Interview with Stacey Lee, FIVEAA Afternoons

STACEY LEE, HOST:    Yes, we are going to be having our discussion, this debate, I guess, in a way, each week in the lead up to the election. And I thought, why not talk to two senior South Australians in the Federal Parliament about the state election campaign? Because you know what? They don't have technically any skin in the game, so we can talk about it openly and frankly. So I do appreciate the time of our federal politicians for taking part. Amanda Rishworth, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, good afternoon, Minister.

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS:    It's great to be with you. 

STACEY LEE:    And Anne Ruston, the Shadow Health Minister. Good afternoon to you. 

ANNE RUSTON, SHADOW HEALTH MINISTER:    Hi there. 

STACEY LEE:    Thank you both for taking part in my, hopefully, a fun little chat that we can have each Friday in the lead up to the election. 

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    I look forward to it. Countdown, the time's on now. 

STACEY LEE:    Yeah, I know. I know we go into caretaker mode on the weekend, and then I guess the official campaign will start but it's technically been underway for a few weeks now, I think. And many a poll has been conducted. Most of them have been focusing on Federal Parliament, but we've got the polls that were released today looking at State Parliament, the Newspoll as well. 

Anne Ruston, I might start with you. The YouGov poll in The Advertiser today suggesting the Liberal Party could win four to six seats at the state election. They only have 13 at the moment. If that comes to fruition, that could be extremely damaging for Ashton Hurn and her state team. 

ANNE RUSTON:    Look, I think one of the things that we've always said, and I think we will continue to say, is that the only poll that really matters is the one on election day, and there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge before Australians- South Australians go out to put their ballots in the ballot box. And the one thing that I have been incredibly impressed with since Ashton has taken the helm of the South Australian Liberal Party is her incredible energy and her incredible ability to actually understand what is really important to South Australians. I think she will give Peter Malinauskas a really good run on 21 March because she understands the things that are really important to South Australians. She's a mother who lives in rural and regional South Australia up in the Barossa. She is somebody who has been involved in her local community for a really long time. And you can just tell by listening to her, when she talks about the impact of the cost of living and pressures on family budgets, when she talks about access to our health system, which is in an absolutely terrible state at the moment here in South Australia, and when she talks about community safety, you can tell she's actually talking from firsthand experience. So, my advice would be don't underestimate Ashton Hurn. 

STACEY LEE:    Okay. All right. Maybe the polling will be wrong. Minister Rishworth, I assume the Labor Party is hoping that's not the case, but there is a danger here for Peter Malinauskas because complacency kills in politics and there's still four weeks to go of campaigning, as I said, so a lot can happen between now and March 21. 

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Well, look, Stacey, you're actually absolutely right. Polls can be volatile. They go up and down all the time. And I can guarantee, having known the Premier for some time, he will not be complacent at all. He will take nothing for granted. And he takes the approach that he will need to earn every single vote. 

So, look, when it comes to polls, they are very volatile. But when I'm out in the community speaking with people, I think there is a sense of confidence about this state that wasn't there four years ago, sense of confidence that we're starting to build something that is really special, taking over potentially other states in the country. So, obviously, that sense of confidence in South Australia to where we were four years ago is real, and it’s because the Premier has had a vision. And I have no doubt that every single day up until election day, he'll be putting forward his plan for the next four years. 

STACEY LEE:    I want to ask both of you about the role of One Nation in election. Obviously, at the last state election, we saw one One Nation MP elected in the Upper House, Sarah Game. She left the party subsequently. But One Nation's presence in this polling has been huge. Do either of you expect that to come to fruition on the day? Will we see a whole bunch of Lower House MPs for One Nation, do you think? Can you get your crystal ball out? Minister, I'll start with you. 

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Look, I'm not sure I can predict a crystal ball because elections these days, you can't predict anything. But, I mean, what I would say, a couple of things, is what we're seeing, I think, is One Nation- or people moving to One Nation because of the chaos of the Liberals. Four leaders in four years, it's something I think a lot of people are looking at and wondering where's that stability. 

