Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TRANSCRIPT
6PR Perth Live with Oliver Peterson
TOPICS: Federal election, petrol price cut, tax cuts, energy policy, Greens, nature positive, North West Shelf
1 April 2025
E&OE
Oliver Peterson
We are in the throes now of a big Federal election. Joining me in the studio today is Patrick Gorman, the Labor member for Perth. Good to see you.
Patrick Gorman
Good for you. Ollie and g’day to your listeners, and happy second election for all Western Australia.
Oliver Peterson
And aren’t we just excited about that Senator Michaelia Cash in the Liberal Party? Good afternoon.
Senator Cash
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Patrick and good afternoon to your listeners.
Oliver Peterson
Are you excited about that Patrick?
Patrick Gorman
And here’s now, you know, our second election in as many months or so, it seems. I love democracy, and it turns out that in 2025 Western Australia just can’t get enough of it. We had March. We’ve got May, for those who want to really hang out for the trifecta that will be the local government elections in October.
Oliver Peterson
Now, are you buoyed by the WA election results? Because I see, obviously, that the Prime Minister now wants to hold, once again, the launch of the Labor Party here in further just two weeks.
Patrick Gorman
Well, I’m very excited that we’re going to. We did such a good job launching the Labor campaign in 2022 here in the West. We’re going to do it again in just two weeks time. I’m really looking forward to that. I think West Australia is, as we know, the engine room of the Australian economy. It’s a place where people appreciate showing the West a bit of respect, and so that’s why we’ve chosen to launch our campaign here again. I’m looking forward to it, and when it comes to some of the things that we saw during that State campaign, that they’re all based on the same values that I hold. You know, Roger Cook was out there talking about future made in WA. We’re talking about a future made all across Australia. He was out there talking about making sure we invest in skills. It’s free TAFE – that’s something we do in partnership. I’m really proud of the work that we’re doing, and definitely my campaign will be all about making sure that we invest more in Western Australia. And that’s also what you’ll see at the launch.
Oliver Peterson
Senator Cash is a vote for Roger Cook and WA Labor, a vote for Anthony Albanese and Australian Labor?
Senator Cash
Absolutely not. And in fact, I think I’ve said to you before, Ollie our candidates on the ground at the State election were clear. The baseball bats were not out for Roger Cook. They’re out for Anthony Albanese. I’m actually glad Mr. Albanese is going to be here and launching the campaign, because he can explain to the Western Australian people why he has presided over by far the most anti mining and anti Western Australian government in living memory. Mr. Albanese should explain to our farmers why he has betrayed them by ending the live sheep export trade. He can talk to our communities in the South West and explain to them why, despite their opposition, Labor is going ahead with their massive offshore wind farm. He can explain to all Western Australians why they’ve kicked the can on the extension of the big gas project, the North West shelf until after the election. I’m dying to know his promise is going to bring back his nature, positive mining, negative laws. Why can’t you show us what’s in them prior to the election? And I really want to hear about why. In Labor’s recent budget, just last week, there was nothing for WA other than cuts to our funding. And in fact, $272 million was cut from our road funding. So Mr. Albanese, I hope you can stand up and explain your anti mining, anti WA decisions to all Western Australians.
Oliver Peterson
I want to come to the road funding that Michaelia has just mentioned there in a moment, Patrick. But on the nature positive I have had the Prime Minister and the deputy prime minister on the program in the last week, I asked you as well, because you’re on the ground, you got the ear of WA – don’t you think you owe it to West Australians to let them know prior to May 3 what’s happening with nature positive and what your intentions are about the extension of North West Shelf.
Patrick Gorman
I’ll be really clear on the North West Shelf, we are assessing that project that came to us from the State just a few weeks ago, we’re assessing it in accordance with the law.
Oliver Peterson
So it’s nothing to do with some of your colleagues, particularly on the eastern states, including Tanya Plibersek, who may be under threat of losing her seat if she made a decision pre election.
Patrick Gorman
I want to do things in accordance with the law. I think that’s the appropriate thing to do. These are laws the Parliament has passed, and that’s what we will do when it comes to further environmental protection and faster approval. That’s the goal I believe, when we talk about laws that I’ve just referred to, I believe that we can get to a better place than we are right now. I have people from proponents of renewable energy projects, proponents of critical minerals projects in my office, who tell me and do find the laws, as we have them today are hard to work with, and don’t give us good outcomes for the environment.
