Interview with Oliver Peterson - 6PR Perth Live

OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: Let's go to Canberra now, where Patrick Gorman, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Labor's member for Perth, joins us live. Patrick, good afternoon.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Oly, and good afternoon to your listeners who, like me, are in a little bit of shock about your massive announcement.

PETERSON: Well, thank you, Patrick. I had to deliberate over this. It's a hard decision to leave, but as I say, it's been an absolute privilege to be able to present this programme for almost nine years, so I thank you for your well wishes. 

GORMAN: I think your tribute to your listeners, to your team, to your producer Nick, even to your mum and dad, and Amy of course, I thought was just beautiful. It is clear that you love them and you love being on radio. So I'm pleased to hear you are continuing on in a different role, but I'm going to miss coming onto your programme. I think the highlight, and also one of the most challenging interviews I've ever done with you, was at the Royal Show where we had a range of protesters giving some pretty vocal, free advice as we were trying to have a chat.

PETERSON: Well, like you, like me, we love Perth, and you're the Member for Perth, and you've now got Perth Park in Burswood, Patrick. So are you on board with this now? Because your letter to Roger Cook a couple of months ago, you didn't quite like the racetrack idea. Do you like Perth Park a little bit better?

GORMAN: I have outlined my concerns quite a while ago, and one of those concerns was about the consultation process that has occurred, and where we have gotten to. What I'm really pleased to see is there's now a new consultation process, that will mean that people can have their say about the projects. I have had my say. I don't support a racetrack in that location, but it's now for people to have their say about this proposal. There is a lot of ideas out there, and I'll leave them to run the consultation over the next couple of months. 

PETERSON: Alright, so what you saw they proposed yesterday with Perth Park, are you more on board with it? Do you like the concept that you saw the Premier unveil yesterday, Patrick?

GORMAN: They are in the in the depths of explaining their proposal. I will leave them to do that. It is no surprise, and it's not going to be a surprise to anyone that, as the Member for Perth, I don't support putting a racetrack right there. It has been consistently raised with me by local residents. But what I'll say to those local residents now is; one of the things I asked for was some more consultation. There is a new consultation that is opening now that these further plans, and slightly different plans, have been announced. I encourage people to have their say.

PETERSON: All right, so you still share those same concerns that you sent to Rita Saffioti earlier this year, they haven't been allayed?

GORMAN: I think I would have liked to see a full and open site selection process if you want to put a racetrack that is going to significantly disrupt my constituents. I have been really consistent on that. I have raised it privately. I have written to the relevant minister. I have put my views out there. But I think the thing that I can take some encouragement from is a new consultation process where people can go and have their say is something that, if you're a believer in democracy as I am, that's a good thing. 

PETERSON: Patrick, what are you hoping to pass before the break? And how many more days of parliament have you actually got left? It's only a few days, isn't it? 

GORMAN: We have three days of Parliament left. We have had a busy sitting here in Canberra today. A bit eventful in the Senate with some pretty outrageous actions from Senator Pauline Hanson. But we have got one big thing we want to get done, which is about getting our environmental reforms through the Senate. This is all about making sure that we can get faster approvals, better environmental protection, and unlock all of those jobs that sit on the other side of those approvals. And also, in other cases, it's also about unlocking housing, because one of the things we know that can hold up building more homes for more Australians is getting the approvals to be able to start building those homes and those apartments.

PETERSON: So how does this speed up the process, Patrick? 

GORMAN: At the moment, there are a large range of technical requirements that we know that our public servants can do much faster. One of the things that is in the Bill is making sure there are ways to fast track certain proposals which we know are in our national interest, and also just to have laws that are written in the 21st Century. The laws that we currently use were written last century when John Howard and Kim Beasley were still in Parliament. 

PETERSON: And do you think you have the support of the crossbench to be able to get this through?

GORMAN: We have been in negotiations with both the Coalition and the Greens party. My view has always been that these laws can be passed in their current form without needing anything to be changed, and the Coalition and the Greens could both vote for them today if they chose to. But we will keep negotiating through, because we always act in the national interest. And we want to make sure that we can get these laws through to protect our environment, to unlock more investment. Not just in Western Australia, but across the country, and to back more Australian jobs that we know can come from good critical minerals projects, good housing projects and all those other things that get caught up in these clunky old laws that we have been stuck with for more than a quarter of a century.

PETERSON: You made mention before of what went on in the Senate a little earlier today, it was suspended after Pauline Hanson entered the Senate wearing a burqa. Did that catch the Senate and your parliamentary colleagues by surprise, Patrick? 

GORMAN:  It is incredibly disappointing. But I think one of the things we know is that Pauline Hanson has been pulling these stunts for years and years. She has done this very stunt before. So, while it's very disappointing and very immature, it's not surprising. I believe that people send us here to Canberra to do our job. To be in there, voting on legislation, putting forward the views of those who sent us here, and the result of this stunt by Senator Pauline Hanson meant that the entire chamber of the parliament shuts down. That is not good enough. And, this is not partisan, even Matt Canavan - who I would disagree with on many things - even Matt Canavan was out there, one of her fellow Queensland Senators, was out there saying this was inappropriate and it wasn't constructive. I completely agree. 

PETERSON: Patrick Gorman, thanks for your time. Appreciate it as always. 

GORMAN: Thanks, Oly. 

ENDS