But I think ultimately, on election day, people will be looking for a plan. What is the plan for the next four years? And I would suggest at this point, the only party that's putting forward an actual plan is the Labor Party. It's easy to have grievances, but actually, I think on election day, people's minds will be very focused on what is the offer, where are we going, and what are the changes that we're going to see.

STACEY LEE:    Anne Ruston, this is something that the Federal Liberal Party has dealt with as well, the rise of One Nation. How are you recommending that the State Liberals deal with it? 

ANNE RUSTON:    Well, I'd have to absolutely agree with Amanda in terms of you- the South Australians are going to go out there and they're going to vote for a party with a plan. And Ashton's been really clear about the plan that she's put forward on behalf of the South Australian Liberals, and I think people are starting to hear that, even though she's only very recently come into the role. 

But if you look at One Nation, I mean, we've seen the rise and fall of protest parties many before. You look at the Australian Democrats as an example, the Nick Xenophon Party. These are parties that don't actually have that overarching plan, an economic plan, that South Australians can feel that they will know what they'll get. So I think that on election day, South Australians will be looking to parties that actually do have a full plan, an economic plan, a social plan, a plan for health, a plan for safety, a plan for cost of living. And I think if One Nation was really serious in South Australia, they wouldn't have put their star candidate in the Upper House. They would have put their star candidate in a Lower House seat because you can't form government from the Upper House. So I think that we will see on election day that South Australians overwhelmingly will vote for the two major parties. 

STACEY LEE:    Okay. Well, yeah, we'll have to wait and see on that one. Let's move on to the other huge announcement this week, yesterday's announcement of the MotoGP coming to Adelaide. The Premier was down making the announcement next to all of the MotoGP bosses and international bigwigs. Anne Ruston, events like this are popular. Our text line- my text line, to be honest, in the afternoon was pretty split. It was about 50-50, people supporting it and people- others saying, we don't want this event or focus ramping, focus on health, focus on other things that matter. But at the end of the day, events like this are popular, and it changes, I guess, the view of South Australia around the rest of the country that we are a fun place to come, to be, and potentially to live and move and invest in.

ANNE RUSTON:    Look, I mean, first and foremost, any event that comes to South Australia that stacks up financially in the best economic interest of South Australia, I don't think anybody should have a problem with it. And I'm the biggest petrol head there is and I think it's great that we've got MotoGP, and there's sort of a bit of payback for when they stole our Grand Prix from us back in 1993. But the reality is that governments have to be able to walk and chew gum, you know? So it's all well and good to come up with these nice flashy announcements about fun things like a MotoGP four weeks out from an election. But you can't hide from the failures in terms of issues like ramping, which was quite frankly the promise that Peter Malinauskas took to the election in 2018. He said he was- I’m sorry, in 2022, he said he was absolutely- that was his number one focus, was going to be to deal with the ramping crisis in South Australia. And all it's done is got absolutely, horrifically worse. I mean, electricity prices are skyrocketing. There many things that need to be dealt with, including cost of living, our health system, the safety of South Australians. So it's a fun announcement, but it looks a little like a smokescreen to cover up these really core failures that I think should be addressed at the same time as we can support these great events if they stack up economically for the state.

STACEY LEE:    Minister Rishworth, is it a smokescreen? I mean, we've seen the Premier's three big election commitments, broken promises basically to fix ramping, to build the hydrogen plant and to not introduce any new taxes after the water bills were put up in South Australia. Electricity bills are skyrocketing. Ramping's worse. Did we really need a new event in South Australia? Are the Premier's priorities in the right place?

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Well, first I would say $217 million in the local economy… I don't think should be dismissed. And I think this is a really important event for South Australia. If you have a look also, though, at the broader sort of perception of South Australia, I mean, it was a few decades ago Victoria was stealing the Grand Prix off us. Now we are stealing events back. That goes to the confidence of South Australia and the position of South Australia in batting above its weight.

