that we want to make sure we send a very clear message to the people of WA, but right across the country, that our $5 billion, 500,000 additional homes policy, is going to help young Australians restore the great Australian dream of home ownership.
So many people in our country at the moment know that our country is headed in the wrong direction under Anthony Albanese. People know that Labor is damaging the national economy, people know that because of the three budgets that Mr Albanese has presided over, inflation is higher in our country, which is what is keeping up interest rates.
Interest rates have already gone down in the United States, interest rates have gone down in Canada, in the UK and in New Zealand and they are still high here. Interest rates should already have come down to a lower point here in Australia, but they haven’t because of the Albanese Government. The Reserve Bank Governor has been warning the Treasurer and the Prime Minister for a long period of time, he’s ignored that advice and so we find ourselves in a position today that many Australians, after 12 interest rate increases under this Government, are really, really struggling.
I’m going to also be joining Melissa Price as well on my visit here in WA and we’re going to be taking a closer look at some of the mining operations. I’m concerned that a lot of mining companies now are deciding not to invest in Western Australia, but to invest in Africa, or Asia, or elsewhere. These are global companies and they’ve got competition for the capital that they have. They can expand their operations here, or they can take their money to other markets, and unfortunately under this Government taking their money to other markets – and that means we’re losing out on jobs, it means that we’re losing out on economic productivity, we’re losing out on royalties to pay for our Defence Force, to pay for hospitals and roads and infrastructure, but that’s what happens under a Federal Labor Government.
I’m going to do everything we can between now and the next election to get our country back on track, to work hard for our country and to make sure that we put families and small businesses front and centre because we know that the Albanese Government has well and truly lost its way.
Happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
On the COVID Inquiry that’s just been handed down, how do we win back public trust? Do State Premiers need to apologise for some of the actions taken during COVID?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, look, I think the first point to make is this was a report commissioned by a Government desperate to make political point scoring a thing again. I think people should read the report with that in mind. It was commissioned in a political way, it was a hit job and frankly, I just don’t think the Albanese Government gets anything right at the moment. I would have a read through it, which we will do in detail, but I suspect you’ll see a political overtone there.
If Labor had their way at a federal level, there would have been an extra $81 billion that was spent. We know that they were opposed to JobKeeper, they were for it… We saved lives and we saved livelihoods and I think Australians should be proud ultimately of what happened here in WA, what happened with the Federal Government financial support to keep small businesses alive.
I think if the Albanese Government wants to be out attacking State Premiers, including Mark McGowan, to try and make political points, frankly to distract away from the Prime Minister’s other big issues at the moment, then it says all you need to know about the Albanese Government.
QUESTION:
Do you support the idea of establishing an Australian Centre for Disease Control in relation to the Inquiry?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the Government obviously promised this a couple of years ago and it just hasn’t been delivered. Like many things the Government’s promised, whether it’s on gambling reform, whether it’s on age verification to stop kids going online at a young age and being attacked by social media trolls and the rest of it – this Government talks a lot. Anthony Albanese promised a lot before the election, but he doesn’t do anything except for himself. Unfortunately, Australians are missing out when the Prime Minister’s focussed only on himself and what he can get from the system and Australian families are missing out.
So, we support sensible recommendations and we’ll look at the policies, but I just say this: when we were in government there was a lot of work that was done, particularly by Tony Abbott, to his credit, to prepare for a pandemic. There was a lot of support that we provided when we were in government to keep businesses open and to keep people employed, and without that, millions of Australians would have either lost their livelihoods and/or their homes and businesses. The Albanese Government’s out making political points against Mark McGowan and against other Premiers – that’s an issue for them.
QUESTION:
Just to follow on, the Treasurer says spending during COVID contributed to high inflation. Is the former Coalition Government’s decision making during the pandemic to blame for the inflationary pressures households are facing now?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I just wouldn’t take any financial advice, or economic advice from Jim Chalmers. He’s a person who has presided over three budgets, all of which have been inflationary, and the Prime Minister and the Treasurer want everyone to look into the past because they don’t want anyone to focus on the present, and at the present this Government is a train wreck.
The Prime Minister’s interview this morning was a complete train wreck, and instead of focusing on Australians and how he could help them, it seems the Prime Minister’s focussed only on himself and what he can get from the system.
When we were in government, during the COVID period, Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese proposed spending more money. So if their argument was that inflation was a problem, their argument at the time was to fuel it further, and this is something that Australians understand. People aren’t stupid. They know that the economy is suffering, they know that Labor is wrecking the economy at the moment, and that’s why we’re seeing investment leave WA and go to Africa and to Asia and elsewhere, and it shouldn’t be the case.
QUESTION:
Do you support calls for a Senate inquiry into Mr Albanese’s Qantas flights?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think the first step that needs to take place here is that Mr Albanese needs to be honest. He can throw mud, he can blame other people, but this is a problem of his own making. There are obligations that people have got – sometimes people inadvertently don’t declare something or there’s a mistake with paperwork or whatever – that’s not what’s happened here. He was Transport Minister and he picked the phone up to the CEO of Qantas to get upgrades – some of which seems were declared and others not.
So this is an issue that Mr Albanese needs to explain, and in his train wreck interview this morning, he’s not coherent because his story keeps changing, and Australians now are starting to question the integrity and the truthfulness of their Prime Minister. They know they can’t get the economy right and now they’re seeing a Prime Minister who can’t lie straight in bed.
