The Hon Peter Dutton MP
Leader of the Opposition
Federal Member for Dickson
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Senator for Western Australia
Mr Tom White
Liberal Candidate for Curtin
INNALOO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
2 August 2024
Subjects: Visit to Innaloo and WA; the CFMEU and Labor’s rackets, rorts, and rip-offs in the construction sector; the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership; the Prime Minister’s home grown inflation; Labor’s cost of living and energy crisis; the Liberal Party in WA; the Coalition’s plan to deliver cheaper, cleaner and consistent energy; nuclear power; Labor’s immigration detention and border policy shambles; the Teals’ true Labor-Green identity; production tax credits; visit to Israel; the barbaric attacks on Israel and the ramifications around Australia; Garma Festival.
E&OE
TOM WHITE:
Good morning. My name is Tom White. I’m the endorsed Liberal candidate for Curtin. It’s supermarkets and shopping centres, like this one right here at Morris Place, that are the front line of Australia’s cost of living crisis. When I speak to local families just around the corner in Doubleview, they tell me just how much they feel the pinch when they walk through the door here to buy daily essentials to put on the dining table.
I’ve been the candidate since March, and since then Australia is the only developed economy where prices are moving in the wrong direction. Inflation continues to grow, the cost of living crisis continues to bite. That’s why I felt like it was so important to bring the Michaelia and Peter Dutton here to hear from locals and from local shop keepers about the pain that’s being felt locally, and what can be done to address it.
So I might pass to Michaelia to say a few words and then we’ll hear from Peter. Thank you.
MICHAELIA CASH:
Thanks Tom.
It’s great to be here with Tom White, our Liberal candidate for Curtin. And of course, the Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton, who is a great friend to Western Australia and of course, has been coming here for decades and decades.
It’s also great though that we are joined today by Peter’s wife, Kirilly. Many of you won’t know that Kirilly, like so many of us here in WA, was actually born at Saint John of God Hospital in Subiaco. She even had the opportunity to attend Brentwood Primary School when she was growing up. So again, great to have Peter and Kirilly here on the ground in WA. They are great friends to us.
Tom’s right, though, in our discussions today at the Morris Place IGA – Tucker Fresh, where what is the one issue that is raised with us time and time again? That is the cost of living crisis, that is now apparent under the Albanese Government. The feedback we received today – ‘what are you noticing on the ground?’. Western Australians are coming into their local shopping centre, the basket is getting smaller. And guess what? They’re paying more, and they’re paying more because of the policies of the Albanese Government. Every person across Australia who walks into a shopping centre every day of the week knows when they walk out, the basket has got smaller, but the cost has got higher because of the policies of the Albanese Government.
Just on Mr Albanese, he talks a big game when it comes to Western Australia. He might be a nice guy, however, I would say to Western Australians: judge Mr Albanese on his actions, not his words. The recent Cabinet reshuffle, yet again showing Mr Albanese’s contempt for Western Australia and Western Australians. Mr Albanese’s reality is the pathway to him being Prime Minister, was through Western Australia and what does he do? He ensures that there is but one lone voice representing Western Australia around the Cabinet table. He had an opportunity in the recent reshuffle to again put into place actions. And what did he do? A slap in the face to Western Australians.
Then of course, when it comes to the CFMEU – Mr Albanese, the greatest friend the CFMEU in Australia has ever had. When he became the Prime Minister, his first action was to hand the construction industry over to John Setka and his militant mates in the CFMEU. And how did he do that? He abolished the tough cop on the beat, the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We have seen that since then, it has been an absolute disaster.
Peter Dutton and I have made it very clear to Mr Albanese, on the 12th of August, in about 10 days time, when the Parliament resumes, if Mr Albanese brings forward the necessary legislation to deregister the CFMEU, but also to reinstate the tough cop on the beat, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, he will have our support to pass it that day.
Again, Mr Albanese, he might be a nice guy, but when it comes to making decisions in the best interest of Australians, judge Mr Albanese by his actions and not his words.
Peter?
PETER DUTTON:
Michaelia, thank you very much.
