E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY
TUESDAY 3 NOVEMBER, 2020

SUBJECTS: Melbourne Cup; U.S Presidential Election

ALLISON LANGDON, HOST: Thanks for your company this morning, well look at that, would you? It is going to be a Melbourne Cup like no other, Flemington race course, virtually deserted as the race goes ahead without a crowd. You're going to have bars, cafes, beaches and parks across the city, they're all expecting large numbers with police warning they'll come down hard on COVID rule breakers. From Melbourne, I'm joined by Shadow Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten, and from New York, Aussie journalist, Miranda Devine, lovely to see both of you. Bill, you're in Melbourne. Boy, oh, boy. What a day it's going to be. Hey.

BILL SHORTEN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Yeah. The weather forecast’s fabulous. It’s the one hundred and sixtieth running of the Melbourne Cup. Melbourne Cup Day is a special day in Melbourne. It is a public holiday. And I think Melburnians feel like celebrating today, even if we can't physically be at the track.

LANGDON: And this might potentially be the problem, that Melburnians want to celebrate. Miranda, police are worried and there are still huge concerns in all pubs and restaurants are following COVID protocols.

MIRANDA DEVINE, NEW YORK POST: In New York, yes.

LANGDON: No, in Melbourne sorry, we're talking about Melbourne Cup.

DEVINE: Oh, sorry, Melbourne Cup. Yeah. I don't know a lot about what's going on in Melbourne Cup because there's only one race that we're interested in in America at the moment, and that’s tomorrow's election.

LANGDON: Well, let's get to that in just a moment. But, Bill, are you worried about what is potentially going to happen today like the police are, and the fact that you still have pubs and restaurants who are not following COVID protocols?

SHORTEN: I think the police are right to make sure that people still behave in a cautious manner. But this is a fun day in Melbourne. Melburnians have been through a lot and they've done a lot. And, you know, when you look around the whole world, our results are excellent. So provided people are sensible, this is a really fun day. And, you know, the Melbourne Cup at Flemington is in my electorate. I know a lot of the people who work there. For me this is not just about the horses. It's about the people in the racing industry. And I think this could be a cracker of a day with the weather. And I think Melburnians will get it right. We've come this far. I think we'll see this one through.

LANGDON: Yeah, look, and we're very excited for you that you are going to be out and about celebrating. But Miranda, let's go to you because you are in the US. You've got the final frantic hours of campaigning in the race to the White House. Donald Trump is right now speaking at a rally in the key state of Pennsylvania. Let's just take a quick listen.

VIDEO PACKAGE, DONALD TRUMP: The biggest in the history of our country, whether it be four years, eight years or in one case, more shut down your economy, close down manufacturing. Send your jobs overseas. Destroy our suburbs. And he will destroy our suburbs. So I say to the women of the suburbs, love me. Women of the suburbs.

LANGDON: It doesn't matter what point you listen in to his press conference. I thought something interesting he’s saying. Miranda, you’re writing in today's Telegraph, I tell you what you are talking about Joe Biden and you don't miss, do you? You’ve called him the worst candidate in history. But seriously, what makes him worse than Donald Trump?

DEVINE: Well, Donald Trump won an election. He won the nomination fair and square for the Republican Party. You can't say the same about Joe Biden. It's really extraordinary that the oldest candidate ever, he'll be 78 in a week, is, you know, heading the Democratic ticket, someone who's got obvious cognitive decline, who has stayed in his basement for most of the campaign and who now that he's probably busier out on the campaign trail than he has been the entire year is really very tired and low energy slurring his words. And what a contrast to President Trump, who's out there doing 14 rallies in the last three days of this election. He did five yesterday. He went from snowing Michigan, absolutely freezing cold, just above freezing, 20,000 people at the rally to, you know, warm Florida. He had in Michigan on Saturday. He had 57,000 people at his rally in Arizona. You've got people in these truck rallies, these car rallies for Trump, they call them Trump trains, going for kilometres. You have people in Pennsylvania waiting in line for 12 hours with the line snaking for a mile. You know, there is a lot of enthusiasm. And certainly the optics show you that in these battleground states, Joe Biden is not getting the enthusiasm that Donald Trump is. And also, in terms of early voting, you are saying that Biden's early lead in that because, of course, the Democrats have made a big deal about early voting, pre polling, mail in voting, because of COVID, whereas Republicans are less paranoid about COVID and they're more inclined to come out on Election Day and vote in person. But Joe Biden's early vote on those mail in ballots and early in-person voting is shrinking by the day. His lead from the beginning is shrinking. So it's not good omen for him. Obviously, the national vote, the Democrats have got locked up. But I just do not understand when they had a slew of really pretty impressive candidates in the primaries, why they rigged the elect the nomination process to install Joe Biden? I understand they were trying to stop the very radical Bernie Sanders, but surely winning an election is better than not.

LANGDON: Well, look, I tell you what, there have been some cringe worthy moments from Biden there. But, Bill, we've just heard, Miranda thinks Joe's lost the plot. I mean, you once said that Donald Trump is barking mad. Do you still stand by that? And what a choice, hey?

SHORTEN: What a choice in America. What I said is some of Trump's views were incredibly extreme. And I haven't changed my mind on some of his views. I mean, Miranda's analysis of Joe Biden is very interesting and she's there, she's on the ground. But if you close your eyes, let's not forget about the last four years under President Trump. Australia will work with whoever America elects. But I think a lot of Australians want to see a return to some sort of sensible, non-dramatic stuff happening in the White House. I mean, I have a friend who works in the Steelworkers Union in America. And I I said to him, what's life like in America under Trump? And he said every day it's like sucking on a fire hose. You know, just let's just have a bit of normal again and a bit of decency again. But it's going to be up to the Americans. It's their decision. But, you know, when we talk about Biden being a bad candidate, there's a lot of people in America and friends of America right around the world, including myself, who feel that some of the current president's comments and actions have been really quite off the spectrum.

LANGDON: Yeah, I tell you what, though, the US has never been so divided. You’ve got COVID raging out of control, plenty of people out of work. I'm not actually sure who'd want the job to be President. But we've run out of time, guys. All will be revealed in the next 24 hours or so. Thanks for joining us this morning. And Bill, have fun today at the Cup.

SHORTEN: You want to look at Prince of Arran, the girl jockey, Jamie Kah, I reckon that’s the one.

LANGDON: That’s my tip.

SHORTEN: Yeah, that's my tip, too.

LANGDON: I think my tip is actually saving money because it's the hardest race in the year to bloody win it anyway.

KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Are you right there, swearing and stuff?

LANGDON: I did! Ooh. I’m not allowed to say that. Thanks guys.