Radio Interview - 6PR Perth Live with Olly Peterson
TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
6PR
TUESDAY, 1 APRIL 2025
OLY PETERSON, HOST: We're back with Question Time, with Patrick Gorman the Labor Member for Perth, good to see you.
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good to see you Oly and g'day to your listeners, and happy second election for all Western Australians.
PETERSON: And aren't we just excited about that Senator Michaelia Cash from the Liberal Party, good afternoon.
MICHAELIA CASH, LIBERAL SENATOR FOR WA: Good afternoon, good afternoon, Patrick. And good afternoon to your listeners.
PETERSON: Are you excited about that, Patrick? It is now, you know, second election in as many months or so, it seems.
GORMAN: I love democracy, and it turns out that in 2025 Western Australia just can't get enough of it. We had March, we've got May, for those who want to really hang out for the trifecta, there's the Local Government elections in October. But then the good news is it's quiet for three years.
PETERSON: Are you buoyed by the WA election results, because I see, obviously, that the Prime Minister now wants to hold, once again, the launch of the Labor Party here in Perth in just two weeks.
GORMAN: Well I'm very excited that we're going to - we did such a good job launching the Labor campaign in 2022, here in the West, we're going to do it again in just two weeks time. I'm really looking forward to that. I think Western Australia is, as we know, the engine room of the Australian economy. It's a place where, you know, people appreciate showing the West a bit of respect, and so that's why we've chosen to launch our campaign here again. I'm looking forward to it, and when it comes to some of the things we saw during that state campaign, they're all based on the same values that I hold. You know, Roger Cook was out there talking about a future made in WA. We're talking about a future made all across Australia. He was out there talking about making sure we invest in skills with free TAFE. That's something we do in partnership. I'm really proud of the work that we're doing, and definitely my campaign will be all about making sure that we invest more in Western Australia. And that's also what you'll see at the launch.
PETERSON: Senator Cash, is a vote for Roger Cook and WA Labor a vote for Anthony Albanese and Australian Labor?
CASH: Absolutely not. And in fact, I think I've said to you before, Oly, our candidates on the ground at the state election were clear. The baseball bats were not out for Roger Cook, they're out for Anthony Albanese. I'm actually glad Mr. Albanese is going to be here and launching the campaign, because he can explain to the Western Australian people why he has presided over by far the most anti-mining and anti-Western Australian government in living memory, Mr. Albanese should explain to our farmers why he has betrayed them by ending the live sheep export trade. He can talk to our communities in the South West and explain to them why, despite their opposition, Labor is going ahead with their massive offshore wind farm. He can explain to all Western Australians why they've kicked the can on the extension of the big gas project, the North West Shelf until after the election. I'm dying to know, his promise he's going to bring back his nature positive, mining negative laws. Why can't he show us what's in them prior to the election? And I really want to hear about why in Labor's recent budget just last week, there was nothing for WA other than cuts to our funding. And in fact, $272 million was cut from our road funding. So Mr. Albanese, I hope you can stand up and explain your anti-mining, anti-WA decision to all Western Australians,
PETERSON: I want to come to the road funding that Michaelia Cash just mentioned there in a moment, Patrick, but on the Nature Positive laws and the extension of North West Shelf, well, I have had the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister on the programme in the last week, and I ask you as well, because you're on the ground, you got the ear of WA, don't you think you owe it to West Australians to let them know prior to May 3 what's happening with Nature Positive and what your intentions are about the extension of North West Shelf?
GORMAN: I'll be really clear on the North West Shelf. We are assessing that project that came to us from the state just a few weeks ago. We're assessing it in accordance with the laws that were passed when John Howard and Kim Beasley were in Parliament.
PETERSON: So it's nothing to do with some of your colleagues, particularly on the eastern states, including Tanya Plibersek, who may be under threat of losing her seat if she made a decision pre election.
GORMAN: I want to do things in accordance with the law. I think that's the appropriate thing to do. These are the laws that the parliament has passed, and that's what we will do. When it comes to further environmental protection and faster approvals, that's the goal. I believe when we're talking about the laws that I've just referred to, I believe that we can get to a better place than we are right now. I have people from proponents of renewable energy projects, proponents of critical minerals projects, in my office, who tell me they do find the laws as we have them today are hard to work with, and don't give us good outcomes for business or the environment. What we said -
PETERSON: But obviously on Nature Positive, and you hear that obviously from the Minerals Council, from the Chamber of Commerce locally, from all of those mining representatives and lobby groups. They're worried about what that will do to projects in WA, and if it costs jobs, you don't want that on your shoulders.