Tom, it’s great to be back here in Curtin with you. So thank you for the work you’re doing on the ground. Tom White is somebody who has an incredible contribution to make to the local community. He’s obviously been incredibly successful in business and he knows this local community, so it’s great to be here in support of him.
It’s also great to be here to meet the team today from this local iconic store. I want to say thank you very much to Tuckers and to the group – it’s not just this shop, but 11 others that they operate. It means that they employ about 800 locals, and those locals are helping to put their kids through school. They’re helping to pay their mortgage off and to lead their own lives. They’re working hard in a very important family small business.
Small business has always been at the core of what the Liberal Party is about. We want to make sure that we can get our country back on track, and we can do that after the next election if there is a change of Government.
Mr Albanese presides over a frontbench, unlike mine, where nobody’s ever worked in business before, people don’t understand what small business and bigger businesses are going through at the moment. Had the opportunity to catch up this morning with one of the big mining groups, who’s talking about putting off many staff because of the uncertainty, particularly around environmental processes at both the state and federal level.
It’s obvious that Mr Albanese and the Labor Government have made it harder for Australians, not just here in the West, but right across the country. They’ve made it harder for businesses to invest and to employ people. I want to make sure that we can take the decisions as a Government, which give confidence to investors and make sure that these businesses can continue to grow.
The biggest issue facing customers coming into this store now is a cost of living crisis created by Mr Albanese. When you are paying more at the checkout for eggs, when you’re paying more for bread, for milk, for meat, it’s because, at least in large part, of the inflation problem that the Reserve Bank Governor describes as home grown. Now, interest rates have gone up on 12 occasions under Mr Albanese, and they’re likely to go higher. I hope, like every Australian, that the Reserve Bank doesn’t raise interest rates next week. But in the end, the Reserve Bank can only respond to the economic settings put in place by the Government. The Government is making it harder for families and for the Reserve Bank at the moment.
As we see the energy policy operating in the economy, the reason you’re paying more for eggs and for bread and for milk, for meat is because it’s not just your electricity bill that’s going through the roof; it’s the farmer, it’s the cold storage operator, it’s the transport operator. All of those costs are being passed on in the current economy. We’ve got to make sure that there is a better opportunity for businesses to grow and for families to be able to cope with the cost of living crisis. Under Labor, that’s just not possible. We know that food across the board has gone up by about 11 per cent just over the last two years under this Government, but electricity’s gone up by 22 per cent. We know that bread and milk, etc., 18 per cent increases, and families are feeling that in their budgets.
So I look it’s great to be here in WA, and it’s great that Kirilly’s here with me today as well. We’ve got a pretty crammed schedule, I might say, over the next five days. It’s an opportunity to be able to talk to not just those who are in business, but to people here in WA about some of the ideas that they want us to take forward because I don’t believe that WA can afford three more years of an Albanese Government. We don’t want to see job losses continue to mount in the mining sector, and we don’t want to see a wet blanket thrown over the economy, which is exactly what the Albanese Government is doing at the moment.
So great to be here and I’m very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, welcome to WA.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you mate.
QUESTION:
I mean, it was always going to be a hard climb back when you lost so many seats that Labor took off you in the last election. Even if you’re reading stuff that was in The West today, and the people that I talk to, so far, say that perhaps the Federal Liberals and yourself isn’t quite cutting it yet in WA. You’re still not cutting through to present enough of an argument that you can be a better Prime Minister. How do you react to that kind of criticism?
PETER DUTTON:
Well mate, a couple of points. I’ve obviously been coming to WA for the last 25 years. I’ve been Defence Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, I was the Health and Sports Minister, I was Assistant Treasurer. This contest at the next election is not between Scott Morrison and Mark McGowan. It’s between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. My opportunity that I present to the public of WA and to the people of Australia is to get our country back on track. There is a much better way to manage the economy, to deal with the energy transition. We need to make sure that we can decarbonise our economy, but we also need to make sure that we can bring electricity prices down, we need to make sure that we have stability in the market because the cold rooms here don’t run on a timetable other than 24/7, your freezers at home don’t work intermittently. We know that hospitals need 24/7 consistent power.
