E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2SM MARCUS PAUL IN THE MORNING
THURSDAY, 6 MAY 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Australians stranded in India; Morrison Government passing the buck on quarantine; need for a change of Government; Labor’s chances at the next election. 
 
MARCUS PAUL, HOST: [INTERUPTED AUDIO] or Jones and company are trapped in India as a deadly virus sweeps the country and the world. What would Prime Minister Bob Hawke have done? He'd have ordered a stealth mission to make sure every Australian in India was brought home to safety. Our Government has similar obligations and I believe all citizens should be returned home and to the safety, relative safety, of Australia. We've let people down because quarantine unfortunately has not been a key priority of the Federal Government. Look, I see this morning, they are now considering exclusively using Howard Springs to quarantine return travelers from India. But for God's sake, they're being dragged, kicking and screaming to do so. So, I thought this morning we talked about this and a few other issues, of course with Bill Shorten from the federal Labor Party. Good morning to you, Bill. 
 
BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: Good morning, Marcus. How are you? 
 
PAUL: I'm well, thank you very much for your time. I know you're a very busy man, but I know you’ll concur that our Government has obligations to all of its citizens.
 
SHORTEN: Yes, it does. This is an issue which I know listeners might have conflicting reactions. On one hand, I think listeners think objectively, well, if you're an Australian in trouble overseas, government should try and help you. But on the other hand, people might also say, well, we don't want people coming back who’ve got COVID and overwhelming our facilities. And it's a bit scary, having another COVID outbreak, and I can understand why both those attitudes can be equally held, even though they seem to be conflicting. But really, what I wanted to do is something which, explain something which I've been saying for some months now, that the Federal Government has responsibility for quarantine. The people who wrote our constitution back in the 1890’s gave that power specifically to the Federal Government. And the reason why is that once upon a time when people came to Australia, and there were diseases elsewhere, the government and the colonies before them, right back in the 1890’s, and 1900’s, used to have special quarantine facilities, not in the middle of our big cities, but in areas further away on the coast and elsewhere, whereby, if you were sick, you would like to get better, or in the case of those days because of lack of medicine, died. But the point about it is that we had quarantine facilities and the Morrison Government has a stunned sort of look on it like, like a baby's got to have been spanked on the bottom, with this look of outrage and saying why do you expect us to do anything on quarantine, when in fact, they can and should have built facilities 16 months ago for Australians trapped overseas.
 
PAUL: Well that’s right. So, then we've known for, as you say, 15, 16 months that this pandemic was going to be horrific. It's almost as if we've – and credit where it’s due, in comparison to other nations around the world Bill, we have done exceptionally well.
 
SHORTEN: Yeah, we have.
 
PAUL: But it's almost like it's almost like we've decided to gaze in the mirror at how well we've done, and we've just forgotten about you know, important things like setting up quarantine. It's far from over, quite obviously, with new strains of COVID-19 being discovered around the world, and most recently in India. And look, there's been plenty of times that the Federal Government could have set aside places perhaps like Howard Springs, even Christmas Island or elsewhere. For goodness sake, as I said to Anthony Albanese yesterday, we’re spending tens of millions of dollars, taxpayers dollars, keeping a family of four from Biloela, in detention, why can't we use that facility while we're paying for it, to quarantine returning Australian citizens? 
 
SHORTEN: Absolutely. And this is not a new idea. And do you know Taiwan, and America and other countries are organising plane loads to repatriate their citizens who are trapped in India? And we're not. Sometimes, in the hurly burly of the immediate moment, it's hard to sort of pause and reflect that we're doing now, what will it look like in a year or two years or three years? This is one of those times so I just said of the people who feel it's too hard and we should just leave people, abandon people - this country knows what to do. We can put people in safe facilities. We should be putting people, repatriating people, to safe facilities outside of big cities. 
 
PAUL: Yep. 
 
SHORTEN: And I think in a year or two- or three-years’ time, when eventually this Government's dragged kicking and screaming by the outrage of ordinary citizens, we’ll say why didn't we do this quicker and sooner?
  
PAUL: Look, the other issue of course, is that we're - you know, we're very compassionate we're very kind we've we're helping out where needed. We've sent much needed oxygen and other supplies to India. The Prime Minister yesterday was, you know, photographing a jet leaving I think it was either Sydney or Melbourne, with all of these wonderful bits and pieces, but it's gonna come back empty. Why can't it be used, seeing as though we're paying for it, to bring people back to the relative safety of quarantine here in Australia? 
 
