Transcript - Sky News with Tom Connell - Thursday, 20 May 2021
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL
THURSDAY, 20 MAY 2021
SUBJECTS: State borders, vaccine rollout, superannuation, Liberals threat to WA’s fair share of GST
TOM CONNELL, HOST: Welcome back. Well, it's Gorman-Falinski time. From the Liberal Party, Jason Falinski, from Labor, Patrick Gorman, you're both here on time, what a privilege. Let's just begin on, I still can't believe that we're still talking about it, state borders. Jason Falinski, Gladys Berejiklian says, look, just do away with even talking about this, any citizen should be able to travel. The Prime Minister says let's get a vaccine passport. So if you get vaccinated, then you can travel between different states. Where do you sit on this?
JASON FALINSKI, LIBERAL MP: To be honest with you, I sit firmly in the camp of Gladys Berejiklian. It is Australia was designed to be one country, not divide it by state borders. I think to many premiers have used it for political purposes rather than health purposes. And Gladys is right.
CONNELL: So, Scott Morrison, wrong to go down this path of incentive, because it actually legitimizes the approach of states that are putting up borders.
FALINSKI: I think the Prime Minister is between a rock and a hard place. He's trying to get, you know, Australia to act as how it was designed as one nation. And he knows that he's got some recalcitrant premiers. And so he's trying to find a pathway through where they can be sensible. But at the moment, as I say, Gladys is absolutely right. We should just get it done.
CONNELL: There's another option for the Commonwealth go to the High Court, almost every legal expert we've spoken to says the Commonwealth would likely win such a case. So why not do that?
FALINSKI: Oh, Tom. And I've got another suggestion, too. Why don't premiers behave properly and appropriately, and in the best interests of their state and the people who live in their state?
CONNELL: Well, you know, they haven't changed their minds.
FALINSKI: Why do we have to run off to the High Court to get them to impose sensibility?
CONNELL: Because you can establish it and settle this question and not be talking about it maybe in 20 years’ time.
FALINSKI: Well, if we're still talking about this in 20 years’ time, I assure you we will, we will have run off to the High Court.
CONNELL: OK. When would that point come?
FALINSKI: I don't know. I'm not the Attorney-General. She's from Western Australia. You should ask her.
CONNELL: You're not yet, one day. Patrick Gorman, where do you sit on what Mark McGowan's had to say, that even when there's a very high take up of vaccine in WA and around the country, he might still go to lockdowns and border closures.
PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, there's so much in what you just covered with, Jason. Firstly, I'll say we had an Attorney-General from Western Australia. He sided with Clive Palmer in the High Court. The Prime Minister overruled him. We now have another Attorney-General from Western Australia being very silent on this matter. So I would agree with Jason that it'd be good to know where the Commonwealth stands on their views on whether they'll go back to the High Court on this question. But all of these debates, I mean, they're nice to have. I mean, they might make us feel good and fill a bit of air time, but none of it matters until we've got a vaccine. At the moment, it's hypothetical. I mean, it is hypothetical.
CONNELL: We do have … well come on though, we've got one. It's being rolled out. There's a lot more supply coming on board. This is not hypothetical, theoretical. They're going to be there. It's a question of what premiers do when …
GORMAN: We saw in the budget last week the Government cannot tell us when they expect the majority of the population to be vaccinated. That's a fact.
CONNELL: That's true. And we don't know. And it's been delayed whether the decision is coming in October or June next year. What should the decision be? Should Mark McGowan still be threatening to put up a border when we have, say, 80 per cent of the country vaccinated?
GORMAN: Look, I've always said these border measures should be temporary, they are only necessary when the health advice recommends that they be used, that is the only time that they should be used. I hope that we get a point where the health officials in Western Australia and across Australia that we no longer need it because …
CONNELL: Well health officials don't just say 'put up the border'. They say here are some options, here are some risks. They don't just say border up, border down, you know that.
GORMAN: Of course not, I mean, they're the medical professionals, they always give you a range of different measures to prevent the spread of the virus. And I think the evidence shows that the border measures that have been used last year did do that job when we needed it to. I hope that when we have a vaccine rollout that is done that means we don't have to return to that. I mean, it is I agree with Jason that it is unnatural, Australia is made to be whole. That's a fact. That is our history. But we can't use those ideological arguments to put the health of our populations at risk, whether it be Western Australia, New South Wales or any part of Australia.
CONNELL: I wanted to ask you, just still dwelling on the budget, superannuation, Jason Falinski, there was a few different measures in the so-called women's budget. This would mean anyone, not just women, but more women are in this category, earning less than $450 a month would still get super. At the moment, they don't. Some concern from business on this. Where do you sit on it?
FALINSKI: Well, look, I think the argument in favour of it is that it provides money for retirement for people on low incomes, and it could make it more administratively efficient for business owners trying to administer superannuation. There are a lot of people, however, on the other side of the argument who say, let's be blunt about this. Most businesses and most accounting software is already set up to achieve that outcome. So undoing it is actually going to create more complexity than simplification. And the amount of money that will be paid into superannuation is so small that actually it will all be eaten up in fees and charges by the superannuation funds. So it could be that this measure …
CONNELL: Where do you sit on it?
FALINSKI: Well, look, I mean, you know, I support the budget and I can see what we're trying to achieve, which is, as you pointed out, Tom, a lot of people in this category happen to be women. So, so, there will be that group. So it will be benefiting women, but particularly low paid women. However, I think that we need to ensure that this isn't a measure that just ends up making millionaire fund managers multi-millionaire fund managers.
CONNELL: So you think it could be that?
FALINSKI: Look, it's not me who says that. As you know, a lot of people, the Callaghan Review says that, you know, even the Ken Henry Tax Review says that. The Grattan Institute says that. ACOSS said that. I don't think I'd be on the same side of ACOSS very often, but ACOSS says so the whole bunch of people are worried about it.
CONNELL: All right, Patrick, finally to you. I keep up to date on all of your speeches, you're having a crack at the Federal Government for taking away money, GST money that they've given to WA based on …I mean, is there anything concrete here other than maybe there's an election around the corner?
GORMAN: Well, what we know is that we've had the Treasury Secretary say that the budget process is a two stage process. We've got the spend now, we know we're going to have the cuts later. We saw Jason, who chairs a very powerful committee, the Tax and Revenue Committee, Jason, having a shot at Western Australia for our share of GST. We've seen the New South Wales treasurer say that they would like to see a review of the GST processes that have been put in place just a few years ago. So there's very little I trust this Federal Liberal Government with and I definitely don't trust them to hold the line on WA getting a fair share of the GST.
CONNELL: Right. So it's just a trust thing. There's no, nothing concrete here that from the Federal Government.
GORMAN: Well, like I said, Tom, the Government's own chair of the Tax and Revenue Committee, Jason Falinski, sitting right there, was out last week, two days after the budget, having a shot at WA’s share of the GST.
CONNELL: So sad that we're out of time. No, I am, and I feel bad for it. Jason, you can muse over that for a week and come up with a good answer, you might need it.
FALINSKI: It'll be a killer zinger, don't you worry.
CONNELL: Talk next week. Thank you.