TRANSCRIPT – THE DAILY AUS

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

TRANSCRIPT
THE DAILY AUS

7 August 2023

Subjects: Youth portfolio, climate change, voting age, Liberal Party, Peter Dutton.

E&OE…………………………

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Angie Bell, thank you so much for speaking to The Daily Aus.

ANGIE BELL MP:
It’s my pleasure to be with you, Billi.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
You’re the Shadow Youth Minister. Can you explain what that means and what you do in that role?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, that means that I am the direct opposite of the Minister, of Anne Aly. Anne and I actually quite good friends because we knew each other in the last Parliament.

My role is to shadow what she is doing, and that is check on what it is that she’s doing in her portfolio, but also come up with the policy positions of the Coalition for the next general election.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
So, your role is as you say, to check how she’s going, what’s your report card? How do you think she’s going?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Oh, that’s a bit of a tricky question, but I’m happy to respond. She’s been busy putting together some committees for young people and flying them to Canberra to talk to those people.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
So, do you think she’s going well, so far?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Look, I think she’s done a few, sort of top line things, like delivering an Office for Youth. I’m not sure what that office does exactly, but I think anywhere there can be the spotlight on young people and that the Government is listening and that the Opposition is listening. I think that’s a good thing.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
And so, in your eyes as the Shadow Youth Minister, what is the biggest issue facing young people today?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, that’s an interesting question that you ask. According to the Mission Australia Youth Survey over the last couple of years, it’s changed a little bit. In years gone by the first top issue for young people was mainly climate change, and we’ve seen that change especially over the last 12 months to include mental health. But also cost of living is a really big concern and young people really can’t afford to pay their rent, and so housing security is also really important.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Now the Coalition was in power for a decade prior to the election last year. In its last three years of government, so in its last term, what was the Coalition’s biggest achievement for young people in the country?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Oh goodness me, I think putting young people into jobs. We had a very low youth unemployment rate at that time, which we’ve seen increase under the Labor Government.

There’s no better way to support young people than through financial measures, because that is what puts the pressure on. The role of government really is to make sure that you keep costs of living pressures off young Australians, and that means making sure that inflation stays low. To give you an example, inflation at the moment is just above six per cent, but under the Coalition Government over the last decade, it was at two per cent. That’s a big difference. That’s a big difference.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Inflation is a worldwide issue, though. It’s not something specific to Australia at the moment.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Sure, sure.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
You said before that there’s no better way to support young people than with financial measures. A big issue for young people is the increase in HECS debt. It went up by the highest in decades this year. What is the Coalition’s position on HECS and does the way it is indexed need to be changed?

ANGIE BELL MP:
That indexation, which is also known as CPI, the consumer price index, is applied to HECS at any given point in time. This year just gone 7.1 per cent was applied to the indexation on HECS and that affected three million Australians.

So, it comes back to the same argument that I made in the last point, which was the best way to help young people with their debts. with HECS, now called HELP, is that where you keep inflation low across the whole economy, because inflation is like white ants, it chews through the wood of your savings… interrupted

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
I just want to focus on the indexation of HECS. So, does the Coalition think that the way it is index needs to be changed?

ANGIE BELL MP:
It’s either indexed or it’s not indexed. At the moment, it’s always been indexed, which means it’s tied to the consumer price index, which is inflation… interrupted

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
But it could be tied to different things like wages, which as you said before, they’re not growing at the same rate as inflation, so you could change the way it’s indexed to be to wages instead to the CPI.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Currently, it is indexed and that’s how it’s always been. You’d have to look at what the unintended consequences of such a policy would be, and what ramifications that would have.

Remember that inflation goes up and down and wages go up and down as well. Is that a better way? I don’t have the answer for you there, Billi.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Let’s move on. I want to look at lowering the voting age. My understanding is that the Opposition is against lowering the voting age to 16. Why is that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I heard you ask Minister Anne Aly about this question as well. I think that she was right that there are very many ways that young people can enter the political debate, whether that’s joining a political party and having a voice that way, or whether it’s joining a Youth Parliament in the states and territories across the nation.

There are many ways to have a political voice and I think that’s the best way young people can be heard who are under the voting age at the moment.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Well, I guess I’ll say to you what I said to Dr. Anne Aly, which is that, you know, of course, there are other ways to be politically active, but just specifically, I want to focus on lowering the voting age. Why is the Opposition against that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
The Opposition hasn’t made that position that were against that necessarily, I am for supporting young people to have their political views and there are very many other ways like joining a Youth Parliament or putting your views online. I think that’s the way you can do that if you’re under 18.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Let’s look at climate change. There are examples around the world of young people suing governments for approving coal mines, because as I said to Anne Aly, they believe it neglects their right to a healthy environment. What’s your thoughts on that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
There’s no doubt that climate change is real and it’s a concern for everyone across the world, and no more than young people that climate is so very important.