So the energy policy, the contrast between the two parties is very significant. I want cleaner, I want cheaper, and I want consistent energy in our system. Anthony Albanese is promising a renewables only policy, which is going to see the lights go out – the energy regulator warns of that. I want to see the mining sector doubled here in WA, but it won’t happen if Tanya Plibersek is trying to please green voters in inner-city Sydney.
The Prime Minister’s focus is always on how can he stop votes moving from the Labor Party to the Greens. It’s why they’ve abandoned the Jewish community in our country. It’s why they’ve taken a zealot like approach with their renewables only policy in relation to energy. And we know how to run an economy. We know how to keep our country safe and secure. We’re not going to allow boats to restart, which is what’s happening now under Labor.
When Tony Burke was last in the job that he’s in now, he was in there for 80 days – 83 boats arrived. Let’s be serious about this. There are real and significant issues facing our country. As the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister of Immigration, I deported 6,300 people – people who’d committed sexual offences against children and women, people who’d been involved in drug trafficking. The Government, in contrast, has released 150 criminals, hardcore criminals into the community. They’re now committing additional crimes. That’s the contrast just in a couple of key areas.
So I am confident that by the next election – and you’re right, Joe, I mean off a difficult state election and off a difficult federal election, we’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do in WA. I’m here to listen to the people of Western Australia, to make sure that we can introduce policies which will help this great state grow, not shrink. I’m going to support many sectors here in WA, whereas, the Prime Minister is promising to deliver a Greens Labor agenda if he’s re-elected. Every analyst at the moment is saying the best case scenario for Labor at the next election is in a minority government, with the Greens and the Greens-Teals. This is why a vote for Kate Chaney is a vote for Anthony Albanese. It is a continuation of the wet blanket across the economy, and we can’t afford that for three more years.
QUESTION:
So is that one of the reasons you chose Curtin? Because obviously you want to win back Curtin – it will be difficult to – she’s an incumbent, will that be a difficult fight in Curtin?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think as we look across the country, we’ve got a number of key seats, obviously, that we need to win. Curtin is at the top of that list. We have the first obligation to preselect a candidate who is the best in class. Tom White has an incredible CV. He has an incredible contribution to make, not just to Curtin and to WA, but to Australia. I’m very proud to be standing here with him today.
People might like independent candidates, but Green-Teal candidates, are candidates who don’t support the live sheep export industry, people who ultimately are running a left-green agenda, which I think is at odds with the people of Curtin. They ultimately are not pro-business, and I believe very strongly that the entrepreneurial spirit here in WA needs to be supported, not attacked. Having a Teal in a minority government with Anthony Albanese and the other Greens is a disaster for the WA economy, for jobs, and for our country. That’s why I’m determined to make sure that we can win back the seat of Curtin – but not just Curtin, many others. We’ve got great candidates in the field, and I’ll be speaking with a lot of them.
As I say, pretty back-to-back programme over this period. I don’t just use WA to refuel my plane on the way to Asia. I’m here to listen to the people of WA and to make sure that we have the policies in place that will see us achieve great success here at the time of the next election because I want the best for the people of WA.
QUESTION:
I mean, you say it’s not Morrison versus McGowan. It’s now, you know, a totally different landscape. How do you think you can get people from WA to, if I can use the expression, warm to you? You know, more than perhaps they might have done in the past because you were a Cabinet Minister, obviously. I mean how do you propose – because you’re still behind the polls when it comes to preferred Prime Minister – I mean, how do you intend to break down those barriers?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I presume you would say that the more you meet me, the more you like me. I’m sure that’s the case for other people as well. But I think if you look at where we’ve come over the course of the last 12 months, on some polling at the moment, we’re 52-48 ahead, in other polling we’re 51-49 ahead, in other polling we’re 50-50. This is a contest, and it’s a race, and it is about the future of our country.
I don’t believe that the economy can withstand three more years of Labor. I believe that as we move around the country, and as you meet people, and as you explain the backstory and people have an understanding of – I’m a patriotic person, I want the best for our country. I’ve just come back from the Middle East and it puts some of our problems into perspective.
