BILL SHORTEN - TRANSCRIPT - TELEVISION INTERVIEW - TODAY SHOW - TUESDAY, 18 AUGUST 2020

18 August 2020

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
TUESDAY, 18 AUGUST 2020

SUBJECTS: Hotel quarantine revelations; Chaos at border towns; Queensland border; Hekmatullah release.


KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: More damning evidence from Melbourne's hotel quarantine inquiry. Just two hotels being blamed for causing Victoria's entire second wave of infections. The inquiry was shown pictures of security guards sleeping on the job while the memo from the state's Department of Health gave direct advice there was no need to wear protective equipment inside the hotels. Boy, oh, boy. From Melbourne, I'm joined by Shadow Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten. And in Brisbane, Triple M’s Margaux Parker. Good morning, guys. Nice to see you. Bill, to you. First of all, this is just staggering.

BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: Well, as a Victorian who's been in Stage 3 and Stage 4 since July the 1st, this saga just keeps rolling on. Although looking at some of the footage, I can't help wonder why are we still having an argument about PPE? You know, the aged care workers couldn't get it. They were told they didn't need it in hotels, based on the evidence. I hope in the future we could just have a national stockpile of PPE. And can I just say one final thing, Karl, on this. Why do we need guards to guard adults? It just it is frustrating.

STEFANOVIC: I guess people can't be trusted inside those hotels. And that's exasperating as well. Margaux, it's hardly surprising. There's so much confusion and chaos out there.

MARGAUX PARKER, TRIPLE M: Yeah, most definitely. I think when your contractors are being employed through services like WhatsApp, you know, common sense may not always prevail and the right protocols and procedures may not be employed. But, yeah, I mean, us here in Queensland, you know, are learning very much first hand, from you guys, what not to do, down there in Melbourne. I know that I went to Apple yesterday to get a new phone and I had to do the temperature check. I had to wear a mandatory mask. And I mean, we're here in Queensland where there's seven active cases.

STEFANOVIC: Yep, get on top of it.

PARKER: It's common sense, really.

SHORTEN: It’s worth doing.

PARKER: And I’m not sure why it wasn't initiated in the beginning when we have the research to show that its effective?

STEFANOVIC: Yeah completely, right from the start. This week, we've been highlighting the terrible human impact the hard border closures are having on our border communities. A little later, we'll be speaking to one cancer patient who's being forced to miss chemotherapy appointments as she waits for travel exemption. Bill, the PM is asking the Premiers to sort this out. I mean, you've got to feel for those border towns along the Victoria, New South Wales border right now, in South Australia as well. But they're doing it really tough with almost zero cases.

SHORTEN: It is really hard. The border communities are not made for putting up the boundaries. I just wonder, though, can't common sense break out? I mean, if these are health matters, can't they have a special fast lane? I mean, you can do that for getting on a plane. I don't see why we couldn't apply a bit of common sense. And the PM, he might be able to come in here and help. I mean, he should be in the solutions business, too. But common sense, you know, they can move people around Disneyland quickly. Can't they move people from Albury to Wodonga?

STEFANOVIC: That is that is a very good line. They've got the fast pass over there and everything. And why not? Yeah. Margaux, Annastacia Palaszczuk, meantime, crushed me yesterday when she said I won't be able to go back to Queensland, maybe not until Christmas. That is a huge, it's a long haul for tourism operators, isn't it?

PARKER: Well, we know you love Noosa, Karl. And it is a beautiful part of the world. But she is staying pretty firm on her decisions in and around the borders. I mean, we as Queenslanders are grateful for that. You know, you can see from our statistics and our figures in regards to active cases that it's effective. I mean, her mentality is eradicate, not contain, like some of the other states. But I mean, it is a shame for people such as yourself that want to come up or who have family here, for people who are sick and want to come and visit loved ones. But unfortunately, I think the approach that she's taking for us, as Queenslanders, is working. And at the Queensland, I'm happy to holiday in Queensland, so it doesn't bother me at all.

STEFANOVIC: It's very popular. That's for sure. She's got an election to win that in late October and looks like she's going to canter in. Bill, after seven o'clock today, we feature an exclusive interview with Hugh Poate, whose son was murdered in Afghanistan along with two other Australian soldiers. But his killer is about to walk free as part of the US prisoner swap deal after being promised by the Australian government it would never happen. The Australian government says it's made representations to the US government, but clearly the US government is cutting deals all over the place and we have no power now. I can't imagine how this plays out for our serving and retired diggers. I spoke to Hugh last night. This dreadful decision, he says, has brought back to them, the diggers, memories of the incident carrying the dead or bleeding mates to medevac choppers. The ramp ceremonies, the indignity of losing mates in such a cowardly manner rather than in a battle. The funerals and the families who many of these veterans have come to know - they deserve better, don't they, Bill?

SHORTEN: Yeah, this was a shocking war crime, and that's what I call it. A Taliban infiltrator pretended to be in the Afghan National Army, on the 29th of August 2012, at a patrol base in Uruzgan province. He turned his M-16 on diggers who were there to help and train, Rick Milosevic. James Martin and Robert Poate were murdered by this terrorist. He's been on the run since then. He got into Pakistan. I mean, frankly, they should have taken him out with a Hellfire missile, that was legitimate. Then the Afghans have sentenced him to death. But now there's going to be a prisoner swap. Five thousand Taliban terrorists given back to the Taliban. And Donald Trump has ticked the deal off. And I want Scott Morrison to tell Donald Trump that we are his allies, not his doormat. I mean, Trump's got a shocking record. He does deals with the North Koreans, with Putin. He does deals with the bad guys. And yet we've got Aussie diggers murdered. And our Government is just sending letters, making representations. It makes me ashamed. This is wrong. And we've let the families down. We've let the other diggers down who served with these men. You shouldn't be able to kill Australians overseas and then have your closest ally give away the murderer in a prisoner swap. It's not on. We have to stand up to Trump and say not on.

STEFANOVIC: I agree with you wholeheartedly, Bill. We say, lest we forget, we should mean it, right?

SHORTEN: Yeah, well, I think most Australian people will be upset to realise that that our closest military ally is handing back a terrorist thug who cowardly turned his rifle on Australian servicemen.

STEFANOVIC: I agree.

SHORTEN: Terrible.

STEFANOVIC: Hugh, by the way, is coming up after seven o'clock this morning. Thank you guys so much. We'll talk to you next week.