Transcript - Sky News with Danica De Giorgio
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH DANICA DE GIORGIO
THURSDAY, 22 APRIL 2021
SUBJECTS: Federal Government’s foreign interference laws; mining super profits tax; Anzac Day.
DANICA DE GIORGIO, HOST: Joining me now live to discuss today's top stories is Federal Labor member for Perth, Patrick Gorman. Patrick, thank you for joining me this morning. Let's get straight into it. The Federal Government has torn up Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative with China. Was that the right decision?
PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, it is a decision for the Foreign Minister to make and we supported the legislation that went through the Parliament last year. Obviously, if the advice has been that this is not in Australia's national interest, those agreements shouldn't stand, they should be ended. And of course, I've always supported that in terms of foreign relations, it should be the Federal Government that makes relations with other nations.
DE GIORGIO: The Chinese embassy has released a statement saying that the decision was provocative. Should we expect any ramifications?
GORMAN: Well, I think we need to be honest with ourselves that Australia's relationship with China is not in the place that we would like it to be. It is obviously our largest trading partner. We have a huge Chinese diaspora here in Australia. It would be good if we had a more robust relationship with the Chinese government than we do right now. Labor for many years has been calling for the Government to take steps to improve that relationship so that we can pick up the phone. We don't have to agree, but we do have to be able to talk. And it's clear that those steps haven't been taken. So, we've got these actions from the Foreign Minister, which, again, entirely her decision and something that she should fulfill those obligations on her. But the relationship with China is not in a good place, and that's not good for Australia.
DE GIORGIO: Are you saying the Federal Government hasn't tried though? In late last year, they were trying to call China to contact China and they weren't getting any response.
GORMAN: As we know, diplomatic relationships happen in all different sorts of levels from junior diplomats all the way through to the Prime Minister. Everyone's got a job to do and the Government has let these happen over years. When they couldn't get their phone calls returned last year, that wasn't the start of these problems, that was just the consequence of letting this relationship deteriorate over a number of years. But if I can say on the foreign interference and foreign relations matters, I have a little bit sceptical about the timing of this announcement from the Foreign Minister. We know that this legislation came into the Parliament at the peak of the aged care COVID crisis last year. And again, as we're learning more and more about the failures of vaccination in aged care across Australia - some aged care facilities haven't even had a single vaccination dose. And, all of a sudden, the Government trying to get us to talk about this again. Excuse me for being a bit cynical.
DE GIORGIO: All right. Well, let's move on now. Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister, he's calling for super profits tax on big iron ore miners. It didn't work last time for him. Patrick Gorman, why would this be an option now?
GORMAN: Well, I've got great respect for Kevin Rudd and his role as a former prime minister in suggesting policy ideas in the public debate. But the Labor Party is not going back to a mining tax. We have made that clear through our national platform at our national conference and over a number of years. And I know my constituents here in Western Australia do not want a revisiting of that policy. It's not something that's going to happen under an Albanese Labor Government.
DE GIORGIO: OK, so in terms of the suggestion by Kevin Rudd, what are your thoughts on it?
GORMAN: Kevin can have his ideas. I don't agree with him on this particular proposal. We do not need to look; we shouldn't start looking at old ideas in the face of new challenges. We have new challenges with the COVID pandemic. We have new challenges in terms of climate change. We have new challenges in terms of what we do with our resources industry in the long term as we shift into other areas such as lithium and other rare earths. So, this isn't the idea for Australia right now. Not something I support. It's not something my constituents support.
DE GIORGIO: All right. Let's return to local issues now, Anzac Day services. Let's talk about Western Australia. Stadiums that have returned to full capacity. Anzac Day events, on the other hand, have been limited due to COVID restrictions. How does that make sense?
GORMAN: Well what we've been able to see over time is a continuing expansion of capacity in all of those different venues and obviously Anzac Day is one of the biggest events that happens at Kings Park in my electorate. So last year, it wasn't able to proceed in its normal way. This year we'll have 10,000 people there. I'm sure next year there'll be even more. So, it is about that gradual stepping through. Optus Stadium didn't start at full capacity. And I would note that for people who are concerned about this, I know there has been some public concern about the limited numbers who can attend the Kings Park service in Western Australia, there are still tickets available. Go on onto the RSL website, get yourself registered and you can attend. I'll see you there on Sunday morning.
DE GIORGIO: Patrick Gorman, how can people trust the health advice when the RSL is now having to cancel suburban Anzac Day services while tens of thousands of people are allowed at Optus Stadium to watch the AFL?
GORMAN: Well, trusting the health advice is what got Western Australia through this pandemic with some of the best results in the world. So, I do support listening to the health advice. I don't always like what the health experts say. I've found some of those things very troubling and very frustrating. But if you take the principle that to get through a health crisis, a global pandemic, the you're going to listen to experts then that's what we've got to do.
DE GIORGIO: So, what would you be your message then to the veterans who won't be able to commemorate the day because of these restrictions?
GORMAN: Well, again, I'm not going to tell veterans what they should do. That's entirely up to them. And I fully respect their rights to vent their frustrations. It's democracy. We stand for those values of democracy. If they want to say that they're unhappy with these things, that's entirely their right and I fully support them doing that. But I would say you can still register for the Kings Park service. There are still spots available. So, I think that's really important. While there was a cap, we haven't yet reached that cap and there are a lot of suburban services. I will be going to the Bedford RSL up the road from my office on Sunday afternoon. They have an afternoon service. That's what they've chosen to do. Town of Bassendean has a dawn service. City of Fremantle has a dawn service. There are a lot of dawn services that people can attend in a COVID safe way.
DE GIORGIO: Patrick Gorman, we have to leave it there. Great to chat. Thank you for joining me.
GORMAN: Great to chat.
ENDS