Television Interview - Sky News Afternoon Agenda

JULIA BRADLEY, HOST: Joining me live now to discuss some of today's top stories, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman and former Liberal MP, Jason Falinski. Thank you so much for your time. Jason, I just want to start with you. Given we've got a new Liberal leadership team, federally. Angus Taylor and Jane Hume have been very much on the front foot, apologising for some of those previous policy mistakes. Is this something that voters are going to be able to move on from?

JASON FALINSKI, FORMER LIBERAL MP: Well, I hope so, and I think they will. I think voters are always interested in the here and now. Particularly as it pertains to the future. They're not really that interested in what's happened before. They want to know, what you're going to do for them to make their lives easier and better.

BRADLEY: And Patrick Gorman, we've seen some of those Labor attack ads very much focused on what you could call some more 'low hanging fruit' regarding Angus Taylor's gaffs on social media in the past. Is this the best the Labor Government has in its arsenal?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: I will never make any apologies for pointing out the fact that Angus Taylor opposed tax cuts for 14 million Australians and wanted to increase the national debt by $14 billion. He has an atrocious track record. I think it tells you a lot about the modern Liberal Party, that he is the best leader they can find amongst - not just the talent that they apparently do not really have in their federal party room - they are not able to entice anyone to come in from their state or territory branches. If I think about the challenge that Angus Taylor has had over the last few days, to explain why he has all these contradictory positions, I was surprised to see a report from Sky News yesterday confirming that he is again open to sacking some 41,000 public servants. Let us be clear what those sorts of cuts mean - it just means you wait longer for your Medicare payments. It means you wait longer for a pension. That means you get poorer quality services from the Commonwealth, because all those public servants they want to cut, they are service delivery agents, making sure people get good services. There is a lot of explaining that is happening from the Liberal Party at the moment, and I guess we all just sit and wait to see what sort of policies they come out with in the days ahead.

BRADLEY: And I want to dive deeper on the economy, but Jason Falinski, opening that up to you. If the position to cut down on spending and rein everything in is through the public service, is this going to blow back on the leadership team, given Jane Hume was the person to really pursue that working from home change when it concerned the public sector?

FALINSKI: Yeah, good question, Julia. Look in truth, I would encourage Patrick to stop focusing - and the Labor Party - to stop focusing on Angus Taylor and Jane Hume. We have been in a per capita recession since October 2022. They have added almost, or more than, $106 billion to Australia's debt since they got elected. We have a situation where prior to the election, they weren't aware that they were spending an extra $58 billion in the budget. Australians know that under this Government, things have got harder and tougher, and they expect all their political leaders, no matter where they sit, to actually get on with the job of making their lives easier. Because it shouldn't be this hard. So, I would encourage Patrick, I would encourage the Prime Minister, I would encourage the Finance Minister to work out the difference between net and gross debt. It's kind of an important thing for a finance minister to know, because Australians are really suffering at the moment.

BRADLEY: Through to Patrick Gorman, the Albanese Government is overseeing record high government spending as a percentage of GDP outside of the pandemic. How do you rein in spending further? Are we going to see a real wind back of capital gains tax, the discount there and carbon tariffs? Has that been considered too?

GORMAN: First, I think it is important that your viewers know that in the last budget update, there was some $20 billions of savings. We have done about $114 billions of savings over the three and a bit years that we have been in office. And I think your viewers know that we inherited quite the mess when we came to office in terms of some of the spending, that was very hard to justify from the former Coalition Government. On the question of - 

BRADLEY: I mean, Labor has been in power for quite some time now. So, it is a record high spend, as it stands at the moment. So, what's the answer here? What are you seriously considering?

GORMAN: We will keep doing as we do in every Budget. Looking at where we can make appropriate savings and reprioritisations to get the funding for the essential services like Medicare that Australians rely upon. I am not going to sit here right now and outline all of the measures that will go into the budget, that we will work on in the months ahead as we lead towards May. But I think people know, that if you look at our track record, it is a track record of tax cuts for working people, and that tax cut is coming on 1 July this year. The track record of investing in Medicare. And it is a track record in trying to make sure that we protect those things that make Australia the great country that it is. Investing in manufacturing, making sure our schools have the money that they need, and then doing the big pieces of reform, like the hospital deal that we did with the state and territory first Ministers just a couple of weeks ago. They are the big things that we want to get done, and we will do it in a responsible way. Our track record shows that is the case. And we do it while making sure that we get things like those tax cuts, that working people deserve - and I am going to keep saying it, because it's the truth, these are tax cuts that Angus Taylor opposed. And he is on the record, time and time again, opposing those tax cuts. That is a pretty big difference in our approach, than the one that is being offered by the Liberal Party.

BRADLEY: And now he's come out to say that that was a mistake, so we'll see where that ends up. But on the IMF report, it suggested that the Federal Government should work with states for them to rein in spending. States like Victoria, where things have gotten out of control, according to some analysts. Higher GST is something that's been proposed. Is the Government open to this?

GORMAN: Firstly, the IMF report shows that there is really strong growth, and the Australian economy is going very well on the measures which they look at. Increasing the GST is not on our agenda. That has been pretty clear. We have been asked that in a range of different ways. Obviously, we will make sure the states and territories get the funding they need through the legislative GST arrangements. They have been there since 2018. That is important for my home state, Western Australia - 

BRADLEY: Should your Government take a tougher approach to big spending states?

FALINSKI: How can they? 

GORMAN: Again, I just spoke about the hospital deal that we have done with the states. Which is about making sure that there is more accountability through the spending of the state and territory governments when it comes to health, which is a big pressure on our budget. It is a big pressure on the state and territory budgets, but we will do that in a way where we can find more money for more services, while putting reasonable expectations on the states. And that is what we have done.

BRADLEY: I just want to go to immigration before we let both of you go. Sussan Ley's immigration report leaking. It was supposed to be released this week, suggesting visas should be restricted for people coming in from 13 countries, and also that migrants could be deported if they breach an Australian value statement. To Patrick Gorman, why has this statement to date, been non-binding?

GORMAN: Firstly, on the leaks that we are seeing coming out of the Liberal Party, I think that just tells you everything we know about where they are right now. They are leaking against one another. We have just had a repeat of one of your earlier interviews of the National Party, again complaining about the Liberal Party. Things are not fixed internally for them. When it comes to our migration program, the first principle is always that it has to be in Australia's national interest. Everyone who comes here, comes here because they have something to bring to Australia. That is the test that we apply. We do that through the orderly migration system with a range of different visas and a range of different requirements on those visas. And I expect that anyone who comes to Australia complies with every single condition of their visas. That is what the Australian people expect, and that is what we enforce. 

BRADLEY: Well, we're going to have to leave it there, but thank you for your time. Patrick Gorman, and Jason Falinski. Talk soon. 

GORMAN: Thank you. 

ENDS