But what I know is that we have values, we have beliefs in our country that are worth fighting for, and I want to make sure that we can have our best days ahead. Anthony Albanese is not a bad person, but he’s a hopeless Prime Minister. Every issue that he’s touched has turned to dust for our country. I worked with John Howard, I’ve worked under four Liberal Leaders in total, I’ve watched seven Prime Ministers over the course of the last quarter of a century. I know how to get our country back on track. I know how to make WA go from strength-to-strength. I will have a lot more to say and I’ll be here, continuing as a frequent visitor to WA – I think this is my 16th visit since I was Leader and I’m very happy to continue coming back.
QUESTION:
But Mr Dutton, do you think that nuclear – one more and then I’ll leave you, sorry – but do you think a nuclear policy because you’re obviously talking about the energy policy of the Albanese Government isn’t going to cut it? So clearly you’re talking about your policy, which is nuclear. Do you think a nuclear power station in Collie, which is a long way away – do you think that’s the money shot for you? Is that going to get voters to want to vote for Peter Dutton in WA?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think it’s one element of our energy policy and we’ll have more to say in relation to that and many other policies. I just want to come back to the basics because I think it’s one of the biggest debates for our country to have in relation to energy. No functioning modern economy can work with unreliable energy. We need electricity and we need gas. We need it to be delivered at an affordable price. It can’t be intermittent so the lights can’t come and go.
We’re heading down the path of California and parts of South Africa under the current Prime Minister where they have scheduled blackouts and brownouts. It’s a disaster for business. In California, the businesses, the manufacturers are leaving. They’re going to other states. In Wyoming, for example, they in that state have local communities bidding for the nuclear power investment because thousands of jobs come with it. It provides the 24/7 baseload power. Between now and 2034, 90 per cent of that 24/7 power goes out of the system.
So if you don’t like coal and you don’t like gas and you don’t like nuclear, what is the firming power? Well, the Prime Minister used to say that it was green hydrogen. Now, that obviously is not going to be a reality. And when the independent market regulator says that the lights are likely to go out and there’ll be blackouts and brownouts, it’s because of the policies that Mr Albanese has adopted.
So let’s have a sensible discussion. Nuclear is used by, out of the top 20 countries in the world, every country except Australia. So, 19 of the 20 G20 economies are using nuclear or have signed up to it. There are dozens and dozens of countries who are looking at further investment into nuclear. As we know, at the COP26 process, countries like France and Canada, the United States all committed to extra investment into nuclear energy; A. because it’s zero emissions, B. because it’s cheaper, you have a longer amortisation period, and we know that it provides the support for renewables in the system.
Renewables are great. We’re strongly supportive of renewables. We just can’t pretend that they work 24/7. There’s been a wind drought, as you know, which means that the contribution of wind energy drops down to, for example, recently 16 per cent of energy going into the grid. You can’t run a modern economy on that.
So yes, these are tough decisions, they’re tough issues, but I strongly believe it’s worth fighting for what is in our country’s best interests, and that’s certainly the case.
QUESTION:
Is Albemarle’s job cuts evidence that lithium and the electric vehicle shift have been overcooked?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think there are a lot of realities in the economy at the moment and I fear that under Mr Albanese, many more jobs are going to go. As I said before, we were speaking with a company this morning who has a global investment mandate. Many of these companies here have a choice to invest in Western Australia at the moment – they’re investing in Africa, and they’re investing in Asia and in America and elsewhere – everywhere but WA and Australia. That is a travesty.
It wasn’t happening two or five years ago under a Coalition Government, but it is happening today. We need to have a strong and secure economic policy so that people do feel safe to invest in our country, because if we get that investment, we’ll get the jobs, we’ll get the economic growth, means that we can pay for our investment into schools, into the health system, into the NDIS. Means that we can put more money into our defences because, as we know, it is a precarious period – the Prime Minister describes it as the most precarious since the Second World War – and it is.
If we don’t get the economy pumping, we’re going to have an economic disaster of Labor’s own making on our hands, and that’s why it’s important to make strong decisions that are in the interests of our economy – and that’s what Liberal Governments will always do.
