Topics: Asylum seekers, Nielsen Poll on mining boom, Newspoll, HSU investigation
KIEREN GILBERT: Let’s go to our panel now. In Melbourne, Liberal Senator Scott Ryan; in Brisbane, Labor MP Graham Perrett. You heard there the people in New Zealand asking why this group would take on such a perilous journey given they’re in a country which is, for all intents and purposes, a signatory to the refugee convention. I think the answer is pretty obvious isn’t it? They wouldn’t face mandatory detention in New Zealand, they would do here.
GRAHAM PERRETT: Well, I can’t speak for what has motivated them to get on the boat and take that perilous journey. I do know that in my electorate I’ve had regular representations from Falun Gong practitioners, who have been concerned about their treatment around the world, particularly concerns about how China has treated them. Obviously the idea of going into detention might have been troubling for them but I don’t know the circumstances.
GILBERT: There is some discussion today Graham about Australia’s obligations or potential obligations under safety of life at sea conventions. If authorities have concerns about a vessel making its intended journey they could stop it. Do you know anything about that?
PERRETT: Well that’s a standard law of the sea I guess, especially where there are children involved – that might be another treaty invoked. But, obviously the people who are on the ground and talking to the people who have arrived will be able to make a better assessment of what is best for the people in the boat and best for the children who may not be able to make an informed decision about taking such a perilous sea journey. Pretty perilous set of circumstances to head out in such a small boat to New Zealand.
GILBERT: Liberal senator Scott Ryan is in Melbourne. Senator, what is your reaction to this story? There are limitations, do you concede there are limitations to what the government can do in each of these circumstances – both the stand-off in Indonesia and closer to home, that in Darwin?
SCOTT RYAN: Thanks Kieren. I am not an expert on international refugee law. What this does go to show is that we need to have a system in place that stops people going on these very dangerous voyages. We’ve got this group in Darwin that is obviously intending to take a very perilous journey across a pretty rough sea to New Zealand, but we also have people coming to our own shores because the people smugglers are selling them a product: that is residency in Australia. The key point here is to try and stop people getting on these boats in the first place, they are very dangerous journeys.
GILBERT: Absolutely, they are certainly dangerous. I think the one to New Zealand would be as perilous, if not more perilous than any of the other ones we have seen. Graham Perrett, I want to move on and talk about the mining boom …
PERRETT: Kieren can I just ask, Scott surely you’re reaching a bit to try and sheet home the Australian Government’s responsibility for someone taking a boat journey to New Zealand? I know you’ve got to parrot your lines there, but fair crack of the whip.
RYAN: Graham, the point I am making is that we’ve got people making these journeys to Australia. We know we’ve got people being rescued at sea, we don’t know how many people are lost at sea, we’ve got people making these very dangerous journeys through the Indian Ocean and down through Indonesia and the same thing is happening to our own shores. It should be a priority to stop people making these journeys.
GILBERT: Let’s move on. I want to get through a few other issues. The mining boom, Graham, it is quite fascinating this number in The Australian Financial Review today that shows 85 per cent of people think the mining boom is good, but not necessarily good for them. Only 12 per cent think they’ve benefitted a lot from the boom. Surely the Government should have made more of these numbers in terms of its planned mining tax, it just highlights how much the Government has botched it, doesn’t it?
PERRETT: Well it does show that it is a patchwork economy and certainly I’ve spent Easter with a couple of builders and mechanics and they made that point. If you’re doing a renovation, you are likely to be doing it for someone who is involved in the mining industry. It is not enough to say this is good times for Australia because if you are not being part of that economy that benefits from the mining boom then you are doing it tough at the moment. Most sensible Australians, most people with an ounce of common sense, realise that we’ve got to make the most of this opportunity now and spread the wealth around as much as we can. They are our resources, we only get to dig them out once. But to say that it is largesse all around Australia, that is not the case at all.
GILBERT: Those who will feel most aggrieved, Senator Ryan, are those in your home state of Victoria. They feel they are not getting much of the benefit at all.