Oliver Peterson
But obviously that, obviously the Minerals Council, from the Chamber of Commerce locally, from all those mining representatives and lobby groups, they’re worried about what that will do the projects in WA, and if it costs jobs, you don’t want that on your shoulders.
Patrick Gorman
And what I’ll say to everyone who works in the resources industry is that we are not proceeding with the laws that we put to the parliament this term. We’ve said that we will go and consult again on Environmental Protection Authority, because we recognize that that’s a model that’s existed here in the state in WA, and it’s made sure that we’re better. And no one could say that you have that EPA, but you don’t have strong mining industry. Indeed, we have both and we want to, we want to consult. We want to consult with everyone from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy through to the Premier, through to all of the other States to make sure that we get good laws. That’s what I believe in. What I also note, is because I just want to get to this other question, which is the only party going to the election saying that they will cut investment mining in this country is the Liberal Party, $17 billion of cuts from the critical minerals production tax credits, or as I call it, the mining jobs tax credits. The mining jobs tax credits go under Peter Dutton’ s cuts – billion of dollars, predominantly ripped out of WA, But I give him credit that he did an upfront budget reply last week. He said it on Thursday night. It was very clear with people that he will remove Federal, investment in mining jobs, in Western Australia. At least, he was open about it.
Oliver Peterson
Is that what Peter Dutton was doing, Senator Cash?
Senator Cash
Absolutely not. Let me take you through the three policies that Patrick has just referred to. In relation to the decision on the extension of the North West Shelf project – for your listeners, this is the project that has given Western Australians 40 years of reliable gas, has pumped billions, 10s of billions of dollars of revenue into our economy. It has built our roads, it has built our schools, it has built our hospitals, and it has employed 1000s of Western Australians. The decision from the State Government landed with the Albanese government, let us be clear here, on the 12th of December 2024. They said the decision, according to statute, would then be made within 30 business days. That’s what the law says. No decision was made. They extended it out. They extended it out until February. They then extended it out until May. It’s now been extended out even further. Western Australians are not stupid. Roger Cook, after six years has given the extension the green light. The Albanese government, by law, should have made a decision in February 2025, They’ve kicked the can down the road because they’re pandering to the inner city Greens and Teals in Sydney and Victoria.
In relation to nature positive, mining negative, seriously, seriously. These laws will be even more diabolical for Western Australia if Labor is elected in a minority government with the Greens and the Teals like Kate Chaney. Let’s be clear, this is what industry has said. They have estimated that these laws will increase the costs of housing by 10.6% they will increase electricity prices by 38% – that is what the mining industry has said. They would be a disaster for Western Australian families during a cost of living crisis. Mr. Albanese, when he comes to WA should tell us exactly what is going to be in those laws. And when it comes to our resources sector, the best way you can do the right thing by our resources….
Patrick Gorman
Interrupting
Senator Cash
Patrick, I listened to you in silence. You can give me the respect now of listening to me in silence. The best things you can do is to get rid of the red and the green tape and to get energy costs down. If you don’t get the fundamentals right companies don’t invest in our great State. Project do not go ahead. And that is what we are seeing under Mr. Albanese, I can assure you, we will back our mining sector every single step of the way, and we have made it clear we will get the fundamentals right for them. People hate red and green tape, and we are going to slash red and green tape. And we are also going to ensure that we slash in half approval times. That’s the best thing you can do for this State to ensure our prosperity.
Oliver Peterson
Right – Pat Cash we’re calling it Patrick Gorman and Michaelia Cash on Question Time and Tony’s got one for you both. What about some more funding for the roads? As I watch this freeway, city turning into a car park at Beeliar Drive southbound. The traffic, it’s all moving more than a kilometer an hour. Stop. It’s been like that for last decade. It isn’t getting any better. The road work stops. Now it’s a car park from the drive. Is there going to be help now from the Federal government to the State government, something to do with the Australian it is turning to a car park there. Tony.
