TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH LAURA JAYES
THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s protection racket for Christian Porter.

LAURA JAYES, HOST: Let's go live to the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke. Good to see you.

TONY BURKE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: Hi Laura.
JAYES: First of all, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that this has been referred to the Privileges Committee. The issues of blind trust, the issues of third party donations and crowdfunding, what Labor's trying to do, or what the Speaker I guess maybe set a precedent for is referring an individual like Christian Porter, who's now on the backbench. Is that right?

BURKE: It’s right, well when you say the issue has been referred, people have written letters. That's true. For an issue to be referred by the House though, is completely different. And the committee handles those requests from the House in a different way. What happened yesterday hasn't happened in the whole 120 year history of this Parliament. In every occasion, when the Speaker has found that there was a prima facie case, and a resolution has been moved that resolution has been carried. What the Morrison-Joyce Government did yesterday is completely unprecedented. The Speaker found a prima facie case to look into what Christian Porter did and to work out whether or not it was a contempt of the Parliament. And the Morison Government used its numbers on the floor, numbers which are stronger on the floor at the moment because some of the crossbench can't be present because of COVID restrictions, and used that to prevent the committee from even having an inquiry. They weren't being asked to adjudicate on Christian Porter. They were being asked whether or not the committee would even be instructed to inquire into whether or not it's okay for a Member of Parliament to be receiving anonymous donations that have been reportedly up to a million dollars.

JAYES: Isn't there a precedent for this to be referred if there's a minister? Christian Porter is now a backbencher. And I mean, the fire and fury of Parliament is one thing but Tony Burke hasn’t this been referred as an issue? The Privileges Committee will look into blind trusts, crowdfunding and the like - isn't that what we need?

BURKE: The ministerial issue’s completely different. There are obligations we have as Members of Parliament. And that's what this whole process that's existed for 120 years, that the Morrison-Joyce Government blew up yesterday, is about. It's there to make sure that members of Parliament don't get bribed. Or if they do get bribed to make sure that the public finds out about it. With this so-called blind trust, we’ve dealt with blind trusts before in the Parliament. And that's where a Member of Parliament, sometimes people arrive in Parliament with considerable wealth and good on them if that's what they've done beforehand. They often put their money into a trust so that they don't know where it's being invested and they report that and put that on the register. But we know it's their money. What's happened with Christian Porter is to pay a personal bill a trust has been set up and we have no idea whose money it was. We don't know if the person who paid is someone who Christian Porter had made appointments for and given them a financial benefit. We don't know.

JAYES: Is it a bit of a witch hunt?

BURKE: No, you're kidding! Sorry, I respect you're putting that question as a journalist working through the issues. This is a fundamental principle of whether or not we have a measure to prevent corruption in Australian politics. Corruption occurs where a Member of Parliament is receiving a benefit on the side. Here, Christian Porter did receive a benefit on the side, a sizable amount of cash, and therefore to work out whether or not corruption was involved, to work out whether or not he's acted improperly, we need to know the source of those funds. It's not only ministers who aren't meant to be corrupt. It's a standard that's meant to be there for every Member of Parliament. And wow, can't we see now why it is that one Mr Morrison put Christian Porter in charge of whether or not they'd have an anti-corruption body, and two, they never got around to doing it.

JAYES: Okay, we'll see what happens today. Tony Burke as always, appreciate your time. You've got to get to the chamber. We have made you late, apologize for that.

ENDS