Hon Patrick Gorman MP Talks on Sky News Afternoon Agenda 2 September

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Let's go now to the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, for his take on all of this. He loves commenting on polls, Patrick, good to have your company today. We've seen this through a lot of polls.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here Tom.

CONNELL: Why do you think the Prime Minister right now is not all that popular with voters?

GORMAN: Well as you know Tom polls are made up of the survey responses of thousands and thousands of people. They'll all have different reasons as to why they choose various things. But what I know as the Member for Perth, as the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, is actually it's not about us. It's about the people we serve. It's about whether or not we're doing things that they expect us to do. When we do have a very challenging economic situation here in Australia, in large part caused by global volatility and global inflation, are we doing the things that people expect us to do? What I know, when I go to the Kyilla Markets or the Dads and Donuts in Morley on the weekend, is that people recognise that we are doing the responsible thing. That is, helping people with their household budgets without adding to inflation. That's a challenging path for any government to walk right now, and that's what we'll continue to do. Because like I said Tom, the polls are one thing, but it's actually not about myself or any other Member of Parliament. It's about the people we serve.

CONNELL: Is there an element of Labor getting really desperate to attack Peter Dutton, because the latest attack ads are all to do with where you are out west, and him apparently having these secret plans to change the GST redistribution, which my unofficial role is sort of - people out in the West, we think it's a bit crazy. But he's backed it. He's clearly backed it since the election. So, this is just not true this campaign, is it?

GORMAN: Tom, from my point of view, there is nothing new about me being very critical of Peter Dutton's history when it comes to the GST. I've said it on your program before. I've written opinion pieces about this for more than a year. And what we know - and this is where this all comes from - it was revealed in 2018 that Peter Dutton opposed the WA GST deal when it was being debated at Cabinet. Now Malcolm Turnbull put that in his book. But it's not just Malcolm Turnbull, obviously he's been pretty critical of Mr. Dutton over the years. He's called him "a thug" and all the rest. Julie Bishop, Ken Wyatt, Scott Morrison have all said that Peter Dutton is a risk to the WA GST deal. I think it's reasonable that voters know that there is this risk at play when it comes to Mr. Dutton, and we saw it yesterday. I was watching, 7am here in Perth, and there I found one of Peter Dutton's rising star frontbenchers out there saying they're going to start World War Three with the states when it comes to the GST arrangements. Now-

CONNELL: Let's just be aware in this, that's conflating that with the WA deal.

GORMAN: I'm not making this up.

CONNELL: You're not making it up. He said on the table was withholding GST if they didn't build housing quickly enough, that's not a WA GST redistribution, is it?

GORMAN: Well, WA is part of the Commonwealth last time I checked, so they're talking about dialing down WA's GST, then that affects us as much as it does any other state.

CONNELL: But not the deal-

GORMAN: And we've never had-

CONNELL: Not the special deal that was done by the Coalition Government that Labor's now in lockstep on.

GORMAN: And the person who was sitting around the Cabinet table questioning that deal was Peter Dutton, and he's never explained it. He's never explained why he took that policy position. He's never explained why he then, potentially, has had different views over time. And frankly when it comes to WA getting a fair share of the GST, I don't trust Peter Dutton. Simple as that.

CONNELL: Well, I'm sure why was because it's the richest state in Australia, and why he changed his mind, there are lots of seats up for grabs, which is why both sides are agreeing on it. Anyway, there's my little ten seconds, it's my show, I guess, Pat. Every now and then I can rant on.

GORMAN: It's your show Tom.

CONNELL: Rate rises 'smashing the economy' says the Treasurer. Impossible to miss this wording, wasn't it? He's a bit frustrated. Jim Chalmers.

GORMAN: I'll leave you to comment on the temperament of the Treasurer. I actually find that he is someone who is incredibly focused on the job that we have at hand. That focus is on doing what we can do in fiscal policy to bring down inflation. I know that last month we saw here in the West, people getting the first of their $700 electricity bill credits, putting downward pressure on inflation, supporting households. I think what the Treasurer is reflecting is that we know that people are doing it tough. We know that their household budgets are under pressure. I think it's appropriate that we actually talk about what is happening to people in the communities which we serve. So-

CONNELL: Well we always know politicians choose their words carefully. So this is the first time, correct me if I'm wrong, where he said very carefully calculated notes, talking points, whatever you like, put out there that these rate rises are smashing the economy. That's a shift, isn't it?

GORMAN: I think I've seen a number of pieces of commentary and articles by the Treasurer over time, talking about the real pressure that global inflation is putting onto households, the real pressure that volatility is putting onto households, and just the reality that, of course, when you've got interest rates that have gone up as high and as fast as they have, that puts pressure on people. I mean, he's the Treasurer of Australia, of course he sees that in the work that we do every day. What we've done is - where we can - is to provide relief. We saw yesterday details of what's going to happen when it comes to lifting pension payments and getting more Rent Assistance to those who are doing the toughest. They're the things that are our responsibility. We'll keep taking responsibility, but I'm not going to sit here, and the Treasurer is not going to sit here, and pretend that we don't know that people are doing really tough and that the domestic and global circumstances we find ourselves in are putting pressure on people. That's why we're acting, that's why we're doing things. That's why we're making sure where we can we provide tax relief, assistance payments or smart, sensible policy like things like assisting with the cost of childcare.

CONNELL: All right. Well, I know it's a busy day over there, all sorts of ministers and the PM there, so we always appreciate you fitting us in. Pat

GORMAN: It's always good to have people in the West Tom, you are welcome anytime,

CONNELL: Alright, it's a long way for me with the young kids, but I'll figure something out at some point. You keep talking about those wine bars. Pat Gorman, thank you.