Television interview - ABC Afternoon Briefing with Patricia Karvelas

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: I want to bring in my political panel for today. Garth Hamilton, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Energy Security. Patrick Gorman is the Assistant Employment Minister. Welcome to both of you. 

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here. 

KARVELAS: Have to start with you, Garth. Is your seat next? Is One Nation going to defeat you too?

GARTH HAMILTON, LIBERAL MEMBER FOR GROOM: Well, I remember hearing that from the two Teal campaigns I've seen through, so not new to hear a challenge in a regional seat. But look, huge result. One Nation, congratulate them on the outcome. But you know, it's important we do listen to the concerns that people are raising, and they're clearly raising them in regional seats like mine.

KARVELAS: They are. Is this putting Labor on notice too? 

GORMAN: Oh, look, I don't take any election for granted. I always believe you've got to put your absolute best foot forward, and you've got to take everyone who participates in our democracy seriously.

KARVELAS: Okay, so everyone agrees that you've got to take them seriously. How to do that is a different matter. A lot of the things that One Nation’s saying, you've been saying in the last three months, but what's happened? Are they not, is not Angus Taylor, perhaps, not appealing to some of these people?

HAMILTON: Well, look, I think we have been, you know, dealing with policy issues that maybe we haven't dealt with for quite some time, and that has been playing out. But I would point to almost every poll shows that since Angus came in, we have seen a drop in One Nation support across the country, obviously -

KARVELAS: They just got a 40 per cent primary?

HAMILTON: - not discounting what happened in Farrer, but we have seen that drop over time. We have to do the hard work, that's  just part of politics. Just because you come up with something, people don't automatically hear it, digest it, and move on. We've got a lot of work in front of us.

KARVELAS: A lot of work and Western Sydney is next, according to Barnaby Joyce. Does that make you nervous?

GORMAN: Look, Barnaby Joyce makes me nervous because the idea that he would be close to power in a Coalition Liberal-National-One Nation Government, that concerns me. I don't think that would be good for the country. I'll just say, though, like we say, and you've heard it on panels, the only poll that matters is on election day. We had a poll on election day on Saturday in Farrer. It was an absolute shocker for Angus Taylor, and he hasn't come out with any plan since. He's saying to his team more and more of the same, and it’ll all be fine. I think they're in a bit of trouble.

KARVELAS: Yeah, are you going to see more defections to One Nation, do you think? 

HAMILTON: Goodness no, and I'm certainly not considering it. But I've got to push back on that, I'm sorry. You know, at least we did turn up in Farrer. We did turn up, and people were angry. And we weren't going to win, we knew that from the outset, but we still turned up -

KARVELAS: Isn't it weird that you didn't think you were going to win, though, in a seat you've had for nearly 80 years?

HAMILTON: Look, there is a strong move. I mean, it's, you can call it weird, but we, I mean -

KARVELAS: You know what I’m saying, this used -

HAMILTON: - We saw the Teal wave come through and that was weird. 

KARVELAS: But it's happened to your brand twice now? 

HAMILTON: And that's something that's important for us to listen to and react to. I certainly haven't been shy in calling out the need to do that over a long period of time, PK, and I think that we are and I'm very happy with some of the positions that Angus has taken since coming through. There's a lot of hard work to go though.

KARVELAS: Yeah, people are annoyed about their economic circumstances. They've gone backwards, they feel that. The Reserve Bank Governor says people are feeling poorer because they're poorer. Isn't that at the heart of a lot of these problems?

GORMAN: People are doing it tough, and too many people are doing it tough. We know that is because of a whole range of international factors, right now, driven in large part by a war on the other side of the world. We've got our big economic statement tomorrow in the Budget, and you've seen cost-of-living relief for families and households in every single one of those budgets. And they'll be the same again tomorrow night. 

KARVELAS: Tomorrow night, they're looking at the changes to housing and taxes. There's no doubt that they didn't take it to the election. No contest about that. No, the evidence is that they did not take it to the election. How about if people like it, though?

HAMILTON: Well, look, that's something for the government to put on the table. You know, they've made the argument against this. They've made the argument that this would have a downward pressure on supply. So that's an argument that they need to make. But you know, that's, I think it's proof that for the first three years of this government's term, 2022 to 2025, they haven't turned the dial whatsoever on housing. 

KARVELAS: But don’t you think you need to focus on younger voters?

HAMILTON: I think we need to focus on every Australian. Clearly, though, it's so hard to get on the property ladder. I've got three kids, I don't know how I'm going to help them into home ownership, when the time comes, and I know a lot of Australians are feeling the same thing. So that's, that's older voters as well. 

KARVELAS: Does that mean you need to keep an open mind to some of these changes? 

HAMILTON: Look, I've been on the record that I think I'm open to anything that, you know, increases supply and puts pressure on demand. We need to do that. We've got a housing crisis. If you're not willing to turn on every lever - now, when I talk about the impact of immigration on housing, I get told, no, no, we can't talk about that, from the Labor Party. So, I think we need to talk about every lever, if we want to be honest. 

KARVELA: Ok, so you think open mind on what these changes might look like?

HAMILTON: If it is able to demonstrate that it's going to increase supply, put, you know, more affordable houses in front of young Australians who are trying to get on the property ladder, then sure, that's what we need. 

KARVELAS: In the last 30 seconds, the issue of migration and housing, is that a missing part of the story? And are we going to see anything on it tomorrow? 

GORMAN: Well, you'll see all of our plans tomorrow night in the budget, when it comes to migration, when it comes to housing, education, health, the whole lot. Our policies will be out there, and it'll be time for the Liberal Party under Angus Taylor to put their policies up for the contest. 

KARVELAS: Okay, well, there is the budget reply Thursday night, so we'll all be watching.

HAMILTON: Looking forward to it. 

KARVELAS: That was quick play. I enjoyed it. Thank you. 

GORMAN: It was good. 

KARVELAS: The Assistant Minister for Employment, Patrick Gorman, and the Shadow Assistant Minister for Energy Security, Garth Hamilton joining me there to talk about lots of issues.

ENDS