GORMAN: And what I'll say to everyone who works in the resources industry is that we are not proceeding with the laws that were put to the parliament this term. We've said that we will go and consult again on an Environmental Protection Authority, because we recognise that that's a model that's existed here in the state in WA and it's made sure that we're better. And no one could say that you have that EPA, but you don't have a strong mining industry. Indeed, we have both. And so we want to consult.
CASH: Okay and -
GORMAN: We want to consult with everyone from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, through to the Premier through to all of the other states to make sure that we get good laws. That's what I believe in.
CASH: Okay -
GORMAN: And what I'd also note is because I just want to get to this other question, which is the only party going to the election saying that they'll cut investment in mining in this country is the Liberal Party. $17 billion of cuts from the Critical Minerals Production Tax Credits, or as I call it, the 'Mining Jobs Tax Credits.' The mining jobs tax credits will go under Peter Dutton's cuts, $17 billion predominantly ripped out of WA. But I give him credit that he said it up front in his Budget reply last week. He said it on Thursday night. It was very clear with people that he will remove federal investment in mining jobs in Western Australia. At least he was open about it.
PETERSON: Is that what Peter Dutton is doing, Senator Cash?
CASH: Absolutely not. Let me take you through the three policies that Patrick has just referred to. In relation to the decision on the extension of the North West Shelf project for your listeners, this is the project that has given Western Australians 40 years of reliable gas. Has pumped billions, 10s of billions of dollars of revenue into our economy. It has built our roads, it has built our schools, it has built our hospitals, and it has employed thousands of Western Australians. The decision from the State Government landed with the Albanese Government, let us be clear here, on the 12th of December 2024. They said the decision, according to statute, would then be made within 30 business days. That's what the law says. No decision was made. They extended it out. They extended it out until February. They then extended it out until May. It's now been extended out even further. Western Australians are not stupid. Roger Cook, six years, has given the extension the green light. The Albanese Government, by law, should have made a decision in February 2025, they have kicked the can down the road because they are pandering to the inner city Greens and Teals in Sydney and Victoria. In relation to Nature Positive, mining negative, seriously, seriously. These laws will be even more diabolical for Western Australia if Labor is elected in a minority government with the Greens and the Teals.
GORMAN: Senator -
CASH: Like Kate Cheney. Let's be clear -
GORMAN: Senator -
CASH: This is what industry has said, they have estimated that these laws will increase the cost of housing by 10.6 per cent. They will increase electricity prices by 38 per cent. That is what the mining industry has said. They would be a disaster for Western Australian families during a cost of living crisis. Mr. Albanese, when he comes to WA should tell us exactly what is going to be in those laws and when it comes to our resources sector, the best things you can do is to get rid of the red and the green tape, and to get energy costs down. If you don't get the fundamentals right, everybody in WA knows this. If you don't get the fundamentals right, people don't invest in our great state. Projects do not go ahead. And that is what we are seeing under Mr. Albanese. I can assure you, we will back our mining sector every single step of the way, and we have made it clear we will get the fundamentals right for them. People hate red and green tape, and we are going to slash red and green tape. And we are also going to ensure that we slash in half approvals time. That's the best thing you can do for this state to ensure our prosperity.
PETERSON: Right this is Pat-Cash, we're calling it. Patrick Gorman and Michaelia Cash on Question Time, and Tony's got one for you both. 'What about some more funding for the roads? Because I watch this freeway turn into a car park at Bee;liar Drive southbound, the traffic, it's all moving more than a kilometre an hour stop. It's been like that for the last decade. It isn't getting any better. The roadworks stopped to be the driver now it's a car park from the drive. Is there going to be help now from the federal government to the state government or something to do with this road, it's turning into a car park' says Tony.
GORMAN:Tony, I agree! That's why we've already committed $350 million to make sure that we get the smart freeways and the movement happening on the Kwinana freeway. I agree we've got to do more, and what we want is to make sure that we've got the infrastructure so that we can deliver all those things that we know are really exciting, particularly for the southern suburbs, when it comes to the outer harbour, making sure that we continue to invest so we can get good access to Henderson for the important ship building jobs that we've backed really strongly. And also to make sure that we've got the infrastructure needed to be able to deliver on important national security items like AUKUS.
