TRANSCRIPT - Sky News with Laura Jayes

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 with Laura Jayes

11 December 2024

Laura Jayes: Yesterday, he announced his retirement after 15 years in the Federal parliament. He served as a Shadow Cabinet Minister and Member for Bradfield in northern Sydney. He served as a Cabinet Minister as well, so his decision will spark some changes moving forward. Paul joins me in the studio right now. Congratulations. Not many people can commit their lives to service to the public like you have, but you have called time. Many people are asking why, you didn't really explain in your statement yesterday either. Is it just time?

Paul Fletcher: Look, it is, as I said yesterday, 15 years. I'm a believer in renewal and renewal for individuals, renewal for institutions. So, you know, we will have a great Liberal Party candidate in Bradfield. Already we've got a number of very capable people coming forward to contest the pre-selection. That's a good thing. You know, we can we choose our candidates through a democratic process. Nobody knows how the Teals candidates are chosen.

Laura Jayes: No. Okay, well, I'll let you have that one. Do you think some people stay too long? And what effect does that have on the parliamentary system?

Paul Fletcher: I think in any organisation, renewal is a healthy thing. If you look at the Liberal National Party room in Canberra, we've got a lot of talented people and I think we're going to have some really talented people additionally coming in after the next election. We're going to pick up seats around the country, and there are some very, very able people who'll be coming in. And there are also some other colleagues, of course, as well as me, who have announced they won't be standing again. So in those seats will have some refresh and renewal and we'll have that I'm confident in Bradfield as well. 

Laura Jayes: Yeah the difference between you and Simon Birmingham, of course, is that you're in the lower house and your resignation makes it a little bit harder for your team to get over the line. Did that weigh on you?

Paul Fletcher: Look, I don't think that's right in fact.

Laura Jayes: 21 seats.

Paul Fletcher: This election will be about whether you want to keep the chaotic Albanese Labor government with its economic mismanagement, with people now worse off than they were nearly three years ago. That's the first option. The second option is the stable economic management of the Dutton Liberal government. Now, if you want the first option, vote Teal. If you vote Teal, you are voting for Mr. Albanese staying as Prime Minister. You are voting for a Labor, Greens Teals minority government. And if you think the past three years have been bad, that's going to be much, much worse.

Laura Jayes: Sure Paul, but you know the power of incumbency and that they no longer have that in Bradfield. So it makes a little bit harder, doesn't it?

Paul Fletcher: Look, I'll be working very closely with our new candidate. When I came in, Brendan Nelson was the retiring member. He worked closely with me, supported me. I'll be supporting our new candidate. We'll be working together over the coming months, and I'm confident we will have a very strong candidate and we'll have a very appealing proposition.

Laura Jayes: Who do you want that to be?

Paul Fletcher: I'm not expressing a view. It's important that we have an open, transparent, competitive process. I want able people to come forward. In the Liberal Party we celebrate competition. I have said to my conference, I think choosing a woman would be a smart move, but that's a choice for the pre-selectors.

Laura Jayes: They’re lining up the women as well. The women, like they’re one homogenous group, sorry. There are five women who are looking.

Paul Fletcher: There are some very good people putting their names forward. And I want to see a strong field. I've said I'm available to any of the candidates to offer advice on a confidential basis. That's the same approach that Brendan Nelson took when he stood down as the Member for Bradfield in 2009. Look, Bradfield is a great electorate. It's a fantastic community and it deserves a very high quality representative and I'm confident that the Liberal Party will be able to offer a very high quality representative.

Laura Jayes: Are you in a reflective mood just yet? You know, can you identify any of the mistakes that have been made by your party over the last 15 years you've been in Parliament? What advice do you give them?

Paul Fletcher: Look, I'm happy. In my media release, I announced, I mentioned some things that I'd worked on that hadn't succeeded. I tried to reform the way that broadcast spectrum is allocated in Australia. I advocated for a road user charge. Dismal failure on both of those, but don't regret having a go. But at the same time, I was able to work on Western Sydney Airport. Such a fantastic project on stream to be operational from 2026. We got that to a point where even Labor couldn't stuff it up by the time we left government, so that is going to be transformational for Western Sydney, but not just in airport, jobs generation, land use planning. Western Sydney Parkland Authority. So Coalition New South Wales government working with Coalition federal government, 23 kilometre long rail line, five stations. Many of those will have medium and high density housing around it. That integration of economic planning, land use planning, jobs generation. I think that will be a benchmark for Australia in years to come, and to be able to work on that for more than four years. You know, I thank Malcolm Turnbull for that opportunity. I think Tony Abbott for the opportunities he gave me, I thank Scott Morrison for the opportunity he gave me to serve first as Social Services Minister and then as Communications Minister. And look, I've enjoyed working with Peter Dutton as well.

Laura Jayes: We can all be, you know, have 2020 vision in hindsight, of course, but do you reflect on the way that the Liberal Party has treated its leaders over the years? You, know, for a long time you criticised Labor for rolling Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. You did the same in the end. Is that just a feature of modern politics?

Paul Fletcher: I'm pleased that we've preserved great stability in this term. And yes, of course we had three successive Prime Ministers and that comes with personal costs. What I would say is we maintained real policy consistency over that period. You know, Tony Abbott campaigned in 2013, said we were going to axe the tax, stop the boats, get the Budget back in black and build the roads of the 21st century.

Laura Jayes: You've still got it forefront of you mind.

Paul Fletcher: I do, and we did it, you know, and I had the chance to work on building the roads of the 21st century.

Laura Jayes: All right, Paul, we'll have to leave it there. But thank you for always being available to join the program. You said to me that I was probably the first interview you did.

Paul Fletcher: I'm pretty sure you were.

Laura Jayes: Great. 

Paul Fletcher: Great to be with you today.

Laura Jayes: I’ve been at Sky 17 years.

Paul Fletcher: Well done. I hope you're going to keep going.

Laura Jayes: I will. Paul, see you soon. And good luck. Speak to you soon.