QUESTION:
Should the relationship between the Prime Minister and Qantas be referred to the NACC? And will you refer the matter to the NACC?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think it’s a matter that should be referred by the Prime Minister. I think the Prime Minister should take the initiative to refer this matter to the Integrity Commission, because I think there are lots of questions about Mr Albanese’s credibility and his integrity in relation to the Qatar decision.
People in WA and people in the Northern Territory, in particular, are paying through the nose for airfares, in part because of the lack of competition, and there would be more competition in the market if Mr Albanese had taken a decision not to side with Qantas, but to decide that there should be more competition through allowing Qatar in, which is what we advocated at the time. To be honest, at the time, not knowing what we know today, nobody really could understand why the Prime Minister overrode the decision of Catherine King to allow Qatar in. If Qatar was in today, if Prime Minister Albanese hadn’t decided to support his mate Alan Joyce, I think we would find ourselves in a position where we have lower airfares today because there would be more competition. It’s just another example of the Prime Minister putting himself before other Australians.
QUESTION:
The Ministerial Code of Conduct says that Ministers must not seek out or encourage any form of gift in their personal capacity. Does the PM’s request for upgrades breach that? And if so, what sort of penalty should there be?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, certainly on the face of reading the Gillard Government Ministerial Code of Conduct, the Prime Minister has breached that – by his own admission. Now, he might say that there’s a defence, or that there’s a reason, or dispute the facts, but there’s nothing that the Prime Minister said that’s coherent, other than he picked the phone up to Alan Joyce to request an upgrade of airfares, which is something that I just don’t think he can provide an explanation to.
I’m not aware of any Transport Minister before that, having done that, and again the Prime Minister, every time he gets before the cameras, he gets angry and he’s not a good person under pressure, which is never a good trait in a Prime Minister, but it seems to me that the Prime Minister just can’t be trusted. I think his integrity is in question, and I think it’s why a lot of his colleagues are starting to question his judgement on this and other issues.
QUESTION:
Have you been transparent in your dealings with Gina Rinehart? The PM says you have access to a private jet.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’ve been very transparent. I’ve declared all of that, which is why Mr Albanese knows about it. I wasn’t the Transport Minister picking up the phone to Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australia’s biggest airline, to ask for free upgrades for me and my family, and then refusing to detail it in an honest way.
QUESTION:
Have you ever personally asked Gina Rinehart to fly around Australia?
PETER DUTTON:
No.
QUESTION:
You said the PM should refer himself to the NACC, if he doesn’t will you refer?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ll see whether he’s going to live up to his own standards or not. But it’s clear that he’s breached the standards of the Ministerial Code of Conduct in the Gillard Government when he was the Minister, and I think it’s up to him to be able to answer those questions.
QUESTION:
What exactly do you want the Prime Minister to explain about his dealings with Alan Joyce? And what questions specifically do you want him to answer?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, he’s at odds with the account that Mr Aston’s provided, and I don’t think the Prime Minister’s given a coherent explanation, or understanding yet of exactly the nature of the conversations. We don’t know the nature of the conversations between Mr Joyce and Mr Albanese in relation to the Qatar decision, and again, this is a decision that would have introduced more competition into the marketplace and would have allowed prices to come down. So people who are flying to the East Coast from WA at the moment, are paying phenomenal airfares and those airfares would have been cheaper if Mr Albanese had have decided to support the residents of WA, instead of supporting the decision not to allow Qatar in.
QUESTION:
The PM says he can only recall discussing flights with Alan Joyce in relation to non-commercial promotional flights. Does that ease your concerns?
PETER DUTTON:
No. That’s just not a credible statement that he’s made. I think, as I say, every time the Prime Minister steps up, there are more questions than answers.
QUESTION:
Can we get your response to UNRWA?
PETER DUTTON:
Sure mate, sure.
QUESTION:
Queensland state election, does that give you hope that WA might be in for a chance?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think every Australian will look to what’s happened in Queensland. You had a bad Labor Government there who ran up debt, they made bad decisions and ultimately they were voted out because they couldn’t control law and order, hospital funding was not adequate, they had a situation of ambulance ramping which meant that people were suffering unnecessarily. You saw the situation of law and order where people were having their homes broken into, their cars stolen, there were ram raids. They’d lost control of law and order as well.
Labor do a few things very poorly: they don’t manage the economy well, they don’t manage law and order well because they always appoint magistrates to the judiciary who don’t believe in imposing penalties and sentences that provide a deterrent to people committing acts again, and look, I think in this state, people can distinguish between federal Labor and state Labor.
Federal Labor is a disaster, it’s a disaster for WA because people know they’re paying more for their mortgages, paying more for their rental properties, they’re paying more under their overdraft to keep their business going, their turnover is down, and we’ve got money leaving WA to go to Africa and to Asia to set up mining projects there, when that extra money should be invested here in WA. You’ve got the nature positive laws which are a disaster for WA and creating great uncertainty and that’s why most of the mining companies now are coming out against Anthony Albanese because he’s acting against the interests of this state.
In relation to UNRWA, our position is that we do not support in any circumstance, hard earned Australian taxpayers’ dollars going to support terrorist organisations, or supporters of terrorist organisations. If the Government can’t give an assurance around that money and the way that it’s being spent, then the money shouldn’t be given to UNRWA.
There are serious questions and concerns being asked and raised in relation to UNRWA, and we’re very open to the conversation with the Government to support legislation, or to support measures that would stop money going from Australian taxpayers who are working harder than ever before under this Government to put every dollar in their pocket, from going into the hands of terrorists or to terrorist sympathisers.
Thank you very much.
[ends]