Transcript - Sky News with Tom Connell - Thursday, 4 March 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL
THURSDAY, 4 MARCH 2021

SUBJECTS: Historical rape allegations made against a Cabinet Minister; state borders; Are the Eastern states evil?

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Welcome back. Let's bring in my political panel, joining me, Liberal MP Jason Falinski, from the Labor Party, Patrick Gorman. Gentlemen, thanks for your time as ever. Jason, beginning with the issue of Christian Porter, is there any discomfort in him staying on his role?

JASON FALINSKI, LIBERAL MP: None whatsoever, Tom. Look, let's not beat around the bush on this one. The circumstances of this particular issue are incredibly heartbreaking, especially for the family. And all of us feel very bad about it. But the rule of law is sacrosanct in this country. And if we are to start to trample over that, then that is not something that any of us want to be a part of. Anyone who wants to think that the rule of law is something that you can play around with I encourage them to pick up a history book on the 20th century and look at those nations who decided it'd be a good idea to muck around with the rule of law and how that all turned out.

CONNELL: The official result of New South Wales police investigations was that there was insufficient admissible evidence. Doesn't that leave a bit of an open thread here that some sort of inquiry could address?

FALINSKI: Well, Tom, one of the important things about the common law, one of the protections of the common law, and allow me to make the point that the whole point of the common law is that it doesn't protect the guilty. It is to protect the innocent. And there are a lot more innocent people than there are guilty people. And one of the protections in the rule of law is that the state cannot prosecute you over and over again. The police have conducted an inquiry. They found that there was no case to be answered and indeed that they couldn't conduct that inquiry. Why would we just have another inquiry for the sake of it? Christian Porter has made it clear that he has no idea what he would actually say to any inquiry about events that occurred thirty-three years ago. Now, he has categorically denied the allegations made against him. The way that our justice system works, the way that our society works, is that it is not incumbent upon innocent people to prove that they are innocent. It is incumbent on people who are making allegations of guilt to prove the guilt.

CONNELL: So, Patrick, on Labor's push for an inquiry, what does this mean in terms of a precedent, that any allegation of this type that's made and can't be entirely disproven but doesn't have a police investigation and charges, if you like, that anything in that category results in a parliamentary inquiry?

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, I don't think … first, I'll say the circumstances of this particular case are tragic, and I feel for the woman's family, her friends, and indeed for women and people across Australia who have had to see this, it has been a triggering experience for many people. It has been a horrible week for the Australian public. And indeed, I also don't want to be putting pressure on Mr Porter to return to work. He's been very clear that he needs some time to resolve a range of things around his health. And I wouldn't, like Jason has just done, I wouldn't put any pressure on him to return to work. But Labor has not said that they should be a parliamentary inquiry, it's up to the Prime Minister, what form of inquiry he might choose to call. And it is his decision as to what form that might take. And this is of course, what Jason has said relates to convictions for crimes and effectively for the standard for putting someone in jail. What we are talking about is how the Prime Minister, as the leader of the Government, as the leader of the Cabinet, satisfies himself and shows to the public that he has taken this matter as seriously as possible. And one way that he could do that is to do what sports clubs, corporations and indeed the High Court itself has done and establish an independent inquiry.

CONNELL: The High Court, of course, it was an inquiry into what happened within that workplace. But if you are applying this again, and I'll be specific on it, the accusation made against Bill Shorten also, of course, denied by him. Victoria Police said at the time they had sought advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions, which advised there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. Wouldn't that just fall into the same basket as this?

GORMAN: Well, with regards to that example, of course, there was a full police investigation. Sadly, that's not possible in this case. And, you know, of course, I wish it was because that would mean that one more Australian would be alive today. But it’s not. It's not an option that’s available. So, the Prime Minister did say he would leave it to the police. They have done what they're able to do under the law. What he does now is a matter for him. If he chooses to have an inquiry, I think that would be an appropriate way forward. It would allow some way forward for the family and friends of this woman. It would give the public a sense that he has taken the matter seriously throughout and it would also allow Mr Porter to say what he has said in his press conference yesterday in a more formal setting.

CONNELL: Jason, do you want to add something there before I move on?

FALINSKI: Yeah, look, that's just very sad, Tom. I mean, what the Labor Party is talking about here is breaking down the separation of powers in our system. This is not the same as Justice Heydon and the High Court investigation. The material facts are very, very different. We have a justice system that undertakes these inquiries. It has done so. It has reached its conclusion. If we then start having members of Parliament, the Parliament itself and the Prime Minister being able to launch their own inquiries into criminal behaviour, then we are now starting down a road of removing the separation of powers in this country. Now, if people want to do that, I just caution them. Pick up a history book of the last century, not even centuries before that, and just see how that turns out in each and every nation. At this, we need to be very careful about what we are suggesting here.

CONNELL: I want to ask just finally and secondly about borders. WA, the Premier over there, Patrick Gorman, seemed to get a bit carried away earlier in the week, talking about keeping the border application process in forever, maybe beyond COVID, to sort out other issues. He sort of backed down. Is he going mad with power over there?

GORMAN: Well, there's an election on the 13th of March, Tom, so the power's with the people of Western Australia to decide who -

CONNELL: So, it's all about the election, sort of overreach is that what you're saying?

GORMAN: No. When it comes to the question of the Good to Go Pass, and I have one on my phone and I've used it many times, that is a measure that will only be in place for the duration of the pandemic and the state of emergency declarations here in Western Australia. It is, of course, as the police themselves have said, an incredibly labour intensive, resource intensive process. The Commissioner has said that he would like to have more powers to prevent methamphetamines coming into Western Australia. I think every Australian, whether it be a West Australian or in any other part of the country, would agree that if we can stop meth circulating across our country, that's a good thing. And that's a pretty reasonable approach.

CONNELL: The other thing he spoke about, though, was having the borders up, Jason Falinski, beyond the vaccination, he says "well, eradication has been what has worked here". We've had the Government pretty reluctant to criticise state premiers. Will you take the gloves off over this one?

FALINSKI: Look, all I can say is I hope it was a thought bubble. It's an absurd and ridiculous idea. It demonstrates that there have been some state premiers that have been willing to play COVID for all that it's worth in getting votes. And it's been very disappointing to observe and to witness.

GORMAN: Mate, your own Premier of New South Wales, Jason, your own Premier of New South Wales is sending bills to the other premiers saying, "oh, here's the bill for quarantine". I mean, don't pretend that it's all pure and politics-free in New South Wales. I mean, you guys are stunt central.

FALINSKI: So I think what we have here is, once again, the politics of division, where we saw the Queensland Premier try to play Queenslanders off the people of New South Wales, the Western Australian Premier is trying to play Western Australians off those evil eastern states. These bills are you know -

GORMAN: You're not evil, Jason. You're just in the wrong party.

FALINSKI: New South Wales has taken the vast bulk of returning Australians. And, you know, I think it's fair that if we process them and the cost has been borne by the New South Wales taxpayer, even though they're citizens of Western Australia, that the Western Australian government, you know, make a contribution. Isn't that fair?

GORMAN: Looks like a stunt to me. I think that's what it looks like to most people.

CONNELL: All right, got to go. Jason, Patrick we'll talk next week. Thank you.

ENDS