E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
TUESDAY, 12 JANUARY 2021
 
SUBJECTS: State border tensions; Australian MP’s response to social media companies banning Donald Trump; Screen time for kids. 
 
CHARLES CROUCHER, HOST: Australia is once again a nation divided, both by closed borders and the states differing approach to handling the coronavirus. Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan calling on his counterparts in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to follow his elimination approach to, quote, crush and kill the virus. For more, we're joined by Shadow Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten and Triple M's Gus Worland, gentlemen, good morning to both of you. Bill, we'll begin with you in Melbourne. You've been through the longest lockdown, but in fairness to other states, W.A has seen 79 cases of close contact transmission for the entire pandemic. Is it now reasonable for Premier McGowan to dictate national policy? 
 
BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: I think all that Premier McGowan is doing is dictating policy for Western Australia. Listen, I was contacted in the last few days by Victorians who were caught on the wrong side of the border. We've seen this happen all around Australia, with sudden borders going up and down, there's a lot of inconvenience. But I was thinking about it this morning, in preparation for the discussion today. And I'm thinking, let's get a bit of perspective here, Australia. It is inconvenient. I can't see family in Queensland. There's been a lot of inconvenience and hardship. But, you know, yesterday in the United Kingdom, forty five, forty six thousand cases of COVID, 310 people died in America yesterday. 529 died in the UK yesterday of COVID. So, I would rather they got a national coordinated approach and Morrison sort of handed it to the states to handle. But on balance, I think Australia's still doing a lot better than the rest of the world, and we're very lucky to live in this country.
 
CROUCHER: Bill, does this need a national response?
 
SHORTEN: I think it'd be great to have national co-ordination. I mean, took us 100 years to get the same train gauge. It shouldn't take us that long to be able to coordinate quarantine. I think the challenge is bringing people in from overseas. I can't speak for everyone in politics, but I am disturbed that there are Australians who want to come home who can't. It's not their fault that they're overseas. I do think we should have been a federal quarantine facilities to help process people back into this country. And I think Australians who want to come home should get that priority. That for me is the key issue. And perhaps with people with disabilities and their carers, they shouldn't have to go through all the red tape if they're in different states because we know they've got a disability. I think there's some low hanging fruit we could do better. 
 
CROUCHER: Gus, you've just lived through a few weeks of the difficulties of having borders closed to local regions and local zones. Is this sustainable to do it on a national level with states, given there are so many people that cross borders daily? 
 
GUS WORLAND, TRIPLE M: Yeah, that's the thing. It's so difficult, isn't it? And I agree totally with Bill, with what he's talking about here when it comes to trying to have a national approach. But we've done such an amazing job. If you keep micromanaging this, there's obviously things that we could do better. But at the end of the day, we've done an amazing job. My wife's from England, all her family in complete lockdown at the moment. The numbers coming out of the States, friends there, we've done an amazing job. Sure, there's things we could have done better and probably in hindsight, we could. But this was thrown upon us and we've been dealing with it, I think, in a particularly good way. So, let's get back to Team Australia, looking after each other the best we possibly can, which is what we spoke about back in March. We've done an amazing job. We've lost just over 900 people, which is a tragedy. But this is what people are losing every single day in certain countries in the world. And W.A can say whatever they want, but they don't have as many people over there. They've been able to manage it really well. Sure. Do your thing, but let everyone else do their own thing as well. 
 
CROUCHER: Bill, quickly, as the resident Victorian, this is the first time you need a permit to enter a state in Australia. Is that sustainable?  
 
SHORTEN: Oh, actually, going to parliament, I needed a permit to enter New South Wales during our lockdown and I needed another permit to enter the A.C.T. Listen, I like all new ideas. No doubt there'll be a few glitches. I suspect it is sustainable. What I want to say is just let's make sure if we're having a permit system, people can get it without fuss. That's the key thing. Although I have to say I don’t know if any of you have seen that lamb ad, and I'm not here to promote lamb particularly, but Sam Kekovich, a little out there in his views, but if you ever get a chance to show that lamb ad, it's a cracker, about the borders.  
 
