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

16 February 2024

Subjects: Prime Minister’s engagement; Indonesian Delegation; Stage 3 tax cuts; Skills and training data; Negative gearing and Labor’s broken promises.

E&OE…………………………

SARAH CUMMING:
You’re listening to mornings on ABC Gold Coast with Sarah Cumming. It is 10 minutes past nine on your rainy Friday morning. A lot on the table to talk about this week in federal parliament. Changes to industrial relations reform. Have you heard about the right to disconnect? Disallowing your boss to call you when you’re at home. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese well, getting engaged. That was the big news and facing fresh pressure to rein in tax breaks for property investors talking about negative gearing. Federal Member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell has just returned from Indonesia amongst it all where votes being counted to decide the country’s new President. Good morning, Angie.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Good morning. Sarah. Thoughts are local here with 1000 homes that don’t have electricity this morning. Yet again being belted about by the weather. So, my thoughts are with those Gold Coasters.

SARAH CUMMING:
Yes, we got absolutely drenched when we woke up this morning and it’s still coming down now. It’s something we’re very much used to at the moment. Let’s start with some happy news. The Prime Minister getting engaged. Was that a surprise to everyone in Parliament?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Oh well, congratulations to the Prime Minister on his engagement. It comes at a time when he’s certainly battling attacks from all sides of the House in terms of Labor’s handling of the economy which, at the moment, is atrocious. Australia’s in a cost-of-living crisis but we do send our best wishes for his impending nuptials.

SARAH CUMMING:
He might learn all about the cost of living if he goes to plan and pay for a wedding. Because they are very expensive.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I have to say with Labor spending the amount of money that they’ve put out into the economy, which is $209 billion in economic spending, $450 million in the referendum that failed. And now, another $40 million on ads for their tax cuts, which is over a two-year period, but it’s going to cost $55,000 a day in advertising on top of the tax cuts. So, I think that’s reckless, don’t you?

SARAH CUMMING:
Oh Angie, let’s talk about you’ve been in Indonesia this week. Why has this been such an important election in Indonesia? What were you doing over there?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, it’s about building better relationships with our very important neighbour and friend, Indonesia. And I’m the Co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary friendship group of Indonesia, among many others. And so, I was invited on a cross-party delegation by the Indonesian House of Representatives to observe their presidential elections. One out of 15 countries, so it was very quick. I was away for two nights. But it was to observe the largest election in the world where 205 million eligible Indonesians go and vote in a six-hour period at 800,000 polling booths, or more, across 6000 islands. So, it’s a massive undertaking for the third largest democracy in the world. And they did it very, very well. And I see this morning that Prabowo has since claimed victory, along with his deputy, so congratulations to the Indonesians on a successful election.

SARAH CUMMING:
And a change of leadership in Indonesia. What does it mean for Australia’s relationship with Indonesia?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, we will work with whoever the President is but that won’t be formal until October. But of course, we welcomed Jokowi, as he’s fondly known- Joko Widodo to our parliament last year, he addressed our parliament and outlined the importance of our ongoing relationship with Indonesia across so many different areas. But he certainly leaves a legacy, particularly in infrastructure, and the economy in Indonesia, which is of course going well.

SARAH CUMMING:
We are chatting to Member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell on ABC Gold Coast mornings, Sarah Cumming with you. Back home there’s been a lot of discussion about changes to tax cuts, as we know, also negative gearing, a lot of discussion around housing and sort of deals going on to maybe make changes to negative gearing. Where does the Coalition stand in terms of potential changes to negative gearing?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, look, we need to understand, and Australians need to understand that negative gearing provides renters with housing stock and in a housing crisis that we’re facing at the moment, under Labor, these sorts of measures to be put in place at this time would make it harder for those looking for rental properties. And Labor just simply refuses to rule it out. So again, they are building a track record of lies. They lied about stage two tax cuts. They lied about electricity prices going down. They lied about ‘life will be cheaper under Albanese’. I think we all remember that catch cry. And that hasn’t been what has materialised for Australians. This is precisely the wrong time to be making changes to negative gearing and Labor refuses to rule it out. And so, can they be trusted? That’s the big question.

SARAH CUMMING:
So, will the Coalition leave the negative gearing system the way it is?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, if Labor moves to make changes, then we will make our position very clear at that time, Sarah.

SARAH CUMMING:
So, can’t tell us what your position is on negative gearing?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, that would be something for the Party Room to discuss any legislation that would come forward at that time. And so, at this point in time, the government hasn’t put that on the table. If they do, we’ll then make it very clear at that, at that point in time.

