SUBJECTS: NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION; COST OF LIVING; FADDEN BYELECTION.

NATALIE BARR: The National Anti-Corruption Commission begins work this morning, and a long list of matters are in the queue for potential referral to the new body. Former Coalition Minister Stuart Robert is among those who could end up fronting the commission after explosive allegations were made about him being secretly funnelled money by lobby film Synergy 360. The Greens have already referred the tax leak scandal involving consultancy firm PwC.

Let’s bring in Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Good morning to both of you.

Tanya, let’s start with Stuart Robert and Synergy. They have denied these claims emphatically, which were made under parliamentary privilege. But is this the sort of issue the watchdog should be looking into?

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, Nat, the brilliant thing about the way that we’ve set up the National Anti-Corruption Commission is that it can investigate whoever it wants. It doesn’t need a referral and it certainly doesn’t need a referral from the government. They read the papers, they can see that there’s been a lot of accusations made about what is a very serious issue. They can decide off their own bat to investigate Stuart Robert, or anyone else. And it’s worth saying that it’s up and running from the 1st of July. We promised it, we’ve delivered it. The previous government promised an anti-corruption commission; they just never got around to doing it.

BARR: Barnaby, what do you think? Should a referral be made to the commission about Stuart Robert’s alleged dealings with Synergy?

BARNABY JOYCE, MP: Well, the commission will make whatever decision it wishes to make, I suppose. The Greens have already started politicising it. The thing you’ve got to be really careful before elections, weaponising things. We saw that with the Brittany Higgins case. And if it happens, if you get a repeat with the Stuart Robert case, and especially if later on it doesn’t quite stack up the way you thought, then it reflects very badly on the government. Now, I imagine the commission will make its decisions about Mr Robert, just like it might make them about the in excess of two and a half million dollar payment that was made to Ms Higgins which worked under the auspices of the Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who apparently was in strong communication with –

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: That’s not right, Barnaby. It wasn’t made by Katy Gallagher.

JOYCE: What’s not right about that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: It wasn’t. That’s not right. The Attorney-General has made it clear that it was completely in accordance –

JOYCE: Well, she’s the Finance Minister. She’s the Finance Minister. Even if it’s an ex-gratia payment, she’s the Finance Minister. It might be recommended by the Attorney-General, but it’s the Finance Minister who is responsible for these types of payments.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You’re talking about politicising stuff, Barnaby?

JOYCE: Well, you guys started it. You did it.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: So you don’t think we should be politicising stuff?

JOYCE: You did it. You did it.

BARR: Barnaby, the corruption commission was labelled I think a fringe issue by the Morrison government and now I think, you know, Peter Dutton wants the compensation payment given to Brittany Higgins referred to the commission. Will you guys accept that this was probably a good idea to set up the commission?

JOYCE: I’ll let the commission make its own decisions. Honestly –

BARR: But as far as just having it in the first place?

JOYCE: Well, I’m not going to be like the Greens – I’ll let the commission make its own decisions, and if it believes that that’s something that should be investigated, well and good. If it believes Mr Robert should be investigated, that’s its choice. But I tell you right now, the people of Fadden are not going to go to the polling booths thinking about Mr Robert; they’re going to be thinking about power prices, they’re going to be thinking about a government that’s more focused on constitutional change than the cost of living; more focused on what they want rather than what the people who are voting need, which is, it needs lower power prices. They need to be able to afford their food. They need to be able to afford their fuel. There are people who are going off the grid who literally are going back to third world conditions. That’s what people will be thinking about, as well as how on earth they make their interest repayments on the house they’ve bought and borrowed the money for.

BARR: Yes, exactly. Let’s talk about Stuart Robert’s, of course, vacated seat of Fadden. The Queensland byelection will happen later this month. Tanya, the Liberals lost the last byelection to Labor; do you think we’re going to see a repeat of that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I think this is a very tough election for Labor. Our candidate Letitia Del Fabbro is a fantastic candidate. She’s a nurse educator, great community member, but Labor hasn’t held this seat for 40 years. We’ve won it only once in the history of the seat, that was 40 years ago. Most of the people voting won’t have been alive last time this was a Labor seat. So it’s a very tough call.

And what Barnaby’s talking about, cost of living, of course we are laser focused on that. Cheaper childcare started on the 1st of July, cheaper medicines have already started, in January we got cheaper medicines. We’re making sure people can see a doctor with bulk billing instead of having to pay out of their pockets. We’re focused on lifting wages, something that the previous government actually said they were deliberately trying to keep wages low.

Barnaby and his lot voted against energy price relief. They voted against helping people with their energy bills.

JOYCE: Because it didn’t work, Tanya. Tanya, it didn’t work.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: So, yes, people will be thinking about –

JOYCE: It didn’t work. It went through the parliament and power prices went up, not down.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yes, people will be thinking about the cost of living and they’ll be remembering that Barnaby voted against power bill relief.

JOYCE: Tanya, they will remember that it went through the parliament – it went through the parliament – and power prices went up. It didn’t work. And I’ll tell you what, the pharmacists, they’ll also be remembering as they go to the ballot box how you are putting real pressure on their capacity to operate, especially in regional towns.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, and people will be – there’s 6 million who’ll get cheaper medicines.

JOYCE: I’ll bet you they’ll be talking about that. And pensioners will be referring to the fact they can’t afford their power bill because of this insane drive to 82 per cent renewables. You said it was going to be nearly free! Well, it’s almost to the point where they can’t pay for it.

BARR: Barnaby, do you think you’re going to be able to hang on in Fadden? This could be a good test. It’s mainly young families, first home buyers. Do you think, you know, you’ve got a majority – I think 60 per cent majority Liberal – do you think you can hang on?

JOYCE: I’ll leave that to the electors. You never, ever tell the electors how to vote. Just like you shouldn’t be telling people, you know, that you’re going to change their constitution if they don’t want to change it. You know, I will let them make their decision at the ballot box. I truly believe – I truly believe – that Peter Dutton would be a better choice for them as a person who’s owned a small business – we’ve got Cameron Caldwell going there who’s a small business owner, a long-term councillor, I think 12 years on the council. So this means that they’ve got someone in small businesses on the Gold Coast, who’s been in small business, not just, you know, a union hack or, you know, an ex-staffer. They’ve actually got a business person who’s shown real community interests.

BARR: Okay. Well, that will be a good test coming up in two weeks. Thank you both. We’ll see you next week.

END