Press Conference with Madeleine King and Anne Aly

MADELEINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS
SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR RESOURCES
SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR SMALL BUSINESS
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BRAND
 
ANNE ALY
MEMBER FOR COWAN

PATRICK GORMAN
MEMBER FOR PERTH
 
THURSDAY, 7 MARCH 2019

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s failure to stand up for WA; Coalition chaos and dysfunction; The battle for Cowan; Funding for Metronet; Scott Morrison’s Christmas Island taxpayer-funded stunt; the future of Collie; Local councils Australia Day celebrations.

MADELEINE KING, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS: Hello everyone, it looks like the Prime Minister has brought the East Coast weather with him to Perth, so we can thank him for that. It’s been 155 days since Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been in Perth, and now when his mates’ jobs are on the line, we see him here trying to defend a record that is kind of indefensible for Western Australia. It was the Labor Party, with Bill Shorten and with Mark McGowan as Premier that dragged the Liberals and Scott Morrison kicking and screaming to a resolution of the terrible GST distribution problem that this state’s faced for many, many years. It was Bill Shorten and Labor, and Chris Bowen and again Mark McGowan who agreed to the WA Fair Share Fund for GST and it’s us that helped the Government get their legislation through the parliament. You can not forget that the Coalition Government had five Cabinet Ministers [from Perth] for many years, also a state Liberal Premier that failed to get any action to repair the failed GST distribution in this state. And what do you know? Mark McGowan gets elected, he’s a strong enough leader, he’s a strong Premier who makes sure we get our fair share of the GST. And here we are again, there’s another election and what do you know? Scott Morrison has flown back in to town. In the meantime they’ve dithered, they’ve cut penalty rates, they’ve cut funds to schools, they’ve cut funds to TAFE. And all the while we’ve been talking about the GST – that reform was introduced by Prime Minister Turnbull. Prime Minister Turnbull. So you have to ask Western Australian Liberals: What did Prime Minister Turnbull do wrong? Why did they knife him when he’s the one who brought in this GST reform? Now I’m going to hand over to Anne Aly here for Cowan who is going to say a few words.

ANNE ALY: Thanks Maddie, look I just want to say a few words about to Prime Minister coming out here today to target Cowan. Bring it. Bring it on. You know we have a Prime Minister that has been missing in action in WA, the people of Cowan aren’t stupid. They know this Government  is a government running on empty. They know this is a Government who will fight to cut penalty rates and fight for the big banks. Well I’m fighting for Cowan. So if the government and Prime Minister want to come and target Cowan, then bring it. I’m ready.

PATRICK GORMAN: And if the Prime Minister would like to run in the electorate of Perth, he didn’t have the guts last time, he’s more than welcome to have a crack in Perth as well; that would be a good thing. But we’ll be reminding him of his record in Western Australia. He did take too long to fix the GST. Remember Scott Morrison was the one who said we did not need to legislate? Had we have not legislated Western Australia would be hundreds of millions of dollars worse off today. Scott Morrison’s budget that cut $7.8billion from the Royal Perth Hospital here in the electorate of Perth. And if Labor is elected, local schools in my electorate will get an extra $21million to fully fulfil the vision of a proper student centric funding model for our students. I’ll hand back to Madeleine who is going to take your questions.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Scott Morrison today was pretty happy to take the rap for GST deal, and it was one of his strong points at the presser I was at earlier, and you’re saying this was actually Mark McGowan’s doing?

KING: I’m saying it’s Bill Shorten and Mark McGowan’s doing. There has been a long struggle for many years from Western Australian parliamentarians in the state parliament and in the federal parliament, to reform the GST system. And without Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen and our Labor team announcing the Fair Share for WA’s GST policy, Scott Morrison wouldn’t have come this far. As Patrick quite rightly pointed out: when he was Treasurer, as Scott Morrison said, there was no need to legislate. So he can show off about it and claim anything he wants but it’s not true. It was a Labor initiative, Labor has worked hard to get the GST where it’s needed in Western Australia for the benefit for all Western Australians.

JOURNALIST: At the end of the day the reform happened under this Government, and Scott Morrison was Treasurer.

