5 June 2024
Topics: EU elections, UK election, Labor’s shameful record of delivering bulk billing and GP services, stamp duty, Giles failure on Direction 99
EO&E
Steve Price:
Let’s bring in Peta’s Wednesday night panel, Shadow Environment Minister Jonathon Duniam and senior fellow at the Menzies Research Centre, Nick Cater. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time. Nick, your backdrop indicates to me that you’re not in Sydney. It looks like you’re in a beautiful part of Europe I mentioned. But just before that, tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the famous D-Day landings in Normandy. Must be quite special to be in Europe at this time.
Nick Cater:
There’s a lot going on. We’ve got the European Championship football, we’ve got the Olympics in Paris, that’s not what I’m here for, by the way, Steve, I’m here as a visiting fellow here at the Danube Institute in Budapest in Hungary. But the big thing immediately is the European elections. Voting kicks off in some countries tomorrow. We should have the results by midnight here on Sunday night, breakfast time in Sydney on Monday morning, and they’re expected to show a significant move to the centre right. In fact, there will probably be a conservative majority in the European Parliament I think for the first time ever and that’s very significant, of course, when it comes to climate change, energy and immigration.
Steve Price:
What countries, Nick, would be driving that push to the centre right?
Nick Cater:
It’s right across the board, Steve. This is interesting. It’s the ‘drain the swamp’ moment one Hungarian politician described it to me as at the moment, and it’s people they’ve just had enough of Europe and it’s games over climate change and immigration. And so here in Hungary, of course, it’s very strong. The Fidesz Party is in power and they’ll get very strong centre right contingent here, but you can see it in Germany, you can see it in Sweden, Holland, just about anywhere you look, there will be extra conservative MP’s and fewer green and fewer left MPs. So all round, if it lives up to expectations, it’ll be a very, very good day for Europe.
Steve Price:
Jonathon, how jealous are you of that background? And given your shadow portfolio, do you believe that push that Nick is revealing there for us that might happen in the EU is going to be replicated here perhaps in a federal election?
Senator Duniam:
Well firstly, I am jealous. I think that looks like a beautiful place to be. Although can I say Hobart is spectacular this time and any time of year, for what it’s worth. But I think common sense always prevails in any election anywhere in the world, except for the ones where corruption reigns supreme. My wife comes from Albania and the electoral system there, there has been under immense pressure from corrupt forces and so it will be pleasing to see the results that Nick’s predicting in the European parliamentary elections. But I hope it goes further than that and you know, we see some common sense prevail here in future election elections in Australia as well.
Steve Price:
Nick, we saw Nigel Farage had a milkshake thrown all over him on day one of the campaign. He handled it in the normal way that he does. How do you think this Reform UK party that election is going to fare and how popular, can you gauge how popular Farage actually is? We know how popular he was during Brexit but is he still a figure there that has got some clout?
Nick Cater:
He certainly is, and in Clacton in Essex, Clacton-on-Sea where he’s standing, was a very strong Brexit vote there, I think the second highest in the country. And look, he’s taken his time before announcing, right, originally he was going to stand in Hartlepool in the North East, Peter Mandelson’s old seat for Labor if people know that seat, but he’s decided to go for Clacton at the last minute, and I think that indicates he thinks there’s something on. It’s a big challenge of course under the British system to overturn the two party system under the, you know, first past the post but I think he’s got a chance.
Steve Price:
Jonathon, I’m watching question time today. I mean, it was just three months ago you had Health Minister Mark Butler trumpet, he gave a 2.1 per cent increase in bulk billing, he said it was a sign the government’s landmark budget initiative to triple bulk billing incentives was working, but the department’s own figures were released today and the bulk billing rate has gone backwards by 4 per cent in the fiscal year to March. GP clinics also report they’ve had three million fewer visits this year. You can’t get in to see a GP. What’s going on here?
Senator Duniam:
Yeah well, so if the Government’s own analysis says things are going backwards, you go and look at the independent analysis from group groups like our Cleanbill, and it’s even worse than that. I mean the money they’ve pumped into these GP urgent care clinics has not yielded benefits and you only have to look at the example here in Tasmania, we’ve got these urgent care clinics in built up urban centres, but if you live on the East Coast in St Helens or on the West Coast in Queenstown, you’re at least a couple of hours from your nearest urgent care clinic. And because this Government has put all their eggs in that basket and not funded and incentivised the training of GPs and placement in regional communities, this Canberra-based solution that they’ve come up with is not helping Australians access the healthcare they need. Right across Australia the examples are the same and frankly the only people that miss out are the people whose primary healthcare concerns are not being dealt with by this Government.
Steve Price:
Nick, we’re talking to the Master Builders just then about the housing crisis in Australia and we discover incredibly that the visa system to come into the country, skilled visas, they’re not even putting people like builders, bricklayers, roof tilers on that list. But they’re putting yoga teachers on there. I mean, housing is such a mess in this country. I am pleased to say though, the South Australian Government has abolished stamp duty for first home buyers on new properties that will save people around $50 000 on a $750 000 home. Nick, stamp duty has been labelled Australia’s most inefficient tax. It really is something that should be looked at nationally by the Federal Government. They should get the states in and say, look, let’s get rid of this so we can help young people get into housing.
Nick Cater:
Yeah, I think so Steve, I mean it’s a very perverse tax, isn’t it? And it has all sorts of perverse influences, not least of which is keeping young people out of the home market. So I think this is a good move. The question is, what do you replace it with because you can’t unfortunately, we can’t sort of wean politicians off their spending habit. They’re going to get the money from somewhere. You know, some places like the ACT have done it by sticking it all on the council rates or the equivalent of the council rates, and that’s a huge impost on ACT homeowners every quarter. So, let’s work out where we’re going to do it, but it’s certainly a tax that’s very inefficient and brings huge windfalls, incidentally, the state governments when the housing prices are going up, so they’ve got an incentive not to build more houses so they send the prices up. It’s just all wrong.
Steve Price:
I can’t get over that background. Jonathon, this direction 99 drama, Andrew Giles, have you ever seen a bigger stuffer than what’s happened with this direction 99. We’ve now got a mate of Tony Mokbel’s, a major Melbourne gangland figure, accused of having strong ties to Mokbel, he had his visa cancellation overturned. He’s a Maltese national. He’s going to be spared deportation when he’s released from jail. This is a horrible mess.
Senator Duniam:
Horrible mess is an understatement and protection racket like never seen before. I mean, this Minister, having blamed his department, blamed the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, blamed the previous government, has borne no responsibility for anything but on his watch, over 150 serious criminals roaming the community, many of which under no supervision or monitoring whatsoever. That one job they have, to keep the community safe, he is abysmally failing at and the fact that he ducked and weaved and dodged questions on this issue for so long and only now he’s seeking to reverse this direction 99 I think is enough of an admission that he got it wrong and now he has to resign. And if he won’t, the Prime Minister must sack him. Otherwise, this Government does not understand what the responsibility it has and therefore, really, we are in a world of trouble.
Steve Price:
Yeah, he needs to be shown the door. Nick Cater, enjoy Budapest. Jonathon Duniam, thank you very much for your time. Go and have a milkshake on to pay tribute to Nigel Farage.