Interview with Tom Connell - Sky News Politics Now
TOM CONNELL, HOST: Welcome back an eventful week in the Middle East and, of course, Washington. President Donald Trump says his twenty-point Gaza peace plan has been agreed to. The question is, of course, will it hold? Joining me now the Assistant Minister to Prime Minister Pat Gorman, who loves to make bold predictions on the Middle East. Is this good to go? This will be held to? Both parties, both sides?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: I hope so Tom and I think the global community hopes so too. We have welcomed President Trump's plan and the work as well of the Arab League and nations in the region. And of course, the parties to this agreement. This will see what so many have been calling for for so long. It will see the return of hostages. It will see a cease fire. It will see aid get to people who desperately need it in Gaza. I really am optimistic that this will not just be implemented, but that it will hold and that it will give us that lasting peace that people in the region, and people across the world, have wanted for so long.
CONNELL: Looking at the rubble that Gaza has been reduced to, because - given we're at this point now there's a lot of before and after photographs - and even Israel's estimates is 83% of the people killed have been civilians. Is this just a war should never be fought like this, whatever the reason? And yes, Hamas obviously doesn't fight fair at all, but is this just the wrong way to go about a war?
GORMAN: War is always horrific, and we have seen huge civilian casualties in this conflict. What I really hope is that those civilian casualties can come to an end. We can start to see all the other impacts of this conflict come to an end as well. That is seeing Israel being able to live in peace and security, being able to see that aid flow - particularly to children who have been suffering as a result of unacceptably poor flows of aid for many months now. I hope we can see that and start to realise what was always envisioned when we had the creation of modern State of Israel by the United Nations, is that we do see two states living side by side in peace and security, able to fulfil the ambitions of their people. That is to have fulfilling lives, peaceful lives, and an end to this needless waste of resources and livelihoods.
CONNELL: Baby Priya Bill. So the mother of little Priya - she died at six weeks of age - and her work sent condolences and then cancelled the rest of her maternity leave. I mean, it's sad to need a law, really, to make sure that doesn't happen, isn't it?
GORMAN: It is, but it was also the right thing to do. And I want to thank baby Priya's mum for enabling the Albanese Government to name this law in honour of her child. Yes, she only got 42 days with little baby Priya, but she has turned that horrible loss into something that will benefit around 3000 families a year. That is a significant contribution, and it means that when families are dealing with unexpected and tragic loss, they are not also dealing with negotiating a change to their working arrangements. This mirrors what already happens with government paid parental leave, and so I think it's good to give certainty to families at a time where all certainty has been ripped away.
CONNELL: And it's so - it's a baby stillbirth as well. Which is more common than a very young baby dying. I mean, obviously, what you need isn't at that time. Some people obviously could return to work early if they wanted. For some people, they'll want to focus on something. But you know, three months to get over that isn't actually that long a time, is it?
GORMAN: It's not long. And I think we know, for those of us who know people who've gone through this in their own lives, that loss stays with you for a lifetime. But, what we can do is provide the certainty that leave that was planned, and workplace arrangements that were put in place can continue - give legal certainty to that - and support families.
CONNELL: It's just the last thing that people should worry about. So tax on super balance is more than $3 million. Change is being considered an interest from the Prime Minister's Office. This is according to what we've heard at Senate estimates. So what's going on here exactly?
GORMAN: Our policy hasn't changed. We have taken this to the election. We have been very clear about our intent to make sure that we have very carefully targeted superannuation tax concessions. In terms of what's been reported at Senate estimates, I think it's not that unusual that you would have, where there's been a lot of commentary - and indeed, I'm sure at times people have seen the commentary of some people that have come and sat on this desk putting forth different views about this policy -
CONNELL: So it's fair to say the Prime Minister has gone 'This maybe isn't all that popular. People, even such as Paul Keating, thinks this is not a good idea. Jim, what are we going to do about this?'
GORMAN: I do not think that is fair to say, Tom. I've just said that our policy hasn't changed on this matter, but what you will see -
CONNELL: Changes are being looked at according to what we heard today.
GORMAN: No, I think it's pretty normal that when you've got different policy ideas about a policy that's on the table being discussed - suggestions have been put forward on Sky News, put forward in the major newspapers of Australia - it is not unusual that you'd have public servants look at what those proposals are -
CONNELL: But what we heard before was the Prime Minister saying, 'We took this to an election, It was voted on, now it's being looked at.' That's a change?
GORMAN: Our policy has not changed -
CONNELL: I'm not saying your policy has changed. But the approach to it before was, 'This is the policy that we took to the election. Nothing more to say'. And now things are being looked at. That is a change in position on what to do about it.
GORMAN: No, I don't think you can conflate where you have got officials who might be looking at what someone else has suggested about government policy and -
CONNELL: But why would they do that if Labor's intention purely was to just pass what you did at the election?
GORMAN: Sometimes people put forward ideas that are not particularly practical, not particularly good. Sometimes you want to actually have people have a look at those things. It is not unusual, and we've gone through this on a range of other tax matters over time. It is not unusual for public servants to look at what's in the public debate -
CONNELL: Labour were totally convinced at the policy and of itself. You tried to pass it in the Senate post election.
GORMAN: In fairness, Tom, we did try and do that in the last term -
CONNELL: Yeah but this election we can see what changes are put up -
GORMAN: We took it through the House of Representatives. We introduced it in 2023, went through the House of Representatives. It went to the Senate. I think we all remember that that Senate in the previous parliament wasn't always cooperative. You saw sometimes saw more cooperation between the Liberal Party and the Greens than you saw cooperation for the Australian people. I am hopeful on a range of initiatives that we have taken to the election and to the Senate. Our mandate -
CONNELL: There might be changing on this bill before you present it. Is that fair to say? Is that a possibility?
GORMAN: The bill is actually already out there, Tom. It was introduced in the last parliament. If people want to go and see it, they can go and look it up.
CONNELL: So you'll, you'll try to pass the same bill in the Senate then?
GORMAN: The first answer I gave you -
CONNELL: Will you try to pass the same bill in the Senate again?
GORMAN: The first answer I gave you is our policy has -
CONNELL: No I understand now, but that means you will try to pass the same bill in the Senate.
GORMAN: We have said as well that we'll introduce the bill at the appropriate time.
CONNELL: Patrick Gorman, thank you.