TRANSCRIPT: TELEVISION INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS WITH KIERAN GILBERT - MONDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2022

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH KIERAN GILBERT
MONDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2022

SUBJECTS: Federal ICAC, religious freedom legislation, Parliament’s return, Coalition chaos.

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: With the corruption watchdog, Labor hasn't supported the government's proposal. Now it's not going to go to Parliament before the election. In Labor's thinking, was there ever a moment where you say, “well let's back something as opposed to nothing”, which is the reality at the moment?

TONY BURKE, MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS: The government was always going to do nothing. Always. They're saying now they’ll do it after the next election. Last election they said they do it after that election. The truth is, they don't want at any corruption body. And why would you if you're a government that's been part of sports roots, that’s been part of carpark roads, that paid $30 million for land worth $3 million. If you're the sort of government that behaves the way Mr Morrison's government behaves, the last thing you would ever legislate for would be an anti-corruption body.

GILBERT: Was there more room for compromise, though? Because you want a federal corruption commission. Was there more room for compromise here from Labor as opposed to simply saying that's not good enough and rejecting it outright?

BURKE: The government was never going to introduce a serious anti-corruption body. They simply weren't. And their intention the whole way through has been to evade, to hide, because as far as they're concerned, improper behaviour, using taxpayers money as though it belongs to the Liberal and National parties - that's their entire modus operandi. It's how they operate as a government. And that's why I say, we saw before Mr Morrison getting stuck into the New South Wales ICAC. They don't want there to be a body that has the power to investigate whether or not their behaviour is corrupt or ethical.

GILBERT: What will Labor do when it comes to the to the religious freedoms Bill? You could support the government, even with MPs peeling away like Bridget Archer for example. You could back the government and clearly the numbers would be there.

BURKE: We need to know what the Bill is. The Bill that's currently before the Parliament is not the government's position. We know that much. There are government amendments, and they've made public that there are government amendments. We don't know what those amendments involve. So in terms of the opposition, to give your position on legislation you need to know what the legislation will be.

GILBERT: You know as well as anyone the importance of respecting communities of faith. I know in your own seat, there are many devout people of all sorts of faiths.

BURKE: Absolutely. And so for example, in Mr Morrison’s speech he referred to people being abused on the street for their faith as one of the things that has to be has to be dealt with. The Bill doesn't deal with that. They've left out any vilification clauses. So we need to know, you know, maybe that'll be in the government amendments, I don't know. But they can't expect Labor to have a position on government legislation that we are not yet allowed to see in the form that ultimately they're going to try to legislate. So Bridget Archer is a member of the government, she may well have seen the amendments and she's formed the view that she’s formed. But from our perspective, this is another one that Mr Morrison promised before the last election.

GILBERT: Is there a chance you could back it before Parliament rises before the election?

BURKE: We're not ruling in or out. We're simply saying, we need to know what the government's position is.
GILBERT: The government representatives that have been speaking today about the Barnaby Joyce text messages say voters aren't concerned about this sort of correspondence. They're right, aren't they? People are most concerned about the kitchen table issues of cost of living and so on.

BURKE: Where this intersects with the communities is where the community says, “Why on earth are you fighting amongst yourselves and not dealing with the crisis that's out there?” You refer to the kitchen table issues? What are they at the moment/ There the fact that the government didn't do its job in making sure that children could get their vaccinations early enough. The government didn't do its job to make sure people could get booked in for their boosters. To make sure that you could go to the pharmacy and be able to buy by a rapid antigen test. To make sure that in fact you're able to get a decent age care system where elderly Australians would be safe.

GILBERT: When Parliament sits this week, obviously back tomorrow, Labor needs to be careful as opposed to going to these sort of bubble issues about internal critiques of you know, one politician versus another. When you’ve got issues like the aged care crisis, right now. How do you balance that in in terms of how you respond in Parliament?

BURKE: The people who are giving endless interviews at the moment about the text messages, and the people who provided the text messages to the media, are all members of the government. This distraction entirely belongs to them. And the thing that we will point out is it's evidence of the fact that they are not doing their job. They are an incompetent government that is not doing the job that needs to be done. At any point in time, government's focusing on the real issues is important. In the middle of a global pandemic, it's more important than ever and their eyes are completely off the ball.

GILBERT: You’re ahead according to the latest Newspoll and other opinion polls. Is Labor, is the greatest risk for you now complacency or hubris?

BURKE: After last time, there is no chance of either. Absolutely no chance of either. We've got our really clear focus on making sure we're talking about a better deal for working families, that we're talking about secure jobs, and that we're offering policy that give gives us a future made in Australia again.

GILBERT: Mr Burke, I appreciate your time.

ENDS