Patrick Gorman
Tony, I agree. That’s why we’ve already committed $350 million to make sure that we get smart freeways, and the movement happening on the freeway, I agree we’ve got to do more. And what we want is to make sure we’ve got the infrastructure so that we can deliver all those things that we know are really exciting, particularly for the southern suburbs, when it comes to the outer Harbor, making sure we continue to invest so we can get good access to Henderson for the important ship building jobs that we’ve backed really strongly, and also to make sure that we’ve got the infrastructure needed to be able to deliver you wants important national security items.
Oliver Peterson
Is that something the Liberal Party are going to match Senator Cash in regard to road funding in this Federal election campaign?
Senator Cash
We have already said that we had agreed with that. The question I have then for the Labor Party is the recent budget, there was actually nothing for WA other than cuts to our funding. It is a fact that Labor cut $272 million from our roads. It gave out piles of cash to the eastern states, and in fact, WA only got 2% of the $17 billion Albanese cash splash on road and rail infrastructure around the country. Again, that happens to be a fact taken from the Budget papers.
Oliver Peterson
Why have we missed out here Patrick?
Patrick Gorman
I think Senator Cash somehow conveniently forgets the massive investment we made when it comes to Metronet. And we continue investing roads. We opened the Bunbury bypass. We make sure we are continuing to invest in those roads, there’s always more. If we want to talk about an investment, because the Prime Minister announced $200 million for the Midland Hospital – will they support that.
Oliver Peterson
Will the Liberal Party match that Senator Cash?
Senator Cash
I stood up yesterday and I said I matched the commitment. I also said, Mr. Albanese continues to dupe the people of Western Australia. It is a fact that it has never been harder or more expensive to see a GP than under Mr. Albanese. On Patrick’s watch bulk billing has collapsed by 11% around the country, and in fact, Patrick in your own electorate, it has collapsed by in excess of 15% – it is down at 63.2% compared to when we were in office, to where we are now. Every single electorate around Australia has gone into literally a collapse in bulk billing. That means that there are 41 million fewer free bulk bill, GP services. 270 GP practices have closed. But what is worse is that Mr. Albanese and Patrick Gorman is a member of this government – they cut subsidized mental health sessions down from 20 to 10. We have made it clear we are reversing that. In other words, to all of your listeners, we will restore the subsidized mental health sessions from 10 back to 20, and we will make it permanent. We will also, as we’ve said, we’ve matched Labor on the Midland Hospital announcement, but we will also invest $9 billion into Medicare to fix Labor’s mess and restore bulk billing back up to coalition levels.
Oliver Peterson
Now, basically there’s the same policies when it comes to Medicare, both Labor and Liberal Patrick, pretty much every day we see the PM standing in front of the Medicare billboard. Or you yourself similar, and ultimately, both party they’re doing basically the same thing.
Patrick Gorman
Yeah, but one party, that’s the Labor Party, has a history of backing Medicare. Remember, when we took this to the people in 1983 the Liberal Party was completely opposed to it. Back in 1983 the leading cause of bankruptcy was people who couldn’t pay their medical bills. Now what we’ve got is a Medicare system I want to make sure it’s as strong for the next 40 years as it was for the first 40. There’s no doubt that when we announce things on Medicare, the Liberal Party try and say that it was their idea. The Liberal party and the Greens are the same on this. Whenever Labor announces something on Medicare, the Liberal party agrees – all rush around pretending it was their idea. But actually, only Labor does the hard policy work on Medicare. What we want to do is get 4800 GPs back into the bulk billing system. That will mean that you can see a GP for free under Labor. It wasn’t a priority under the last Liberal government. Indeed, what happened to the last Liberal government is they tried to abolish bulk billing by whacking in $7 GP tax, even for bulk billed appointments. Now the last thing that I think we need when we do have these pressures on bulk billing is to follow through on Senator Cash’s plan, which is to close the Medicare urgent care clinics which we’ve opened over the last three years. If Senator Cash closes those clinics, that means 17,000 people in my electorate who’ve used that clinic will miss out. It means more pressure on our hospital system, more pressure on our emergency departments, and it means more of the same when it comes to what the Liberals do, which is always trying to find the sneaky way to erode Medicare. They’ve never liked it, and they’ve never backed it. They’ve never come up with an original idea.
Senator Cash
Okay, I’ve got to be able to respond to that when we come back.
(Ad break)
Oliver Peterson
Welcome back to Question Time Perth Live. Now this was Adam band, The Greens leader, earlier today speaking on the ABC can win?