CROUCHER: Yeah, we had it on yesterday. Let's move on, the fallout from President Trump's Twitter banishment is being felt here at home as well. There's a growing number of Coalition MP’s that are calling on social media companies to take a more consistent approach to deleting posts and users that are deemed abusive. Gus, you've worked a lot in the mental health space. How much responsibility should go on to these companies?  
 
WORLAND: Oh, absolutely huge, mental fitness, what I call it, and social media is incredibly important. And I love the fact that the pollies are getting involved in these big companies, but also making sure that it's a bit of a reminder to all of us out there how powerful a tweet can be, how powerful and how hurtful it can be as well, and a reminder to all parents to really remind their kids, or to anyone, really, if you wouldn't say to the person's face, don't write it down on a tweet or don't write it down on a Facebook post. It gives you a lot of confidence that social media platform, it can do so much damage. And I'm glad the pollies are stepping up.
 
CROUCHER: Bill, this also has a role in diplomacy because we have those tweets earlier, sort of late last year from Chinese officials, the graphic images of Australian soldiers, they weren't deleted. Should they have been? And should the social media companies step in in this front? 
 
SHORTEN: Yeah, listen, I think the Internet, whilst it's got so many blessings and brings the world together, it's also got an underbelly, a sewer, if you like. There's a lot of keyboard cowards. And I include that Chinese government person who put out that obscene post about our diggers. But I mean, there's keyboard cowards. The Internet has proven to be a magnet to draw together idiots and conspiracists who otherwise would never meet each other. I mean, it may be the one favour Donald Trump's done the world is getting himself banned on Twitter, because if Twitter can do it to him, then maybe some of the inflammatory comments that get said about our kids or about people in daily life, maybe we can just - you know, you're free to speak, but you've got to face the consequences of it. I mean, as for Trump, which triggered this debate, I mean, he has been irresponsible. I think Josh Frydenberg five years ago and myself, called him out and questioned his fitness. And it's been now proven to be true. But I worry about America. I mean, they’re almost, as some security experts say, in a pre-revolutionary state. I mean, the clown with the Viking horn helmet may be gone, but I just worry that Trump has authorised and given permission to extreme and violent people. And our own leaders need to stamp down on the QAnon conspiracy rubbish. Not. everything on the Internet is true.
 
CROUCHER: Yeah, drifting awfully close to ungovernable. Speaking of ungovernable, screen time has long been thought to hurt children’s performance at school. It's a daily battle for so many parents. But now a new study has revealed it could improve some results. Self-regulation of Internet use and gaming were especially effective in boosting scores. Gus, how tough is this for parents?  
 
WORLAND: Yeah, really tough. I've got three teenagers and my wife and I literally had World War Three when we decided a couple of years ago to say you've got one hour a day and that's after dinner and after you've done your homework, and it's phones out and into a basket as soon as you arrive home. And, oh, it was so difficult to keep that sort of rule going, but it's worked for us. This particular survey said something like more than four hours a day is bad. Like, I don't think you need a survey to realise that you should have less than four hours a day staring at a screen and doing that. So, yeah, it's common sense, isn't it? And parents need to step up again and say, no, don't use it as a babysitter because the information they're getting, sure, it could be fun and games. But there's also some stuff on there that just you don't want kids to see.
 
CROUCHER: And Bill, how about self-regulation in the Shorten household? 
 
SHORTEN: Oh man, it's never been harder to be a parent. I mean, there's such a wide gap between what you can do with technology and on screens and what parents know you can do. I mean, I've got a view that if you're going to bring the technology to the house and you can't avoid it, set the rules early. I'd like to send my kids to your boot camp, Gus.
 
WORLAND: You got it, Bill.
 
SHORTEN: You know, but I think the problem is that, you know, start as you intend to finish, set the rules up even before you bring it in. And I do wish that some parents of kids in primary school wouldn't give their kids the most modern iPhones. That puts pressure on families. I do think it leaves kids, if they're using it late in the night gaming, restless, anxious, sleepless. So I guess I'm not a giant fan of multiple, multiple hours of screen time, but it's easy to say that. The step is how do you sort of get a proper road map in your own house? And gee, parents need help doing all of that.
 
CROUCHER: The constant surveillance is definitely difficult. Gentlemen, great chat this morning. Great to speak to you once again. We look forward to doing it next week. 
 
WORLAND: Thank you,
 
SHORTEN: Cheerio.