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

7 SEPTEMBER 2023

GREG JENNETT: Alright, If anyone can explain where the opposition has been trying to go with those VIP flight questions and other happenings in the house this week, manager of opposition business, Paul Fletcher probably can. He is back with us in the studio. Welcome, Paul. Richard Marles travel using VIP planes, he says complied with the guidelines, you asked two questions earlier on in the week, went quiet and returned to it again.To what end?

PAUL FLETCHER: We just had three minutes there.  You played the grab of Richard Marles not answering the question. Look, $3.6 million of VIP flights that he has racked up. This is a government that promised transparency and accountability but they are not giving information on why Mr Marles has taken so many flights, where he has gone, was he, has he been using the RAAF VIP aircraft to commute home from Canberra to Avalon airport?

GREG JENNETT: Isn't he entitled to do that just as National's Deputy Prime Ministers would have and in fact did whether it was to Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, this is an entitlement?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well, Mr Marles seems reluctant to give any information about his use of these taxpayers assets. Of course there are legitimate reasons to use VIP aircraft, nobody is contesting that. At the same time this is a government that promised transparency. So what we have been doing is using forms of the parliament to ask Mr Marles to explain what he's been doing and of course this comes at a time when for most Australians travelling by air is more expensive than ever. Airfares, about 50% higher now in many cases than they were before the pandemic. And so at the same time as Mr Marles is jetting around using VIP aircraft, he doesn't have to worry about that, we've got the transport and infrastructure minister Catherine King being unable to give an explanation of why she refused to take it pro competitive decision to allow more flights by Qatar. 

GREG JENNETT:  So this is the politics of Envy tension you're creating here is it that people struggling under high airfares and High Cost of Living pressures might resent a deputy prime minister traveling

PAUL FLETCHER: The first thing I'd say is this is a government that promised accountability and transparency this is a use of public assets. Now again, I make the point there is a legitimate reason for VIP aircraft to be made available for use by various senior ministers but that needs to be used responsibly and economically, and the government needs to be ready to explain the extent to which VIP aircraft have been used by Mr Marles. It has he been using it as a way of committing home? It also goes to public policy questions including competition policy about aviation, a very important industry and sector of our economy. What we see is it's very badly managed.

GREG JENNETT: I may not go through that with you because it's been the subject of lengthy interviews by us all week. But can I take you to something I think you are more directly involved with and that is the tone of the house. By everyone's recognition it has gone up or gone down depending on which way you look at it. Peter Dutton said it was volatile in the house. Milton Dick said by any measure it's been a combative week. Are you dialling up the intensity of the tone of the house in order to get more combative, to give it to the government?

PAUL FLETCHER: Not at all. What we are seeking to do is use Question Time for its legitimate purpose to be asking questions. Yesterday we did move a motion of dissent in the speaker and it was about the issue of the approval of Qatar flights to and from Australia because that is a very important issue which directly bears on the prices Australians are paying for air travel. We know those prices have gone up. Catherine King has failed to give consistent explanations on this. Yesterday we were unhappy with the ruling the speaker gave, he effectively ruled what she was saying was relevant to the questions that she was asked when she was frankly obfuscating and failing to give a clear answer.

GREG JENNETT: Do you have an abiding problem with speaker Milton Dick. You as much testing him as you are  the government this week?

PAUL FLETCHER: As Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said yesterday in speaking, to the motion of dissent in the speaker's ruling, it is in no way a personal criticism of the speaker. Everybody knows a challenging job. It's important job job in our democracy. At the same time it's very important that any parliamentarian be able to use the procedures that are permitted under the standing orders including moving dissent. It doesn't happen very often at all but we did it for a specific reason. Because we are pressing for clear answers on exactly why the government rejected this application for additional Qatar flights when every Australian knows the prices of airfares are much higher than they were pre-pandemic. And what we need is more competition.

GREG JENNETT: And there are sometimes the use of these tactics can have unintended consequences, North Sydney Teal independent Kylea Tink has stood on the floor of the house this afternoon noon and has got claimed, among other things, that she was bullied by a member of the opposition, I am not sure if she specified national or liberal, do you condone or condemn whatever treatment was meted out to her? Will you do anything to investigate it?

PAUL FLETCHER: I'm not aware of the specifics of the incident. In the parliament, as in any workplace, we should treat each other with civility and respect. At the same time, the Parliament is a forum to ask questions on behalf of the Australian people and in the opposition we take that very very seriously. When we have, as we have had with Minister King, a Minister who was given nine separate explanations for the decision she took to block an application for additional flights from Qatar, then it is only appropriate that we do ask questions about that. We saw a new explanation today, effectively profit today, something had to do with very regrettable of course episode last year where Australian women were removed from a plane and strip-searched. Of course, the opposition, together with the government, thinks that is absolutely unacceptable but if the government is saying that is the reason for rejecting additional flights, then why is that the Prime Minister was saying earlier this week that Qatar was very to bring more flights to secondary airports like Hobart or like Adelaide

GREG JENNETT:  Is that a policy position you're drifting towards because of Catherine King's explanation, that Qatar would now be unfit?

PAUL FLETCHER: No, certainly not. But what we are saying is where is consistency in Minister King's explanations? And the fact is she is desperately grabbing for any explanation she can find to try and defend a decision which is very difficult to defend. Australians are dissatisfied about higher airfares from Qantas, cancelled flights, they are frustrated about a sense of a very cosy relationship between this government and Qantas. Qantas is an important company of course, but what is important is that we have a pro competitive policy in aviation to keep airlines under competitive pressure, that is when they will do the best for their customers, to reduce prices, to increase choices. That is what any rational aviation policy would have as its centrepiece. That is far from what Minister King has delivered.

GREG JENNETT:  All right now thank you for covering that with just one more on on the tone and mood of the house I suppose because it was a notable shift I think. Pharmacists booted out earlier in the week noisily and objecting to attendance. Have you sought to establish whether any Liberal MPs had either encourage them from down on the floor or signed them in and kind of taken responsibility for their conduct?

PAUL FLETCHER: Look, it is important that people in the visitors gallery conduct themselves appropriately and if they are not, they can be removed. We have had very disappointing incidents over the years, there was one a few years ago where climate change protesters glued their hands to the railings. These things happen from time to time, the Speaker made a statement about it, that was appropriate for him to remind MPs but also people who come to the Parliament.  Australians are very welcome to come into their Parliament. It is their Parliament after all. But, when you are in the visitors gallery there are certain expectations of behaviour, as there are expectations of parliamentarians, there are expectations of visitors who are in the visitor gallery.

GREG JENNETT: I think that message did come across loud and clear. Let's see what next week brings. Paul Fletcher , thank you for joining us today.