E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
MELBOURNE
SATURDAY, 17 MARCH 2018
SUBJECTS: Labor’s plan for a fairer taxation system; Batman by-election; foreign affairs
GED KEARNEY, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BATMAN: Good morning everybody. Here it is polling day, it's very exciting. All the hard work of the last few weeks really boils down to today, it's over to the hands of the good people of Batman. I think we've run a really excellent campaign, I’m feeling very good about today and I'm very happy with how the campaign has gone.
I'm really pleased that Bill Shorten is here with us at Preston and I'm going to hand over to Bill to say a few words.
BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks Ged, and I just want to take the opportunity to remind people who live in Melbourne's northern suburbs in the electorate of Batman, please vote. This is your chance to have a say about who your representative to Canberra can be.
And the Labor Party is so pleased it's offering Ged Kearney as the next Member of Parliament for Batman. Ged's been a nurse at the hospital, we're almost in the shadow of that hospital, the Austin hospital down the road. She's been a nurses’ union leader, she's stood up for the conditions of people in the health sector. She's represented and achieved real change in everything she's ever done.
She's raised her family in the area, she's a great Labor candidate. And I just want to congratulate Ged for the campaign she's run so far. There's still hours and hours of voting to go, but I and Labor couldn't be happier with Ged Kearney. And she represents real change for the seat and real change for the lives of many of the people in this seat.
We're happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: You said it was going to be an uphill battle, Bill, it's polling day, are you any more confident?
SHORTEN: I think it's a tough fight. There's no doubt that Ged has put us in a very competitive position, but also our agenda. We want to see better public transport, we want to see a better deal for our hospitals and schools, we want to see real action on reducing aged care waiting lists. The story that Ged is talking with the people of Batman, I think, resonates. It's now in the hands of the people, it's certainly a tough fight, but, you know, I can't sugar coat that. But we've put the toughest person into the field.
JOURNALIST: Why did you announce your dividend imputation policy before this poll, did you misjudge how people would react to it?
SHORTEN: Labor has been arguing for a fairer tax system for the last two years. We're the ones who've said tat we need to reform negative gearing, we're the ones who are actually saying that we can't have a two-class tax system in this country. I think, and I think many Australians who weren't aware of this dividend imputation system, were surprised to discover that you can pay no income tax and receive literally tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax refunds when you don't pay tax.
Australia can't keep going down this path. What we need to do is to make sure that we're actually tackling cost of living, we need to make sure our hospital and schools, like this school, are well funded. And we need to make room in the budget to be able to give tax relief to low-and-middle-income earners. The fight for a fairer tax system is every day.
JOURNALIST: Did you shoot yourself in the foot by announcing it before this poll?
SHORTEN: No, I think that the nation absolutely needs to have a fairer tax system. I'll tell you what I'm concerned about, I'm concerned that when people have to wait over a year on an aged care waiting list, when you have to wait two years for public dental, when we've got schools - our kids being educated in demountable classrooms. This country can do better for a whole lot of people, and that's what Labor is doing, and if we get Ged today, well, then we've got another chance to do even better for people.
JOURNALIST: Did you have the full support of the party when you made that announcement earlier, or last week?
SHORTEN: Certainly the party has been very supportive, I have to say, about us having a fairer tax system. It's not just a matter of the Labor Party. I think that there's a lot of Australians, in fact, there's 92 per cent of Australians who don't receive a tax refund when they haven't paid income tax. At the core of the issue, how is that fair? How is it fair, you pay your taxes, lots of people pay their taxes, you don't get many tax refunds I'm sure, but the idea that you can get a big tax refund when you don't even pay tax, that’s just isn't a sustainable proposition. Not when we've got so many other things that we need to do to help families in this country.
JOURNALIST: Did you anticipate how controversial it would be in the electorate though?
SHORTEN: There's no doubt that change is hard, but at the end of the day this nation needs people who are willing to stand up and argue for a better country, we can't just look at business as usual. There are people in this electorate with insecure housing, there are people who have had their penalty rates cut, there are people who don't have good public transport options, there are people waiting to get aged care assistance which they desperately require, schools in this electorate shouldn't be having their kids educated in demountable classrooms, these are the things that matter. We've got a hospital system, an emergency wards system which is absolutely straining at the seams, and all we have is an out of touch Government.
JOURNALIST: You told one of the anti-Adani protesters on the way in that a vote for the Greens is as good as a vote for the Liberals when it comes to Adani. Talk me through that statement?
SHORTEN: Well I didn't say that last word, what I said is that one person who will be happy if the Greens win today will be Malcolm Turnbull. He's not going to change anything he does. The problem in this country is that if you park a vote on the Greens, we're not going to get the real change which Ged Kearney can offer.
