TRANSCRIPT – ABC RADIO GOLD COAST

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

TRANSCRIPT
ABC RADIO GOLD COAST – MORNINGS WITH SARAH CUMMING

7 February 2024

Subjects: Parliament resumes for 2024; Stage three tax cuts; Industrial relations reform; Priorities for the Gold Coast region

E&OE…………………………

SARAH CUMMING:
Gold Coast’s federal politicians have been enjoying some cooler weather back in Canberra with Federal Parliament returning this week, the first sitting week of the year. Member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell is there and joins us on the line this morning. Hello Angie.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Good morning, Sarah and good morning, Gold Coast. It’s a rainy morning at home.

SARAH CUMMING:
Yes, it certainly is. But how are you enjoying the cooler weather down in Canberra?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, it’s a balmy 24 degrees inside Parliament House and we don’t get out much I have to say.

SARAH CUMMING:
You don’t really see sunlight do you and you’re down there?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, we see the sunlight and certainly not the sun on our skin. Put it that way.

SARAH CUMMING:
Inside, was it a frosty first day back in Parliament or are all the politicians sort of quite nice and cordial to each other on the first day back?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I wouldn’t say cordiality is at the top of the list. The overwhelming sentiment here is that there’s lots of lies being thrown around the place by the Prime Minister and that we have a liar in the lodge.

SARAH CUMMING:
Oh, straight back into it. Now let’s go there. The Federal Government’s amended tax cuts, they will pass Parliament though with the support of the Coalition. Why are you supporting the Prime Minister’s backflip?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I think firstly, we have to remember that the Prime Minister has looked Australians in the eye and he has repeatedly lied to them. He promised that they could trust him, and that he would keep his promise when he said, “My word is my bond”. And he’s gone back on that promise. And it’s a blatant broken promise. And it’s about his own political future. It’s not about the long-term benefits of Australians.

But as you asked in that question, the Coalition will not stand in the way because we know that so many Australians are really hurting out there at the moment, especially on the Gold Coast. To change the tax from 19 cents to 16 cents is going to make a small difference to them, and we won’t stand in the way of that.

But certainly, the Prime Minister has lied. He’s broken his promises. And it means that these stage three tax reforms, as they’ve been legislated, remember this is stage three of three stages is now impossible, because it’s a huge cost to the budget.

SARAH CUMMING:
But, it is a change that you obviously somewhat can understand because you are supporting it.

ANGIE BELL MP:
What we support is lower and simpler and fairer taxes and that’s what the Coalition will take to the next election. We will not stand in the way of that support for families that are really hurting. We’ve seen extra pressure on charities across the Gold Coast. Food security is a problem. We know that the cost of living is biting Australians, and the Albanese Government has caused that through keeping inflation high for longer.

SARAH CUMMING:
Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton has said that his party will take a comprehensive policy to further tax cuts to the next federal election. You’ve said there about having lower, simpler taxes. Can you give us any hints on how you would achieve that? What the policy will be?

ANGIE BELL MP:
We’ll make sure that taxes are lower, they’re simpler and they’re fairer. We will fight bracket creep, and we’re locking aspiration in our tax system because this is an absolute attack on the aspirations and rewarding hard work for effort, which of course are the values of so many on the Gold Coast and in the Liberal National Party. So, what we want to do is unite Australians rather than pit people against each other as the PM has repeatedly done since he’s come to office, including during the referendum.

SARAH CUMMING:
We are chatting to Member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell here on ABC Gold Coast Morning, Sarah Cumming with you. What are the main issues that you’ll be bringing to Canberra on behalf of Gold Coasters in your electorate this year? What are the main concerns do you think for your electorate this year?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, look I meet with many constituents across the electorate in my office, but I also have community groups and the youth cabinet on the Gold Coast. And there are still many in the community that are hurting right now and recovering from storms over Christmas. So, I’ve been working with local charities to make sure that food security is not so much of a concern for those families because they can get some free food.

At a number of charities across the electorate. I’ve been giving out food parcels to the worst affected by those storms. In Nerang, I was there on New Year’s Day at the Bicentennial Centre. And my office has also successfully lobbied for Southport, Merrimac Ashmore and Worongary to be on that list for disaster recovery payments. So, let’s take care of our people individually at a community level first and make sure that they are okay.

Secondly, I’m looking forward to having Sussan Ley come up later this month to meet with the Chambers of Commerce about changes to the IR laws, and their flow on effects to small business and also to the construction industry. It’s really important that we outline how the changes will adversely impact businesses. And I know that’s something else that you wanted to talk about.

SARAH CUMMING:
Yes, yes, quite interested because we were talking earlier on the program about the possible changes to some of the industrial relations laws, including this one, a right to disconnect, so aimed at protecting workers who feel like work is creeping more and more into their home life you know, should they be forced to answer that call from the boss at 10 o’clock at night or respond to that email? Do you think it would put unnecessary pressure on businesses though, on employers how would they adapt to that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
There is a bigger suite of changes at large here that we really need to speak closely with small businesses about in terms of contacting employees, that’s one of them, but certainly small business not being able to employ casual employees moving forward.

So, as we know last year, there are a few measures that the government took out of the legislation passed through and these are the measures that are left that they’re now working with the crossbench to try and get through. Businesses (SIC) on the Gold Coast, we’ve got 70,000 of them and I’m not sure that they see this coming, and so that’s why we’re speaking with the Chambers of Commerce later this month, with the Deputy Leader Sussan Ley, who’s coming up into the electorate again.

SARAH CUMMING:
How important is having that ability to hire casual employees and indeed fire casual employees to suit the needs of your business, as you mentioned, the Gold Coast, really that is the cornerstone of our city, 70,000 small businesses, as you mentioned. How important is it for businesses to be able to have casuals?

ANGIE BELL MP:
It is absolutely critical to run a small business, anybody that’s had a small business, and I have myself, understands that you have peak times and you have slow times, particularly in tourism. And tourism operators and hospitality operators across the city need to be able to have that flexibility in order to run their business at a profit because that’s their livelihood. And so, this risks many Gold Coast livelihoods when it comes to small business operators and so it’s critical.

SARAH CUMMING:
Angie, thank you so much for joining us after day one back in Canberra, straight to work already, some years and frosty exchanges happening in the first sitting week of Parliament. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Sarah, can I just flag before I go that we have the Gold Coast Youth Impact Summit coming up again, just finalising the date in May, but that’ll be at Sea World Resort once again. And can I thank the Sea World Foundation for supporting that event for so many young Gold Coasters to deliver more opportunities for them. So, we’ll be talking more about that as we move towards May.

SARAH CUMMING:
We look forward to hearing more about that summit coming up in May and you thank you for your time this morning.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Thanks, Sarah.

[ends]