SHORTEN: It is ridiculous and because I'm a student of history, history can't always predict the future, but it can give us some tips to handle in the future. We've done this before. So, to all those Australians who, some have written to me - some support what I'm saying, some are giving me free anatomical advice, and those emails tend to come after 9pm, I suspect when the authors had too many chardy’s - but in all seriousness, I say to those people, if it was your kids or your parents or your spouse, I'd be equally motivated to see them repatriated. We've been arguing this for 14 months, hundreds, thousands of people have come back from countries where there's been very virulent COVID. So, you know, we've taken people from America, we were taking the Americans from America. And COVID was out of control there for some time. 
 
PAUL: Yeah. 
 
SHORTEN: So, I do not know why for a neighbour in Indian Ocean, a strategic ally, someone who plays cricket, you know, they've got a lot in common - 
 
PAUL: Absolutely.
 
SHORTEN: - we won’t to do it. And I also say that there's been a bit of debate that people overseas should have come home early, or they should never have left Australia. Well, I suppose with hindsight, people shouldn't have left Australia. But the reasons why people go overseas, we shouldn't second guess. If your parent is dying, and there's no travel restriction, and you want to say goodbye to them, you might go. And if you have work, which takes you there, you might go. We shouldn't be a nation who judges every everyone when what they need is inconvenient, because one day that person could be us.
 
PAUL: Yeah, well, I mean, it's not illegal to travel overseas. 
 
SHORTEN: And it shouldn't be illegal to come back here. I think, Mr. Morrison, when he said he was going to arrest people, I think he jumped the shark then, that was just ridiculous. I think that was probably a bit of a tipping point. Like what are you doing, Scott? The people over there want to get home and the idea that you would jail and when you come home, I find extraordinary. 
 
PAUL: Well, the backpedalling yesterday was ferocious from the PM, which I kind of expected. And look, it's just another issue I think, where the Prime Minister and his government have been found a little, I don't know, tired. As Anthony Albanese said yesterday, in the Australian public re-elect the LNP, next year, possibly in May of next year, when we go to a federal election, that'll be you know, an extremely long, tired Government. It is time for a change. And look – 
 
SHORTEN: I would have argued that time arrived a couple of years ago, but if I thought that then I certainly think it now. You’re right. 
 
PAUL: I mean, what is it going to take? Because we know that - I don't pay that much attention or lip service to too many of the polls, etc, but it is very close. What is it going to take, do you think, to the next election to get Labor's message across the line that, look, this is a tired government, people are wanting more compassion they're wanting less corruption, they’re wanting less, you know, I guess lip service to big multinationals and corporate knights and all the rest, but they want a fairer, more equitable, Australia, a government that takes climate change seriously, a government that, you know, supports workers’ rights. What's it gonna take to get this across the line, Bill?
 
SHORTEN: I think the lived experience of this current Government is surprising people. In other words, if you're trying to get an NDIS package and the Government wants to cut it. If you're trying to find your parent a dignified homecare package for aged care and you can't get it. If you're in the travel agency business, and this Government's just dropped you like a school bag after the COVID experience. If you are someone who is a casual employee for years and years and just can't get permanent work, and therefore you can't, you're not able to get a loan for a mortgage. I think the more and more people that brush up with a Government that doesn't seem to understand how ordinary Australians are constructing their family budgets and the cares and pressures, then I think they will reasonably ask the question, well, is this Government on my side, whose side are they on? 
 
PAUL: Well, that's right. And that's why I think it's important that we get the message out there, the NDIS is still unfortunately failing in a number of areas, people are dying while they're waiting for care within their own homes. And these are issues that do need to be addressed. And that's before I even bring in the aged care sector to an extent. We will talk further on this no doubt, and it's been wonderful sharing some of your time this morning. Thank you. 
 

SHORTEN: Thanks for speaking up for the people trapped in India and I know it's not easy or popular. But I just say Marcus to your listeners, those who think it's all too hard and we should just abandon people, what did Adam Lindsey Gordon say? Much of life is froth and bubble but two things stand like stone. Kindness in another's trouble and courage in your own. And I think that's what we should be, kind when other people are in trouble. 

 
PAUL: Absolutely. Thank you for your time and for chatting to us.
 
SHORTEN: A bit of poetry.
 
PAUL: All right, Bill. He’s a poet and he didn’t know it! Bill Shorten MP Shadow Minister for the NDIS and Government Services of course federal member and former Labor leader.