KING: And I’m glad they came to the table! There’s no doubt about it. If they’d done it earlier after the Productivity Commission report came down, and took some action, Western Australia would already have more of that GST money. So, look I’m glad they came to the table, no doubt about that. They came to the table too late, and the only reason they came to the table is from the pressure of Bill Shorten and his Labor team, and moreover, Mark McGowan and his crushing defeat of Colin Barnett in the last WA state election.

JOURNALIST: He also said, knocking back Mark McGowan’s requests yesterday – he said he was going to ask for Metronet and regional roads. And his advice to Mark McGowan was to use the money that was already allocated, apparently there’s been no money spent so far and he said there’s only so much that he can give one state. What do you think to that comment, especially coming up to the budget? He’s saying there’s only so much WA can have. Should people be confident in the upcoming budget talks?

KING: I don’t think Western Australians can ever be confident with a Liberal Government, when it comes to helping them with their infrastructure needs, or funding for regional and metropolitan Western Australia. Labor has committed to supporting Western Australia’s Metronet, a very important piece of public infrastructure, public transport infrastructure that Western Australians value highly and have been calling for a very long time. Take the Ellenbrook railway extension example. A commitment that a former Liberal state government here that just kind of walked out on. That’s very important for a growing region in the seat of Pearce, and Labor federally is committed to supporting that very important piece of public infrastructure for the Ellenbrook railway.

JOURNALIST: So what would Federal Labor commit to Metronet?

KING: We have already committed through Anthony Albanese as Shadow Infastructure Minister $1.2 billion to the Metronet system. We’ve got a great record Federal Labor for infastructre in Western Australia. Sinking the railway in Northbridge which committed the most magnificent Yagan Square to be built there which everyday West Australians get to enjoy all the time. Similarly, the entrance pathway to the airport which was a desperately needed spend from the Federal Labor government.

JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister has listed the government’s hit list in Western Australia – what’s your hit list of liberal seats that you think you might win in the next election?

KING: We don’t take any vote from any West Australian for granted, and I know my colleagues here today, Patrick and Anne and myself included, we’ve been door knocking ourselves. What I do know is candidates in the seat of Swan, Hannah Beazley, in Pearce with Kim Travers, Melissa Teede in Canning, Melita Markey in Stirling and James Martin in Hasluck are working hard to encourage all West Australians in those seats to vote for them. Those are the five seats that we will be targeting, and that we have been targeting. We have had named candidates on the ground for a long time now, which is of course much better - well you don't know who the candidate for Curtin will be do we.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of the preselection brawl shaping up in Curtin?

KING: I think it’s desperately unfortunate for all the people that have nominated for the seat of Curtin. They didn’t sign up for this kind of internal brawl within the Liberal party over who runs the preselection process and who should choose who sits in Curtin. I have some sympathy for those Liberal candidates; it is a confronting thing to put yourself forward for public office and to do that without the support of your own party and to be a part of an internal war within your own party must be very difficult for those Liberal candidates.

JOURNALIST: Maybe a better question for Patrick, what would Federal Labor commit to helping the refurbishment of the WACA. We know that they are going to be in talks with the Prime Minister’s office in trying to negotiate some funding.

GORMAN: I met with Christina Matthews, the CEO of the WACA last week and she took me through the proposal. It is a very exciting proposal. One of the things that is of course concerning in the electorate of Perth is that the local council doesn’t have any community facilities in the East Perth end of the Perth electorate. This can be part of that solution. That’s the thing that I’m focussed on, making sure that we have community facilities at the East Perth end of the CBD area. This is one very exciting proposal. I look forward to continuing to discuss it with them. Our Shadow Minister for Sport Don Farrell will be here in a few weeks and we are going to have further discussions. I understand the Prime Minister is there on Friday. I hope he is actually there to talk about what he can do rather than just bash the State government, which seems to be the theme of this visit. But it is an exciting proposal and I want to see the WACA stay as a community facility and stay as a sporting facility. I think with everyone working together we can achieve that

JOURNALIST: So will Federal Labor commit to helping to refurb the WACA?

GORMAN: The Shadow Minister and I will be there in a couple weeks to have a chat to them.

