Transcript - ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt Mornings with Glenn Barndon - Tuesday, 16 February 2021
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
MIDWEST AND WHEATBELT MORNINGS WITH GLENN BARNDON
TUESDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2021
SUBJECTS: Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia role; WA infrastructure needs; parental leave; magnetic tiles; secure jobs; Labor plan for cheaper childcare.
GLENN BARNDON. HOST: Good morning, Patrick.
PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Good morning, Glenn.
BARNDON: Well, Patrick, why are you in Geraldton and the Midwest, today?
GORMAN: Well, a couple of weeks ago, Anthony Albanese appointed me as the Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia. And I figured what I need to do in that new job is to get out and talk to people all across WA. And so, it was a pretty obvious choice that you start here, the biggest city north of the metropolitan area.
BARNDON: So, you're looking forward to the role; being able to showcase or highlight Western Australians and what they need?
GORMAN: I am an incredibly proud Western Australian, so anything I can do to take the great message and story of Western Australia to the Parliament in Canberra, I'll do. It's a real honour to be appointed to this role. And it's great we can get out here to Geraldton. I think in politics you're always learning; you're always trying to find what is it you don't know so that you can make the best possible decisions for the people you represent.
BARNDON: Is this a new role?
GORMAN: It is a new role. It is sitting within the infrastructure portfolio. So obviously something that's important to all of us West Australians is making sure that we have the infrastructure that allows our economy to grow, to get stronger. So, talking to a few people, who have got some interesting views there. I've met with the CEO of the City of Geraldton this morning, hearing about all their wish lists and infrastructure that they would like to see built. But also just making sure that we talk to people about the things that are being debated in Canberra, whether it be talking about childcare, talking about making sure we've got fair workplaces, making sure that we act on climate change, all those things that are in the national debate. I want to make sure Western Australia doesn't miss out in any of those debates.
BARNDON: Well, paternity leave is something that's always up for conversation. You have a young family. What's your understanding of paternity leave? Are you in favour of more paternity leave for the partner?
GORMAN: Yeah, we do need to do a bit more for partners. It's important that you don't end up with one partner in the couple bearing the whole load. I've just taken a few months paternity leave because our baby Ruby, who is now 10 weeks old, came to us in December. So, I've been spending time with her. And I appreciate, from Anthony Albanese all the way down, all my colleagues have been incredibly supportive of me spending a bit more time at home and not skipping, but not going to Canberra for the last couple of months. I'll be back there in March, which will be great, but it's been a good opportunity to kind of get to know the newest member of our family and also to share the load at home.
BARNDON: You touched on the fact that you caught up with the CEO of the City of Greater Geraldton. Who else will you be meeting with in this current trip?
GORMAN: The soon to be retiring Laurie Graham and get some advice from him, because obviously he's done so many different things across his time. I want to get some good quality advice from Laurie. I'll be meeting with the Mid-West Development Corporation, Geraldton Port Authority, meeting with a few community groups. And I'm also keen to hear people's feedback on, we released as the Labor Party, a big, new industrial relations policy last week about trying to give people a bit more security in their jobs, so I'm keen for feedback on whether people have heard that, what they think, and how we can make sure we have good, secure jobs here in Geraldton and across Australia.
BARNDON: When it comes to your participation in Geraldton, have you got many memories of Geraldton?
GORMAN: First time I visited Geraldton, I was a student at Curtin University, and I was coming up here to meet with some of the students at the Curtin combined campus. And so, my memories are of coming up here, having a bit of a chat with the students and then pretty quickly, they sort of took us on a bit of a tour of the pub. So very fond memories of Geraldton.
BARNDON: So, you know it has very lively entertainment zones.
GORMAN: I probably won't be as lively as I was when I was a 19-year-old student.
BARNDON: No, no. Now a mature father.
GORMAN: Indeed. Well, you know, my three-year-old Leo doesn't want me to be to mature. He always finds that when I'm mature, that's not the version of Dad that he likes. He likes it when I'm a bit sillier.
BARNDON: When you get down on the ground with him.
GORMAN: Yeah. We're really into magnetic tiles at the moment building rockets and lots of other creations.
BARNDON: So, what's happening in Canberra at the moment? What are the big issues that people are talking about in Canberra?
GORMAN: Well today, and this week in Canberra, is the Closing the Gap Statement, which is obviously a really important thing. We're now 13 years on from the Apology to the Stolen Generations. So, we're sort of looking at our progress and looking at what we have and haven't achieved. So that's a big moment for the Parliament this week. There will be some huge debates around industrial relations. There's some legislation in front of the Parliament to get rid of what's called the better off overall test. That test is how much of your pay and conditions can be traded away. So that's a big policy debate. And, of course, the roll out of the vaccine. We've been at the front of the queue; we've been at the back of the queue. The vaccines are finally, finally arriving in Australia. I hope we start to see that in some of our frontline health and quarantine workers, I hope we see them getting jabs in the arm as soon as possible. Because obviously that's the key path out of this whole mess that we find ourselves in at the moment.
BARNDON: Anything other subject you are keen to talk about?
GORMAN: Look, the only other thing that I'm really passionate about, and kind of ties on from what we're talking about with parental leave, is early childhood education and childcare. I think in terms of making sure that everyone can reach their full economic potential, we've got to give them a good education when they're a kid and make sure that parents can go and participate in the workforce. So up here in Geraldton, there's I understand, 18 childcare centres. We're trying to bump into a few of the parents who use those centres and see what they think we could do. I'm a big believer that we should be upping the subsidies and support for parents when they go back to work, because at the moment in Australia you've got this problem where parents, if they work, if you've got two working parents, the parent who is doing the primary care or some more of the kid stays back at home for the fourth or fifth day. They end up missing out on thousands and thousands of dollars each year and then more in their super. So, one of the things I've been working on with colleagues is Labor's plan around childcare, trying to make it more affordable for families and make sure that parents can truly participate in the workforce. I feel like if we get that right, it really unlocks economic potential across the whole country.
BARNDON: Well, Patrick, appreciate your thoughts this morning. Thank you for taking the time out and enjoy your time in the Midwest.
GORMAN: Thanks, Glenn, appreciate it.
ENDS