QUESTION:
Are you still opposing the production tax credits the industry wants?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we need to make sure that where we’re spending taxpayers money, we’re doing it most efficiently, and we’re doing it in a way that will create economic activity, productivity in the economy more generally and the jobs. So, we’ll sit down, continuing to sit down, and we’ve already done a lot of engagement to understand what is the best way that we can help here in WA.
I made the point in my speech here a couple of weeks ago, about reducing the red tape and the green tape, making sure that the environmental practices aren’t designed to stop projects from proceeding, but to proceed in a way that’s respectful to the environment, but that doesn’t stop the investment from taking place. As I say at the moment, under Labor, people are taking capital from WA and they’re investing it in other markets. We will lose thousands and thousands of jobs here in WA if Anthony Albanese, and Tanya Plibersek, and Adam Bandt, and the Greens, and Kate Chaney and the other Green-Teals get their way. We need WA to boom and we will deliver that in government. We’ll work very closely with the people of Western Australia.
QUESTION:
So you’re still opposing them, aren’t you?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ve made our decision in relation to it, but I think there are other ways in which we can provide support, and we’re negotiating on that. In actual fact, when you get into the private meetings with many of the companies, many of the companies have suggestions of better ways in which we can invest into WA to get the jobs and the economic growth.
QUESTION:
Still reckon it’s a freebie for billionaires?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think if you look at the issue of green hydrogen, for example, the Government’s made a very significant investment, but Twiggy Forrest has made a decision to pull money out, and you’ve got to respect that. He knows what’s happening in that business model. Unfortunately, I think 700 jobs went with that decision.
My responsibility as Prime Minister will be to make sure that we’ve got an economy that has an energy system that functions for families and for businesses, helps grow jobs and economic productivity. And if we don’t have that baseload power, and if we don’t encourage the investment into the different energy sources, then we are going to be in real strife as an economy in the not too distant future.
QUESTION:
Your trip to Israel – has it dimmed your hope that conflict can be resolved?
PETER DUTTON:
I think the raw emotion that we saw on the ground, in the kibbutz community where we went, where you saw – many of the houses have been cleaned up – but, the gun attacks, the safe rooms that have been breached, children being dragged out, the videos of people, including young women being slaughtered, all of that is something that most people you’d hope would never see.
So the continuation of that Hamas style terrorist activity needs to be defeated at any cost. There are still over 100 people held in the tunnel network by the terrorists, and their families, obviously, are desperate to get them home. If we had have had a terrorist attack in our country and people had have been taken captive and were still being held captive nine months later, Australians would be rightly outraged and wanting to know what their Government would do to release them. So you can understand the raw emotion that is evident, and the people that we spoke to, the loved ones who have still got people in those tunnels, it was striking.
What it said to me though, was that, as we’ve done since the time of Federation, we have stood up for our values, our belief in our democracy, our belief in our way of life, our freedom of speech, free elections. These are all values that are incredibly important for us to fight for, to defend, and to protect. Not just here, but for countries of like-minded approaches as well. Israel is one such country, and I think the Jewish community here in Australia feels incredibly abandoned by the Prime Minister, and you would completely understand that conclusion being drawn.
The level of anti-Semitism in our community is completely and utterly unacceptable. The Prime Minister’s acceptance of the conduct on the steps of the Opera House was rightly condemned, and it was a huge mistake. So, there’s a lot of repair work to do, and the Albanese Government’s wrecking ball through the economy is also a wrecking ball through relationships and long-standing relationships and other aspects of government policy, which is really making it hard for Australians at the moment.
QUESTION:
But you rightfully condemn Hamas…
PETER DUTTON:
Yes.
QUESTION:
…That’s rightfully so. What about condemning Israel for its part in the slaughter of innocent people on the other side?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, one of the things that we heard, as you know, is that Hamas hides their captives within the local community under hospitals. They hide their weapons and their rocket systems in residential areas. Hamas has no regard for Jews and it has even less regard, in my judgement, for people who are living in the Palestinian territories. So, Israel’s right to defend herself, as is the right for Australia to defend itself against terrorist activity, shouldn’t be questioned.
Do we want to see conflict in the Middle East? No, I want to see it come to an end tomorrow, and there’s a deal that’s on the table. But the hostages need to be released and nobody wants to see any child, regardless of their religious affiliation, or their parents religious affiliation, suffer at all – of course not.
