TRANSCRIPT – ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING

Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING

17 August 2023

Subjects: ALP Conference, AUKUS, Housing, Cost of living, the Matildas

E&OE…………………………

GREG JENNETT:
Well on that note, let’s bring in our political panel, both located in Queensland today. Joining us, the normally Canberra based Labor MP Alicia Payne is in Brisbane for you guessed it, the ALP Conference and LNP frontbencher Angie Bell joins us from the Gold Coast.

Welcome to both. Angie, I’d better clear up straight off the top with you reports that reach me. Afternoon Briefing is one of the less risky undertakings in your diary today. You might have been jumping out of planes I hear had it not been for the weather. What was all that about?

ANGIE BELL MP:
That’s exactly right Greg. We had the Pacific Air Show which is starting here tomorrow. It was organised that I was to parachute onto the beach at Surfers Paradise, and unfortunately this morning I was kitted up, ready to go and it was way too windy. So, safety always comes first but I’ve been told that Gold Coast Skydiving will indeed take me up at some other point in time. So, all the nerves are back on the table for a while!

GREG JENNETT:
Okay, plenty of opportunity for you to crash and burn here on the program with us in the next 10 minutes or so.

Alicia, the Labor Conference. It is, I think sedate so far, but how are internal opponents calling themselves “Labor Against War” going to end up or let up on their push against AUKUS? Do you think they’ll meekly accept that tomorrow or continue to kind of eat away at confidence in this program?

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Well look, Greg it is so exciting to be here at ALP National Conference, the first in-person conference we’ve had in quite a while due to COVID. This is such a great day for our movement with delegates from our rank and file, from unions, from our caucus, from all around the country coming together to discuss issues. It’s the culmination of months and months of work and it’s just wonderful to have everyone from our movement here together.

In terms of AUKUS, that’s a discussion we’ll have tomorrow and it’s important that people in our party have the opportunity to air different views. I’m really proud that this is an important part of our party’s mechanisms that we have conference, and we have discussions with our grassroots movement, with many different views. But as you would well know, the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, are completely committed to AUKUS and we will remain so.

GREG JENNETT:
Yeah, they do sound rock solid on that.

So, Angie Bell, there’s no danger in the AUKUS partners, the UK and the US being alarmed by this, is there? Because of the fact the government and the cabinet are so supportive of all of AUKUS.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well of course, national security should be bipartisan at all costs. Clearly, the Labor Conference, they have around 40 branches who are against it. They want to talk about nuclear in terms of that technology, and so, as Alicia said it’s their right to speak about that. However, there is already a bipartisan understanding of the AUKUS agreement, which of course was authored by the Coalition.

We hope that Anthony Albanese can stand up to those factional bosses and those branches who are against the AUKUS agreement. Obviously, he doesn’t want to go down the rabbit hole of talking about nuclear technology. He says it’s too expensive and so he doesn’t want to have the conversation around the fact that he’s going to spend $100 billion on poles and wires across pristine farmland across the nation to reach his unrealistic renewables target.

GREG JENNETT:
All right. But why don’t we move on to housing, which I know would be a vital concern in each of your electorates.

Alicia to you, a substantial amount of money committed at National Cabinet yesterday and then the Prime Minister trying to give us a point about the Help to Buy Scheme today. It’ll start to kick in from next year. But yet, none of these make any appreciable difference, do they? To the pressures that are in the system now and will remain there for the next number of years?

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Well, absolutely they do Greg and clearly housing is a huge part of our government’s focus and has been, you know, was a key part of the platform we took to the last election. We’ve only built on that with the announcement yesterday, and the commitment today to implement the Help to Buy Scheme which we of course took to the election as soon as possible and with the states coming on board to assist in the implementation of that. Yesterday we announced an additional commitment of homes that will be built – 1.2 million homes around the country. This is central to our focus at the moment because we understand what Australians are going through with the difficulties to access housing.

GREG JENNETT:
Certainly, a high degree of collaboration, buy in from the states and territories.

