Hon Patrick Gorman MP on 4CA Cairns Radio

MURRAY JONES, HOST: Well, whichever way you want to celebrate Australia Day it is coming up this weekend, and obviously there has been a bit of controversy around Australia Day in recent times. At ten to eight, my special guest this morning, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, joins me. Good morning, Patrick. How are you? Nice to have you along for the breakfast show today.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Murray, good morning to your listeners, and thanks for having me on. I'm very well thank you. I'm here in sunny Canberra. We have welcomed all of the Australian of the Year nominees last night, and we're looking forward to a fun few days.

JONES: I'm really keen to actually focus on some of the nominees, because they are Australians that have done some amazing things, not just in the last year, just in recent times, full stop. And some really worthy people. Tell you what, when it comes to actually judging and making a decision, you know, they always say that. But at the end of the day, I can see with the list, it's going to be a very, very difficult one to actually, you know, finalise the recipients there. Or I should imagine.

GORMAN: I think it is very difficult for the National Australia Day Council to choose, because what we end up with is these incredible Australians from every part of our country, nominated by every state and territory, and in a way that they all could win. They're all such outstanding Australians. And one of the things I think is really nice, is that what you see on the night when they announce the winner is that, maybe unlike the Oscars or other things, all of the other nominees are genuinely happy, genuinely happy for whoever it is that receives the award.

JONES: Yeah, and I think there's no doubt about that type of thing. And look, you know, it's also something that unifies us. And I think, in this day and age, and when you consider some of the things that are happening around the nation at the moment, things that unify has got to be a really good thing. Just looking at some of the nominees, and look, you know, I guess I couldn't overlook somebody who I know has captured the heart of so many Australians just in the last year or so, Inspector Amy Scott from the New South Wales Police, obviously, that horrendous situation there at Westfield in Sydney. She came out as a hero. So I should imagine she's somebody that's possibly gained a fair bit of bit of attention too.

GORMAN: She was one of the nominees for the New South Wales award. And the way that the awards work is there's state finalists, and they go into the national finals. But Amy Scott is exactly the sort of person who should be in the running for these sort of awards, because she inspired people. She did an incredibly brave act, and so many Australians thought, well, that's the Australian spirit, right there. Someone going out of their way, putting themselves in the line of danger to save their fellow Australians.

JONES: And look, let's talk about it, because, I mean, we've got the Australian of the Year, you've also got the Senior Australian of the Year, the Young Australian of the Year, and a Local Hero as well. Just looking at some of the names here from Queensland, Elizabeth Gough, you got Claire Smith, you've also got Alexa Leary. There's just so many names there, people that have really stood up for their local community and of course all of Australia.

GORMAN: And people like the Queensland finalist, for Senior Australian of the Year, is Dr Bronwyn Herbert - first goes to university at age 40 years, does her master's degree at 61 years, and last year aged 90, finishes her PhD. All throughout her life, she's been working as a social worker, lending a helping hand to others, and just kind of shows that age genuinely is absolutely no barrier.

JONES: And something that I guess I have noticed as well, from the Indigenous community, from people of all ages. And of course, you know, you've also got the Young Australian of the Year. It's showing a real diversity, the reality of Australian culture when you look at the nominees as well.

GORMAN: That's right, you just see so much of Australia reflected in the Awards. We had current Senior Australian of the Year is Yalmay Yunupiŋu, who has preserved First Nations languages and helps teach them to the next generation. We've got the nominee from Queensland for Young Australians of the Year, Dr Katrina Wruck, who has done incredible work. She's got Torres Strait Islander Heritage, and she has done incredible work in terms of finding new ways to process what we call forever chemicals, which are quite harmful to our waterways, quite harmful to our natural environment, but being able to turn them into benign substances that don't have those environmental impacts. So we're celebrating people, we're celebrating culture, we're celebrating Australia, but also we're celebrating people who might make a huge impact on the world stage in the years ahead.

JONES: And look particularly in some of those areas of science. I think that's really important to focus on that, because sadly, there seems to be a bit of scepticism when it comes to science generally in the community. So I think, you know, some of those heroes, you know, it's not just about sportspeople as I think a lot of Australians think. Sportspeople are very important, but also some of the people that do things in science, uniting Australia. I think that's one of the key things. 7.30 tomorrow night you can check out the ceremony there, actually on ABC Television, Patrick, if we can just quickly talk about Australia Day as well. And sadly, it is becoming more and more politicised. And I know when it comes to citizenship ceremonies, certainly for councils, they have the ability, under the current law and the way things work, to actually hold those ceremonies, the citizenship ceremonies, three days before or three days after Australia Day. And this has come about, even though it's been highly politicised in the last couple of weeks, I understand that this has actually come about for a lot of reasons, but including the fact that a lot of councils have asked for that because they have to pay so much extra to have staff on board on public holidays.

GORMAN: Yes. We think that councils are their own democratic bodies. They can make their own decisions. And I come from Western Australia, we have a lot of small regional councils where they were having to make the choice between holding Australia Day ceremonies or citizenship ceremonies. This gives them a bit of flexibility. And I think the other thing that's always lost in this discussion is actually the Australian Government is the principal funder of Australia Day events across the country. We fund from the Commonwealth 750 different community events, including at, as I heard the promo earlier, Munro Martin Parklands.

JONES: Yep!

GORMAN: Where people can go get a free sausage. There's face painting, bit of fun. I'm not so sure about what I was hearing about the kids peeing in the pool, but I'll leave parents to be accountable for their own children on Australia Day. But I did hear that before. And what I think is that ultimately, the Australian Government is there making sure we've got ways for people across this nation to reflect, respect and celebrate on Australia Day.

JONES: And that's what it's all about. And of course, that funding from the Federal Government sometimes gets lost in some of the political rhetoric that you tend to hear in the media as well. Great to talk to you this morning, I can't help myself before we go this morning. Patrick Possum Gorman, tell me about possum?

GORMAN: Well, I think as we're heading into Australia Day, you can't get a more Australian middle name than possum. My parents had a couple of possums that lived in their roof before I was born, and when I came along, I was their latest possum. So that's how that happened. I was born a year after the book Possum Magic came out, so I think that probably had a bit to do with it as well.

JONES: Dame Edna Everage would be so proud of you, Patrick and your parents I've got to say.

GORMAN: Well, may Dame Edna rest in peace, and may my parents be the ones who have to answer these questions in radio interviews in the future rather than myself.

JONES: Yes, you should divert to them every time and say right over to you, Mum and Dad. Patrick Gorman is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister. Great to talk to you. Have a fantastic weekend. And the important thing, celebrate Australia Day the way that you wish, but check out the Australian of the Year ceremony. It's happening tomorrow night. Good on you, Patrick. Cheers.

GORMAN: Thanks Murray, happy Australia Day.