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

22 June 2023

Subjects: Taylor Swift, Housing, RBA, Fadden By-Election

 E&OE………………………………………….

GREG JENNETT:
Time now for our political panel and would you believe it, there is a Queensland, New South Wales thing happening here on Afternoon Briefing. Joining us, Labor frontbencher, Kristy McBain, welcome back Kristy and Liberal frontbencher, Angie Bell is with us. Angie, welcome.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the top. We’re not re-arguing State of Origin, who won who lost, but we can start with a Taylor Swift question. Do you endorse Andrew Wallace’s plea? I’m assuming you do Angie, for a Queensland concert in the schedule.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Absolutely. My very good friend Andrew Wallace and I agree on that, we should have Taylor Swift in Queensland. But I would argue that Metricon Stadium is the best Stadium in Queensland to host such an event. Taylor Swift has a very big fan base on the Gold Coast. So yes, absolutely agree with Andrew Wallace.

GREG JENNETT:
And on the sort of far south coast of New South Wales, you’re about as far from a Taylor Swift concert as suppose Angie is Kristy, it’s going to be a long drive to Sydney or Melbourne.

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
That’s right. It’s equal distance to Sydney or Melbourne for me. But look, I would say to Taylor Swift, who’s clearly done a great job of impregnating herself across the Australian consciousness. Do it an Australian tour. You have got a ton of fans here in Australia. We love live music, we love big events, and we do them well in Australia. So I’m sure that you could pad out those, I think five dates that she’s got across Sydney and Melbourne and make it a much bigger Australian tour.

GREG JENNETT:
Somehow, I don’t think she’d have any trouble selling the tickets.

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
Absolutely not. My daughter’s already harassing me about that.

GREG JENNETT:
There you go, you’ll have to deliver on that won’t you?

Why don’t we move on to events that have happened here, and I’ll start with you Angie. The musing out loud by the government in the wake of the Housing Australia Future Fund blockage in the Senate, about a double dissolution election. Did that surprise you? You’d be up for not only a by-election next to your electorate, but potentially a general one, if that were be delivered next year.

ANGIE BELL MP:
What we’ve seen this week is the government’s housing policy agenda in tatters. They haven’t been able to pass it because the Coalition does not agree with the way the government has approached this. Simply because the cost of the Future Fund for housing would be $400 million a year in interest alone at a four per cent interest rate on that government bond over 10 years. The Coalition doesn’t support this and the government hasn’t been able to deliver their strategy.

We’ve also seen a knee jerk reaction from the government over the weekend, an announcement of $2 billion to the states. We don’t know where that money is coming from. We don’t know if that was in the budget, or it was going to be in the next budget. Again, no details from this government.

GREG JENNETT:
I think it’s going to be spent before this current financial year is out. So that might suggest that the surplus ended up being a bit fatter than they anticipated back in…Interrupted.

ANGIE BELL MP:
We don’t have those details, and once again, it’s a government that likes to have the headline without the details underneath it. We’ve seen a housing agenda in tatters for those Australians who need it.

GREG JENNETT:
Alright, Kristy, how serious is the government about the Future Fund? What are the deliberations about what happens next with that? Will it come back into the House for instance, where you are?

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
Look, I think it’s really important to say that the Housing Australia Future Fund is not the only measure that we’ve got on housing. Over the weekend, I disagree with Angie, it wasn’t a knee jerk reaction. This is a reaction to what’s happening in our communities. There has been an under investment in public and affordable housing by a Federal Government now for 10 years. We have contributed significantly more funds into the housing infrastructure fund. We have changed the parameters to unlock additional investment in housing.

We know it’s important to get the three levels of government together and deal with the planning legislation, which is why there’s a planning minister’s meeting coming up. There is more work to do here. The Housing Australia Future Fund though, is a perpetual fund, which will put money into public and affordable housing from the Federal Government year on year for the rest of our lives. That’s how serious we are about housing. It has to be done every year by every Federal Government, not just when the Labor party comes in.

GREG JENNETT:
So, you’re saying you’re serious, but so serious as to load up potential double dissolution election triggers, even if you didn’t use it, just to obtain it?

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
The community is crying out for housing like right across regional Australia. We have job vacancies, but we don’t have any houses for those people to live in.

Across regional Australia we also have less houses because we’ve had a number of natural disasters that has significantly impacted our communities. In my electorate alone, we lost over 1,000 homes in the black summer bushfires. In other electorates further up the coast there are a number of houses that cannot be occupied because of floods.

We have to get serious about housing and if the Greens political party and the Opposition don’t want to be serious about housing, then this can be the consequence that we actually go to an election, we talk about housing, that’s how important it is to the Australian people.