But I would really say that you could not accuse the Premier of not chewing gum and walking at the same time. If you just look at the past week, we've had the big AUKUS announcement. This project is fundamental for the long-term future of our state. The announcements around training young people to take up those jobs obviously went to Whyalla this week. That is critically important for our sovereign capability and the future of our state. And when we look at- we address, and I think the Premier's really been clear about addressing, not only did they deliver on all their investments in the health and hospital system that they promised, they went beyond that. And so, look, I think the Premier's acknowledged, of course there's more to do with health and hospitals, and he's outlined what more there'll be done to deal with some of those bed blockages that happen in our system, including the health- the aged care precinct at the women's and children's. So I think the criticism that he’s not doing both at the same time is not correct and not right.

But I would say, this should be seen as a real change in confidence for our state. We are a confident state now, and it's something we should be really proud of.

STACEY LEE:    You bring up the Health Minister, and rightly so that the government has invested in more beds. And I feel like it's every month or so they've announced 10 new beds here and 20 new beds here and a new facility here, and that's great. It doesn't appear to have made a difference, though, on the ramping figures, which was the big promise in 2022. The Premier, then-opposition leader, was standing next to ambulances at the time. We haven't seen him do that this time around. I would be surprised if he does do that this time around as well, because I'm not sure he would want health to be the focus for this election.

The big issue for me this week has been the nurses. It doesn't seem like the government can even sort out a pay deal for the nurses who were so supportive of the Labor Party four years ago.

AMANDA RISHWORTH:    Well look, I think, Stacey, if you've ever been in a negotiation, of course the nurses’ union is going to put an offer. The government's going to put a counter offer. It is a negotiation, and of course, I think both parties are negotiating in good faith. Obviously there's a timeline, being the caretaker time, but my understanding is that both parties are negotiating in good faith, and this was what happens from time to time. Obviously, the South Australian Government has been through a number of negotiations, including with doctors, ambulance officers, firefighters, sort of allied health workers. So they've been through these negotiations. Both parties are negotiating in good faith, and I'm sure they're both hopeful to reach an agreement.

STACEY LEE:    And I should point out that we did get told by the government that they have negotiated a pay deal today for fireys in the state, so there is work being done with other industry groups. And as we've heard, they are working with the nurses, but we are still expecting a strike to take place next week amidst these pay negotiations. And Anne Ruston, the Minister's right there. These aren't, I guess, isolated issues with the Labor Party. When the former Liberal Party was in power in South Australia under Steven Marshall, they had these negotiations as well, and strikes took place from all different health lobby groups, so it's not isolated to a Labor government.

ANNE RUSTON:    Well, look, I accept that negotiations have to occur. But this needs to be sorted out sooner rather than later, because we need to remember that our hardworking nurses are the ones that are on the frontline, and they deserve to be paid appropriately. They're on the frontline and dealing with some of the most incredibly stressful situations and failures. I mean, they’re dealing with the issue with the impact of ramping, dealing with the issue that we've got 7000 South Australians at the moment waiting for elective surgery, and many of these people are using our hospital system because whilst they don't have life-threatening conditions, they aren't able to get access to surgeries. The 370 older Australians that are stuck in hospital beds because there's nowhere for them to go, it must be incredibly frustrating for them. And our frontline nurses are dealing with these challenges and issues every day whilst we've got a hospital system that is under incredible pressure. So, I think given the nature of the work and the incredible support that our nurses give to South Australians when they're at their lowest, and some of the most difficult times that you ever have in your life is when you're in a hospital, that it's incumbent on the government to get this sorted out as soon as possible so that our hardworking nurses can feel like they're valued.

STACEY LEE:    And that strike is set to take place next Thursday, so I guess we'll have to wait and see if that does happen. And we might be able to talk about it next Friday if it does or doesn't occur. For now, I really appreciate the time that you've taken to chat to us, and we'll talk to you both next week. Amanda Rishworth and Anne Ruston, thank you.

ANNE RUSTON:    Look forward to it.