Transcript – 4BC Breakfast with Peter Fegan

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

TRANSCRIPT

4BC Breakfast with Peter Fegan

18 February 2025

Subjects: RBA decision, Labor’s cost of living crisis, Census, Labor’s cheaper child care con 

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

PETER FEGAN:

Well, it’s RBA day. Will we know by the, well we all should know by this afternoon whether or not the cash rate will come down, of course we will because they’ll call it around 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time or Queensland time this afternoon. Look, we have a long way to go in solving the cost of living crisis though, let’s be honest. And the 2026 census will have a change to its questioning around gender. And would you pay $25,000 to have dinner with Peter Dutton? There are a few topics I want to discuss this morning and I’ll do it with Angie Bell, she’s the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education. Shadow Minister joins me on the line, great to have your company this morning.

ANGIE BELL:

Thanks for having me, Peter.

PETER FEGAN:

I want to start with the RBA’s decision today. Now, we’ll all have our fingers crossed, but what about those people, Shadow Minister, who don’t have a mortgage? I mean, the rent, is it meant to come down? Well, some would say it should, but I don’t think it will. Grocery prices won’t come down. Fuel prices won’t come down, in fact, they’ve gone up today. So is it just providing a bit of false hope? And do you think the government will try and reward itself off the back of it?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I hope for families’ sake around the country, and for business’ sake, Peter, that interest rates do come down because as you know, a lot of small businesses are attached to home mortgages. And families really need relief, because as you’ve just rightly outlined we’re in a cost of living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis. We’ve seen 27,000 of them go broke, actually, under the Albanese government. But you’re right, supermarket prices won’t come down, electricity prices certainly won’t come down. Everything – insurance is up by 19%. Look, child care prices won’t come down either.

PETER FEGAN:

No. And before we get on the childcare prices, I just want to cover off on this madness and get your thoughts on it, Angie. That’s, this is the move from the ABS, right, to change the Census. The 2026 Nationwide Survey will now reintroduce non-gendered terms to describe household and family relationships. However, it will not include de facto relationships statuses as a response to a question about marital status. I mean, this is madness. It’s going to ask you whether or not you were born as a man or a woman. And I mean, it is madness. It should be male, female, surely?

ANGIE BELL:

Well firstly, I think these sorts of questions are private and really no one else’s business. But it comes back to Labor’s handling of the Census and it’s just been another debacle, hasn’t it. I don’t understand why de facto relationships aren’t included. But look, right now what I’m focused on, what the Coalition’s focused on of course, is listening to Australians, dealing with this cost of living crisis, because families and businesses are under so much pressure and Labor is just simply out of touch. We can’t afford another three years of them.

PETER FEGAN:

And let’s ask about that. So since Labor came to power, look, the cost of child care has soared by 22.3%. You know, if you’re elected, what are you going to do to make it more affordable? Because under the Coalition government, child care costs were also quite expensive.

ANGIE BELL:

Well, child care costs have increased by 22.3% since Labor came to power, and since they introduced their so-called cheaper child care measures, out of pocket costs for families are up by 12.7%. These are definitely policy failures, Peter. What we want to see, what I want to see after travelling around the regions over the last three years is choice and flexibility and of course, affordability for families. Regional families can’t be left behind, Peter, and they are being left behind.

PETER FEGAN:

But what are we doing to fix it, Angie? We know what they’ve done wrong, what’s the solution?

ANGIE BELL:

We’ll have more to say as we head towards the election. But what I wouldn’t do is make empty promises for cheaper child care and break that promise, which is what we’ve seen. We’ve seen a broken promise to educators – a pay rise promised to 200,000 of them. And 85% of them missed out because the application process is too hard. We certainly wouldn’t introduce $8 billion worth of policy, and not supply any new places. And further to that, just one more thing, we would not redirect the CCCF, which is the Community Child Care Fund that was supposed to plug gaps in the regions, to the Prime Minister’s own seat of Grayndler and Labor metropolitan seats. That is what we wouldn’t do.

PETER FEGAN:

I think what we’ve got to do is stamp out the case studies and I’ve got one for you, and that is my best mate. He owns a business, right? He does very well. He’s got two kids in child care. He pays some $1300 or $1400 a week, where at the child care centre he goes to, you’ve got people there that don’t work at all, drop their kids off and they get it for free. I mean, it’s not fair.

ANGIE BELL:

This is the…well, the new measure that the Albanese Labor Government has brought in is the three day guarantee, which will be another broken promise because they cannot guarantee all Australian families are placed in child care. But further to what you said around the activity test, right, which is an important measure that makes sure that $15 billion worth of child care subsidy goes to working families to start.

PETER FEGAN:

Yes. Why do we keep punishing people that do well? I don’t understand it, Angie. I don’t understand why we keep punishing people that do well. Labor is meant to be the party representing the worker. I just don’t understand it, to be brutally honest. It seems…

ANGIE BELL:

What’s happening with this latest round is the priority of access for families is being removed. So this is Labor being divisive again. It’s going to pit metropolitan families against those in the regions for a child care place, because it’s going to be competitive to get a place. Because those families who are working will not have priority of access over those families who are not working.

PETER FEGAN:

Before I let you go, we’re in a cost of living crisis, we’ve spoken about it. What do you, do you think it’s a good idea or do you think it’s a good look that the boss is hosting dinners valued at $25,000? I’d argue that it’s a bit out of touch.

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think it’s a matter for the party, Peter. But it is…

PETER FEGAN:

But on the surface, it’s not a good look. Let’s talk pub test Angie, it’s not a good look.

ANGIE BELL:

All political parties engage in this. You’ve seen the Prime Minister flying around in his jet engaging in this. All political parties take part in it. It’s a part of our democracy and, let’s face it, the Albanese government, Albo, he takes money from the unions, from the UWU, the CFMEU and they all donate to Labor. Look, what I would say is the Coalition’s out listening. We’re listening to families who are under the pump. We’re listening to businesses who are under the pump. We cannot afford another three years of Labor and we have to get our country back on track and that’s what we’re focused on.

PETER FEGAN:

Good on you Angie. Let’s chat before the election and hopefully we can come up with a solution to this child care mess that it is at the moment. And look, it’s been a mess for years, so let’s chat well before the election and thanks for jumping on the line this morning.

ANGIE BELL:

Appreciate it.

ENDS.