Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
TOM CONNELL, HOST: All right, we are standing by to go to Patrick, Gorman and Jason. I alluded to the big subs announcement that is coming. We've got a bit of a technical issue with Patrick Gorman, so we'll start with Jason Falinski. And I guess that means I'm playing the role of Patrick Gorman and myself, Jason. Or maybe you want to play both roles. We'll see how the discussion goes.
[TECHNICAL ISSUES RESOLVED EIGHT MINUTES LATER]
CONNELL: We do have Patrick Gorman. I'm not sure how this is going to work as a panel, because Jason has had the talking stick for a while. Maybe Jason can just act as an emoji in that panel. And I will say, when you say he has finally turned up, it was our issue, technically it's not the fault of Patrick Gorman. Anyway, we'll see how you go, Jason has stayed with us. This is not planned, clearly. Pat, let's start with the subs announcement. Nuclear Range is about being able to project, a lot of experts say, well, this gets us to sort of the South China Sea. Does this play us in the role of the provocateur and make it more likely we're involved in a conflict with China one day?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: I don't believe in dealing with hypotheticals like that, Tom. What we know is that Australia needs new submarines. We need to plan for that future capability. That's what this has all been about. It's making sure that we replace the Collins-class submarines and that we have the defence capability that Australia needs for our future and our interests across the entire world. We benefit from an international rules based order. We advocate for that in every forum. We want to make sure that our Defence Force have the capability that they need to do their job. We want to make sure that we have the best technology for what Australia's needs are and what our strategic needs are for the future. And that's exactly what we'll see announced by the Prime Minister Monday US time, tomorrow, Tuesday, our time.
CONNELL: Well, let's not spend more time on that, then. Let's talk about that when we know more details, because I know what you really want to do. The Josh Frydenberg for Kooyong campaign never ended, did it? He'll continue texting everyone he knows about that. What about the Jason Falinski for Mackellar campaign? Patrick, do you want to kick that off today?
GORMAN: Well, firstly, for the mobile phones of Kooyong, what we know is they're not safe. Josh Frydenberg is going to be texting every single voter for the next two years, spamming them, offering them discounts, offering them all sorts of things, so that they will just put him back into Parliament. And I think it's unfortunate, because what we know is there's obviously great talent elsewhere in the Liberal Party. You only need to go to Gorman-Falinski to know there's great talent in the Liberal Party available for the future of the Liberal Party. Jason knows that you don't win elections through text messages. Indeed, it didn't help Scott Morrison when he spammed out a lot of text messages. You win elections by having the right policies for the Australian people. And I think that's ultimately the big question for Josh Frydenberg, if he chooses to be part of the Peter Dutton team come 2025.
JASON FALINSKI, FORMER LIBERAL MP: I think that Pat's right, you need to have policies for the future. Could he ask Chris Minns to announce a policy, just one, any policy he'd like? We'll let the people of New South Wales know that Labor now has a policy.
CONNELL: I feel that this has been unfair on the member for Perth, but go on. He has announced them. Patrick, any that have caught your eye from Chris Minns?
GORMAN: Look, I think some of Chris Minns' policies around making sure that we reduce stamp duty for first home buyers is commendable. I think doing something for first home buyers today, rather than, like the world's most complex kind of term deposit scheme, which was what was announced at the Liberal Party campaign launch. I mean, if I was a voter in New South Wales, I think I'd find a lot more on Chris Minns' website than I would on Dominic Perrottet's. And if I can just say this Tom, this is the one thing I wanted to say, which was it was weird watching that campaign policy launch for the New South Wales Liberals'. They were trying to pretend that John Howard was still Prime Minister, trying to pretend that Scott Morrison never happened, and they were trying to pretend that Peter Dutton doesn't exist. I mean, they were in a very different world to where Australia actually is in 2023.
FALINSKI: Yeah, well, Pat, we have to take their minds off the fact that Anthony Albanese is currently Prime Minister. That's pretty scary.
CONNELL: Well, come on, though, Jason. John Howard as the representative, that does skip over a leader or two. A Prime Minister or two as well.
FALINSKI: We're proud of our past, unlike the Labor Party that hides Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. In fact, they send Kevin Rudd to Washington, they're so desperate to make sure that he stops ringing Anthony Albanese every 35 seconds with a new policy.
GORMAN: I think that is a long stretch to suggest that that is hiding.
FALINSKI: So Pat Gorman has now said that he's opposed to term deposit schemes, which is a bit of a putdown. Does that apply to superannuation too Pat? I mean, I saw you on Sky News the other night telling Peta Credlin that superannuation is something the Labor Party will always defend. I mean, what's going on here? We're not in favour of future savings?
GORMAN: Jason, let me tidy this up. Firstly, it was with the wonderful Sharri Markson. So let's not get our Sky News hosts confused there. So that's fact one that you've got wrong, mate. Fact two is that the New South Wales Liberal Party are the ones attacking superannuation day on day on day. That seems to be the prerequisite to be selected by the New South Wales Liberal Party. That you have to hate superannuation and that you have to have an idea, other than retirement, of what you want to spend it on
FALINSKI: You mean demanding that the millionaire fund managers who give all their money to you, actually reduce their freeze from $30 billion a year to something more equivalent to what they pay in electricity? But we notice that the federal government is making sure that electricity catches up to fund management fees.
CONNELL: Yeah, all right. We're going to end it there. Patrick, we better pass on our thanks for coming. Jason, you've been there a while. You've had a long time on there, haven't you? What a stint you've had. You've done well, Patrick, Jason. That's all I've got. We'll talk next week.
