Transcript - ABC Radio Perth - Wednesday, 18 August 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO PERTH
WEDNESDAY, 18 AUGUST 2021

SUBJECTS: WA purpose-built quarantine facility, Dorothy Tangney statue
 
NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: I want to go to Patrick Gorman, because he was listening to Simon Birmingham this morning, the Federal Finance Minister, talking about the memorandum of understanding that has been signed with the State Government to go ahead with a purpose built quarantine facility at Jandakot. 1000 beds, 500 initially by March, and then another 500. Construction to start in October, and you heard the Premier there say that's ambitious and he doesn't think that that will happen. And it's going to cost a few hundred million, is what Simon Birmingham said. He couldn't give me an exact figure. Hi, Patrick.

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Hi, Nadia, and hello to your listeners.

MITSOPOULOS: What did you want to say?

GORMAN: Look, I think for my community of Perth, where we've got all of the hotel quarantine is in the CBD of Perth right now, in my electorate. It was really frustrating because the Minister and the Government have said they're not going to do anything about taking the hotel quarantine out of the CBD. And we know that that hits the local businesses in Perth and the inner suburbs hardest when there's an outbreak. We've had 27 outbreaks from hotel quarantine. And I'm with the Premier on this. I think this is too little, too late. And I'm very sceptical of the timeline.

MITSOPOULOS: Well, I mean, I understand that, I would assume that that quarantine facility would mean more international people could come back, but I also, maybe naively so, I was under the impression that it would eventually replace hotel quarantine because it is not fit for purpose. And that had always been the argument. So, and yet I picked up on that Simon Birmingham saying, well, they could co-exist, well I didn't think that was the point. So I wonder if that means that you're going to try and get more people back in from overseas?

GORMAN: Well, we know that there are still tens of thousands of Australians who are stuck overseas waiting for an approval from DFAT and waiting for an approval from the government to come home. And we're 18 months in. So, I just feel like this is, you know, there's no urgency.

MITSOPOULOS: I mean, it should have been done a year ago I think, you know? Really.

GORMAN: Yeah. The Prime Minister's approach of 'it's not a race', I think it's just completely the wrong approach and a pandemic. In a pandemic, slow and steady doesn't win the race. And we could have been doing this. And I just thought, listening to Simon Birmingham, I wouldn't make you the CEO of a mining company if you ever left politics, because they could do it in a couple of months.

MITSOPOULOS: Patrick, thank you. Yeah. Patrick, thank you very much for that. Now, before you go, though, I know that you wanted to, I'm going to go through the list of suggestions for female statues, and you want to add one to the list?

GORMAN: I do want to add one to the list. Last year, I wrote to the Prime Minister saying I would like to get some funding from the Federal Government for a statue of Dorothy Tangney. Dorothy Tangney was the first woman in the Senate in Australia. She was a Western Australian. She lived in North Perth. She was a great advocate for child rights, women's rights. And I've also written to the City of Perth asking them to identify a location for that statue.

MITSOPOULOS: And have you had a response from the City of Perth?

GORMAN: Look, I have a response. Look, I'm encouraged by what I've heard from the Deputy Lord Mayor, and I hope that their attitude will change. Their response was we'll look at finding sites when you find the money. And I think it's kind of like it's buck-passing everywhere. Let's just get everyone together, say let's identify a range of sites along St George's Terrace and then we can have a community consultation of which statues should be prioritised. I'm confident between Federal, State and Local, we'll find the money.

MITSOPOULOS: Good on you. Patrick Gorman there, the Federal Member for Perth.