JOURNALIST: Anne, at 0.7% it’s going to be a bit of a battle for you. What do you say to Scott Morrison?

ALY: Well Scott Morrison is making his way into Cowan today and I understand that Cowan is on their sights and on their hit lists and as I’ve said before, bring it on. When I go out and I talk to the people of Cowan it becomes very clear that they understand that this is a government that is running on empty. This is a government that has nothing to offer them and hasn’t had anything to offer them for many, many years. The question that I get asked when I’m out there door knocking and when I’m out there talking to people on the phones is why is Malcolm Turnbull no longer Prime Minister. I’m not worried about the Liberal government, I’m not worried about Scott Morrison in Cowan, I’m not worried about them challenging me. What keeps me up at night is 16% youth unemployment in Wanneroo. What keeps me up at night is subbies not getting paid on time. What keeps me up at night is tradies who aren’t getting paid on time and who are victims of fee-mixing.  This is my community. I know my community and I know Cowan and I know they’re not going to fall for this government coming in at the 11th hour and trying to pretend that they care about them.

JOURNALIST: Anne, we saw the Prime Minister go to Christmas Island the other day. Do you support asylum seekers that are medically evacuated from Nauru or Manus being sent there?

ALY: I might hand over to Madeleine to talk about that one and about Labor’s policy on that one. This is all the Prime Minister seems to have and all he seems to talk about and as far as I’m concerned it’s a deflection from the chaos and disruption that’s within his own party. They can’t even get a preselection right without in fighting and squabbling. If this government thinks that they’re going to win the next election on fear then they are sorely, sorely mistaken.

JOURNALIST: Did you agree with the move personally?

ALY: I don’t think it matters what I think personally, I think personally I agree with what Labor’s putting forward on this.

KING: Sorry can you put the question again?

JOURNALIST: Sorry, it was just whether or not you are in support of asylum seekers that are medically evacuated from Nauru and Manus going to Christmas Island.

KING: Well the Medivac legislation did pass the parliament and the legislation is about getting sick people who have been in captivity under our care, our Australian nation’s care for many years, the medical help they need. What we have seen it turn into now is a circus whom we have Scott Morrison as Prime Minister spending what’s estimated to be $2000 a minute on a press conference. If you want to waste time and money, you can just look to the Prime Minister as to how you might do it to not-help anybody quite frankly.

JOURNALIST: Should people be taken be taken to Christmas Island or mainland Australia?

KING: The government has assured the people of Australia that the medical help will be on Christmas island to help the people that need it.

JOURNALIST: Just going to regional WA, Collie has got a bit of an uncertain future as a coal mining town there, they have an important meeting on Friday as well. Do you think that coal still has a place to play in WA for meeting its energy requirements?

KING: Yes certainly. Coal has a place across the nation quite frankly, more so on the east coast just because we’ve got a different power mix here in Western Australia with most of our power coming from gas in the North-West. But coal certainly plays a part and will do for some time. What Labor has proposed is a transition authority which will work with local communities and very importantly the work force, and of course local businesses’ both large and small to make sure that no worker gets left behind in a transition out of Collie. We know the former State government spent a lot of money trying to fix up an old tired power station which had to be retired anyway. So that type of spending on clearly outdated infrastructure is not something Labor, State or Federal propose to do. Our focus is on the workers in Collie and making sure they do have a just transition as energy mix changes naturally over time.

JOURNALIST: Local Councils had until last week to respond to the Federal government’s proposal around citizenship ceremony changes on Australia Day. Should councils have to hold them on Australia Day?

KING: Look I think local councils are a bit sick and tired of being told what to do by this government which seems quite unjustifiably paranoid about Australia Day or citizenship ceremonies in general. I’ve gone to two in the last two nights in the city of Rockingham and City of Kwinana and I can assure you and I know my colleagues would feel the same that local councils love doing these ceremonies. They love how they do them. They are different between different councils but they all go by the proper procedures and law because they want their local citizens, the people that live in their community to be properly made Australian according to the law.  Everyone enjoys these ceremonies, I just think this government can stop sticking their nose into local council business.

JOURNALIST: Should the date stay the same for Australia Day?

KING: Yes, yes it should.