Adam Bandt
The Greens have gone from one to four seats in the State parliament and in likely minority Parliament federally coming up, it means Perth could be right there at the center of it.
Oliver Peterson
The Greens are after your seat Patrick?
Patrick Gorman
Well, Adam Bandt didn’t sound all that confident there Ollie. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he was in with a chance. Now, what I know from the Green party is that, you know, the Greens always say they’re going to knock off Anthony Albanese in Grayndler – every election that I stand, they say they’re going to knock off me in Perth. It never comes to anything. I think that’s the problem with the Greens, that they’re so out there that their plans are never practical when it comes to policy, nor when it comes to politics. And you know, good on Adam Bandt for finally getting himself over to Western Australia. This is his first visit of the year. Now the year, we’re a quarter of the way into 2025, and Adam Bandt only has figured out how to book a ticket over to Perth. During elections, the leader of a political party, you’ve got to do better than that. I think it’s pretty disrespectful to Western Australia. He only rocks up, and as far as I can tell, the only thing he’s talking about is mine. I mean, why isn’t he heading up – I was in Durack in Geraldton yesterday, and why isn’t he heading up there? Why isn’t he going up to Moore? I mean, if I was a Greens candidate, and, you know, I didn’t see Adam Bandt giving me any attention, I’d feel a little bit left out. But I don’t know with the Greens Ollie – I just don’t know.
Oliver Peterson
Senator Cash are you on a unity ticket here with Patrick Gorman when it comes to the Greens,?
Senator Cash
I think don’t risk a Labor Greens, Teals, minority government is my message to Western Australians. Listen to what Adam Bandt just said. The Greens have clearly stated they want to share power with Labor. It’s happened before. Labor made deals with the Greens before under Julia Gillard. It will happen again. That will be disastrous, in particular for Western Australia in terms of our mining and our farming. But I hope your listeners understand what the Greens stand for. If they’re governing with Mr. Albanese. they want to cut defence spending. That is dangerous for Western Australia. They want to introduce $514 billion in new taxes on the economy. They want to cut private health insurance. They want to decriminalize hard drugs, including heroin and ice. They have already done that in the ACT. In a in a State like WA you’re going to love this one: they want to end new motorways and ban, you’re going to love this, petrol cars. So a vote for Labor is a vote for a chaotic Albanese Greens Alliance. It is a recipe Ollie for higher taxes, weak borders, reckless energy policies that will hurt Western Australian families and small businesses. And I would say to Western Australians, please do not risk a Labor Greens Teals, minority government. That is a recipe for all hell breaking loose, and a disaster.
Oliver Peterson
Realistically, it will be minority government Patrick. Deals will be done to stay in power, potentially with the Crossbenches, Greens, Teals and the like. Surely to stay in power, you have a chat to them and say, What can we all do together?
Patrick Gorman
I’m in the fight for majority government. That’s why I fight the Greens. In my opinion, I look forward to Senator Cash coming out and campaigning for my election to make sure the Greens stay out. What I do is I fight to make sure we stay in majority. I was up in Moore last week.
Oliver Peterson
Do you think you can win Moore?
Patrick Gorman
I think that Thomas French is an outstanding individual. He is both a sparky and a lawyer. He can do it all, as you say, you know you can. What do they say? He can make you a cake in your lounge room or he can make your cake in court. He can do it all.
Oliver Peterson
Is the path for majority government for Labor or remaining in majority government for Labor now through Western Australia.
Patrick Gorman
Well, Western Australia has always been an important State, but we did see Western Australians give strong endorsements to Anthony Albanese in 2022. I believe that we have shown the appropriate respect. The Prime Minister has been here 30 times. We’ve held Cabinets, both here in Perth and Port Hedland. We have had significant investments, $3 billion in rewiring Western Australia, significant investments when it comes to critical minerals and making sure we get those mining jobs of the future, and also significant investment in tax cuts for Western Australians, something that the Liberal Party say that they will roll back. That means that 1.3 million Western Australians tax will get a higher tax year, right.
Oliver Peterson
And we got a lot of talk back on that this week. From the Liberals fuel price cuts immediately, versus the $5 it’s a nearly the middle of next year Patrick why?
