Television - Sky News Afternoon Agenda 22 October

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Joining me live Assistant Minister to Prime Minister Patrick Gorman and former MP and former New South Wales Liberal Party President Jason Falinski. Gentlemen, thank you both for your time. Pat, I assume you were there, what did you make of that interjection from Lidia Thorpe?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: It came after a wonderful speech from His Majesty, where he talked about his genuinely warm affection for Australia, and indeed the friendship that he feels from the Australian people. He talked about coming here all the way back in 1966, he talked about our Indigenous history and the warmth with which Indigenous leaders have welcomed him time and time again, including Aunty Violet warmly welcoming the King and Queen here in Parliament just a few moments ago. As for that intervention, I think people will see that and think that that probably wasn't the appropriate way for anyone, let alone a Senator, to conduct themselves during an official visit such as this. I think we're better than that, and it's not the way that you put your message across. I don't think there was a lot of support for that action in the room. Indeed, I think the footage shows that. But what I really want to focus on is the fact that this is a really joyful day for people. We've just seen people here in Canberra out welcoming their Majesties, very excited that they just got the chance to have a glimpse and to say hello, that warmth and affection is there, and it's pretty deeply held across Australia. And indeed, I think you know, the King himself has been here now 17 times. I remember, as a university student back in 2005 meeting the then-Prince at Government House in Western Australia. Those memories stay with you, regardless of your views on Australia's future constitutional directions. I think this is a day where actually we can come together as Australia and actually recognise that this visit Their Majesties are using to highlight not just that friendship with Australia, but also some of the important causes; such as action to support our environment and action to prevent family and domestic violence.

CONNELL: The entourage goes down to Government House. Jason Falinski is here as well. I actually did some extensive research today, Jason. I put the terms 'Jason Falinksi' and 'republican' into a search engine, and it didn't come back with any matches. So I assume you're a monarchist. I don't know. What have you made of the King's visit today and over the past few days?

JASON FALINKSI, FORMER MP AND FORMER NSW LIBERAL PARTY PRESIDENT: Look Tom, as you know I am a Republican, and I think that it's important that we have these visits, because a lot of Australians don't realise that our Head of State is actually the King of England. And so while I think that King Charles - as his mother did - has done an extraordinary job in that role, they are our Head of State. And I think it's an open question for most Australians whether that's the appropriate constitutional arrangement. I have to say though, I do admire his ability to talk to anyone, especially many of those lifelong lefties who are at the hall today, many of whom have called for the end of his time as King. I mean, that must take generations of breeding and a lifetime dedicated to Parliament service.

CONNELL: So would you not have gone down then as a republican? You would have said 'no thanks, I'll stay home, not interested.'

FALINSKI: Oh Tom were you serious? Because you know I was the head of the Parliamentary Friends of an Australian Republic. I don't know what search engine you were using, but Sky News -

CONNELL: The first one was tongue-in-cheek, the second one was would you have gone down there?

FALINSKI: Yeah, of course. I have a lot of admiration for King Charles and for the lifetime of work that he has committed. The Prince's charity has done extraordinary work in the United Kingdom and across the world, and he is our Head of State. And if you are elected to the Australian Parliament, you are elected under our Constitution, and you need to respect that constitution and uphold it. And that includes respecting our Head of State who is King Charles.

CONNELL: Maybe that's what those 'Labor lefties' all do, as you labelled them. Anyway, let's move on I feel like we're brawling over the easy stuff today. Let's bring up this vision. Donald Trump worked at McDonald's. I mean, he didn't really, but he popped in there for a campaign visit. I think this is fascinating. Jason, I know you're starting to take a deep interest in this US election, because on the one hand, this McDonald's wasn't really open to the public, surprise, surprise, and he served up a few Trump supporters. On the other hand, just feels like he wins the pictures for another day, and it's all about the pictures and the rhetoric and the one-liners and being and being popular over there. Do you share the view that he sort of got one hand on the presidency again?

FALINSKI: Yeah it's certainly trending that way Tom. It looks very much like the second coming of Donald Trump is upon us, especially when you look at how the polls have moved over the last three weeks. This does remind me, though, that when I was an MP they have McHappy day, and usually MP's go down and help out in the kitchen, properly supervised I might add. And I got to serve this woman at the window, and she said, 'you know, if I was making that burger I'd poison it.' And I said, 'well, ma'am, if you had made my burger, I'd probably eat it.' So there you go.

CONNELL: All right, good to see you pop in for a day. I was working hard at Hungry Jacks through my sort of formative years. Jason, I guess we've all got our log cabin story. Patrick, what do you think - President Trump, is the Labor government ready for it?

GORMAN: Of course Tom we respect the American people as they make their democratic decision. US elections are always hotly contested. There's huge amounts going into this race. I think we'll all watch it very closely, and I'm sure there'll be an excellent coverage on Sky News as we watch those results roll in. So I look forward to watching that. But I did watch that footage of the President today. It gave me some more memories, I did four years working at Bicton McDonald's when I was in my earlier years. I think Donald Trump spent about 40 minutes so he's got a little bit of time to do to catch up to me. But I thought that was actually quite a clever thing to do, I mean, everyone loves Maccas. My kids love Maccas. In fact, it's my seven year old's birthday today, and I'm sure that he'll be lobbying us to take him for a Happy Meal this afternoon. It's normally a pretty welcoming, friendly place. Like Jason, I've done quite a few, I did one McHappy Day. I got to every single McDonald's in my electorate, door knocking the McDonald's of Perth. That was a lot of fun. And so I'd challenge all of my colleagues, come McHappy Day, try and get to all of them.

