Subjects: Visit to Torquay; Mr Darcy Dunstan – Liberal Party candidate for Corangamite; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Bonza Aviation; Labor’s immigration detention shambles; family and domestic violence; the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership; the concerning policies of the Greens; Darren Cheeseman; Otway Basin; Labor’s energy policy shambles; nuclear power.
E&OE.
SARAH HENDERSON:
Good morning everyone. It’s wonderful to have Peter Dutton here in Torquay at this terrific business, Zeally Bay Sourdough, with our brand new Liberal Candidate for Corangamite, Darcy Dunstan. Darcy’s working very hard right across this electorate, connecting with small businesses like this one and reaching out to many families, and of course, we know that many people here in our region and right across the country are doing it very tough with cost of living pressures. I know Darcy’s going to give this seat a huge crack. He’s working very hard, and we’re very proud that he has been preselected.
Under Peter Dutton’s leadership, Peter is leading the charge for the Coalition on the issues that really matter to Australians. We do know that many Australians are suffering under this Government, and across this region the Government has turned its back on local residents. We are not getting the investment we deserve, and that is simply not good enough. We know that with Darcy’s leadership here locally, he’s out there listening to what people care about, to the issues that matter, and really looking forward to supporting Darcy in his local campaign.
DARCY DUNSTAN:
Thank you Sarah.
Firstly, what a privilege it is to have Peter in our region talking to the business community and talking to community leaders from all over our region about the issues that concern them in this current climate.
So, I started my campaign three weeks ago when I was endorsed as the Liberal Party Candidate for Corangamite, and I’ve been reaching out and visiting communities from all sides of the electorate – from sporting groups, to multicultural communities, and the number one issue that they’re telling me is cost of living.
People in our community are hurting, and I’ll give you some examples: one closer to home, my mum, she works at a hardware shop, she works very hard, she works on the weekends, and after she pays her mortgage, she can barely afford to turn her heating on.
Another example; a gentleman I was talking to the other day. He’s moving back in with his parents, with his wife and children, because he can’t afford to pay his mortgage. Business owners are telling me that if it keeps going, they’re going to have to close down because they just can’t afford all the pressures in this current climate.
So is the Government not paying attention to this community? Are they distracted? I don’t know what they’re doing because people in our community are struggling. But luckily, we have a strong leader like Peter Dutton who is listening. He is getting out. He is listening to people in this community, and he’s putting hardworking Australians, like my mum, like many others, front and centre, and making sure their issues are heard. So with that said, I’ll pass you over to Peter, but thank you very much for coming down Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
Darcy, thank you very much. Sarah, thank you both for being here.
Can I just start by saying thank you very much to John and Jan and Joel. This is a wonderful business. They employ about 40 local people, they pay taxes, they invest back into their community, and theirs is a story of millions of small businesses and small business families, who have put their own house up as security to the bank, to start from nothing to build up a successful business. They’re people who are doing it tough at the moment, in those businesses across the country. I think we should pause and just acknowledge for a moment that over the course of the last two years, manufacturing businesses in our country have gone into insolvency at a threefold rate, we’ve got a record number of small businesses closing, and we can look at the statistics, but when you look behind every one of those stories, there’s a family who are trying to do their best to raise their kids, to provide an opportunity for financial security for their family, and in many circumstances they’re working seven days a week. They’re doing the bookwork of a night time – ordering and paying accounts, etc. and at the moment under the Albanese Government, they’re going backwards.
The energy costs continue to spiral, we know that insurance costs are up, we know that every input cost for business at the moment is going through the roof, and in our country we know that inflation is high because of the decisions the Government’s made over the last two budgets. They’ve got a budget coming up in May, and the test really will be whether they can bring downward pressure on inflation and therefore interest rates. We know that compared to many other comparable western democracies and economies at the moment, Australia’s inflation is particularly high. As the Reserve Bank Governor points out, it’s home grown. That is, it’s the doing of the Government.
Now, in small businesses like this, they’ve got increasing energy costs. In some businesses we’ve spoken to, their energy costs are up by 300 per cent. When you look at efforts that people are making to put solar panels on the roof, to try and to defray some of the cost, that goes part of the way, but for a business, a manufacturing business that works of a the night time, well, of course those solar panels aren’t of any support to them at all.