GREG JENNETT:
Just finally on the $2 billion, you actually opposed to it? I mean, you’re criticising the lack of consultation Angie Bell?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I agree with what Kristy said about Australians needing support through housing, but we don’t believe as a Coalition, this is the way to go. We don’t think it’s been set up the best way that it could be. We delivered in the last three years in government, 300,000 people into homeownership and that’s the Australian dream. We also supported 21,000 social and affordable homes. That is important as well. The states simply haven’t kept up with supply in this area, and the Federal Government’s now having to step in.

GREG JENNETT:
I think we’ll be talking about housing for a while longer.

Phillip Lowe and the RBA Governor ship, it’s obviously on Jim Chalmer’s deck right now as a process. What would a change of Governor mean for families that are doing it tough right now, Kristy? It doesn’t really change anything does it? A leadership change there? This pain continues.

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
Obviously, the independent Reserve Bank has a board. The Governor’s tenure is coming up for renewal in September and the Treasurer has said as early as this morning that those decisions are currently sitting in front of him and he hopes to have some announcements come July, I think he said.

Look, it’s important that we are taking into account a whole range of external factors that are happening. It is the prerogative of the government of the day to have a look at anyone’s contract when it comes up for renewal. So that’s the process that’s currently being undertake.

GREG JENNETT:
Just the normal process? What do you read? I mean, you don’t have a say in this of course Angie, but is he the right man for reappointment Phil Lowe, or do you think his card is marked?

ANGIE BELL MP:
This is clearly a decision for government and the Treasurer. What we are seeing from this government is a budget that has made inflationary pressures worse, and the government needs to start doing more work around bringing down inflation for those families across Australia who are really hurting.

The government is pushing inflation up. Every time the government pushes inflation up, the Reserve Bank has to push interest rates up in order to slow the economy and try to bring inflation back down in between two and three per cent.

GREG JENNETT:
Alright, but the Governor himself said the budget was about neutral on inflation.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, we’ve seen since the budget, inflation go up again and we’ve also seen another mortgage rate increase. The proof is in the pudding and that’s what happened after the budget.

GREG JENNETT:
As mentioned earlier, you do have a by-election next door to the electorate of Moncrieff, in Fadden. Labor, you will have noted raised some questions under Parliamentary privilege about the retiring former member Stuart Robert’s conduct under Parliamentary privilege, I stress again. How heavily though does his conduct hang over than by-election as one who’s watching it closely?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Stuart has left the Parliament as we know. He was a good local member, very well liked across his electorate. We have now selected a new candidate in Cameron Caldwell who has a 12 years experience as a local councillor. He’s very well supported across the community. He will stand up and fight for Gold Coast families who are hurting right now, and particularly Gold Coast businesses who are hurting with the increases in power prices that this government is doing nothing about.

GREG JENNETT:
It won’t have been by accident, Kristy that Bill Shorten made those points as he did. I think this is the last sitting before the by-election. Is there more to be discovered about Stuart Robert? Sounds like the government’s not letting it go.

KRISTY McBAIN MP:
Look, it’s not the first time that it’s been raised in Parliament, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I think what Gold Coast communities are asking for is someone to serve them in Parliament with integrity. Someone that is actually interested in serving the community rather than serving themselves. They’ve had a member that has clearly been more interested in his own dealings than has been in serving his community. Labor’s candidate Letitia Del Fabbro is a fantastic nurse educator. She’s a mom, she gets Gold Coasters and she’s there for the reason that she wants to serve the community with integrity and I look forward to hopefully welcoming her to Parliament.

GREG JENNETT:
Well, Kristy’s proved what can be done at by-elections and then we had Aston as well. What is the mood on the ground? Are you going to lose some bark in Fadden even if the LNP holds on?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I think this is the first opportunity really where Australians in Fadden can tell the Prime Minister they are not happy about what’s happening with mortgage rates, about what’s happening with their electricity bills. It is unacceptable that the Prime Minister promised a $275 reduction in electricity bills and now we find they’re going up… interrupted.

GREG JENNETT:
The same arguments were put at Aston weren’t they and it was a historic win by Labor.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Sure, a few months down the track and we’ve had interest rate increases since then. Inflation has also gone up, so more pain at the supermarket for families. Families are starting to understand that it’s the policies of the Albanese Government that is making life harder, not easier under Albanese.

GREG JENNETT:
Well, I guess these are the issues that we’ll still be discussing when Parliament resumes. Winter break lying ahead. After a pretty arduous couple of weeks here, we will thank both of you and farewell you, Angie Bell, Kristy McBain, we’ll talk again soon.

[ends]