TRANSCRIPT - Sky News First Edition with Kenny Heatley

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

TRANSCRIPT

SKY NEWS First Edition with Kenny Heatley

14 November 2024

Kenny Heatley: Joining me now is Shadow Minister for Government Services Paul Fletcher. Good to see you Paul. Thanks for coming in.

Paul Fletcher: Good to be with you.

Kenny Heatley: Donald Trump’s adviser, Dan Scavino, who suggested Kevin Rudd’s time as Ambassador to the US is running out, has been named overnight as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Does that raise any concerns for you at all?

Paul Fletcher: Well look, we’ve been very careful in our comments about Kevin Rudd. We’ve indicated that we think it’s important that Australia’s Ambassador to the United States should be best placed to do his job and serve Australia’s interests. I think the question is, we do see a continuing stream of negative comments made by Kevin Rudd in quite personally disparaging terms about President Trump. And so that obviously raises the question of whether that impedes his effectiveness as Ambassador. That’s a question for the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister to turn their minds to. I hope they are thinking about it.

Kenny Heatley: And what exactly are the concerns? Is it access to that inner circle? Can you describe what exactly those concerns are?

Paul Fletcher: Well, it’s obviously important that Australia’s Ambassador to the United States is respected and trusted by the Administration from the President down as he goes about seeking meetings, making the case in Australia’s interests on a whole range of issues, bearing in mind that the United States is our most important security partner. Now, we’ve been very careful in our comments about Kevin Rudd. We want Australia’s Ambassador, Mr Rudd or Doctor Rudd, to succeed in advancing Australia’s interests.

Kenny Heatley: Labor has announced plans to legislate a digital duty of care, but there are concerns that it is being rushed through parliament without being properly scrutinised. Do you share those concerns?

Paul Fletcher: We’ll look at the details. We’ve obviously, when in government taken a strong position on online safety. We legislated the Online Safety Act in 2021 when I was Minister for Communications. So the Coalition has a strong track record here. Our spokesman, David Coleman, has been clear. And indeed Peter Dutton spoke earlier this year in support of Australia having age verification for young people in their social media accounts. And we do support moves to say that age 16 is the minimum age to have a social media account. Given what we increasingly know about the impacts on young people of social media, the risk of going down into algorithmic pathways of despair. And so the Coalition has engaged very closely and constructively on this. Of course, we’ll wait to see the details of what it is that Communications Minister Rowland has announced over the last day or so. 

Kenny Heatley: Okay, we’ve got new figures that have been obtained by The Australian that reveal more than 100,000 more people are on student related visas than 12 months ago. Does this show that the government seems to be struggling to contain numbers?

Paul Fletcher: We’ve been very clear. Dan Tehan, our immigration spokesman, has been very clear that all the signs are that this government does not have the immigration program under control. We’ve seen very large numbers of people coming in. And at the same time, we know we have a housing crisis in Australia. And so this government does not seem to have an integrated approach on housing. We’ve also been clear, Peter Dutton made it clear in his Budget in reply speech, that we would reduce permanent migration numbers to 140,000 then 150, then 160. So a response over a period of time. Look, we’re big supporters of immigration, but it needs to be managed. And all the indications are that this government is not managing immigration in the careful way that is does need to be managed.

Kenny Heatley: Just finally, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has poured cold water on those earning over $180,000 a year, saying he will not automatically restore stage three tax cuts to what it was before Labor was elected. Instead saying that it will be decided depending on the economy. Are we going to see any tax reforms by the Coalition including plans to address bracket creep?

Paul Fletcher: Well, let’s be clear. Lower, simpler taxes will always be in the DNA of the Liberal Party and the Coalition. That’s why we legislated the stage three tax cuts when we were in government, due to come into effect from 1 July this year. Labor said for more than two years they’d support those. And then they backflipped on that early this year. Now, what Peter Dutton has said in the past 24 years, I think, is a pretty uncontroversial proposition that, of course, what we’ll look at is the state of the Budget. And he’s also made it clear that our priority is getting inflation and interest rates down. We know interest rates are up 12 times under this government. That’s caused huge problems for many Australians.

Kenny Heatley: But the Opposition Leader was accusing Labor of backflipping on stage three tax cuts and now potentially a backflip by the Opposition Leader. 

Paul Fletcher: Lower, simpler taxes will always be in the Coalition’s DNA. We’ll have more to say about our tax policy as we come closer to the election. But you need only look at the track records of the two major parties. Over many decades, the Coalition has always committed to lower, simpler taxes.

Kenny Heatley: Paul Fletcher, appreciate it. Thank you. Good to see you.