TRANSCRIPT - ABC NEWS 24 AFTERNOON LIVE WITH GREG JENNETT

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

TRANSCRIPT

ABC NEWS 24 AFTERNOON LIVE

3 JULY 2023

GREG JENNETT: This sitting week has ended, and as we try to do semi regularly at the end of them we'll explore the opposition tactics and priorities with Liberal Frontbencher, and Manager of Opposition Business in the House Paul Fletcher joins us now live in the studio. Welcome back. Just on superannuation options, is very speculative and early days at the moment, Paul, but we are seeing Stephen Jones backing and some suggestions about bequeathed superannuation and the taxation treatment of it. The Coalition supports dipping into super for housing, it would only be a small step for you, wouldn't it , to support some of these potential options?

PAUL FLETCHER: Let's be clear, Labor has already introduced one additional tax on super, the additional 15% on top of the first 10% of super savings above a threshold, even though Mr Albanese and Mr Chalmers before the election said there would be no change to super taxation. It is troubling to see Stephen Jones, the minister with the responsibility, appearing to entertain this suggestion from advocacy group that there should be now some kind of additional specific tax on your super balance in retirement towards aged care. Look, I think everybody understands it is important to look at how aged care is funded, but the idea that they should be a specific additional tax on superannuation, well, Labor promised there would be no additional super taxes and they are broken a promise once and it would be a bad thing if they broke it again.

GREG JENNETT: We don't have anything really concrete to explore further with you there. We will when the taskforce reports, I imagine. And if questions asked in this week about the Voice and extension of it through to treaty processes. In asking those questions, are we entitled to assume that the Coalition would be imposed to Makarrata or Truth processes and ultimately treaty processes if the Voice is successful?

PAUL FLETCHER: What we have been doing this week is asking a series of questions about the Voice it would work, but also the other elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, because labour went to the election on a promise and the promise that he is committed to implementing what is called for in the Uluru statement in full, so that includes not just establishing the Voice in the constitution, but it also includes the establishment of a Makarrata Commission that would oversee a process of treaty making and so-called truth telling...

GREG JENNETT: So why is that controversial? Why is it worth asking questions?

PAUL FLETCHER: What we want to do is use Question Time for precisely as intended purpose, to ask the Government to explain to the parliament and ultimately to the Australian people exactly how this is going to work, what exactly will the Makarrata Commission do. We know there's been $.8 million of funding already provided. We have been asking what this money is used for but also the treaty process, how long will it take, will there be payments involved, will the Commonwealth. taxpayers or landowners be on the hook for those payments? And of course, we continue to ask questions about how the Voice, as a mechanism, is going to operate, because the amount of detail has been very scant.

GREG JENNETT: But if you are opposed to the Voice, as you are, would you then be opposed to reparations and treaty process?

PAUL FLETCHER: Let's be clear in terms of the voice. We don't support the voice being entrenched in the constitution. We do support Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians, that has been our long standing position. We also support local and regional voices and that been implemented legislation, that can be done quite quickly. That will put focus where it should be, on people on the ground in communities, and in many cases a long way away from Canberra having the opportunity to communicate the government about issues of concern. Those other things we support. What we have been asking questions about are, what other details of the government's agenda. Australians will be asked reasonably soon to vote in a referendum. We are committed to Australians being as informed as possible.  Can I remind you that there is ordinarily a requirement or referendum is that there be a pamphlet setting out the Yes case and No case. The written information from the government was that we did not need to do that.

GREG JENNETT: That was negotiated.

PAUL FLETCHER: My point is that that was an example of a commitment to Australians being informed about the important decision they have to make is as is indeed is the process we have been going through this week.

GREG JENNETT: Many government Dorothy Dixer questions about robodebt, obviously trying to drive a point that Scott Morrison is struggling to rise above his record on robodebt as social services Minister and maybe the implication subsequently as Prime Minister. Is his legacy being tarnished the longer in this Parliament?

PAUL FLETCHER: How long Scott Morrison chooses to stay around is entirely a matter for him. Scott has given great service to the Liberal Party and to our nation, leading Australia through a challenging time. The pandemic. The biggest economic crisis our nation has faced since the depression.  Of course, Australia emerged from the pandemic with one of the best public health records and one of the best economic outcomes against all the countries we normally benchmark ourselves against.

GREG JENNETT: None of which offsets what the royal commission found about his time as Social Services Minister.

PAUL FLETCHER: My point is that Scott Morrison has earned the right to decide how long he should stay.  Of course, ultimately it is the people of Cook who choose who their member is. It's not Bill Shorten. Now Bill Shorten is a very political animal and he is demonstrating that here again. Can I just make the point again because Mr shorten has been keen to emphasise this point. It was when we were in government, when it became clear that a legal challenge had been successful. We identified that there was an issue. We reversed all the debts. By November 2021, 99% of all debts had been repaid. We have been clear that Australians were subject to things they shouldn't have been subject to. We have apologised, it was a mistake and it was fixed on our watch.

GREG JENNETT: Ok, since you have mentioned the voters of Cook and their importance in all of this. As a senior New South Wales Liberal, would you see an advantage in coordinating any departure from this Parliament with voting day for the voice? So as to minimise inconvenience and disruption for voters?

PAUL FLETCHER: I am not going to speculate on hypotheticals in relation to any member of this Parliament. Mr Morrison or anybody else.

GREG JENNETT: I thought you might say that. Home Affairs contracting. Dennis Richardson has been appointed to review this. How will the Coalition engage in that process? Because I know you are anxious. Peter Dutton said so himself, that it would not be restricted to his time as minister and it doesn't appear to be either.

PAUL FLETCHER: Look and that's important because the arrangements continued when Peter Dutton was minister, had been in place for many years including under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. Can I make the point that again, in a pretty grubby exercise, Labor has sought to politicise this. Mike Pezzullo, the secretary of the department, has stated, in a Parliamentary hearing that these contracts were not contracts that were signed off by the minister, they were signed off on by the department. That is perfectly routine procedure. Particularly a department as large as Home Affairs. So again, this is part of an unfortunate pattern of this Labor government, fare too interested in trying to score political hits based upon things that have happened in the past rather than responding to challenges that Australians have including the serious cost of living challenge.

GREG JENNETT: Even if there is no ministerial scalp to be obtained here. It still could be well worth the time, couldn't it, to examine departmental processes. Huge amounts of money went into offshore processing and I think it is fair to say we did not have full transparency across the years.

PAUL FLETCHER: Look. I would simply say of course we are committed to value for money for taxpayers. But can I say also, our record on Border protection is a very important one. Let's not forget, when we came to government in  2013, we inherited a complete mess, some 50,000 unauthorised Maritime arrivals, some 12,00 people that are known of, tragically died at sea and that was because of hopeless mismanagement of this issue. Under the previous government of which, Mr Albanese was a very senior minister. We fixed a very difficult problem and it is very unfortunate Labor is once again playing political games.

GREG JENNETT: Let's see whether Richardson inquiry takes us. As you say, It was costly and cumulative over many years. Paul Fletcher, thank you for scrambling up after Question Time today.