Patrick Gorman
Well, what we decided was we give them immediate relief to households from the middle of this year when it comes to energy bill relief. We know that that’s been welcomed. We know that that’s worked. We know that it helps people across Western Australia. We just chose to do that first and then to bring in the tax cuts. We’ve obviously just had the Reserve Bank today make their decision on interest rates. What we know we can do with the government is do everything we can to help bring inflation down. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done with the Australian people to bring the inflation down, because that’s the best part, to be able to make sure we can do more of these sort of tax cuts, as we’ve done. But again, it’s really simple. Our tax cut’s permanent.
Peter Dutton’s relief is very temporary. Our tax cut stays if you vote Labor. The tax cuts all go if you vote for Liberals.
Senator Cash
So is that a difficulty that you’re going to have Senator Cash in the election campaign, that Labor can continue to put out the line that you oppose the tax cuts?
Senator Cash
Absolutely not. You pay tax in many ways, aa any Australian knows, but in particular, in WA, we’re a massive state. People drive big cars. You often have, you know, one car per person in a family. You drive huge distances in Western Australia. If you want to cut taxes and get tax cuts flowing immediately, you cut the tax at the bowser. In other words, you have the fuel excise, and you cut petrol tax by 25 cents a litre, and that is what we will do immediately. You cut the tax at the bowser – Australians and Western Australians, they need tax relief immediately, not 70 cents a day in 15 months time. But I’d also say to your listeners, don’t forget that the 25 cents off per litre in petrol also helps pensioners who own a car and who don’t pay tax. It helps students who don’t work but own a car, and don’t pay tax? These people won’t benefit from Labor’s cruel tax hoax of 70 cents per day in 15 months time, but they will get cheaper petrol under Peter Dutton. So if you want immediate tax relief flowing immediately you need to vote for your Liberal candidate, because you will get that because we’re going to cut that tax at the bowser, that’s what Western Australians need.
Oliver Peterson
A listener’s question before we go.
Listener
Patrick I agree with you about the Greens they’re a bunch of immature university students, and they’re not serious. But the question I have is also to you, Mr. Gorman. In the last 24 hours, I’ve heard Anthony Albanese and Minister Bowen, distance themselves from your energy modelling. Now they haven’t replaced it with different modelling. So the energy shift of Australia is now well, you are continuing on these disastrous policies with no plan or modelling to support it. Please change your energy policy, or I believe you will be committing economic suicide.
Patrick Gorman
Firstly, thank you for your support. That’s very kind of you. Secondly, when it comes to energy policy, obviously, one of the things that’s great about being here at Western Australia is that we have our own grid. So much of that debate, and we saw it with the announcements last week from Mr. Dutton – so much of that was about the East Coast. We’ve got our own grid. That’s a good thing. The South West interconnected system. We produce our own energy. What we’re doing here in WA is backing the Cook Labor Government – their plans to get more reliable and renewable energy into the grid. That means that you have more wind, more utilization of the household solar by storing in batteries, such as the battery, we started switching on at Kwinana last week. We’ll continue to do that. As I said, I was up in Geraldton. I know that industry wants to get more energy so they can expand and expand, and I want to keep doing that, and we’ll do it in a careful, considered, organized way, working with the Cook government, that’s what we’ve done. We’ve provided some $3 billion of investment in their system. That’s the right way forward. And I’m not going to do what the Liberal Party proposes, which is to kick all of the challenges down the track for another 15 years waiting for an incredibly expensive nuclear reactor in Collie. I’ve been down to Collie twice. I didn’t get chucked out of town like Peter Dutton did. I’ve been down there having serious conversations, because I know that if we get Collie right with renewables, new industry, we can have a really bright future, rather than a false promise of expensive nuclear sometime in 2040.
Ollie Peterson
All right, we’ve got to wrap it all up. Senator, your final words before we say goodbye.
Senator Cash
Labor promised you prior to the election 97 times they’d lower your energy bill by $275 you talk back caller is right? They’ve now walked away, not only from that, but from their modelling. Labor promised you’d be paying less for electricity. You’re not. They lied to you. Australians are now paying some of the highest power prices in the world, and quite frankly, if they continue with their renewable energy pipe dream again you’ve crippled Australia already. Mr. Albanese, for God’s sakes, get some sense into you get rid of that policy, and back our plan,
Oliver Peterson
Right, time is up, we’ll do it again soon.
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