Angie, the Libs are always against red tape. That’s very much what was in the agreement yesterday, wasn’t there? For the first time a national approach to planning approvals. Even the laying of pipes in greenfields areas, that’s all to be applauded. Would you applaud it?

ANGIE BELL MP:
What we want to see is more social and affordable housing across the nation. There is not enough, it is all about supply. What we don’t want to see is another broken promise from the Albanese Government. It’s easy to pluck 1.25 million houses out of the air. We haven’t seen any work commenced on any of their promises until now. So, it remains to be seen, how the Labor Government is going to deliver this magical number that might as well be 2 million. It is astounding. So, I expect we’ll see another broken promise.

GREG JENNETT:
Well, I think that number is arrived at…interrupted

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, Alicia. I was just going to ask you…interrupted

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Sorry, if I could just…interrupted

GREG JENNETT:
Is the number arrived at, because it’s kind of in line with annual construction numbers over five years anyway?

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Well, the infrastructure…interrupted

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well construction’s down Greg…interrupted

GREG JENNETT:
Sorry Angie. I’ll go to Alicia first. Yeah, away you go Alicia.

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
So, the announcement yesterday included an additional commitment of 200,000 homes. You know, it’s interesting of Angie to say that when right now the Coalition are blocking our Housing Australia Future Fund, which would build 30,000 homes in its first five years and continue annual investment into housing into perpetuity.

We are losing $1.3 million that could go into that housing every day that we delay this bill. So, we are trying to do that right now and Angie’s party, along with the Greens, are standing in the way.

GREG JENNETT:
All right, a response from you, Angie. There’s a fair bit of money down now isn’t there about $5 billion committed by the government to housing in the last six or seven weeks alone. When does the last obstacle, the HAFF, get removed from this?

ANGIE BELL MP:
What I would say is that the HAFF would cost Australians $400 million in interest per year before one house is even built. That is why the Coalition does not agree with the HAFF. So, to be very clear, it is a government bond situation, it is a fund and so therefore it is all borrowed money. It is bad economics, especially as Australians around the country are struggling to make ends meet at the moment. It’s bad policy and the Coalition will not support it.

GREG JENNETT:
Okay. Why don’t we move on to something the Prime Minister addressed fairly squarely in his opening speech to National Conference.

Alicia, this is the tension between The Voice as a priority for the government and cost of living. The Prime Minister was at pains today to say that the number one priority of his government is addressing cost of living in myriad ways, we don’t need to run our finger down the list.

Do you acknowledge that that in public perception needs to be addressed because somehow people are drifting to the view that The Voice might be the only thing the government is preoccupied with at the moment?

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Well Greg, I don’t see a tension there at all. Governments can walk and chew gum at the same time and we are absolutely committed to cost of living challenges that Australians are facing right at the moment and as you say, I could list all the things we are doing: cheaper medicines, increasing bulk billing, cheaper childcare, investing in housing. We are fully focused on the cost of living that Australians are facing and in fact the theme of our conference is “Working for Australians”. That is exactly what we are looking at each and every day. We are all working towards addressing those pressures.

But also, The Voice in itself is about getting better outcomes for First Nations people in this country. It’s about addressing some of the biggest inequalities between First Nations Australians and other Australians, that policies over successive governments have failed to fully address. The Voice is about listening and getting better policies, talking to First Nations Australians about the policies that impact them so that we can get better outcomes and that we can address the pressures that they are facing.