JOURNALIST: Do you think the UK has been too quick to blame Russia for the nerve agent attack?
SHORTEN: Listen, this is one matter which I am quite in strong agreement with Malcolm Turnbull. It would certainly appear that Russia has interfered and broken laws in England, and I am supportive of how the Prime Minister has handled the matter so far.
JOURNALIST: Russia’s ambassador to Australia wants to meet with DFAT, do you think that's a good idea?
SHORTEN: I guess it's a good idea for diplomats to meet with diplomats. But let's go to the real issue here. The Government's got a position of supporting the UK in terms of their outrage at what's happened, and I'm supportive of the Government's position.
JOURNALIST: Bill, today the ASEAN conference is underway over the whole weekend, do you think that Malcolm Turnbull should be raising human rights concerns with some of these leaders?
SHORTEN: I think that Australia can never hide from standing up for human rights wherever they are breached around the world. What I'm not going to do is stand on the sidelines and say that he's got to say a particular sentence at a particular point in the agenda. But I'd be disappointed if the Australian Government wasn't using its capacity to speak up for human rights. But I'm not going to criticise and say you've got to do some stunt. Professional diplomacy needs to be practiced, but we should never walk away, cross to the other side of the street and ignore human rights abuses.
JOURNALIST: Should he be speaking to An San Suu Kyi a bit more about the problems with the Rohingyas?
SHORTEN: I certainly think that the Government should make its representations, as I will, but I'm not necessarily saying that the Government has to sort of carry on like a bunch of Green protestors.
JOURNALIST: There were some voters out the front who said that they were still confused about the Labor Party’s position on the Adani coal mine, do you think that's been a weakness of the campaign?
SHORTEN: No I think that some people have tried to – the Greens, the Green political party haas tried to say that Labor is starting this coal mine - it's not. I think that people are confused, if they are, it's because the Greens. The Greens haven't got a plan for the environment, they've just got a slogan. What we'll do with Ged Kearney is we'll actually achieve 50 per cent renewable energy. We want to see people’s electricity, power bills, go down. Cost of living is a real issue, the Greens haven't got a plan for that. Only Labor has a plan to actually put downward pressure on electricity prices, gas prices and also genuinely save the environment.
JOURNALIST: But you also are talking about pensioners that stand to lose large tax rebates, what do you say to them and their fears?
SHORTEN: I don't accept the assumption of your question. When it comes to standing up for pensioners, Labor has got the track record. Pensioners will always do better under Labor. And in fact as you're probably aware, it was the Liberals with the support of the Green political party who cut 92,000 people off the pension altogether, and who moved 270,000, approximately, part-pensioners to lower part-pensions because of their tighter assets test. It's the Government who is freezing Medicare which is increasing the out-of-pocket expenses when pensioners go to the doctor. I'm completely confident that Labor is the party who wants to lower the cost of living pressures on pensioners. We've voted against the cuts unlike the Greens political Party, we've got the track record, and we'll have more to say about pensioners and part-pensioners as we go forward.
JOURNALIST: Your colleague Pat Conroy says he would like to apologise to pensioners who have been affected by these changes, are you willing to apologise as well?
SHORTEN: I don't know what Pat has said, so next question.
JOURNALIST: Bill, I'm not sure if you've answered this already, but Labor is facing two tests this weekend. You've got this by-election here and you've also got the South Australia election. There's some suggestion that voters may punish the Weatherill government because of how long they've been in power. What do you think Labor's chances will be in both these, the by-election and the state election?
SHORTEN: In South Australia, Labor has been in for 16 years, that's a hard ask. But Jay Weatherill has got the best policies for South Australia, full stop. So I think that he puts forward the best case to look after South Australian jobs in energy prices, cost of living and of course healthcare. In Batman, as I said earlier before you came, this is a tough fight, but we're running the best candidate. And Ged Kearney, I think has done wonders to lift confidence in Labor, in this electorate. And also we've got the best policies. We want to extend the number 11 tram line, we want to make sure the schools are properly funded, we're the only ones with the ability to fund our promises in healthcare. So I think that when you look at it, fair minded people will say, Ged Kearney, number one.
JOURNALIST: But are you expecting a victory tonight or do you think you'll get beat or do you think it will be tight?
SHORTEN: Very last question because I did get asked this question before you arrived.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, sorry.
SHORTEN: It's a tough fight, it's now over to the people of Batman, it's over to the voters, and what I would like to do is talk to a few more of them.
Thanks everybody.
ENDS
