TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
4BC DRIVE WITH SCOTT EMERSON
WEDNESDAY, 5 MAY 2021
SUBJECTS: Australians stuck in India; Federal Budget.
SCOTT EMERSON, HOST: Tanya Plibersek is the Shadow Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Women and she joins us every week. Tanya, how are you?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN: I'm great Emmo. How are you?
EMERSON: I'm very, very well. First off, let me just go with the breaking news today. First off, this challenge to the ban of flights coming back from India, that's been launched into the federal court. That happened late this afternoon, earlier this afternoon, and that's likely be heard tomorrow or Friday. Now, the federal Labor Party has made very clear that they’re concerned about the ban, and also about the threats of jail and fines. So just clarify for me, does Labor support the pause on flights coming back from India?
PLIBERSEK: I think with the number of cases that you're talking about in the flights that we've had recently, a pause is fair enough, if that's what the medical advice says. But the whole problem is we have not prepared properly for this situation. The government was told more than a year ago that we could set up remote federal quarantine facilities. If we'd done that, at that time, we wouldn't have 40,000 Australians still stuck overseas, desperate to get home. I think you asked about the jail terms and so on. That's just ridiculous. I mean Scott Morrison announced it one day and then next day said “oh but we will never use that power – it’s virtually impossible that anybody will ever be subject to these penalties”. Well what was he doing? Was he just trying for a distraction because the vaccine roll-out has been such a disaster, and the borders have been such a disaster? I don't know what he was thinking.
EMERSON: Look it did look messy. At the very least it looked messy in terms of making that announcement then trying to walk it back. And clearly that's what the Prime Minister was doing in terms of the threats of jail and fines. But in terms of May 15. We get to May 15. Should the flights start again if the situation India hasn't improved?
PLIBERSEK: Well we have to take a medical advisers seriously. We have to get medical advice about how Australians can be brought home safely. And there have been proposals on the table for federal quarantine facilities, outside our inner city hotels, which were not built to be medical facilities. Let's have a look at the advice from our experts on how this can be done safely. But again, this is a disaster because the government has dragged its feet until now and ignored the advice of experts more than a year ago, that we should be looking at these sorts of facilities, federally run, outside our capitals, where we could safely return people in situations like this.
EMERSON: Alright, but the basic line you are saying is we've got to follow the medical advice, and if Paul Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer, comes out and says nup keep the flights stopped past May 15, Labor would accept that?
PLIBERSEK: Let's not speculate, let's see what happens. We are very, very concerned about the Australians who are caught overseas, predominantly now in India with the flights cancelled, but right around the world. I'm still being contacted by family members back here in Australia, loved ones, saying, you know my daughter, my son has turned up to the airport five times and hasn't been able to get a flight home to Australia. They've spent thousands on flights that have been cancelled. They're running out of money overseas. They are really struggling to make it home. Some of them have been waiting for months to get home. They drag the kids out to the airport at the crack of dawn and have been turned away one more time. This is a serious problem. It's been a serious problem for months. It's highlighted by the pausing of flights from India – this is a tragic, catastrophic event in India. We really feel for the people in India, who are experiencing this. But the problem is a pre-existing problem of failure of our borders and quarantine system.
EMERSON: Lets turn to the next week's Budget, comes down on Tuesday. We've seen already some announcements: $1.7 Billion boost to childcare spending. Josh Frydenberg bringing it down on Tuesday. We don't know what's in most of the Budget at this stage. But from your perspective, what would Labor do next Tuesday that you don't think that the Coalition will be doing?
PLIBERSEK: A firm focus on jobs. And no doubt the Coalition will also say that they're firmly focused on jobs. But we've got two million Australians who are unemployed or underemployed. You're employed if you've got an hour a week work. So we've got a lot of people who are desperate for more hours of work. And they're also desperate for job security and pay rises. And seeing job security and an economy that recovers, and businesses that recover and are able to increase wages - and then that means increased demand in our economy as people have more money in their pockets to spend. That's what we're after. And the way we do that? Is we build things. We make things. We invest in caring for people. And we have an industrial relations system that supports productivity improvements, and when businesses are profitable, some of that money going to their workforce. So I've talked to you before about building things – it's not just the big roads and bridges, although they are important. But also local upgrades, our parks, our schools, our TAFE facilities, our health facilities, all in desperate need of upgrades. We make things – we use cheaper power, particularly from renewables, to become an industrial powerhouse again. We take the things that we've invented and discovered, and we make them into things we want to sell to the world. And caring for people – Scott if this Budget doesn't see a substantial increase in aged care funding, as just one example of where we could be employing Australians to look after people who need help, either in their own homes or in our residential aged care facilities, we are really missing a huge opportunity to do better for older Australians, who deserve the care, and to employ a bunch of people doing that vital work.
EMERSON: Well Tanya Plibersek, I guess this time next week we'll have the chance to dissect the entire Budget together. Great to have you on the show this afternoon, and we'll catch you again next week.
PLIBERSEK: I look forward to it.
ENDS