We know that, at the moment, the Government is trying to please the union bosses. I think they’re forgetting about the workers, and they’re making it harder in the industrial relations space for businesses, because it’s now so complex. When people want to talk about whether someone’s a casual or they’re permanent, it’s pages and pages of documentation that they need to go through, and if they get it wrong, they cop huge fines, and it makes it just harder for those businesses to continue.
I want to make sure that we can have a country that provides support and encouragement to those businesses so that they can grow, not shrink, and under a Liberal Government, under a Coalition Government, we will make sure that we provide the support to small businesses so they can continue to grow and employ people and not face the sort of pressures and burdens that they’re facing at the moment. I think it’s a really important point to make.
Another issue that I wanted to cover off on, obviously in relation to Bonza Airlines. There are a lot of people – employees and customers, who are in a really difficult position today. I want to send our thoughts to all of those who are adversely affected. People who have worked hard in that business and are now without a job, or facing the prospect of losing their job, people who have lost money as suppliers, people who are uncertain about their own travel arrangements. I want to acknowledge the work of Qantas and Virgin, and the other airlines who are providing support to those passengers who are either stranded and need to go and see family members, need to travel for business or whatever it might be, and I’m grateful for the fact that those other airlines have stood up to provide that support.
We’ve seen some horrific scenes out of Western Australia, with the bashing of an elderly woman. It’s just completely unacceptable, the level of crime and the law and order concerns that people have across the country at the moment. We’ve had these social experiments where Labor Governments are appointing Magistrates and Judges who ultimately don’t have any penalty that they would impose against somebody who’s committed a serious crime. We’ve got a Federal Government now that has released 151 hardcore criminals, including seven murderers, 37 sexual offenders, and 72 people who have committed very serious crimes in the community. We know that the Government didn’t provide the evidence to the court that was required to keep that individual in place, and they used that finding from the High Court as an excuse to release 150 more people. Minister Giles promised the Australian people in the Australian Parliament, he promised them that these people had ankle bracelets, that there was surveillance in place and that the community would be kept safe. But look at what’s happened in WA and look at what is likely to happen if these people continue on the streets.
I don’t want to see any Australian harmed, I don’t want to see anybody fall victim to a serious criminal offence. But what the Government has done here is created a dangerous situation. I regret to say that it appears, on the advice that is available to me, that the allegation is that this individual has been to court on three separate bail applications. The Commonwealth can’t tell us whether they opposed the bail application in each of those instances or not. Minister Giles is nowhere to be seen, Clare O’Neil is in witness protection – she’s not coming out to face the media. These are serious problems, and the two Ministers, it’s clear to most Australians, in fact every Australian except for Anthony Albanese, that these Ministers can’t continue in their jobs. They’ve created a situation, they’ve made decisions which have obviously led to a situation where Australians are at risk, and I don’t think Australians will tolerate that.
So, I want to say in closing, to Darcy, who is an exceptional candidate for us; he served his country in uniform, he’s a small business person, he’s worked as a tradie, he understands what’s happening in the real world. He is out talking to businesses and to community groups on a daily basis. He will make an exceptional candidate and local member to fight on behalf of the people of Corangamite in the Federal Parliament. He is a hard worker and he knows what it is to keep his country safe, and we need exactly that skill set in the Parliament right now.
I’m very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Just on the immigration detainees. What would you like to see the Prime Minister do practically to fix this issue?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I want to see the Prime Minister sack the two Ministers responsible for this dreadful circumstance. That’s the first step the Prime Minister needs to do. The Prime Minister needs to be strong, not weak, in relation to his approach here. The Prime Minister wants to please everybody, and he tells one audience ‘A’, and he tells the next audience ‘B’. I think the problem for the Prime Minister is that he doesn’t have the strength of leadership, or character to stand up against these criminals.
We know that the Prime Minister should have instructed his close factional ally, Mr Giles, to present the evidence to the court that wouldn’t have led to this dreadful circumstance. We know that the Government hasn’t had the bottle to pass the legislation that’s required to keep Australians safe. You can’t be releasing these people into the community. They’re non-citizens to start with and thy’re committing crimes against Australian citizens. They shouldn’t be out on the streets, and we’ve got bail applications being made by some of these offenders – the Commonwealth’s not even opposing the bail application. So, the person is being released to commit the next crime. How can that happen? And how can the Prime Minister tolerate this happening on his watch?
