Patrick Gorman MP on ABC's Afternoon Briefing

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: Let's end the show with our political panel for today. Patrick Gorman is the Assistant Employment Minister. Garth Hamilton is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Energy Security. Welcome to both of you.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here.

GARTH HAMILTON, LIBERAL MEMBER FOR GROOM: Thanks PK.

KARVELAS: Well, let's start, if we can, on this breaking news about gambling. The Government has pledged a new single service, opt out - it's an opt out system. Can you talk to me about it, Patrick Gorman? It's about gambling ads. It's a similar idea, I think, to the 'do not call' register for spam calls. How does it work?

GORMAN: Firstly, it's important that your viewers know that we always said we were going to negotiate in good faith across the Parliament to try and get an outcome. And we are determined to get an outcome, ideally this week, where the Parliament can express its view that we need to do more to help those who have suffered the worst harms of problem gambling. But also to have a system that protects Australian kids. So, what people will see in the additional work that Minister Anika Wells is doing, and the Prime Minister has been engaged in a range of consultations, is that we'll continue to put things forward. I don't want to get ahead of the Minister making those announcements. I'll show her respect. There has been a respectful process throughout the Parliament so far. But we did see that there were some good ideas put forward by people in our own caucus, who've been talking a lot, as well as people across the Parliament and in the community and as a responsible government, we've listened to that.

KARVELAS: Ok, that's - it's interesting you say that. I want to bring you in, Garth Hamilton. Obviously, it's a deal between the Coalition and the Government. You didn't go for an opt in, that you actually choose to see gambling ads, rather than the other way around. That's what people like Simon Kennedy wanted. Why, ultimately, was that not the way the Coalition went forward on this?

HAMILTON: Well, look, I can't speak to the details of that negotiation. I look forward to hearing the Minister present that. But clearly, we engage very fully on a very important issue to many Australians. I think what's important is - what I want to see, and I know that what my constituents want to see - is less of these ads in front of our kids. That's my test. That's what needs to happen with this legislation.

KARVELAS: All right, I want to move to the big debate today about superannuation. One Nation's been talking about superannuation. But, Garth Hamilton, the reason your side of politics is under some scrutiny is you've got some high-profile people, including Andrew Bragg, who are very much on the record, even as quick - as soon as last week, saying they don't like it. They think superannuation is a problem. Do you support it?

HAMILTON: I love superannuation. Who doesn't? Find me a constituent who walks around complaining about their superannuation increasing year on year. It's an important part of the Australian economy. It's something that we rely upon. I think the issue here is that we've come to a point where we're seriously discussing Australians having to access more and more of their super. The reason for that is because we're in a really bad economic situation. That's the core that we should be focusing on here. Super is an important investment for Australian's futures. Important part of most people's considerations for their retirement. We should be addressing the real issues, which are - that we've got a government that for 14 out of 17 quarters has had inflation above the target band. Government spending is through the roof. We're not in control of our economy. Things aren't looking great.

KARVELAS: I get that. Let me just interrupt and just ask, though, so you don't want to change rules to make people get more of their super.

HAMILTON: I want - I will support anything that makes people more secure in their future. And super is a part of that. We should always support that super -

KARVELAS: No, no, no. So, accessing it early means it's not there for retirement. You want to - you believe in locking it away?

HAMILTON: No, I think it's important that people can access, in very strict situations, their super. And people already do. Through 2024-25, we saw 63,000 people access $1.4 billion of super. These things are already happening. I don't know what the thought bubble was that was going on within One Nation. I don't know how much they follow the ATO or aware of the details when they raise these issues, but the facts are pretty clear. People access it mostly in medical hardship. There's other situations, and that's a part of the system and that's been well used by Australians.

KARVELAS: I want to ask you, Patrick, you're a firm supporter of the WA GST deal, but every other state Treasurer in the country isn't a fan. The Productivity Commission did not mince their words. They're not political. They're just looking at the fairness of the thing, and they basically say it stinks. How can you defend it beyond what must be just parochial politics?

GORMAN: Firstly, I have been to four elections where I've committed to my electors that I would support WA getting a fair share of the GST -

KARVELAS: You're getting more than a fair share, though, isn't that the point?

GORMAN: - and every day I have been in this Parliament, that is what I have done - well, no, the point is, if you think about it, Western Australia is still a donor state. For every $4,000 of GST, which is about the average amount of GST that an Australian spends - for a Western Australian, $4,000, a thousand dollars of that is donated to other states through the redistribution, and only $3,000 goes back to WA to fund the same things it does everywhere else, which is schools, hospitals, community safety. Now, the other thing that the Productivity Commission report did note is that there was a very real risk that had there have not been changes Western Australia would have got zero out of the GST pool in some of the years prior to the 2018 reforms - which I back very strongly. Now, I think every state Treasurer has to do their job. They are always going to ask us for more money. I respect them doing that. Some of them do it in very entertaining ways. But I have not been persuaded by any of the advocacy that I've seen in the last few days that we should change the WA deal.

KARVELAS: OK, 30 seconds to you, Garth. I mean, states like yours don't get the special deal WA gets. Should they continue to get it?

HAMILTON: Look, let's see what the final report says. This is just a report. I will stick up for Queensland. I'd love to see us get more. Of course I would. I'd be silly to say anything else. I'm representing Queensland, as I'm sure Patrick will always stand up for Western Australia. But look, let's see where the government goes with this. I know they made the promise that they wouldn't change this. Let's see if this isn't another broken promise coming.

KARVELAS: Okay, but you know they have to break the promise for Queensland to get more. This is the conundrum, my friends. Right? Isn't it? So, yeah, you're going to get away with that, though, today because we're running out of time. Thank you to both of you.

GORMAN: Thank you.