SARAH CUMMING:
Our breakfast presenter, Bern Young was talking about a really interesting topic this morning. The Gold Coast is in election mode for local elections next month, but there’s a sort of a group of people who are already thinking about, well trying to shake up Gold Coast politics when the next federal election is called with these 200 sort of kitchen table discussions they’re being called that have already taken place in the electorate of McPherson. Did you know this was happening and this sort of groundswell of support? I guess moving away from the major parties we obviously saw in the last federal election the emergence of these so-called teal members. What are your thoughts on what’s happening on the local level here on the Gold Coast? And is that what you’re seeing? Is there a growing movement away from the major parties do you think?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Look, I don’t think there is a growing movement away from the major parties or away from the Liberal National Party on the Gold Coast. Our support is very, very strong and Gold Coasters are very upset with what the Labor Government is doing across many areas, particularly the economy. What I would say to listeners about teals or impending teals would be that if you vote for a teal you are voting for Labor. The teals in the House of Representatives in Canberra have proven who they vote with and overwhelmingly, the vast majority of them vote with Labor, so if you vote for a teal, you’re going to get Labor.

SARAH CUMMING:
You’ve raised some concerns Angie just on another topic about apprentices and trainees and a fall in the number of apprentices and trainees. We know that some businesses have been concerned by the discussion in the last week about the changes to workplace law, which means they won’t be able to contact their workers. This right to disconnect. They won’t be able to call workers outside of working hours. It is quite difficult for employers out there to get staff first and foremost. We know there’s a skills shortage, a Labor shortage of staff shortages, right across all industries. What are your concerns in terms of apprentices and trainees?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, my concern is that what we’re seeing is a wholesale collapse of skills and training apprentices across Australia with the latest figures that came out and I put out a press release on this this week (SIC). There are 50,000 less now in the pipeline than when the Coalition left office, across the country. So that’s a loss in of one in 10 places. And on the Gold Coast, it’s a critical pipeline to our local economy and construction, which historically, as you’ll be aware, at its peak was 18 to 20% of employment across the Gold Coast. And in the three electorates across the Gold Coast, that is McPherson, Moncrieff and Fadden, that translates to 1,575 places that have been lost across the Gold Coast. In Moncrieff, the average is a bit higher at 14.66% or 670 places. With job figures at 581,000 Aussies without a job in Labor’s cost-of-living crisis. Those jobs lost – 5,200 just in the last month. It’s all adding up to the Labor train wreck that I actually, at the last election, predicted, it would be a train wreck under Labor, and that’s what’s happening.

SARAH CUMMING:
We did see as you mentioned, unemployment figures increase this week the highest I believe it was in two years. Federal Minister for Skills and Training, Brendan O’Connor has messaged in and provided us with some figures, which says that apprenticeship commencement rates steadily declined under the Coalition from 220,000. That was in 2014 to less than 135,000 in 2020. The number of Australian apprentices who were completing their training also plummeted from 169,000 down to 77,000. So, Federal Minister claiming that this was indeed a Coalition caused problem.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Sarah, I think Australians are getting sick and tired of this Labor Government blaming the Coalition for their failures. The figures speak for themselves, the numbers across Queensland are down 10% for commencement since Labor came to power. The proof is in the pudding, they’re the numbers and it’s time the Labor government started doing their job in skills and training.

SARAH CUMMING:
Okay. Jenny on the text line and she a bit of a fan. She says good morning lovely Sarah. Day off work today and enjoying listening to your show while cleaning the fridge, kitchen drawers and pantry. Sorry to hear that Jenny, but she also says I love Angie Bell. Still think Angie would make a great PM. Any leadership ambitions, Angie.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Oh look, thank you for the support and you know, all those sorts of positive vibes sending my way. I appreciate that very much. But of course, my ambition, I think is a very famous line that perhaps Scott Morrison said which was that ‘my ambition is for my leader’. My ambition really is for my leader, and I support Peter Dutton in his quest to become the Prime Minister. I think he would make an excellent, safe pair of hands for our nation. He’s across so many portfolio areas. He’s a terrific boss. And for those people who haven’t met him, he’s got a fantastic wit and is very warm. Let’s hope that Australians see more of that in the lead up to the next federal election.

SARAH CUMMING:
A fantastic wit. I have to ask you about that. That isn’t I guess how he comes across to be honest.

ANGIE BELL MP:
He’s very, very witty, in terms of his opening lines and his sarcastic sense of humour.

SARAH CUMMING:
That’s a typically Australian sense of humour, isn’t it? The sarcasm, Angie Bell. Thank you so much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Always a pleasure.

[ends]