TRANSCRIPT - SKY NEWS WEEKEND EDITION WITH TIM GILBERT

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

SKY NEWS WEEKEND EDITION

29 JULY 2023

TIM GILBERT: Joining me live is Federal Liberal MP and manager for Opposition business, Paul Fletcher. Mr. Fletcher , welcome to Weekend Edition. Now before we do talk politics, tragic morning for the Australian military, of course, with four people feared dead in a in a military helicopter crash off Hamilton Island.

PAUL FLETCHER: Absolutely devastating news. And just a reminder of the dangers that members of the defence Force experience every day as part of Operation Talisman Sabre, which is a very important military exercise for Australia, the US, a whole range of other countries. It's very important that our military are training for the job that they may have to do one day. We all hope they never have to do, but they may have to do one day. But it is an inherently dangerous job serving our country. So I know all of us will be thinking of their families at this difficult time. And obviously awaiting what sadly, we expect will be the official confirmation of the loss of life.

TIM GILBERT:Yeah absolutely. We'll have more on that breaking news throughout the course of the day. Of course, we've heard from Defence Minister Richard Marles, but it's an unfolding story. Now let's talk at politics proper. We'll change the subject. The PM threatening to call a double dissolution if the Greens don't support Labour's housing bill. What do you make of it?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well, this happens every every term of Parliament and the Constitution is very clear that there's a range of reasons for which an election could be called early. I think the earliest an election could be called is August next year. There's nothing out of the ordinary here. I just make the point that the housing bill, which the Prime Minister is threatening to use as a trigger, it's already been rejected once the Coalition doesn't support it. This is poor policy. It's borrowing $10 billion or investing it in the market. If it makes a profit, then the profit will be used for social housing. Now as Michael Sukkar, our housing spokesman, has pointed out, you know, last year the markets went down. There wouldn't have been any money for housing. And it's not clear each year how much will be available. Hardly going to produce predictable flow of new housing investment. What we really need to do is make it as easy as possible for Australians to buy houses that are supplied through the private market. That means getting interest rates down to make housing more affordable. Unfortunately, this Government's going in the wrong direction, continuing to spend driving interest rates up, inflation rates up. You know, interest rates up 11 times on this. Prime Minister's watch on average. Well, for a typical mortgage, certainly in Sydney, that could mean an extra $20,000 a year that a household has to find to cover the cost of a mortgage. It's no wonder a lot of Aussies are doing it tough right now.

TIM GILBERT:Yeah, the bright news at the moment is it looks like it's going to be status quo this Tuesday. But no doubt as you head back to Parliament, cost of living, interest rates, inflation are going to be pivotal in discussion.

PAUL FLETCHER: Look, these will be absolutely central to the issues. We'll be pursuing in Question Time and through other forums in Parliament, as well as interest rates going up and up. We've also got energy bills. You know, 1 July this year we saw an increase in energy bills around the country on average, 28% increase, massive increases in what people are paying for their gas and electricity bills. Now, Mr. Albanese came to power promising that energy bills will be going down by $275. They're going up and what is worse is that in the wholesale energy markets, we're seeing the cost of generation going up in the second quarter of this year in due course, that will likely feed through into retail energy prices as well. This government is facing an energy price crisis which is affecting households. It's affecting businesses. I mean, energy costs are one of the big input costs for businesses. And so we need to see a plan from this government to deal with rising energy prices. Unfortunately, we're not seeing anything really that is effective in engaging with this problem.

TIM GILBERT:Well, amidst of the energy pricing crisis, and I know it's not federal politics, but it's a story that's breaking the last couple of days. Is Daniel Andrews in Victoria announcing no gas from next year.

