E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
TUESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2021
 
SUBJECTS: Government pilfers Labor’s electric car policy; election timing; Victorian IBAC claims; teens abandoning Facebook and Instagram.
 
ALLISON LANGDON, HOST: Nice to have your company this morning, so the Prime Minister hitting the road in a hard hat and high vis pressing the flesh, smiling for the cameras, and making big promises on spending, it's an election campaign when you haven't yet called the election and a plan by Scott Morrison too, to get more electric cars on the road. 1.7 million by 2030. Let's discuss with Bill Shorten in Melbourne and in Brisbane 4BC’s Scott Emerson. Now, Bill. I'm sure I heard something like that at the last election, but who was it again? Who was it?
 
BILL SHORTEN, MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG: You did. You did hear about electric vehicles at the last election. Listen, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in politics, and it is correct that I did propose that we put charging stations on the national highways. Australia is in danger of becoming an automotive third world. The rest of the world is now sending to Australia the cars that no one else in the world wants. The rest of the world is moving to electric vehicles. One of the big drawbacks on electric vehicles is people worry there's not enough charging stations on our roads. I get Labor proposed it, Mr Morrison must read my policy book at night-time for ideas, and Labor's now also proposing to reduce taxes on electric vehicles. I've got one myself recently and I have to say one thing I hadn't fully appreciated is that the cost of petrol disappears. Charging is so much cheaper, it's a cost-of-living benefit for Aussies.
 
LANGDON: Yes, Scott, what did you think when you heard of this yesterday? Because you will remember if you go back to 2019, the Prime Minister accused Bill Shorten of trying to quote end the weekend by introducing electric cars.
 
SCOTT EMERSON, 4BC: Yeah, look, it is ironic considering Bill will be very - very big smile on Bill Shorten today. I don't know if he's going to take the Bill Shorten game book completely. I think he's going to talk about franking credits or negative gearing, those kinds of things, but it is ironic.
 
SHORTEN: Oh, you never know with Mr Morrison.
 
LANGDON: I think he's leaving franking credits alone.
 
EMERSON: I think you’re safe there, Bill I think you are safe there. But look, on electric vehicles. Yeah, look Scott Morrison - as you mentioned, Bill Shorten was going to end the weekend for Aussies. Well, it'll be interesting to see how he defends that policy today, given that look, it clearly it is just mimicking, if not completely ripping off, Labor's policy from the last election.
 
LANGDON: You know what I don't like about this. I feel like we're going to potentially see six more months of campaigning. Bill, what do you reckon? When are you predicting or when you're preparing for an election?
 
SHORTEN: Oh, listen, I think that Mr Morrison was thinking about having an election in December, but his overseas trip was such a Barrie Crocker that now I suspect he'll run to May. Here's my tip. Scott Morrison will bring forward a budget miraculously, and he'll try and buy his way out of his electoral unpopularity. But you know, the reality is that Mr Morrison's had three years, and the only thing that people really know is that they know him a bit better. And I suspect he's pretty keen to make people forget some of his mistakes in the last three years by a cash splash, which, of course, I'm not sure will convince people.
 
LANGDON: Scott, I don't think that's true. I don't think politicians throw the cash around, do they, to get our votes? I’ve never heard that before…
 
EMERSON: Whatever it takes, whatever it takes Ally, as Graeme Richardson famously said from Labor. Look, I think Bill's right. Obviously there has been some speculation about election this year, but you'd have to think it's much more likely in the first half of next year, first quarter of next year, it's still going to be a close contest. I know that Labor will say it was a complete disaster last week in COP 26 and it was a terrible look on the world stage. But I don't know if people give a damn about what the French think of us here and what they think about Scott Morrison. I think they're much more interested in domestic issues and that is what the election will be fought out on.
 
LANGDON: Job security for one is one of the main ones for people. Hey, look, it was a pretty explosive day of evidence at Victoria's corruption inquiry yesterday, former Labor heavyweight Adam Somyurek dragging key names into the branch stacking scandal. Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles. Bill, he claims you changed membership rules when Labor leader, which encouraged the whole branch stacking practice. How do you respond to that?
 