PETERSON: Is that something the Liberal Party wants to match, Senator Cash? Will there be some road funding announcements for our southern suburbs, this federal election campaign?
CASH: Yes, and we already said that we had agreed with that. The question I have then for the Labor Party is the recent budget, there was actually nothing for WA other than cuts to our funding. It is a fact that Labor cut $272 million from our roads. It gave out piles of cash to the eastern states, and in fact WA, Oly, only got 2 per cent of the $17 billion Albanese cash splash on road and rail infrastructure around the country. Again, that happens to be a fact taken from the Budget papers.
PETERSON: Why? Why have we missed out here Patrick?
GORMAN: I think Senator Cash somehow conveniently forgets the massive investments that we've made when it comes to Metronet -
PETERSON: Still got growing pains going forward.
GORMAN: And we continue to invest in roads. We opened just the end of last year, we opened the the Greater Bunbury Bypass, to make sure that we are continuing to invest in those roads. There's always more ideas on what needs to be done when it comes to roads, but if we want to talk about an investment, because I believe that actually there's a lot of things that we need to invest in here with that growing population, it's roads, it is rail, it's also health infrastructure. And yesterday, the Prime Minister announced $200 million for Midland Hospital, and I'd encourage Senator Cash and the Liberal Party to match that commitment.
PETERSON: Will you be matching it Senator Cash?
CASH: I stood up yesterday and I said I matched the commitment. I also said, Mr. Albanese continues to dupe the people of Western Australia. It is a fact that has never been harder or more expensive to see a GP than under Mr. Albanese. On Patrick's watch, bulk billing has collapsed by 11 per cent around the country, and in fact, Patrick in your own electorate, it has collapsed by in excess of 15 per cent. It is down at 63.2 per cent, to when we were in office to where we are now, every single electorate around Australia has gone into literally a collapse in bulk billing. That means that there are 41 million fewer free bulk billed GP services. 270 GP practices have closed. But what is worse is that Mr. Albanese, and Patrick Gorman is a member of this government, they cut subsidised mental health sessions down from 20 to 10. We have made it clear we are reversing that. In other words, to all of your listeners, we will restore the subsidised mental health sessions from 10 back to 20, and we will make it permanent. We will also, as we've said, we've matched Labor on the Midland Hospital announcement, but we will also invest $9 billion into Medicare to fix Labor's mess and restore bulk billing back up to Coalition levels.
PETERSON: Isn't it now, basically the same policies when it comes to Medicare, both Labor and Liberal, Patrick. I know that pretty much every day we see the PM standing in front of a Medicare billboard, or you yourself similar, but ultimately, isn't both parties now doing basically the same thing?
GORMAN: Yes, but one party - that's the Labour Party - has a history of backing Medicare. Remember, when we took this to the people in 1983 the Liberal Party was completely opposed to it. And back in 1983 the leading cause of bankruptcies was people who couldn't pay their medical bills. Now what we've got is we've got a Medicare system that I want to make sure is as strong for the next 40 years as it was for the first 40. There's no doubt that when we announce things on Medicare the Liberal Party try and say that it was their idea. The Liberal Party and the Greens are the same on this. Whenever Labor announces something on Medicare, the Liberal Party and the Greens all rush around pretending it was their idea. But actually only Labor does the hard policy work on Medicare. What we want to do is get 4,800 GPs back into the bulk billing system that'll mean that you can see a GP for free under Labor. It wasn't a priority under the last Liberal government, indeed what happened in the last Liberal Government, they tried to abolish bulk billing by whacking in a $7 GP tax, even for bulk billed appointments. Now, the last thing that I think we need when we do have these pressures on bulk billing is to follow through on Senator Cash's plan, which is to close the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics which we've opened over the last three years. If Senator Cash closes those clinics, that means 17,000 people in my electorate who've used that clinic will miss out. It means more pressure on our hospital system, more pressure on our emergency departments and it means more of the same when it comes to what the Liberals do, which is always trying to find the sneaky way to erode Medicare, because they've never liked it, they've never backed it, and they've never come up with an original idea themselves.
PETERSON: You just mentioned the Greens, I want to come back and we'll take a couple more calls here on Question Time with what I'm calling it - Pat-Cash!
