Patrick Gorman MP Speaks at Parliament House

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Over the last week, the Albanese Government has been focused on things that make a real difference to the Australian people. Cutting their student debt, making sure that our child care centres are safer and ensuring that we protect penalty rates that 2.6 million Australians rely upon. Similarly, over the last week, we have seen, first the National Party start fighting amongst one another, fighting over climate action, where we had a front page story from Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack attacking their senior leadership. And then what we saw on the weekend was that the Liberal Party thought, 'hey, that's a great idea, let's do that as well.' And we saw Senator Michaelia Cash and senior frontbencher Andrew Hastie encourage the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party to go down to an extreme path, extreme action when it comes to trying to destroy the work that Scott Morrison and Ken Wyatt did in elevating the Aboriginal flag. Extreme language and extreme action about abandoning Welcome to Country just days after the Leader of the Opposition stood here in Parliament, welcoming the Welcome to Country that we had for the start of Parliament. And then extreme action when it comes to walking away from climate action. Now what we know is that Peter Dutton has gone, but his leftovers are still cooking here in Canberra. And what I think the Australian people see when they look at the Liberal Party is they see absolute division. We see division between the National Party and the Liberal Party. We are seeing division amongst the most senior members of the Liberal Party who are actively seeking to undermine their senior leadership. And what we know is that Australians do not want extremist politics. Australians do not want these extreme motions that are being passed at Liberal Party conferences around the country. Australians want actual suggestions. And I saw Senator Cash on television this morning saying she wants practical ideas. Well, if Senator Cash wants practical ideas, why aren't we seeing any come out of the Liberal Party's state councils around the country? And instead, they are passing all of these really extreme motions seeking to divide Australians.

JOURNALIST: What do you think these motions say to Aboriginal communities in WA ahead of Sussan's trip to the Kimberley?

GORMAN: What First Nations leaders tell me all the time is that a Welcome to Country is a mark of respect. A Welcome to Country is about saying that the traditional owners of land on which you are working or gathering saying, 'you are welcome.' I do not see how that can be a bad thing. I do not see why anyone would not want to be welcomed. Indeed, I have had First Nations leaders in my electorate of Perth on Noongar land say to me, 'it's like welcoming someone into your home.' It is a kind act, it is a generous act, and it is something we have done for so long. It is one of the traditional practices of the land on which we are right now. It is a nice thing, and I do not understand why this is the priority of the most senior shadow frontbenchers in the Liberal Party right now.

JOURNALIST: Just on that. Do you think now it's incumbent on Sussan Ley to explicitly come out and state her position, given that these two motions have passed on Welcome to Country and Indigenous flags?

GORMAN: I think that when it comes to these things, the Liberal Party should not take another hard right turn. They should continue in the mainstream. They should avoid these extreme motions and continue on the work done they that have done in the past. When it comes to the Aboriginal flag, it was in 2022 Scott Morrison and Ken Wyatt who bought that flag into ownership of the Australian people. A proud achievement, something that was broadly celebrated. When it comes to the Aboriginal flag, being a designated flag of Australia under the Flags Act of 1953, that stood for the entirety of the Howard Government, the Abbott Government, the Turnbull Government and the Morrison Government. So I do not know why it is not good enough for the Leader of the Opposition today. I am not normally in the business of giving political advice to my opponents, but on this, I would suggest they focus on the things that Australians are concerned about, like protecting penalty rates, like making sure that we bring student debt down and not these extreme motions, even if they are the pet policies of some of their frontbenchers.

JOURNALIST: How enthusiastic is Labor about bringing in its super tax plan?

GORMAN: Our plan to make sure that we have a sustainable superannuation system, a system where people can have a dignified retirement and fund a large part of that retirement themselves, that is a plan that we have put out there for a number of years now. It is in our budget, we went through the election with this as part of our policy suite. You have seen the economic team advocating for it in Parliament this week. Obviously, our focus at the moment is on some of those bills that were just introduced into the parliament, some which I would hope we can get through this sitting fortnight. But it is part of our plan, and I recognise it affects just one in 200 Australians.

JOURNALIST: And that enthusiasm would reflect how quickly you would want to pass that through Parliament?