But what we know is that Hamas conducted a terrorist strike on Israel. It was the biggest attack and loss of life of people of Jewish faith since the Holocaust, where 6 million people were gassed and murdered. We should never forget the lessons of history. We want to see an end to the conflict in the Middle East, and the pathway to that is on the table. But as we know, with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups over a long period of time, these are people who don’t have the rational thought that you and I do. They don’t have the same regard for human life – the rape and torture of women, the way in which they treated children on October 7. It’s an abomination and it needs to be condemned.
QUESTION:
Did you raise the death of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom when you met with Israeli leaders? The Israeli Defence Force today said it should have never happened and was a grave mistake.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, obviously the Binskin Report has been released today. I don’t believe that it was necessary to commission that Report in the first place. The tragic, tragic circumstances that gave rise to it, and the IDF has, as you say, pointed out that they’ve made a mistake – as is the case in a theatre of war.
For the Prime Minister, though, to appoint a former chief, in Mark Binskin, I think it was a mistake. I think it was a politically based decision. I think the Prime Minister is playing politics here with this issue domestically, and I think that is, frankly, a disgrace. I think the Prime Minister diminishes our standing internationally when he conducts these sorts of politically motivated decisions.
QUESTION:
What do you think of the Officeworks worker denying a Jewish customer a lamination in the newspaper because she’s pro-Palestine?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again, I just think it’s completely unacceptable in our country. You can be of Jewish faith, Muslim faith, you can be Christian, no faith at all, whatever – we live in a country where we live together peacefully and harmoniously, and people shouldn’t bring their conflicts or their prejudices to our country. The celebration of culture and heritage and religious belief is a wonderful thing. But in our country, because you don’t agree with somebody in relation to this particular issue or others, it shouldn’t give you license to behave in that way.
I think what we’ve seen on our university campuses has been a disgrace. It’s unimaginable that a lecturer who was a Catholic, or a Protestant, or of Hindu faith, whatever it might be, came to visit a university that they would be denied entry because of those attributes. Yet, the universities here, in some cases, can justify that against somebody because they’re from Israel or because they’re of Jewish faith. I think it’s completely and utterly unacceptable and it should be condemned.
What we saw at Officeworks is indicative of a broader societal problem that needs to be stamped out. You can have your strongly held beliefs, but express them in a cordial way, in a respectful way, and in a lawful way. That sort of discrimination has no place in our country whatsoever.
QUESTION:
Are you going to Garma?
PETER DUTTON:
I’m not going to Garma, and I made that clear – I met with Sean and Denise Bowden in Brisbane not too long ago, and they delivered to me a letter from Djawa. I made it clear then, as Sean texted me this morning to acknowledge that I conveyed that I wouldn’t be going to Garma.
I think what we need to focus on, frankly, are practical outcomes for Indigenous Australians. The Prime Minister’s increasing the bureaucracy in Canberra by tens of thousands of people. It’s not going to help one person in Alice Springs. I want to make sure that women and children can live safely in our community, whether they’re in Indigenous remote communities, or if they’re in capital cities.
I think when you look at what Jacinta Price has had to say over a long period of time, if the Government was to implement some of those practical measures, we could see better housing, we could see more jobs, we could see better education and health systems, and we could see a brighter future for those Indigenous kids. I intend to lead a Government which is practical, and I intend to lead a Government which delivers outcomes and positive outcomes for people in Indigenous communities.
I just say this to the people of WA, under a Government I lead, there will be no Makarrata and there will be no revisiting of truth telling. The $450 million that the Government wasted on the Voice was an outrage, and yet the Prime Minister will be up in Garma saying he supports Makarrata. In Canberra, at the dispatch box, he’s all sheepish and doesn’t know how to respond. So this is a Prime Minister who speaks out of both sides of his mouth, and ultimately, people in Indigenous communities are the ones that are getting hurt as a result.
So we’ve been clear, we’re not spending money on Makarrata, but we are spending money, and making sure it’s spent wisely on the practical outcomes in schools, in health services, and in housing.
Alright. Thank you very much.
Recent Comments