GREG JENNETT:
Alright, well this construction, Angie Bell between Voice versus cost of living. It could be artificial in many senses, couldn’t it? Because, as you know, having been around governments a while, they are capable of doing more than one thing at once.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Look, I think the Prime Minister and the Labor Party need to prove their case that they have a plan for Australians to bring down the cost of living and that means a plan to bring down inflation. Australians are hurting at the moment. They are focused on paying their electricity bills, which are up by some 30%. They are focused on paying their mortgages which have doubled. We’ve seen 11 interest rate increases under this government since they’ve come to power. So, Australians are really hurting at the moment, and they want to see a Prime Minister and a government who is 100% focused on their struggles and that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Now in terms of The Voice, Australians still want their questions to be answered. The Voice is divisive, it’s permanent once it’s in the Constitution. Australians are starting to wake up to the fact that this is Anthony Albanese’s Voice, Truth and Treaty. He will not answer the questions that we have been asking and Australians are starting to understand that.

GREG JENNETT:
There’s no backtracking from here though, is there Alicia? I listened to the Prime Minister this morning and amid constant requests to defer, delay, or even cancel the referendum, that is obviously not in contemplation.

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
No, absolutely not. You know, this is a generous invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart from First Nations Australians. The idea has come from the biggest consultation with First Nations people over two years that culminated in that ask, and this year we have the opportunity as a nation to say yes and walk together in reconciliation.

I would say of course to Angie and the Opposition, in Question Time over the last sitting fortnight. You know, they were asking all the time about The Voice and raising sort of ridiculous questions about The Voice, rather than asking about cost of living. So, they are the ones that want to focus on that at the cost of talking about cost of living. We have more than a plan. As I said, we are already implementing policies that are making a difference for Australians.

GREG JENNETT:
Alright. Angie, I can see you shaking your head. I’ll give you a word on that. Then I want to ask you about something about the Matildas.

ANGIE BELL MP:
It’s just the cancel culture of the Labor Party. We have been asking, rightly asking, questions that Australians have around The Voice, and we have not seen answers from the Prime Minister or from the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Now we want to see constitutional recognition on Indigenous Australians, but Anthony Albanese’s Voice, Truth and Treaty is divisive, and it’s permanent. Australians are waking up to that.

GREG JENNETT:
Yep, we’ve certainly asked plenty of your colleagues about what the timeline would be under a Dutton Government for holding that referendum. I do want to move on though because we could spend quite a while on that.

Look, with a third/fourth playoff still to go for the Matildas I suppose that drives us towards the legacy question. What do we use as a springboard from all of this success? Alicia to you first of all. Is it facilities? Is it mass participation for women’s sport? What comes of this on field success?

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Well, I think it’s not an overstatement to say that what having the Women’s World Cup here and what the Matildas have achieved, is nothing short of changing the way that we think about women’s sport in this country, and I hope to see that continue. I just want to take the opportunity to say thank you to the Matildas. You did us so proud and engaged a nation. It was really sad to see the result last night, but you gave it your all and really did us so proud. So, thank you for that.

GREG JENNETT:
Yeah, that disappointment was written on the faces really heavily last night.

Angie Bell, what kicks on from all of this do you think? What’s the priority?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I’ll join with Alicia in saying congratulations to the Matildas and particularly local homegrown here, Hayley Raso, who is in the team, from Emmanuel College. Congratulations to Hayley as well for fulfilling her dreams.

What we’ve seen in response to this from the Prime Minister, is the promise of a Public Holiday should they have won. Now he’s crab walked away from that.

In opposition to that, or in contrast to that, should I say, is the Opposition Leader standing up and pledging $250 million to girls change rooms around the country, which will make a real difference to grassroots girls’ sports. I think that’s a fantastic legacy for young Australians, and I support that. He’s also invited the states to put in their $250 million and the clubs themselves to put in 20 per cent. That would make a big difference. A lasting legacy, not some knee jerk reaction, a promise that’s been crab walked away by a Prime Minister that breaks his promises.

GREG JENNETT:
All right. Well, as it happens, it’s academic anyway, wasn’t it because they didn’t win the World Cup.

But we’re going to thank both of you and farewell you. Particular shout out to you Alicia Payne for stepping in extremely short notice, I think helping out of friend. So, we appreciate that. And Angie Bell, thanks as always.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Thanks Greg.

ALICIA PAYNE MP:
Thanks Greg.

[ends]