SHORTEN: Oh, listen, I think the IBAC has still got a way to go. It's disturbing. I think any reference to me was more on the nature of a drive thru at McDonald's. It wasn't that serious. But in all seriousness about the issue. Michael Sukkar, the Liberal Minister. Adam Somyurek, the former Labor Minister. This sort of stuff turns people off politics, and it's not what most MPs are doing. Most MPs are working hard in their electorate. I'm in Moonee Ponds Central this morning. The shops are open again, people are getting on with their jobs and their lives. And I just wanted to say to the constituents all over Australia, most of your MPs aren't playing the backroom games, they're just focusing on the work. But it is disturbing and it's why we need an Anti-Corruption Commission federally. Again, something I called for three and a half years ago.
 
LANGDON: Yeah, I'm not sure that you can just sort of dismiss what he said in regards to you. I mean, do you deny that? Did you change rules which then encouraged branch stacking?
 
SHORTEN: No. Listen, I gave a speech on the record, not behind closed walls. And I do want to see more people get involved in politics. But no, his evidence was incorrect about me and what he said. So that's why I'm not taking that part of it too seriously at all.
 
LANGDON: All right. Well, as you say, it's going to play out over the next coming days, that one. But I wanted to end on this too because there's been more serious allegations against Facebook. We've got internal documents revealing the social media giant is seeing a dramatic fall in young users of Instagram, and more worryingly, they had specific evidence of the psychological damage that the site has on young female teens in particular. So, Bill, one of the presentation slides to the company read, ‘We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls’. They knew this and they did nothing. What do you say to that?
 
SHORTEN: Yeah, I'm close to hating Instagram. The effect it has on young women in particular, what Instagram does with its business model is 40 per cent of its users are under 20 or under 22. It tries to pretend that the perfect world that you see on Instagram is the real world, and it's not. The reality is that it is trying to say, look at this perfection and then they try and sell you something of it. It's causing harm. It's causing anxiety, you know, and it's not just for the kids, it's also for the adults. You know, the fact is that people's lives are not perfect. Instagram tries to pretend it is, and it puts a lot of pressure on vulnerable people. So, I think that our Instagram is insidious and it's distorting the way that young women in particular, see their own bodies, their own images. And I really can't stand Instagram's effect on young people anymore.
 
LANGDON: The very strong words there from you this morning, Bill. Scott, how do you feel about this? And also, the fact I mean, I know just as many adults who are addicted to Instagram as young kids. But is it good to see kids answering by actually leaving the site?
 
EMERSON: Well, look, that's the worry for Facebook or the Metaverse, as Mark Zuckerberg is now calling it. For their business model, people are leaving it, young people leaving it, and, look, good on them if they are leaving it. Because we know, as Bill just mentioned and as you just mentioned, Ally, in terms of these internal documents, it is having a negative impact on many young kids. Look, adults, they're mature. They can deal with some of these issues, even though it does impact on them. But it's shocking when Facebook knows, Mark Zuckerberg knows, that what he is doing is having such a negative impact on young people. But it's not about actually fixing the model, it's about trying to get more young people onto Instagram and to Facebook. And that's the problem here. They're not looking at a solution. Their solution is to get more people into it and increase their profits.
 
LANGDON: Bill, the issue here is if kids are leaving Instagram, where are they going? Because we know they're doing something.
 
SHORTEN: Listen, there's a challenge generally with social media, but at the moment I think that Instagram's right up in the most wanted list of being a culprit. What we're seeing with the kids is that they should be encouraged to use their middle finger and unfollow and unfriend this particular platform. The fact of the matter is that it is selling people a lie. It is selling people this idea; you can have perfect abs when you're 12. It's selling people that you have to look like a particular influencer with a curated image, and it's causing harm. I want to our kids out there playing. I want them out living their normal lives. Kids are fantastic and there's no one ideal body shape, but Instagram is selling people a distortion. Frankly, I think it's addictive. If it was alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs, it would come with warning labels. You wouldn't be able to buy it. But I think the algorithms they use, and people press explore and they go down rabbit holes of fiction and what they see in the mirror is not actually who they are, and it's causing untold harm. I’m very fired up about this one.
 
LANGDON: We just want our kids to feel good about themselves, don't we? And Scott, can I just quickly check, are you OK there? There seems to be like a giant flying ant plague that's overtaken Brisbane.
 
EMERSON: Well, that's going to be leading all the bulletins tonight and 4BC Drive, the giant ant plague that is now swamping Brisbane. Warning out there, chaos on the roads. Giant ants everywhere. And whether I get out of the studios here alive, God knows. It's just one some sort of Alfred Hitchcock version of Birds here.
 
LANGDON: You've avoided COVID, but you couldn't avoid this. All right, my friend, you guys enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.
 
ENDS