Interview with David Koch and Natalie Barr, Sunrise
23 March 2022
NATALIE BARR: And Prime Minister Scott Morrison joins us now. Good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Nat.
BARR: Anthony Albanese says he won't take lectures from you. Did you hide in Lismore?
PRIME MINISTER: No. As you know, when I was up in Lismore, I was meeting directly with people in their homes, on their farms, in their businesses. I just didn't think it was appropriate to have cameras shoved in their face while they were opening their heart to me about the sort of things and support that they needed and that support has been delivered. I mean $1.7 billion of support has gone, particularly into New South Wales, to support those floods. Around $7,000 for each of those families that are affected in their households, you know that is being delivered directly. So I don't accept that from Anthony Albanese. He's dodging the questions over what's happening with the bullying in his own party. If he won't stand up to the bullies in his own party, how can Australians trust him to stand up to the bullies in our region and those who seek to coerce Australia? That's what this job involves, and that's what my government and I as Prime Minister have always done, always stood up for Australia. People know where I stand on these issues. I don't have to do interviews running around telling people that I'm not woke. People know that's not the case, and leopards don't change their spots.
BARR: Is this going to be the way the campaign is going to go because it feels like it's sort of getting a bit nasty, and we haven't even started?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you asked me the question, but what I'm here today to do, up here in Townsville is announce $5.4 billion for the Hells Gates Dam project. Now this is a project, building a dam opens up farms and agricultural land to ensure that we create jobs and that’s some 10,000 jobs that will come from building Hells Gates Dam. It's four times the size of the capacity of Sydney Harbour. This is one of those projects that transforms the nation. Now we've been working to get to this point since back in 2018. We've done the feasibility studies, we've done the detailed business cases, and that means we can now move forward and we're funding this 100 per cent. We don't, we're not going to require a cent from the Queensland Government because frankly, we don't think that they would put in anyway. So we're going to do it 100 per cent. All we need them to do is get the big approve stamp out, approve it and let's get on with it.
DAVID KOCH: Okay, we get that. But let's get to the big issue. Every front page is talking about federal parliament and the workplaces of both you and Labor. It seems to be tit for tat to see who has the least worst of the workplaces. They are destructive. It's a horrible culture. Let's take the politics out of it. How can we clean up Canberra? How can we get you and Anthony Albanese to sit down and go, look, both parties have a problem here. What can we do to solve it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we did this a year ago. I mean, we moved immediately to establish the inquiry and to put in place new complaints mechanisms, independent support processes. The Jenkins Review, which was done on a bipartisan basis, a multi partisan basis, and they've delivered their report and now we're implementing their recommendations. What we're talking about here are not those issues. What we're talking about here is the Labor Party, you know, they've been quick to throw stones through all of this process as we've been working with the very serious issues that are raised. But when they're faced with their own internal claims and we have made no claims about the Labor Party, David, at all. These are claims and allegations of issues being raised by their own members, by by unions, by others in their own ranks. And I just don't think it's, I think it's pretty weak not to be able to address those. I mean, we know that it's difficult, it's hard. But I would say, David, that I think as important as those issues are, the really important issues about where our economy is going, cost of living. The Budget will be addressing those issues in particular. But the big transformational things that we need to continue to do with our economy, whether it's building the Western Sydney Airport, which is about a quarter of the way through being built, whether it's the big dam projects we need to build up here in Queensland, whether it's the big energy projects which we're building, whether it's up in the Hunter Valley or what's needed up with port infrastructure and various other things up in Darwin. All of this is what drives our economy forward, because if you can't manage the economy, well you can't guarantee the sort of things that you need to for Australia's future, which means the NDIS, pensions, Medicare, you can't pay for them. You can't do them. If you can't manage money and you can't manage the economy well, you can't deliver on those important issues for Australians.
BARR: Would you want your daughters to go into politics?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, if they wish to, I do, and I want that to be a safe workplace for them as I want every workplace for them to be safe. I mean, there are serious issues that we've been addressing in the parliament and we have and are continuing to. But I will want them to be safe in any way, I want them. If they wanted to be a journalist, I would want them to be safe in your newsroom. I would want them to be safe if they wanted to become boilermakers or if they wanted to become teachers, or if they wanted to become scientists or go into the Defence Forces. I would want all of those workplaces to be safe for women, and we need to deal with the situation in our workplace. And I believe we are and we've been doing that from from the very day that these terrible issues first arose and we've been addressing them in the parliament. But what we're talking about now in terms of what's going on with the Labor Party, you can't just dismiss it. And that's what I think is concerning to people that they're not seeing the leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, face up to this. I mean, we've had to face up to some many difficult issues in our party and I have. And we've announced the enquiries, we've done the enquiries and we're putting in place the changes. But he's just sitting there saying, hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.
KOCH: So you're saying, we have the blueprint for you to follow, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and get to the bottom of it and change it, make serious steps to change it.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well address it because, you know, I mean, in my own party, I mean, there are those who were trying to run Sussan Ley out of being preselected again in in her seat of Farrer. She's a magnificent minister. She's been in the parliament for over 20 years, and she's championing the cause of ensuring we get plastics out of our oceans and ensuring we're building our recycling industries. And I wanted to ensure that she got support, so I went into bat for her. I had to go all the way to the federal executive to make sure we, we backed her in. Now I can't see, I can't see him doing the same thing.
BARR: Look, we know you've got to go. But before we go, we've got this story. A local council in Sydney is cracking down on a resident who has plastered anti-ScoMo stickers on his bins, and his rubbish bins. The stickers feature you holding a lump of coal in parliament with the words ‘bin him and chuck him out’. Hornsby Shire Council is threatening not to collect the bins now after a complaint from a neighbour. What's your response to this?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave that to the Mayor at Hornsby at the end of the day, I mean what I'm focused on, I've got to tell you, is ensuring that our economic plan continues to work, we've got unemployment down to four per cent, record numbers of trade apprentices in trade training.
KOCH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: No well David, seriously, not yeah, yeah, yeah. This is serious stuff. Getting people, young people, into training, getting unemployment down, having more jobs than we had before the pandemic. This is the stuff that matters here, and that's what our Budget will continue to address next week. It's not about the politics, it's about people's lives and their future.
KOCH: It is serious, but you'd made the point earlier on that. We tried to finish with something a bit light hearted, because the Mayor of Hornsby of course, is your old mate Philip Ruddock, former Coalition Minister …
PRIME MINISTER: Sure. And he's more than capable of dealing with the bins. I'll let him take the bins out, I'll get on with strengthening the economy.
KOCH: OK. We've all got to keep smiling. Alright Prime Minister, thanks for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks guys.
BARR: Thank you.