[show break]
PETERSON: So Adam Bandt and the Greens are after your seat Patrick.
GORMAN: Well, Adam Bandt didn't sound all that confident there Oly, he sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he was in with a chance. Now, what I know from the Greens party is that, you know the Greens always say they're going to knock off Anthony Albanese in Grayndler. Every election that I stand they say they're going to knock off me in Perth. it never comes to anything. I think that's the problem with the Greens, is that they are so out there. Their plans are never practical when it comes to policy, nor when it comes to politics. And good on Adam Bandt for finally getting himself over to Western Australia. This is his first visit of the year. Now, we're a quarter of the way into 2025 and Adam Bandt has figured out how to book a ticket over to Perth, when it suits him during an election. I think, as a leader of a political party, you've got to do better than that. I think it's pretty disrespectful to Western Australia that he only rocks up, and as far as I can tell, the only seat he's talking about is mine. I mean, why isn't he heading up - I was in Durack yesterday, I was in Geraldton yesterday, why isn't he heading up there, why isn't he heading up to Moore. If I was a Greens candidate and I didn't see Adam Bandt giving me attention, I'd feel a little bit left out. I don't know with the Greens, Oly, I just don't know.
PETERSON: Senator Cash, are you on a unity ticket here with Patrick when it comes to the Greens?
CASH: I think don't risk a minority Labor-Greens-Teals government is my message to Western Australians. Listen to what Adam Bandt just said. The Greens have clearly stated they want to share power with Labor. It’s happened before, Labor made deals with the Greens before, under Julia Gillard, it will happen again. That will be disastrous, in particular for Western Australia, in terms of our mining and our farming. I hope your listeners understand what the Greens stand for if they're governing with Mr Albanese. They want to cut defence spending, that is dangerous for Western Australia, and they want to introduce $514 billion in new taxes on the economy. They want to cut private health insurance. They want to decriminalise hard drugs, including heroin and ice. They have already done that in the ACT. In a state like WA they want to end new motorways, and ban, you're going to love this, petrol cars. So a vote for Labour is a vote for a chaotic Albanese-Greens alliance. It is a recipe Oly, for higher taxes, weak borders, reckless energy policy that will hurt Western Australian families and small businesses. And I would say to Western Australians, please do not risk a Labor-Greens-Teals minority government. That is a recipe for all hell breaking loose, and a disaster.
PETERSON: Realistically, if it were to be minority government, Patrick, deals would be done to stay in power, potentially with the crossbenchers, whether that's Greens, Teals and the like, surely, to stay in power, you have a chat to them and say, What can we all do together?
GORMAN: I'm in the fight for majority government. That's why I fight the Greens in my seat. And I look forward to Senator Cash coming out and campaigning for my election to make sure the Greens stay out of Perth. What I do is I fight to make sure we stay in majority. I was up in the seat of Moore last week.
PETERSON: You reckon you can win Moore?
GORMAN: I think that Thomas French is an outstanding individual. He's both a sparky and a lawyer. He can do it all. He can make a he can make you a case in your lounge room, or he can make you a case in court. He can do it all.
PETERSON: So is the path of majority government for Labor, or just to remain a majority government for Labor, now in Western Australia?
GORMAN: Well, Western Australia has always been an important state, but we did see Western Australians give strong endorsement to Anthony Albanese in 2022. I believe that we have shown the appropriate respect the Prime Minister has been here 30 times. We've held Cabinets, both here in Perth and in Port Hedland. We have had significant investments, $3 billion in rewiring Western Australia, significant investments when it comes to Metronet, significant investment in WA when it comes to critical minerals and making sure we get those mining jobs of the future. And also a significant investment in tax cuts for Western Australians, something that the Liberal Party say that they will roll back. That means that 1.3 million Western Australians will get a higher tax bill -
PETERSON: But still comes in the middle of next year, right? The $5, and we've had a lot of talk back on that this week. You know, fuel excise cut from the Liberals versus the $5, it's the middle of next year Patrick, why not now?
