Transcript - Sky News with Tom Connell - Thursday, 29 April 2021
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL
THURSDAY, 29 APRIL 2021
SUBJECTS: Federal Budget, Labor’s management of finances, Childcare
TOM CONNELL, HOST: Joining me live is my panel, Liberal MP Jason Falinski and the Labor Party MP, Patrick Gorman. Gentlemen, thank you both for your time. Beginning with you. Jason, it is a change of tack, isn't it? Why does this come as this the fact that, well, budget repair, as much as it was once a big priority for the Coalition, you've forgotten about it now?
JASON FALINSKI, LIBERAL MP: No, this is our chance, Tom. This is, Australia has, you know, succeeded in places where other people haven't even started to fail. We have done better in in the economy, in health outcomes compared to anywhere else in the rest of the world. And we would be negligent not to seize this moment, not to seize these opportunities to ensure not just the present, but also the future of this nation.
CONNELL: Patrick, what do you make of what the treasurer had to say today, has Labor essentially agreed?
PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, Scott Morrison gave up on a budget surplus the day he became treasurer six years ago. Scott Morrison has never delivered a budget surplus. They have refused to outline any plan on how they plan to do the long-term fix for the nation's finances. It is quite concerning that we sort of, from budget to budget to budget, wasn't that long ago we were seeing the Liberal Party with their 'back in 'black mugs. Now we've got Josh Frydenberg sort of doing a victory lap, saying that he has fixed the economy when we still know that there's some two million Australians unemployed or underemployed.
GORMAN: I don't think this government has a fiscal strategy. I don't think this government has an actual plan for the long-term financial challenges we face.
CONNELL: Labor has gone to the last two elections saying we'll be better managers of debt, so we'll get the bottom line and better state than the coalition. Do you think that's something Labor will take again to the next election or should, Patrick Gorman?
GORMAN: Well, I think the evidence shows that Labor is good with managing the nation's finances, when in government. I mean, look at my friends here in Western Australia, Mark McGowan repaired Colin Barnett and Christian Porter,
CONNELL: Well, we're talking about Federal Labor.
FALINSKI: Oh, no, no, no, no. Tom, let him talk, because I have a response to this nonsense.
GORMAN: Let's talk about, let’s talk about …
FALINSKI: Keep digging, keep digging! Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
GORMAN: What was debt when you came to office and what is it now?
FALINSKI: Oh, look, you say your bit and I'll say my bit.
GORMAN: Oh, you really wanted to speak a minute ago, but the minute you have to …
FALINSKI: Okay, thanks. Thank you for handing it over to me. Thank you for handing it, oh hang on, now you don't want to hear the answer. Isn't this typical of Labor, very good at asking.
CONNELL: I'll help you out, Jason. There was a debt and deficit disaster under Labor, heading towards 18 per cent of debt, 18 per cent of GDP debt. Now we're heading towards 50 per cent and it's all fine?
FALINSKI: So, is that a question to me Tom, just because Patrick still hadn't finished digging his hole?
CONNELL: Well, that's a suggestion to you. You can riff on that if you'd like.
FALINSKI: Oh, well, thank you for the opportunity. Let's let us just be very clear about this. The fiscal situation in Western Australia is due to the fact that Western Australia, thanks to Christian Porter, thanks to Mathias Cormann, has got billions of dollars that it didn't have, from people living on the East Coast. The fact of the matter is that.
GORMAN: There are no thank you letters written to Christian Porter from Western Australia, I’ll tell you that.
FALINSKI: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Am I getting my chance to say something, you hadn't finished? Please take your time. I'm happy to sit here all day and all night talking about the Labor Party and fiscal policy. Yeah, well, it should. Oh, well, there we go. The fact of the matter is that every Australian knows that Labor loves debt, never wants to do anything about it, never can do anything about it. The only reason Mark McGowan's in surplus is because of the money that the eastern states have sent to Western Australia. Sorry, one second, one second, Tom. The Western Australian Government owes the people of New South Wales tens of millions of dollars for the for the hotel quarantine that we have been doing for Western Australians who want to get home. And he's not interested in paying up. That's the Labor way, and it's always been the Labor way.
CONNELL: I don’t think that'll change the budget situation with that particular bill? But Patrick, federally …
FALINSKI: Labor is not interested in paying back money that they borrow from other people.
CONNELL: The Federal Labor Party. Patrick Gorman, does it have a good recent record to tell on managing the budget?
GORMAN: Well, I think if you look at what Anthony Albanese has done as leader of the Labor Party, he's made it very clear …
CONNELL: I mean in Government.
GORMAN: … that we will take a different … In Government, Labor got Australia through the Global Financial Crisis with no help from the Liberal Party opposition, not one bit. They voted against all of the stimulus measures that were necessary to get Australia through that crisis.
CONNELL: Not all of them, just the second round.
GORMAN: Well, well just they were so helpful for about 12 seconds. If you look at that and you contrast that with the approach that Labor's taken in opposition, being constructive, trying to find ways to make sure that we're actually focused on the Australian people rather than just the politics of the pandemic, I think that shows that Labor has been responsible, not just in terms of looking after Australians, but also in terms of the long-term challenges we face with the nations finances.
CONNELL: I just want to get on to another …
FALINSKI: Hang on, there's a lot to be said about that, I mean, first of all, I want to apologise on behalf of the Liberal Party that we didn't support the Greens, the Independents and Labor when they were shovelling billions of dollars out the door for pink batts, for cash for clunkers and for school halls. I'm sorry we didn't support you in those, you know, absolute waste and mismanagement that you blokes were in charge of.
CONNELL: Any school halls in your electorate Jason that you think are wasted?
FALINSKI: You know what? I go to a lot of prize-givings every year, and there was not a single school hall on the northern beaches upgraded out of that billion dollar program. Now, that would be, of course, the Labor Party in New South Wales mismanaging that money. But there we go. We don't want to bring politics into it. I'm sorry, we opposed pink batts. I'm sorry we opposed it.
GORMAN: Jason, just take a chill pill for 12 seconds. I'm going to fact check that. You say that no school on the northern beaches received any funding?
FALINSKI: Sorry. Sorry. No, no, no, you're quite right, no, no, yeah, yeah, no, in Mackellar, in Mackellar, in Mackellar. Absolutely! Go for it. Go for it.
CONNELL: I feel like I don't have a job to do without the fact checking. All right, well, we'll note that Mackellar, school halls, you've got your job.
FALINSKI: Go Patrick, I'm sure you'll tweet about it. He won't be able to help himself.
CONNELL: I'm sure he will as well. Look, we're just about out of time. It's been lively. It's been a bit shorter than normal. So, we might have to end it there. I'm getting the wrap. Jason, let me just ask you this in 30 seconds, do me a favour on that. Childcare, are you going on a bit of a journey here? Is it a very similar policy to Labor's?
FALINSKI: Oh, I don't know what Labor's policy is, but look, our value has always been.
CONNELL: You don't know?
FALINSKI: No, I don't. We've all had our values has, well …
CONNELL: Patrick can probably fact check that too.
FALINSKI: He probably can tweet that at me, I'm sure. But our value has always been about helping working parents get, making their lives easier and more affordable and helping them get back to work as soon as possible and looking after their kids.
CONNELL: Well, Patrick, you got your homework, Jason, we'll talk next week.
FALINSKI: Thank you.
GORMAN: Thank you.
ENDS