Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General
PAM BOLAND, HOST: We've got someone hanging out on our mystery outline this morning. It's not that much of a mystery. I did give you a little bit of a warning. It's quarter past seven, and we're checking in, dialled in with Patrick Gorman, the local member for Perth and North Perth local. A subscriber to RTRFM, he joins us on the line to give us a little bit of a little bit of a heads up, catch up about Radiothon. Good morning, Patrick, how you going?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: I'm good, Pam, that's very kind of you to ask. It's not usually how we often start radio interviews in the world of parliamentary work.
BOLAND: Yeah, but you know, you got to break it up. You know, I know you're probably just having a couple of dry chats recently, so, you know, you got to add a bit of flavour in there. Maybe, 'how are you?' And it's not really that spicy. It's mild on the spice level, but I'm glad that you appreciated it.
GORMAN: Yeah. I'm going well, and we're all set for another big week in Parliament here.
BOLAND: Absolutely, yeah, I was gonna say, how are we checking in with you this week? Where are we? Where are we dialing you in from?
GORMAN: I am joining you from the nation's capital here at Parliament House. We are about to go through another four sitting days. But I have got time for radio, so I wanted to - and it's just killing me a little bit - that I'm not there in the studio with you.
BOLAND: It's okay. We tried to make it work, but in between all of the responsibilities, it didn't happen. But I do really appreciate you making the time to dial in and have a catch up with you. I saw the subscription for radio roll in on Friday, and I really appreciate that you got straight onto it. The opening day, you were like, 'I'm subscribed, I'm there.' You're a North Perth local. And I'm curious to know what a space like RTRFM means to you as somebody from North Perth, as somebody tuning into the radio here in Boorloo.
GORMAN: I think we are really fortunate that we've got a community hub like RTR. It's not just the radio and the community connection that it builds by people listening, but some 400 volunteers that actually make it all happen. And I spend a fair bit of time on Beaufort Street and seeing it right there is a really proud symbol that we back our local independent media, but also back our local artists, specifically musicians.
BOLAND: Absolutely, we're asking people this year to send back a signal, and 'sending out a signal' is kind of the theme of Radiothon this year. Signals are definitely something that we think about in terms of music, but we think about in terms of radio and just in terms of communication. Do you think that sending out a signal and asking people to send one back is significant, when we think about that connection and that media?
GORMAN: I think it is significant. And if I think about the signal that I take from RTRFM, it's a signal of saying: if you're about to go and make that leap to be a musician and put your art out there to the world, there are people who will back you. And there are people who will continue to want to receive that signal and help amplify it. And I think that's a really powerful thing. And I know I've seen the piece today about sort of some of the fears of what artificial intelligence is going to do to the music creation industry. And recognising that actually, we do want this real, local, authentic voice that only comes from artists making their music and making their voice heard. So yeah, I think it's a wonderful thing. And also for me, if I think about what the lore of the Labor Party is, we often talk about the 'light on the hill.' That's sort of that great aspiration of trying to do something more, leave things in a better place than you found them. And so when I think about sending out a signal, I mean that speaks to me in terms of my values as well, of the light on the hill and what you show others you're aspiring to.