GORMAN: We have got a pretty ambitious legislative agenda. Right now, of course, we have highlighted that our priorities are that immediate cost of living relief that will come from the changes that we have put forward with the repayment thresholds for student debt, getting that bill through when it comes to protecting children in early childhood settings, to make sure that those settings are as safe as could possibly be. We have been clear about our priorities, but long term, we know this is the right plan for Australia, because it will ensure that we have a sustainable superannuation system, a system with the envy of the world, and we want it to be for the next 50 and 100 years.

JOURNALIST: Well, if you're confident about it, why wouldn't you push it through now? Is there some sort of problem? Is there some sort of tweaking? What? Why wouldn't you push that through?

GORMAN: I think the answer is pretty obvious, which is that the parliament has sat for three days in this 48th Parliament. The first of those days was ceremonial. The next two we were prioritising introducing legislation. I am confident it will pass. But I think we have seen in this building, time and time again, that when it comes to getting things through Parliament, you have got to also let the parliamentary processes do their piece.

JOURNALIST: Minister, if I could ask, the Prime Minister today sort of indicated that Australia didn't want to get ahead of other countries, like the US when it came to the Middle East, Palestinian recognition and so on. There is a bit of frustration, though, among some Labor ranks, given that at the national conference back in, I think, 2018 the there was a recognition as an official policy that recognition, sorry, would be enacted by the next Labor government. You're in government with your second term. What would you say to any frustration within some ranks that you're not delivering on that national conference party platform?

GORMAN: I would say to anyone who asks about our priorities; our priority right now is to find that path to a permanent ceasefire. Our priority right now is to make sure that those people and those horrific images we are seeing coming out of Gaza, where people are not getting the food and water that they need to survive, our priority is making sure that we advocate for humanitarian assistance to be able to get to the people who desperately need it. That is our priority right now. Our position has been very clear for a long period of time that we do want to see the state of Israel alongside a future Palestinian state, but how we find the path towards that? Those are discussions we will continue to have. I do not want to say anything other than right now, I think the world's focus and most Australians, who might not have followed these debates closely, but they have seen the images coming out of Gaza, their focus is on making sure that humanitarian aid gets to those innocent civilians who desperately need it.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of Roger Cook coming out today and saying that he'll be launching a new campaign to educate the east coast on the GST? Does the east coast need an education? And will you be taking part in any of that campaign, including the delegation that will be coming over here to Canberra?

GORMAN: Look, I look forward to welcoming my friend Roger Cook and his ministers to Canberra anytime that they come here. It is great to see people from the West here in the building. But when it comes to the GST, I would say to every Western Australian; the WA GST deal is rock solid. We went to the election with a position that the WA GST deal will remain so WA will always get a fair share of the GST. And therefore, my advice to any state government who is looking at running advertising campaigns is; save your money. Spend it on something else, because the WA GST deal is rock solid. The only people who benefit from that sort of a campaign are the advertising agencies and maybe some good folk in the media.

JOURNALIST: Just on net zero, Pauline Hanson has said that she's going to introduce an urgency motion to call on the government to end net zero, but in doing so, she said that Coalition senators shouldn't be able to abstain, and that those who do abstain 'cowards.' I wanted to get your sense of that position? Should they be transparent on, I guess, where they sit in this debate, but given that it is this huge deal that Australian voters should know how they [inaudible].

GORMAN: I will be always open about my position on net zero. I voted for the bill that went through the parliament to set Australia's commitment to net zero by 2050. We put that bill through the parliament in 2022. That is something that is still the Australian Government's position, and many of the members who were in Parliament then made their decisions about whether they vote for or against that bill at that time. I note, there is another bill in the parliament, I think it is being introduced as a private member's bill on Monday by Barnaby Joyce to get to net zero. And what we are seeing is that there are more and more Liberal Party frontbenchers jumping on board, saying that, in effect, they back that bill. And what this misses is the fact that the opportunities for Australia sit clearly on the side of acting on climate. The opportunities for Australia sit clearly on the side of reducing our emissions and getting cheaper energy, not just into our grid, but then using that cheap energy to export products to the world that they need. And they are the opportunities that excite me. They are the opportunities I am going to keep promoting, and they are the opportunities I point out to every member and every senator that are in front of us right now. Thank you.