Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General
TOM CONNELL, HOST: Well, we've had sitting here listening to that, not nodding. I wouldn't say that, but Patrick Gorman -
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: - listening carefully.
CONNELL: - He's the Assistant Minister for about six things - I can't remember all of them. Why do you think Labor's primary right now is so low in every published opinion poll?
GORMAN: I know that right now, Australians are probably thinking a little bit more about what's happening in their household budgets, what's happening in terms of their jobs, their communities, and maybe, hopefully, having a little bit of time to enjoy the Olympics. I know that Australians, when they go ask those questions, aren't thinking about an election happening this month. I know there was a lot of speculation, and indeed, some of your colleagues, Tom, were speculating that we were going to have an election at the end of this month. That has not happened. It is not happening. We have always been very clear that our intention is to go full term. I recognise that people want to send messages to the Government from time to time, but we're a long way from people actually choosing what path do they want Australia to go down for the next three years?
CONNELL: I would have thought 18 gold medals would put people in a better mood. But maybe not. Now, Kieran was mentioning, of course, before, attacks on Peter Dutton. Patrick Gorman, he makes Nick Xenophon look like an amateur in terms of stunts. This was him today, helping Peter Dutton just find his way to Collie, where there might be a nuclear-powered power plant in many years.
GORMAN [DOORSTOP CLIP]: So I've brought my beloved UBD Directory all the way from Perth, took it out of my car. It's right here. I've even highlighted for Mr. Dutton the page that will help him find the great people of Collie, so that he can get there and actually talk to them about why he wants to put a nuclear reactor and nuclear waste in their backyard.
CONNELL: So, the Gorman family lost in Perth at the moment without their 2011 directory.
ANDREW CLENNELL, HOST: 2011!
CONNELL: I guess, I'm surprised you have on that recently. That's probably a good point. Is there a danger you're underestimating Peter Dutton? There's a lot of sort of 2-D attacks on him that he's - I don't know, what's one of the lines? Voldemort or whatever, he's this sort of evil presence, but he, he gets along pretty well with people when he talks to them face to face.
GORMAN: I don't underestimate any political opposition, and I definitely don't underestimate Mr. Dutton. I think, you know, he has shown himself to be a formidable politician who has been here for a number of years. He was a senior Cabinet Minister throughout the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison years. I think you've got to respect your opponents, but you've also got to hold them to account. And for me, as a West Australian who saw Peter Dutton come and spend five days in Western Australia, I've seen him visit the sites of proposed nuclear plants on the East Coast. He didn't go to Collie, and I think that really tells you something about maybe he's not confident in his plan. Maybe he's chosen the wrong location in Western Australia. I think it's pretty reasonable to hold him to account if he wants to be the Prime Minister of Australia. That's a job I take seriously, and holding him to account if he wants that job, I think that's entirely appropriate. And you know, you can't get a Perth 2011 UBD from the Parliamentary Library. I don't think you'd be able to find one anywhere in Canberra. It's a very special book of the greatest city anywhere on Earth. Always happy to bang the drum for my home state.
CONNELL: The timing of the state election, WA election, your home state, really plays into that federal election timing. There's no way that you could ask WA to move the date, which I think you can under the Constitution, is there? That would just be really badly received in WA. That's out of the question. And how annoying is it, in the sense that that really cuts out an option for your March election when perhaps there's better, whether it's a better time to go to the polls?
GORMAN: The Commonwealth doesn't have a role in the timing of the state election. That's entirely within their state legislation. As I just said before, we're a government that intends to go full term. That's the Prime Minister's preference. He's stated that so many times. I know that voters, when they go to the polls, some do find it an inconvenience. I'm sure there'll be some who will say that they would always rather that we have our elections nicely spaced out from one another. But until we go through what is a quite a complex constitutional process of potentially getting Australia to four year terms, which I note, we've seen Mr. Howard, sometimes Mr. Dutton and others express support for. But until we actually do that work, this is the system we've got. It works pretty well for Australians. You've got states on the fixed schedule. Australians have chosen in the past, to stick with the variable schedule for Commonwealth elections. But again, I'll just point to the fact the Prime Minister said a number of times, our intention is to go full term. We recognise there is a lot of work to get done. We're here on the first sitting day of Parliament. There's a lot of work for us to do, and we just want to get on and do it.
OLIVIA CAISLEY, HOST: They government has invested a lot in cost of living measures, Rent Assistance, childcare, wages and the like. Why do you think it is struggling on the sell here? Why isn't that resonating with voters at the moment?
GORMAN: Well, we've been out there talking about our plans for tax cuts. What I always say is that Labor's tax cuts are now in workers' pockets. But that's only been over the last month. I remember - it wasn't that long ago - just six months ago, in this place, we had the Coalition saying that they'd roll them back. Saying that they would go back to the original stage three tax cuts, on top of these tax cuts. We haven't seen costings for either of those options put out by the Opposition. When it comes to issues like childcare, obviously, we announced that last Thursday. I've already been to childcare centres in my electorate talking about it. I was talking about it at the Kyilla Markets on the weekend in my community. Parents are really supportive of that measure. They recognise how important the work the early childhood educators do, they also recognise that we're trying to do it in a way that doesn't mean the costs just get pushed on to parents and families. That we do it in a way that helps control costs, but those wage increases won't start until 1 December -
CAISLEY: Are you surprised then, though, it's not translating in a bump in the polls?
GORMAN: You can always speculate what it is that makes individuals, when they respond to those online or telephone surveys, what makes them choose to express their support in different ways. They might have an outstanding local member that they just want to back, regardless of politics.
CONNELL: That's you, is it?
GORMAN: Well Tom, you can speculate. You've seen me in action in a range of different forms over the years.
CONNELL: Do you ever sit on the other side of the focus groups, you know, behind the black glass and go, 'that's interesting, I better stop saying that'? Have you ever been there?
GORMAN: Sounds like you have.
CONNELL: Have you?
GORMAN: Not since I've been an elected member of parliament. I think that would be too soul destroying to have to go through that experience.
KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Just to pick up what Liv is saying, you're still well behind in terms of the economic management question. That must be frustrating off the back of two surpluses, and do you put that down to the dozen rate rises? Is that why people are feeling, maybe not that -
GORMAN: Thirteen rises, let's be clear there was that one -
GILBERT: Twelve since you were elected.
GORMAN: Yeah, thirteen in total. There was the one that happened - these rate rises started when the Coalition was still in power, when you had inflation raging at almost 8 per cent. That's what we inherited. It has taken a lot of work, and there is still work to be done. But we are really proud of what we've done to reduce pressure on inflation. Taking that $78 billion Liberal deficit that we inherited, turning it into a $22 billion surplus. I mean, I think when I talk to people, they go, 'yeah, we recognise you had to make some tough calls. You had to get things back on track.' We continue to do that work. We don't do these things because we're looking for a specific number on a specific poll. We do it because that is responsible economic management. That is what a government who is serious about cost of living relief and getting inflation under control, that is what a government that believes that does. There are always populist measures that people will suggest to us. I've seen in the past, the Coalition was suggesting we should do things around petrol excise and other things -
CONNELL: Hundred bucks for every vaccine jab. That was an Anthony Albanese suggestion, pretty populist?
GORMAN: Look, if you want to go over every policy that's been suggested during the pandemic, we can do that, Tom -
CONNELL: No thanks. No -
GORMAN: - But I think the Australian people have moved on.
CONNELL: - I will get in a lot of trouble because we've already had a time call. But I appreciate your time today.
GORMAN: Appreciate your time, thanks for having me.
CONNELL: We'll talk again soon, Patrick Gorman.