As I outlined before, when you’re in a cost-of-living crisis, and you can’t pay your bills, and you can’t feed your children and you can’t come up with your rent and you’re becoming homeless, it becomes a priority.

Whilst climate change is a big priority for young people, so is cost of living and so is mental health and… interrupted

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
But is it either or? Can’t you focus on both?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Sure, I mean, they are within the top five of what young people are concerned about. But in terms of climate policy and energy policy, which are inextricably linked, what we’ve seen is energy bills go through the roof. We have people from all states and territories who are unable to pay their electricity bills.

We have to have sensible debate around energy policy because it’s inextricably linked to climate policy.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
I just want to be really clear, though. Do you think it should be the job for politicians to consider future generations when they’re making decisions about the environment?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Of course, we should always consider future generations. I’m also the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education. Of course, we should be thinking about the future of our nation. We’re always thinking about the future of our nation. Our children and our young people are our biggest asset as a country and so of course, absolutely.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
We’ve spoken about the fact that I interviewed the Youth Minister, Anne Aly last week, and it’s interesting speaking to you now, because your answers about HECS and lowering the voting age and climate change. They’re quite similar. So, what’s the difference between you two?

ANGIE BELL MP:
That’s a really good question. I think the biggest difference between the two of us is our core values, and that is that in the Liberal Party, we believe that you should be an individual who has your own thoughts, your own freedom of speech, your own individuality, and you should be able to keep more of what you earn. You should be able to have the same opportunity as anybody else in the country. That is really the difference, the equality of opportunity.

Those in the Labor Party believe in equality of outcome, which means that you get the same result for everybody. I think if you work hard, you should be able to keep more of what you earn, and you should be able to reinvest that in yourself and your business, and your family and your community. That’s why I’m a Liberal.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
I just lastly, want to look at the Liberal Party’s appeal to young voters. There’s quite a bit of evidence that the Coalition has a problem attracting young voters. In your eyes, why is that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
The Coalition has a really good track record of policies for young people, including, as I said, we have promised that we will reinstate those 20 mental health sessions, which I think is so important for young people and that’s what young people are telling me as well. I think that’s really important.

I think also our policy moving forward about allowing those who are unemployed or those who are job seeking to earn more before their Jobseeker payment is taken away. I think that’s a really, really good policy for young people who would like to get ahead… interrupted.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
But just looking at the last election, young people voting for the Coalition was quite low. Why is that?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I think historically, young people tend not to vote for the Coalition. Historically, that’s been the case until they are in a position where they have perhaps a higher paid job where they have to pay tax and then they realise that they would like to keep more of what they earn.

But I think there are very many young people, in fact thousands of young people in the Young Liberal movement across Australia, who are part of the Liberal Party because they do believe in those values that I talked about.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Just lastly, it’s a common sentiment that Peter Dutton in particular, is not popular with young people. Do you have full faith that he is the right leader to attract young voters at the next election?

ANGIE BELL MP:
Well, I’ve known Peter Dutton for 10 years, and I understand that his persona, looking from the outside looking in, might be one of the hard man. He’s had to be the hard man when we were in government as the Home Affairs Minister, sending those people of offshore back to whichever country they came from when they weren’t Australian citizens. Sending them back to their nations when they broke the law is a difficult thing to do. It’s hard.

There’s this sort of outward, I suppose image of him as the hard man, but I can assure you that the work that he’s done to protect women and children is outstanding, and I can assure you that he is very passionate about Australia, and he’s very passionate about Australians.

He’s actually a warm-hearted man with a very good sense of humour. He really is a genuine man with the best intentions for our country. When you get to know him, you really do get to like him.

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Being passionate about Australia and being popular with Australians, though, is two very different things. So, do you have full faith that he could be popular with young people by the next election?

ANGIE BELL MP:
I think the biggest challenge is probably getting young people to meet him because I can tell you when he’s in the Young Liberal movement, he is revered across the Young Liberal movement, particularly in Queensland, which of course is his home state, so no surprises there.

But they understand that he has all those attributes that I’ve talked about. He really is the best man for the job and he would make a tremendous Prime Minister

BILLI FITZSIMONS:
Angie Bell, thank you so much for joining The Daily Aus. We really appreciate it.

ANGIE BELL MP:
Thanks for having me, Billi.

[ends]