CONNELL: We've turned into a McDonald's ad. It's not a paid segment, by the way, and just take kids every now and then, if you're going to do it, it's not the best food. I think I'm allowed to add that in, anyway I did. Thank you, Patrick. And can we agree on this Jason, Patrick would be the sort of employee that someone would throw a few cheeseburgers at the wall and scream at management and Patrick would still be smiling and politely telling them thank you for their visit, see them next time. Is that that the level of calmness he brings to this segment?

FALINSKI: I know.

CONNELL: All other walks of life.

FALINSKI: He's unflappable Tom. He's unflappable. For five years I've tried to get under his skin and I've failed.

CONNELL: I can imagine -

GORMAN: Try harder Jason.

CONNELL: In the visor, the striped uniform anyway. Maybe that's just me. All right, just quickly, let's talk policy. I don't know, why not? It's a politics segment on this show. The Housing - Coalition plan, Jason, 500,000 houses. Apparently it's not modelled. Sounds a little bit vague. Did they need to put some meat on the bones? Or is this it? This announcement? Money for infrastructure, houses get built. Does there need to be a bit more meat on the bones on this one?

FALINSKI: Yeah, I think as we get closer to the election there'll be a lot more announcements made, especially around this. I don't think it's a well-kept secret that the thing that Australians are most concerned about at the moment is cost of living, closely followed by the cost of housing. So any political party going to the next election without a plan to materially reduce the cost of housing in Australia is not going to do well at the election. The fact of the matter Tom is that Australia should have some of the most affordable housing in the world, not the most expensive housing in the world. I think we compete with Hong Kong for that crown. It is the biggest public policy failure in Australia's history. So, you know, I encourage all parties to get on board with doing something about this problem.

CONNELL: Okay. But Labor says it has something similar Patrick, but what about the other part of this, the Coalition is saying, what about the skill shortage? Bricklayers are not there, painters, roof tilers. What are there are martial arts and yoga instructors. We did the same story a few months ago. There are a lot of frankly strange qualifications apparently, we're in such dire need of, but not those crucial ones to build houses. Does that make sense to you, that skills list shortage in terms of people coming to Australia?

GORMAN: It's funny you mentioned the yoga teachers because I think your yoga-loving viewers Tom would be surprised to know there was actually the Liberal Government, under Dan Tehan when he was Trade Minister, that actually brought in all of those special visas. That was an agreement that was made by the Coalition. But what I'd note is that we do need to get skills in. I think it's interesting that we had in the budget reply, Peter Dutton was saying that he's going to axe a whole bunch of skilled migration. We've now got him saying he's going to boost it up. I'm very confused about what the actual economic modelling is behind Mr. Dutton's plan. We've seen them do this trick twice now. This sneaky trick where they announce some policy - they did it with nuclear, released no details - now they're doing this trick again when it comes to their housing policy. And the reason they're doing this trick Tom, is because what they've announced when it comes to housing is actually a $19 billion cut. It will cut the housing Australia Future Fund. That means cutting forever the amount of money that's being invested in homes and building homes for Australians.

CONNELL: Alright.

GORMAN: We deserve to see the detail.

CONNELL: It's a re-priority of spending, perhaps could be called. Let me ask you this Jason, as we're nearly out of time. We keep hearing about density, and you've spoken about that as well and it doesn't have to be an ugly word. So it's happening out in Victoria, 50 areas highlighted by the Premier. Big protests in one electorate led by Tim Wilson. So surely, I know he's your old mate, but this is quintessential NIMBY-ism. The people of Brighton were outraged. One person even saying 'homeless people can't afford a million dollar apartment, why bother?'

FALINSKI: Well you know, Tom all serious, being quite serious about this, density needs to be around transport links and also closer to where employment is. And that should be no surprise to anyone on this panel, is the CBD. What the Victorian Labor Government did on the weekend, was deliberately aimed at hurting people in Liberal electorates, while their electorates take no extra density. In New South Wales, which is where I sit at the moment, Clover Moore has never, ever been held accountable for the housing disaster that she has created. And Chris Minns when he was rolling out his housing plan that just never seems to roll out -

CONNELL: - Alright -

FALINSKI: - No, no people need to hear this Tom -

CONNELL: - Well I know they do but I have 46 seconds left -

FALINSKI: - Actually exempted Clover Moore from his housing targets -

CONNELL: - Here's 20 more of them. No, okay -

FALINSKI: - That's it -

CONNELL: - Alright sorry Jason, I know you're fired up. Look, I should note as well that I thought the other plan was multiple precincts -

FALINSKI: - It's just about generational inequality -

CONNELL: - Not just the CBD -

FALINSKI: - No, no -

CONNELL: - Not just having one CBD -

FALINSKI: - In Hawthorn, Bayside, you know, Kooyong. Gosh, I wonder where all those suburbs are Tom. None of them are close to the CBD.

GORMAN: This is just the Liberal Party stealing from the Greens playbook, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Always finding an excuse to say no.

CONNELL: Another big one was Box Hill, Jason, which is meant to be another, build up another area, not just have everything to the CBD so we're not all going into the traffic in one big, crazy hour of traffic. Anyway, I've banged on for enough -

FALINSKI: - Okay, so one out of 20 Tom, yeah. Was Tim complaining about Box Hill by the way, just wondering? No, okay.

GORMAN: Who knows what Tim's actually saying.

CONNELL: We're going to take a break, when we come back more on the Royal Tour, less of Jason Falinski and Patrick Gorman. We'll get more next week.