TRANSCRIPT - ABC News Day

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 Day

27 FEBRUARY 2024

GREG JENNETT: We do have a bunch of guests who are scurrying over, uh, towards our studio from the chamber, having heard those speeches, current opposition frontbencher and among the most senior of New South Wales Liberals in the Parliament, Paul Fletcher, was one who sat through those speeches. And he joins us now in the studio. Welcome back. Paul. Recollections what stands out? Not so much from the speech but the Morrison legacy more broadly.

PAUL FLETCHER: Well thanks, Greg. I thought it was a significant speech reflecting on a very successful political career, including almost four years as prime minister. Actually, the Taylor Swift references reminded me that Scott was a great champion of the arts. And during Covid, when the arts was hit really hard, it was thanks to his backing that we secured very significant funding, $200 million for the RISE program for example, and a range of other measures. One of the many things that he did during Covid, he was a very calm leader. I worked with him and with Josh Frydenberg closely on the news media bargaining code, for example. Now, a lot of countries around the world tried to take on Google and Facebook, which were taking content from news media businesses monetising it and not paying those news media businesses. But this country managed to find a way to, uh, stand up to Google and Facebook. And Scott Morrison was absolutely at the forefront of that. There were some tricky moments when Facebook shut down all of the sites of Australian news media businesses or their Facebook pages. But Scott was very calm, very clear, and that was just one of the many examples of a leadership he displayed in difficult times.

DAVID SPEERS: Yeah. Look, Paul Fletcher, one thing I'm sure a lot of people are, um, curious about watching that speech. There was a heavy focus we mentioned earlier on the three reflections that he wanted to leave everyone with the need for a strong economy to take the security threats and the changing strategic environment seriously, but then also the values of Judaism, Judeo-Christian faith. He talked about the core principles of respect for individual human dignity as being a unique Judeo-Christian principle. He talked about being careful not to diminish the influence and the voice of Judeo-Christian faith in our Western society Um, why, as Prime Minister was could he not sort of talk that way? Can you just explain to people why he might be more careful as Prime Minister, but on his way out is more free to express those views?

PAUL FLETCHER: Look, I think in a speech like that, you can talk about your personal values and then how they play through into what are some of the core values and principles of a liberal democracy. And I've heard Scott reflect on this before. You know, we can sometimes in Australia tend to take for granted our prosperity, but also things like the rule of law, respect for the individual, which are central to a liberal democracy like ours. Scott has as I do as many parliamentarians do, diverse constituents who've come to Australia from all around the world. And it is interesting that often people who are in their first or second generation of their family, being in Australia, can be more direct in their expression of how important those values are and how fortunate we are in this country. So I think it is a useful reminder of those values that underpin a liberal democracy. And I think the other thing he was trying to do was put in context the importance of prosperity. A strong economy funds the schools and roads and hospitals and defence and everything else. But ultimately that depends on those values. Things like respect for the rule of law. A free and independent court system is really critical to attracting, uh, inward investment, for example. And that's something that Scott was very focused on in his time as treasurer.

MELISSA CLARKE: Paul Fletcher, Scott Morrison had what he described as the miracle win in the 2019 election. And as you know will be something of a hero to the Liberal Party for that win for some time. But after the 2022 election, the Liberal Party is certainly not in a terribly healthy place. Um, either at federal or state level. There's a big task to try and win back public support, and there are really different ideas in the Liberal Party about how to do that. Scott Morrison has indicated he thinks that the party really needs to make sure that it wins back voters in inner city areas, uh, many seats taken by the teals. That doesn't seem to be necessarily the focus of the current leader in Peter Dutton. Which leader or former leader do you think has the right approach to trying to bring the Liberal Party back to a position of power?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well, I think Peter Dutton's focus is exactly the same as Scott Morrison's focus and every liberal leader before them, which is win as many seats as you can. And our message is one that we believe is, uh, appealing to Australians of all backgrounds and all, uh, circumstances, whether inner city, outer suburban in regional remote. We're not about dividing up Australians or segmenting them. We are about those timeless values and backing Australians who have a go. Uh, and what has tended to happen, um, we've seen this pattern in a number of cycles is that people take strong economic management for granted until you haven't got it, but now we've got a cost-of-living crisis and people know, um, well, I believe people will find our messages much more salient.

DAVID SPEERS: Just further on that, one of the big criticisms of Scott Morrison, and we saw this come through in the nemesis series as well, was, uh, whether he, um, valued the opinions of women, in particular, Martin Parkinson his former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, raised that point. Various other colleagues of yours raised this point as well. Right now, we've got a by election coming up on Saturday, and Dunkley liberals are running a man. The cook preselection is coming up in your home state of New South Wales. I'm sure you've got a keen eye on should the liberals pick a woman?

PAUL FLETCHER: The preselectors in cook should pick the best candidate. -

DAVID SPEERS: What do you think though?

PAUL FLETCHER: We've got a strong field. And what I think is that we've got a series of experienced party members are on the pre-selection panel, and these are matters for a pre-selection panel to weigh up. That's how -

DAVID SPEERS: What's your view? You're the senior moderate in New South Wales. Um, your voice is not without influence in this. Should it be a woman?

PAUL FLETCHER: My view is that the pre-selection panel should make the choice - 

DAVID SPEERS: That's not an answer.

PAUL FLETCHER: I went through one cook pre-selection process.

DAVID SPEERS: I remember.

PAUL FLETCHER: That was a character building experience. I'm not dipping my ore into this one. We've got great candidates, a range of great candidates. I think each one of them for coming forward. What I do know is that the electorate of cook, the people who will come to vote in the by election, will be looking at the Liberal Party's process. They will  want to see that it is a vigorous democratic process, unlike the Teals, for example, you have no idea how their candidates.

GREG JENNETT: All right. We might take that up. The matter of the cook by election with other guests. This is, after all, a sitting day. And that means someone in your position, Paul Fletcher, will have other duties before Question Time. Well, thank you and let you go.

PAUL FLETCHER: Thank you very much. Good to chat.