RYAN: I think Kieren we need to clarify who is benefitting from the mining boom. Firstly, virtually every Australian in benefitting directly through their superannuation fund because most superannuation funds would have a significant part of mining shares in them, particularly those in the larger funds. There are thousands of Australians flying in and out for jobs and there are thousands of businesses who are doing well. But you are right to say that the economy is particularly tough in some parts of Australia. But you don’t improve the economy by slowing down the fastest horse in the race. That is what Labor is seeking to do – to sort of redistribute money from the mining industry, which has in fact been quite strong for the economy. In the last Howard Government, we had a mining boom as well, but we also delivered surpluses, paid back debt, had low unemployment and so it all comes down to a degree of confidence people have in government policy and they don’t have it in the Labor Government.
GILBERT: Graham Perrett, on another issue, the Newspoll – sorry to keep moving quickly but we’ve got a few things to get through – I spoke to you the day after the Queensland election and on the evening of it from the tally room …
PERRETT: … I’m still in therapy from it Kieren …
GILBERT: I hope the therapy is going ok, sorry to bring it up and apologies to your therapist, but the Newspoll today confirms the trend that we’ve seen that the horror state for Labor is Queensland. It is just another reminder, if you needed one, that the Prime Minister needs to spend a lot of time in Queensland and get to know those Broncos players, as you’ve advised her to do.
PERRETT: And the Titans and the Cowboys and the Reds and the Roar and throw in the Firebirds as well Kieren. Obviously a lot of work to be done in Queensland, we’re not shirking away from that responsibility, which is to inform the people of Queensland of the good things we’ve got to deliver for Australia. Obviously we don’t live and breathe by the polls, but obviously where they’re trending is a concern. The good thing is they are trending north over time and that is something I do take as a positive thing. But a lot of work to be done and a lot of fear to be counted – obviously that will take care of itself after the first of July when the sky doesn’t fall and pricing pollution takes place and people understand that it is only a gradual economic reform and not the end of the world, as Tony Abbott and his colleagues would suggest.
GILBERT: The one state where Labor seems to be doing ok, Senator Ryan, is Victoria. Why is that? What would you put that down to?
RYAN: I wouldn’t say they’re doing ok Kieren. There has been a lot of movement since the last election, that’s what that poll shows. What we’re doing, what I’m doing in Victoria, is going around and explaining to people that Victoria is going to be hit hardest by this carbon tax because of our reliance on cheap brown coal electricity. We’re getting incredible feedback about that. Small business is struggling in Victoria, manufacturing, in particular is going to be hit hard by the increasing power costs, so I am quite optimistic that our message and our alternative is getting through in Victoria.
GILBERT: On the Health Services Union, Graham Perrett, the Opposition Leader has been out there today saying the Prime Minister is the only one in the Labor movement who doesn’t realise that the Health Services Union, that there is something there that stinks to high heaven, was his line. Do you think that this is now reflecting increasingly badly on the Government, given the Prime Minister isn’t making moves to distance herself from your embattled colleague?
PERRETT: Well for a start, I’m not sure how much further distance we could put between the HSU and the broader ALP. There is a whole process there that both the ACTU and the Government is saying “let’s have a look at what is happening in the HSU and then after the proper time, after the proper people responsible for it have made a decision, then we’ll respond”. There is only one political leader, that’s the Leader of the Opposition, who seems to think that Government should reach in and interfere in a proper process. That is quite untoward I would suggest and doesn’t show real leadership at all. Julia Gillard, as Prime Minister, is taking the right approach, which is wait and see how the investigators respond.
GILBERT: Scott Ryan isn’t it appropriate to allow this to run its course given your colleagues in the past have been the subject of scrutiny by the DPP in the past and were afforded that time and the presumption of innocence?
RYAN: We’ve had years of this investigation going on Kieren. I don’t know how much longer it is supposed to take. Fair Work Australia produced a report, which the DPP said the next day was unusable. If any small business around the country said to Fair Work Australia, “give us three years to look it”, they’d be laughed at by the Fair Work Australia inspectors. The ACTU has put distance between themselves and the HSU, the members of the HSU are now trying to put distance between themselves and the leadership of HSU. The only person saying “there is nothing to see here, please move along” is the Prime Minister. She set up Fair Work Australia and this investigation has been a farce. I don’t think anyone can realistically disagree with that.
GILBERT: That’s all we’ve got time for today.