PAUL FLETCHER: There is a balance that is needed and government is challenging. You've got to deal with a lot of different things at once. Yes, we need to achieve net zero by 2050. Of course, the Morrison Government made that commitment on behalf of Australia. But what you need to make sure you're doing is as well as transforming our energy grid, you've got to make sure that power remains as affordable and reliable. And sadly, with Chris Bowen in charge, we don't see much evidence of the capacity of this government to manage these competing objectives. And what we are seeing is energy prices going up and up and up and that is bad news for Australian families, Australian businesses, the Australian economy and we need to see this being addressed in a much better fashion by this Government

TIM GILBERT: As well as cost of living and interest rates and inflation and many other things in Parliament. The voice is going to be pivotal. Again,

PAUL FLETCHER: Look it is. Before for the parliamentary recess, we use Question Time to ask questions of Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians and of the Prime Minister about what is proposed. And we're now at a point where all the votes in Parliament have been taken when this referendum occurs, when the Prime Minister announces the date and the referendum occurs, it will be the Australian people to make their decision and so people naturally will want as much information as possible to be able to make that decision and we'll certainly be looking to use the forums of Parliament to assist the Australian people in gathering the information they need by asking the kind of questions that in turn constituents are raising with me. And I'm sure all of my parliamentary colleagues around the country

TIM GILBERT: Are you finding your constituents don't quite understand what it's all about. Has there been enough explanation as to exactly what it is?

PAUL FLETCHER: Whenever you're asking the Australian people to make a decision in a referendum, it is very important that they are getting as much information as possible in including the precise name of the change that they're being asked to support and what it will mean and how it will work. And so that's why we as an opposition, have been continuing to press for as much information as possible. It's now, you know, out of the hands of parliamentarians, it's in the hands of the Australian people, but it is absolutely a proper part of our role to be saying to government, well explain, please, how this is going to work? You know, we insisted on there being the two pamphlets, being sent to the Australian people, one setting out the yes case, one setting out the no case. The Government's original intention was to do away with that requirement. We thought that was a very bad idea because it is important that people have in front of them the arguments yes and no, so that individual Australians who are called upon to vote can make their decision based upon the best arguments that each side is able to put forward.

TIM GILBERT: All right. Let's have a quick look at foreign policy. Of course, important meetings going on in the in Brisbane today. Of course, the United States , our military relationship, how important is it? And we've seen Prime Minister Anthony Albanese coming out and saying it's never been stronger.

PAUL FLETCHER: The United States relationship is of course our most important security relationship. It's enormously important and it's founded on shared values. As you know, I had the privilege last Saturday of being at the a commencement ceremony for the USS Canberra at Garden Island or Fleet Base East in Sydney. Very, very rare for a US ship to be named after the capital of a foreign country. It commemorates the original HMAS Canberra, which went down in a battle in 1942. I think the US then named a ship, the Canberra in World War Two and this will now be the second US ship named the Canberra that is. And of course the US Secretary of the Navy was there. Marise Payne, former defence minister was there and she is what's called the ship's patron. I think is the term or sponsor, ship's sponsor . So she has a continuing role in relation to the USS Canberra, which I might add is a so-called littoral combat ship made by the US subsidiary of an Australian company. So it is very symbolic of that close relationship. It's an important security relationship, it's based on shared values and of course the Morrison Government, by entering into the AUKUS agreement, really took that relationship forward and the US and the UK will be sharing with Australia, some of their most sensitive technology, their nuclear technology. That is very important for the future. We want a peaceful Indo-Pacific and Australia needs to do its part in maintaining peace and stability so that every country in the Indo-Pacific  can prosper.

TIM GILBERT: On a much lighter note.to finish with. Australian UK relations have been pushed to the edge over this Ashes series. We've got a few days to play. We've retained the Ashes, but we want to win it.

PAUL FLETCHER: Of course we do. The Australian team has done a fantastic job. They've had some heavy expectations on them. And yeah, there's been been a been a bit back and forth about the conduct of the respective teams. Of course that's a great historical tradition, going back to Bodyline and other great contests over the decades. And this is it's so important for all Aussies who love their sport, but it's also so important in terms of those deep connections between our two countries. And you know, it's not just Australia and Britain where there's that shared love of cricket, but also India. I was doing a podcast yesterday with some young Indians and a lot of talk about cricket there. So cricket is such an important part of our national identity and well done to the Aussie Test team. They've done us proud.