Transcript - Television Transcript - Sky News with Danica De Giorgio - Monday, 14 March 2022
DANICA DE GIORGIO, HOST: Now it is time to bring in our Monday political panel. Joining us is Labor MP Patrick Gorman and Liberal MP Jason Falinski. Great to see you both. Thank you for your patience over the last hour. Let's get straight into it. I want to begin with the Newspoll. Jason, Anthony Albanese has drawn level with Scott Morrison as preferred Prime Minister. This is now the first time that's happened in more than two years. How concerned are you by this?
FALINSKI: Well, Danica. Let's see. Let's see how popular is when he starts releasing some policies. I mean, at the moment, you've got an empty vessel making all this noise. He will have to if he wants to be prime minister of Australia, start actually announcing some policies. And if he won't, I think it's incumbent upon me and other members of the Liberal Party to start announcing policies for the Labor Party on their behalf. And as you know, we're always happy to help out in this regard.
DE GIORGIO: Jason, are Natural Disasters Scott Morrison's weak point? There's been a lot of focus on Russia, and national security the last few weeks, but there's been a lot of criticism, as we've just heard in that press conference over the flood response. His visit to Lismore, we saw it two years ago with the Cobargo fires. Are these events going to hurt the Prime Minister in the long run?
FALINSKI: Look, I think that most sensible Australians understand that the Prime Minister does not create floods. If the argument is around what the Government's response to it was, I think what we have seen over the last week has been what, certainly over the weekend, has been most unedifying where you have State Governments trying to blame the Federal Government and the ADF in particular for a lack of response. People who are currently have no way to live, honestly, just want us to get on with the job of building their homes, rebuilding places for them to live in their communities and they would probably look askance at what some of the some of the carry on over the weekend has been about.
DE GIORGIO: Patrick, I'll throw over to you now, Jason, before this just said that he could put some policies together for the Labor Party. Does Labor have the ability to cut through on key issues that we're saying this week when it comes to cost of living and other pressures
GORMAN: Labor has already put out a range of policies that I believe the Prime Minister should adopt when it comes to cost of living. We've got our child care policy, making it more affordable for families to get back into work. We've got our TAFE policy - free TAFE for in-demand industries. And what I saw from Jason, just then, where he said that he's going to start putting words in the mouths of Labor spokespeople and announce that policies. Well, I remember what the Liberal Party did at the last election, where they had the lies running around about the Ute Tax and everything else. The fake news that they paid for on Facebook. Jason, you were behind all of that. That campaign, that was a disgrace. You've never apologised for it. You were probably one of the masterminds behind the "ruin the weekend" campaign. So I just encourage viewers of Sky News to be quietly sceptical when you see the Liberal Party putting words in the mouth of the Labor Party.
DE GIORGIO: Patrick, just before, Anthony ...
FALINSKI: Describing me as the mastermind is fake news.
DE GIORGIO: Anthony Albanese was just asked at a press conference a short time ago what his policy is and how would he reduce the cost of living? He couldn't really give a clear enough answer. So is he going to be able to get back to voters?
FALINSKI: He couldn't? He ran away from that question?
GORMAN: Maybe the answer wasn't able to be heard because Jason was yelling over the top. But, look, we've put out a range of policies and we'll continue to do so. We obviously put out a landmark policy at the end of last year - Powering Australia - about bringing down the cost of electricity for people across Australia. We know that the cost of electricity is a key input in manufacturing that affects people all across the country in terms of the cost of goods. So, we'll continue to put things out. But after nine years of this Government, there's a lot of damage that needs to be repaired, particularly when it comes to wages growth, which again, if we want to talk about people who have want nothing to say in the Government has nothing to say when it comes to wages growth. Wages growth has been going backwards.
DE GIORGIO: All right. Jason, I just want to interject because we are running out of time. But Jason, I want to talk to you about the cost of fuel. Do you think the fuel excise should be dropped or cut?
FALINSKI: Oh, look, I think we need to focus laser-like on cost of living pressures, including to Patrick's point about childcare. So this isn't just about fuel. It's about a range of things that working families are currently having to pay for. That we need to try and get government policies that reduce the cost of that for them. I mean, Danica, what I will say is that won't be solved by slogans wrapped in cliches, covered by money donated by the union movement. Patrick can say "we put out a range of policies, he'd be ...
GORMAN: Because we have.
FALINSKI: ... he would be flat out talking about three. When it comes to housing affordability and housing ownership all the Labor Party can talk about is a $10 billion fund for public housing, which is not home ownership. When it comes to lowering prices on electricity, they put out a net zero policy, where the modelling was found to be incorrect within two days inside overstated the cost of the reduction to electricity. The problem with Labor Party is the closer they get to the election, the more people are going to want to know what they are offering, and as we stand here today, they have nothing that they are offering the Australian people. We only on the other hand are not about slogans. We're about solutions.
DE GIORGIO: All right, Patrick, what's your response to this? Do you believe that the fuel excise needs to be cut?
GORMAN: I think with Jason says "we're not about slogans, we're about solutions" that sounded a lot like a slogan to me. Well, look, when it comes to the fuel excise ...
FALINSKI: Prove me wrong, Patrick, prove me wrong.
GORMAN: We will see what the Government's got in their budget. This is the same Prime Minister that refused to make Rapid Antigen Tests free. That was a cost of living pressure that people were feeling.
FALINSKI: You were asked one simple question.
GORMAN: I know that here in Western Australia, as we have our first wave of the Omicron outbreak, people are feeling that cost of living pressure compounded with the increasing fuel costs.
DE GIORGIO: WA's been pretty lucky the last two years though. They have had no COVID cases.
FALINSKI: They've got money from the East Coast and look what it's done with it.
GORMAN: I'm not sure what you're talking about, Jason, you're the chair of the Economics Committee. I think, you know that Western Australia pumps money into the national economy.
FALINSKI: No, I'm talking about the GST deal, Patrick. Would you like me to explain it for you?
DE GIORGIO: Before we end. Patrick, I just want to ask your question. Speaking of the West, the Prime Minister is actually heading to your neck of the woods later this week. This will be, of course, his very first visit to WA since the borders reopened. What sort of a reception do you think he'll get?
GORMAN: The Prime Minister has this habit now of doing an apology tour to Western Australia. Each year, he comes in, apologises for his errors of the previous year. He came last year and he apologised for backing Clive Palmer in the High Court. I'm sure he'll come in this year and apologise for Barnaby Joyce's comparison of Western Australia to North Korea. I think it's going to be tough for him, but I know why he's here. He's here to fundraise. He's got a $14,000 a head fundraiser on Wednesday night. He's treating WA like a cash cow, just like Jason does.
DE GIORGIO: Oh, unfortunately, you've run out of time.
FALINSKI: How much does it cost to have dinner with Mark McGowan, Patrick?
DE GIORGIO: We don't have time, we don't have time for a response. But you know, it was always good speaking to you both, and thank you for joining me and thank you for your patience and for a laugh. Patrick Gorman. Jason Falinski. Thank you.