QUESTION:
How shocked were you by the pictures that came out of the attack…?
PETER DUTTON:
I thought the pictures would be confronting for any decent Australian. To watch somebody be assaulted in that fashion is a terrible, terrible thing. To watch an elderly lady walk away with those bruises, to be subject to that pain, to that humiliation, to the way in which she and her husband were treated is appalling.
It’s even made worse by the fact that this individual, on what we know, shouldn’t have been out on the streets. The Prime Minister needs to stand up here and show the leadership that the country requires, because at the moment, the Prime Minister’s has got the Midas touch in reverse. Everything Anthony Albanese touches turns into disaster.
QUESTION:
And then if we look ahead to National Cabinet, what measures would you like to see adopted to tackle the rise in domestic violence?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, this is one of those circumstances in relation to domestic violence where we want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the Government. The Prime Minister obviously has had some serious allegations made against him, he’s been called a liar and his word questioned. I think that needs to be addressed. I think the Prime Minister needs to apologise if he has lied, and I think that issue needs to be cleared up so that it’s not a distraction for what is really required here, and that is national leadership to address a national scourge.
We can’t allow a situation where women feel unsafe in our community. As a policeman, a long time ago, but all of those images: kids screaming, bloody scenes – it stays with you. Those domestic incidents are not acceptable in any society and certainly not in ours. There’s clearly a need for more funding in the programmes that are working, a diversion of the money away from the programmes that aren’t working into the ones that are. The bail laws are woefully inadequate depending on what jurisdiction we’re in. The Prime Minister needs to show the national leadership here, to look at the innovation and the way in which we can provide support to families.
The level of violent content that young kids are reading about, or viewing online. As we know, our kids, our grandkids are watching a lot on the internet, on YouTube, on Instagram, on TikTok, and there’s a level of culpability here from the media companies as well, because they’re the conveyors of some of these images. The normalisation of conduct which is not acceptable in the real world, and yet some of these young boys, young men will act that out in the real life.
There’s so many elements to it, and I think the Prime Minister needs to deal with this very serious allegation that’s been made against him about whether he’s lied again. That’s something that he needs to address. I think dealing with that distraction is important so that he can get onto the main game of leading our country in a very important area that requires his immediate attention.
QUESTION:
Are you disappointed that that is where the conversation has been over the past 24 hours? More on that either misunderstanding or disagreement about the speech compared to what the rally was actually there to talk about?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I just think if the Prime Minister’s lied he should stick his hand up, apologise for it, say that there was a mistake that he’s made and explain it, truthfully.
I think part of the Prime Minister’s problem is that he always wants to tell a half truth, or not to give the full details, and we’ve seen that in relation to this terrible bashing of this elderly lady in Western Australia, where the Government won’t answer questions in Senate Estimates, they won’t provide the detail, everything is shrouded in secrecy. We want transparency and honesty and then let the public make up their own mind. The Prime Minister’s created a distraction here by saying, ‘look, there’s nothing to see. I’m not going to comment on it’. His office is not providing any comment to the media. If there’s nothing to hide and he’s done nothing wrong, then just be open and honest. I think people would expect that of their Prime Minister.
QUESTION:
Why did you decide to visit the Surf Coast?
PETER DUTTON:
Well firstly, because I was invited by these two great people that I’m flanked by here. So Sarah Henderson obviously knows the area well and does a fantastic job in her role as a Senator, but previously as a Member and obviously in her Shadow portfolio as well. But we’ve got a great candidate, and I think Corangamite deserves better representation again. Somebody who is passionate about their community and somebody who understands what families are going through.
I just don’t think the Prime Minister understands the stress that families and small businesses are under at the moment. It’s the industrial relations changes, it’s the cost of regulatory compliance, it’s the land tax, it’s the work cover, and it’s just layer upon layer upon layer. It’s why we’ve got so many small businesses who are failing at the moment, and to come out and to talk to families and to talk to partners and others who are running businesses, it’s the lifeblood of our Australian economy. Small business employs millions of people, and without it, our economy would collapse.