GORMAN: Well, what we decided was we give some immediate relief to households from the middle of this year when it comes to energy bill relief, we know that that's been welcomed. We know that that's worked. We know that it helps people across Western Australia. We just chose to do that first and then to bring in the tax cuts. We've obviously just had the Reserve Bank today make their decision on interest rates, and what we know we can do as a government is do everything we can to help bring inflation down. I'm really proud of the work we've done with the Australian people to bring inflation down, because that's the best path to be able to make sure we can do more of these sort of tax cuts, as we've done. But again, it's really simple. Our tax cuts are permanent. Peter Dutton's Relief is very temporary. Our tax cut stays if you vote Labor. The tax cuts all go if you vote for the Liberals.
PETERSON: Is that a difficulty that you're going to have Senator Cash in the election campaign, that Labor can continue to trot out the line that you're opposed to tax cuts?
CASH: Absolutely not. You pay tax in many ways, and any Australian knows, but in particular in WA, we're a massive state. People drive big cars. You often have, you know, one car per person in a family. You drive huge distances in Western Australia. If you want to cut taxes and get tax cuts flowing immediately, you cut the tax at the bowser. In other words, you half the fuel excise and you cut petrol tax by 25 cents a litre. And that is what we will do immediately. You cut the tax at the bowser. Australians and Western Australians, they need tax relief immediately, not 70 cents a day in 15 months’ time. But I'd also say to your listeners, don't forget that the 25 cents off per litre in petrol also helps pensioners who own a car and who don't pay tax. It helps students who work but own a car, or, should I say, who don't work but own a car and don't pay tax. These people won't benefit from Labor's cruel tax hoax of 70 cents per day in 15 months time. But they will get cheaper petrol under Peter Dutton. So if you want immediate tax relief flowing immediately, you need to vote for your Liberal candidate, because you will get that, because we're going to cut that tax at the bowser.
PETERSON: All right, we're almost over time, but let's just go to Mark in Bayswater with his question before we wrap it up. Good afternoon.
CALLER: Yeah, good afternoon, Patrick. I really hope you beat the Greens. They're a bunch of immature university students, and they're not serious, but the question I have is also to you, Mr. Gorman. In the last 24 hours I have heard Prime Minister Albanese and Minister Bowen distance themselves from your energy modelling. Now they haven't replaced it with different modelling, so the energy ship of Australia is now rudderless. You are continuing on these disastrous policies with no plan or modelling to support it. Please change your energy policy, or I believe you will be committing economic suicide.
GORMAN: Mark, firstly, thank you for your support. That's very kind of you. Secondly, when it comes to energy policy, obviously, one of the things that's great about being here in Western Australia is that we have our own grid. So much of that debate, and we saw it with the announcements last week from Mr. Dutton. So much of that was about the East Coast. We've got our own grid. That's a good thing. The South West Interconnected System. We produce our own energy. What we're doing here in WA is backing the Cook Labor Government in their plans to get more reliable and renewable energy into the grid. That means that you have more wind, more utilisation of the household solar by storing it in batteries, such as the battery we started switching on in Kwinana last week. We'll continue to do that. As I said, I was up in Geraldton, I know the industry wants to get more energy so they can expand and expand, and I want to keep doing that, and we'll do it in a careful, considered, organised way. Work in with the cook government. That's what we've done. We've provided some $3 billion of investment in their system. That's the right way forward, and I'm not going to do what the Liberal Party proposes, which is to kick all of the challenges down the track for another 15 years waiting for an incredibly expensive nuclear reactor in Collie. I've been down to Collie twice. I didn't get chased out of town like Peter Dutton did. I've been down there having serious conversations, because I know that if we get Collie right with renewables, with new industry, we can have a really bright future, rather than a false promise of expensive nuclear sometime in the 2040s.
PETERSON: All right, we've got to wrap it all up. Senator Cash your final words before we say goodbye.
CASH: Labor promised you prior to the election 97 times they'd lower your energy bill by $275. Your talk back caller is right, they've now walked away, not only from that, but from their modelling. Labor promised you'd be paying less for electricity. You're not, they lied to you. Australians are now paying some of the highest power prices in the world. And quite frankly, if they continue with their renewable energy pipe dream again, you've crippled Australia already, Mr. Albanese, for God's sake, get some sense into you. Get rid of that policy and back our plan.
PETERSON: All right. Time is up. We'll do it again soon. Senator cash, thank you very much for your time.
CASH: Great to be with you, take care,
PETERSON: Patrick Gorman, thank you very much for coming in the studios.
GORMAN: Thank you very much Ollie and thank you Senator Cash
PETERSON: That is question time with Pat-Cash.
ENDS