THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SUNRISE WITH MONIQUE WRIGHT
MONDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2024
SUBJECTS: COST OF LIVING, NEW POLLING.
MONIQUE WRIGHT: Well, to our economy now. And the Prime Minister says that the cost of living crisis is almost over, declaring yesterday that the worst of it is now behind us. Anthony Albanese made the bold declaration while making his first election pitch to voters at a rally in Adelaide. The PM also listed Labor's achievements since coming to power before claiming that Australia has now navigated through the global storm of high prices and inflation. For their take, let's bring in Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and National's MP Barnaby Joyce. Morning to you both. Okay, Tanya, the Prime Minister sounded very confident that the inflation crisis was over. Still feels like a hard sell though when so many Aussies are struggling.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Yeah, well, we know it's not job done, but the truth is we inherited inflation with a six in front of it and rising, we've got it down to less than three per cent and falling. So, from over six per cent to now 2.8 per cent and falling. That's a great achievement. And it's because of course we've delivered two back-to-back surpluses in contrast to the previous government that promised a surplus in their first year and every year after, but never delivered a single surplus. And we're addressing those real cost of living pressures with electricity bill relief. I mean, yesterday the Prime Minister made a huge announcement about reducing student debt. We've got work with the supermarkets to bring down supermarket prices, fee-free TAFE, cheaper childcare, rent assistance, we're building more homes so people can get a house cheaper. Right across the board we're focusing on getting prices down day to day for ordinary people because we know that is absolutely the number one agenda for the country.
WRIGHT: Yeah, look, it did sound like he launched your campaign slogan ‘building Australia's future’. Barnaby, inflation is coming down, wages are going up. Is that going to hurt your election chances?
BARNABY JOYCE: Well, you know, I can smell an election coming on that certainly the fact that - once people are standing behind you in press conference nodding, you've got an election coming on. What I can say is test all the rhetoric against this. Has your power bill gone up or down? The reason they give you electricity relief is because they completely botched the electricity market. Do you feel when you go to the groceries that all of a sudden things are cheaper and more affordable and you're right or you find you really struggle? When you go to pay your rent, you believe that it's completely reasonable and you're right on top of it or do you believe it's kind of out of reach or buying a house? See, when we test the rhetoric of what the Labor Party is saying against the reality of how you are living, it's completely and utterly disconnected. So, go with the reality and realise they're not up to the job.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Monique, why don't you ask Barnaby what his plan is. What's Barnaby's plan to get prices down? Like, he is great at having a whinge on TV, but Peter Dutton has not given us a single detail of his plan should he become Prime Minister.
WRIGHT: All right, Barnaby.
JOYCE: Well, hang on.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: He said he wants to build nuclear reactors. He can't even say how much that would cost.
WRIGHT: Okay, Barnaby.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: What's Barnaby's plan for bringing down the cost of living?
JOYCE: You're dead right. We're going to build baseload power, Tanya. We're going to try and fundamentally change how the electricity market works which underpins all your cost of –
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Even Queensland doesn't want it.
JOYCE: You've got to let me finish because they can't hear us if we both speak at the same time. So, this fundamentally changes –
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: How much will this cost?
JOYCE: – how the electricity market works. And you've seen your plan up in Queensland, Tanya. The $12 billion Pioneer Pumped Hydro was actually - this from the incoming, a $24 billion pumped hydro. I mean, you can't just lobby this cost on people here in Mascot where you - well around here, because they just can't pay for it. It's complete fantasy. It's like all you need amongst those minions, the unicorn, all those things for those kids earlier on was the Labor Party dressed up as independent power. That's the only one that was missing there.
WRIGHT: Yeah. Ok. All right, we've got to move on because I want to ask you about this new polling which is bad for both sides of politics, really bad, in fact. It says what voters really think about Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. Aussies describing when they're asked which words to use to describe the Prime Minister, the dominant words there were “weak leader”, “incompetent”, “useless”. The Opposition Leader labelled “strong”, “arrogant leader”, “untrustworthy” and “bad”. When it came to who voters thought would make a better Prime Minister, Albanese, he did lead by four per cent. But, Tanya, gosh, it's terrible when the PM's number one word description is “weak” and Peter Dutton's is “strong”. Must be worried about that. And this was done before the travel upgrade saga all took hold last week. I can only imagine it would be worse now.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, look, I don't think arrogant, untrustworthy and bad is something that Peter Dutton would be very happy with either. Absolutely, politicians have to continue to prove that we're absolutely focused on what matters to Australians and that is cost of living. And that's why we've got massive student debt relief, it's why we've got cheaper childcare, it's why we're building more affordable housing, it's why we're pushing supermarket prices down, it's why we've got electricity bill relief, it's why we've got more rent assistance, it's why we're pushing up wages and it's why we've given a tax cut to every single Australian taxpayer. Our focus has to be absolutely relentless on making life a bit easier day to day for people getting the cost of living down, making life a bit easier. And that's what we're focused on.
WRIGHT: Okay, but gosh, whether you focused on it or not, there is a massive perception problem. And Barnaby, the opinion of Peter Dutton isn't exactly good news. Arrogant, untrustworthy and bad. Some of the top five descriptions.
JOYCE: Well, the person at the big dance is always the Prime Minister. As you know, governments do a lot to lose elections. But all the things you talked about, your power bills, your cost of living, the issues of China's a totalitarian nation on the rise. What do you want in your leader? What do you want in your Prime Minister? If you look at sort of a quasi almost like father figure in the family, you want the person to be weak or strong. Now the Prime Minister in his last week showed he was weak. That food salad that he dished up as an explanation of his upgrades rather than just fessing up being straight to the Australian people just confirmed in everybody's mind this guy, he just doesn't have the gumption, the fortitude to be straight with us. He is not a tough guy and if Peter Dutton is tough then I'll accept that.
WRIGHT: Yeah, but we probably don't want untrustworthy and bad as well.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Honestly, there's a difference between strong and angry.
WRIGHT: Listen, we're out of time. But across the board, gosh, you know politicians, whether you're working hard and doing your best, all those things, Tanya, that you just talked about then there does seem to be a massive perception problem across the board when it comes to how people are viewing politicians. But we thank you both so much for your time. Safe travels to Canberra today, Tanya and Barnaby.
END
