Transcript - ABC Radio Perth - Wednesday, 1 September

NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: Patrick Gorman is the Labor member for Perth, he's contacted the show. Hello, Patrick.

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Good morning, Nadia.

MITSOPOULOS: What are your thoughts? Were you listening to Michaelia Cash?

GORMAN: I did hear the Attorney-General, and I just felt that it was incredibly disrespectful to West Australians, who for 18 months have been doing the right thing, suppressing this virus, and then to raise the hypothetical about possibly what a court might decide, but then to refuse to rule out backing Clive Palmer for a second year in a row, is just the exact opposite of how we need to handle this crisis. What West Australians want to see is a cooperative approach. The first thing that the Minister could be doing is making sure we've got enough vaccines. And that's the problem right now, is if you want to get a booking for a vaccine, and you go online at the moment, you've got to wait weeks, if not months. So, we are talking about something probably toward the end of November or December before we can even get close to that threshold. And that's all because the Minister and Scott Morrison failed to order enough vaccines.

MITSOPOULOS: OK, but there is merit, isn't there, surely in all being on the same page?

GORMAN: Let me say very clearly, I want Australia to reconnect. I want people to be able to see their families. It's heartbreaking to see the stories of people separated. But the path to that is vaccination. It's not through the High Court. You know, there was nothing gained by doing the High Court's support to Clive Palmer last year. The only thing it achieved was waste a million dollars of taxpayers’ money. So, let's find the cooperative way, rather than lecturing people through the front pages of newspapers about a hypothetical court challenge. You know, I've got to say also, you know, Zak Kirkup and the WA Liberals have had a pretty rough report the other day, but at least they had the credibility to rule out taking money from Clive Palmer. And now we've got the Federal Liberals who can't even rule out helping in the High Court for a second year.

MITSOPOULOS: Thank you very much for that, Patrick, appreciate your calling in this morning.