Transcript - Doorstop Interview - Early Voting for State Election - Wednesday, 24 February 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PERTH
WEDNESDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2021

SUBJECTS: WA State Election; Mark McGowan; Early Voting; Sexual harassment in Parliament.

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: One of the many great things about voting early is you can get one of the WA Electoral Commission pencils. They're very popular, all the kids love them. Leo is currently one of the only children in Western Australia with one of these pencils but by the end of the election campaign everyone will have one.

It's been great to vote for John Carey and Mark McGowan this morning. I'm encouraging everyone to get in and get in early to vote. It's so easy, we have early voting centres here like this, North Perth Town Hall. It takes a few minutes. There's plenty of helpful volunteers here for all the parties handing out how to vote cards. I only needed the red one, but there are all the parties here. It's a great festival of democracy with voting opening. I love elections, and for us, working families with two young kids, it's easy to get it done before Election Day, although I'm sure I'll get to a few democracy sausage sizzles on Election Day to support our local P&Cs. And it feels good to support Mark McGowan. He's done so much to support our community here in Perth, and across WA over the last four years, and particularly the last year. So, it's nice to put a little '1' next to his team's name and support the show.

JOURNALIST: Is this the first year you've voted early, or have you voted early in the past?

GORMAN: It's the first year I've voted early. At federal elections, where unless you have a particular reason to vote early, you have to vote on Election Day. I don't know if that's going to change, but it just seemed like a convenient thing for us to do because we live in North Perth and this is our local booth.

JOURNALIST: Did COVID considerations come in to play as well in terms of voting early?

GORMAN: I think for a lot of people in our community, it will be a consideration. Obviously, if you look behind me, you'll see there's not as many people queuing up and it's not the full-on chaos of Election Day. I think people also want the certainty of knowing that it's done. We checked in with the COVID Safe App as we went through. And I encourage everyone, if you are going to vote, make sure that you do check in at the voting station that you go to. But for us, a family with young kids, it was just easiest to get it done and get it out of the way.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask on another topic. Emma Husar was on the news this morning saying that the Labor Party was a boys’ club culture of cover-up in regard to the sexual harassment claims. Your comments on that?

GORMAN: I met Emma when I was first elected to Parliament, I served with her for about nine months. I've got a lot of time for Emma Husar and I think that she's got, as I'd encourage anyone who has concerns about these things, she's raising her voice. But when it comes to what we've seen in Canberra, in the ministerial wing over the last week and the revelations there, I think it's a wakeup call for everyone, that we need to make sure that everyone, whether they work in Parliament or anywhere else feels safe, that we listen to people who are coming forward with these concerns. And I expect it will see a lot more of these things coming out over the coming months and years, as we've seen just over the last week, a lot of revelations. I don't want to dismiss any individual's lived experience, but I haven't seen Emma's interview so I can't really comment more than that. Thank you very much. Enjoy the start of voting.

ENDS