We should always take the opportunity to celebrate the success stories and people who have put everything on the line, and that’s exactly what’s happened in this business, to the great credit of John and Jan, and now the next generation, and I’m sure their dream is to make sure that it’s there for the next generation beyond, and the one beyond that and the one beyond that. It’s an amazing legacy and we should celebrate it. That’s why we’re here today.
QUESTION:
Are the changing demographics in Corangamite and a strong Green vote, which sits at 15 per cent based off the last election, concern the Liberal Party at all?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, obviously the Green vote should concern anyone. I know it’s concerning the Jewish community at the moment because the Greens are an anti-Semitic party. When you look at their policies in relation to drug liberalisation, when you look at their policies in relation to small business – the Greens’ policy would destroy a small business like this. They’re into wealth redistribution, right? They’re not interested in growing the economy, not interested in growing the pie, they just want to hold themselves out as this idealistic Party when they’re not. I think as people start to read more about the Greens political Party and what it is that they stand for, it’s not the environment – that’s the least of the concern that the Greens have. They’re more interested in social issues, and they’re not a Party that is conducting themselves in our country’s best interests. I think people will start to drift away from the Greens.
There’ll be a redistribution of course here in Victoria as well, so that may well change the boundaries, and that’s another dynamic. We’ll find out about that in the coming weeks, I think.
QUESTION:
On the other side of the ballot, the controversy surrounding career politician Darren Cheeseman, will that help the Liberal Party’s case here in Corangamite?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think what it says is that you need strong leadership, and I don’t think the Premier is providing that leadership at the moment. If there is an argument for a referral to the police, the referral should be made. If there are numerous allegations that have been made over a long period of time, then I think Premier Andrews and Premier Allen need to explain why action hasn’t been taken before now? And there needs to be consistency from the Premier and a strength of leadership that I just don’t think is evident at the moment.
QUESTION:
So do you think removing him from the Party was the right decision?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it was the right decision, but it was delayed and only came as a result of pressure, instead of the decision that should have been made in the first instance.
QUESTION:
A few weeks ago, we had a giant protest here against seismic blasting in the Otway Basin. Dan Tehan spoke about it, saying that he thought the project was too big in scope. Just wondering if you had a view on it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, obviously, we have environmental standards which are very important. The expectation, the legal requirement, is that they be abided by. We need gas, obviously, that’s the reality of our economy as we transition into a new energy system, we need to make sure that we’ve got gas, and if you look to a business like this, they require electricity and gas to manufacture and to produce. That’s just a reality.
Now, we’ve spoken about the Government’s renewables only policy. As we know, in a business like this, the solar panels are great during the day time, but they don’t work of a night time. You need to firm up that power.
By 2034, we know that 90 per cent of the firming power in our system – that is the 24/7 power – is going out of the system. So, we’re going to have a big gap, which is why the energy regulator’s are saying that we’re likely to see blackouts and brownouts and a continuation of price escalation – that is higher electricity bills and higher gas bills under this Government’s policy. That’s why we think there should be a mature conversation about having nuclear in the system, which is zero emissions, it’s latest technology, it’s adopted by 19 of the 20 G20 countries. Australia is the only one of the 20 biggest economies in the world not to have nuclear or not to have signed up to having nuclear in their system to firm up renewables.
I’m a very strong supporter of renewables, but they can’t work 24/7. I want to believe that the battery can last longer than two hours, but the current technology just means that it can’t, or this factory here would run on batteries. So, we need to have a proper, mature conversation. I believe that we can have greener energy, I think we can have more secure and reliable energy and we can have cheaper electricity if we have nuclear in the mix.
The other point, of course, is that the Government can’t get its way to its international commitments of net-zero by 2050 without having the latest generation, zero emissions nuclear power in the mix. That’s just a hard, scientific fact. So, we’ll continue this debate.
The Government can pretend that the lights will stay on, but under Labor your power bills are going to continue to go up, and there is a greater likelihood that we’ll see blackouts and brownouts. Think about a shop like this, or a factory like this, you can’t have a situation where the power’s coming on and off. Whilst you’re baking sourdough, you can’t have a situation where the ovens go off for 20 minutes, and then come back on. Businesses just can’t work like that. That’s why we’re seeing businesses leave Australia at the moment and go offshore. Then we just re-import the product back into Australia.
QUESTION:
John Pesutto has called for Darren Cheeseman’s resignation from Parliament altogether. Do you agree?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes.
Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[ends]