14 August 2024
Topics: public sector wages ballooning, NSW Liberal Party failing to make nominations for council elections, Victorian Labor Government not ruling out tax hikes, ANTIFA demonstrating at Victorian defence exhibition, Tasmanian Community Fund
E&OE
Peta Credlin:
Let’s bring in my panel Shadow Environment Minister, Senator Jonathon Duniam and senior fellow at the Menzies Research Centre, Nick Cater. Well, Jonno and Nick, welcome. We’ll start with the wages story, they’re not keeping up with inflation, we saw that in yesterday’s data, but the growth is in the public sector wages what we pay as taxpayers to the public servant. This is a huge issue and it’s a big inflation spike and it’s not sustainable either, is it, Jonno?
Senator Duniam:
No Peta, it’s not. And I’ve got to tell you, every State and Territory government, the Commonwealth government too, have a serious case of inability to rein in their spending. In the Environment Department alone in the last two and a half years since the last election, they employed an extra 2,300 bureaucrats. They’re not out saving koalas and ripping weeds out of the ground. They’re sitting in carpeted, air-conditioned offices here in Canberra and they are on very good wages that you and your viewers, the taxpayers of Australia, are paying for. It is unsustainable. It drives up inflation, because these people are spending money, masks over other economic problems and artificially inflates employment numbers. So, it is a problem. It’s something we’re going to have to tackle and you’ll hear a lot more about that before the election, but it cannot go on and it causes problems for everyone.
Peta Credlin:
And I’ll say to people at home, these are salaries of two hundred, three hundred, nine hundred thousand dollars if they’re senior public servants. This is real money. Let let’s go to reports this afternoon. This is a shocker. The Liberal Party in NSW has missed the deadline for nominations for State Council elections. So, these are all the Councils we get uptight about; Northern Beaches, Lane Cove, Canterbury Bankstown, Camden and Shoalhaven. Nick, the war is happening at a local level in these communities. I mean these councils as we know are fighting hard on issues that do not concern them, like Gaza. How could the Liberal Party be asleep at the wheel?
Nick Cater:
Well, it’s more important than ever that the Liberal Party and good people generally, good conservative people who have an eye on the interest of ratepayers and people who need their bins collected, it’s more important than ever that those people are involved in local government. As we saw last night from those scenes from inner Sydney, where the Greens have basically turned it into a sort of new campaigning ground for the United Nations. This can’t happen. I don’t know what happened within the Liberal Party and I’ve probably best not to comment on that in any detail except to say, obviously, if this the reports are true, this is an enormous stuff up. You know, they’ve basically got to get those administration things right. Robert Menzies made this point in 1944 when he set up the Party. If you can’t get this basic administration of the Party right, then nothing will work. So, I think there needs to be some real examination there.
Peta Credlin:
And it’s not the first time NSW has let down the Liberal Party. I go back to 2010, it cost us that hung Parliament election out of NSW, out of the Liberal Party. Well, let’s go to Victoria. Years and years of economic mismanagement there coming home to roost. They’ve had to board one and a half billion dollars to save emergency hospitals. But they won’t rule out now taxes to come as a result. Have a listen:
Reporter:
…surely there are no more taxes coming?
Tim Pallas:
Well, I could give no assurances about where the government is going in this matter. Look, I’m not ruling anything in or out at the moment because essentially the number one priority for the government is to maintain its fiscal aggregates, to maintain the things that we said to Victorians we would do.
Peta Credlin:
Jonno, you know, when I when I talk to Victorians, I can’t find anyone who voted Labor back into office, but those who did, reap what you sew.
Senator Duniam:
The number of people that would be driving around with stickers saying, ‘don’t blame me, I voted Liberal’ in Victoria now even though they may not have would be a very large number. But to hear the Victorian Treasurer sit there and say our number one priority is to look after our fiscal aggregates, well, I don’t know, what about all of the other things you should be doing for the people of Victoria. The idea that they cannot manage money in this way, this pathetic government, that it signs up to major projects then cancels them and bills the taxpayer huge amounts of money just to cancel these projects that, you know, whether they were good or not is a different matter, but they seriously have no idea. So I really hope my counterparts in the Victorian Parliament, the Victorian Liberals and their National bedfellows actually really give this a red hot go. There is no excuse for there to be a Victorian Labor government after the next state election down there. They are beyond hopeless.
Peta Credlin:
I’m sorry Jonno, I hate to disappoint you but I can’t hold my breath thinking Victorian Liberals might get a spine and actually fight back on some of this stuff. I could be wrong. I hope they surprise me. 25,000 protesters, ANTIFA and all the crazies are going to come together at the exhibition centre in Victoria next month, this is in Melbourne. There’s a big defence exhibition or conference. It’s going to divert about a tenth of all police officers in the state. This is a shocker, Nick Cater.
Nick Cater:
Yeah, I agree, Peta. And look there, there is a deliberate and well-funded campaign going on by extremists funded by we’re not quite sure who to stage these massive protests and their aim is to disrupt civil society. We can see that with their blockading of the Prime Minister’s office and their attacks on other people. We’ve gotta see some strong policing here and and Victoria, they really set the bar high when it comes to actually clamping down on demonstrations they don’t like during COVID, I think wrongly. But wouldn’t it be good to see a little of that resolve? Perhaps not so much of the brutality, but a little much of that resolve for other protests that are genuinely not in the public interest. I’m all for free speech, but these are not demonstrations to express a view. They are there to disrupt and to cause maximum intimidation to ordinary people going about their normal daily lives.
Peta Credlin:
Senator, I know you got to get back to the chamber. Nick Cater you going back to some good weather by the look of it there in Bosnia. Thank you both for your time. I’ll make a mention just quickly, Senator Duniam referred a grant on the Yes campaign to the Tasmanian Auditor-General. The Auditor General’s report’s in and it’s found irregularities around that grant to Australians for Indigenous Constitutional recognition. We’ll get back to that one, too.