Michael Sukkar MP

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW CLENNELL, SKY NEWS AGENDA

THE HON MICHAEL SUKKAR, SHADOW MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, NDIS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW CLENNELL, SKY NEWS AGENDA

Sunday 18 September 2022

Topics: Budget, Housing, NDIS, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Masks

E&OE

ANDREW CLENNELL

Michael Sukkar thanks for your time. I wanted to start with these comments by the Reserve Bank Governor, Philip Lowe on Friday. He basically says the government should raise taxes and cut spending. What do you make of that?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well, look, the Reserve Bank is entitled to make whatever statements they want.

What we’ve said consistently is that the Labor Party should not use this as an opportunity to revert to type and raise taxes. We know that’s in Labor’s DNA. They went to the election very solemnly, telling Australians that they wouldn’t raise taxes, that they would match the Coalition and they should live up to that commitment.

I mean, we’ve seen, particularly in the last few months, the cost-of-living crisis get even worse. The last thing that Australians, Australian families or indeed our economy needs now is higher taxes. So, we wouldn’t want to see labour reverting to type as I said, and looking at opportunities to raise taxes. We know they always do this. They chase higher spending, which therefore means they have to tax Australians more. That would be a very, very serious breach of their commitments.

ANDREW CLENNELL

Sure, Mr. Sukkar What about cutting spending?

I mean, your portfolio is social services, you’ve got an eye on the public service. Is there any fat that can be trimmed there?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well Andrew, every government has to be very careful about their spending. And as we saw in the final budget outcome from our final year in office, the budget came in tens of billion dollars ahead of what was projected because we managed a very strong economy that’s been the legacy of Coalition governments managing strong economies, which therefore ensures the long-term sustainability of the budget.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Government to ensure that they continue with a strong economy that they inherited a strong jobs market, that they inherited with the cost-of-living challenges that are coming.

ANDREW CLENNELL

I guess the other legacy is a trillion dollars debt and the government says that much to show for it. You haven’t given them much to show for it.

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well, Andrew, I think that’s an extraordinary statement from the Labor Party that they should be ashamed to be repeating. What have we got to show for it? Hundreds of thousands of Australians who kept their jobs, hundreds of thousands of Australians who received JobKeeper payments. I mean, every time the Labor Party say we have nothing to show for it, they’re essentially saying to all Australians who sought assistance and required assistance from the Government during the pandemic that that was wasteful spending.

Well, I challenge the Treasurer to go out and tell those JobKeeper recipients that they’ve got nothing to show for that spending. You and I both know that the spending, particularly during the pandemic, is what has meant our economy has led the world. Now the Labor Party have been very fortunate to inherit that.

There are challenges, no doubt globally, and challenges that they will have to address. We’ve not seen any plan from them. We certainly don’t see the Prime Minister speaking about the economy very often. So they have a big challenge.

Every government indeed has challenges in any budget. I suppose we’re not seeing any plan, any structured plan, certainly for how we maintain that strong economic growth. But also put downward pressure on cost of living and also ensure that inflation doesn’t continue to run away from us because again, if Labor reverts to type and taxes more and spends more, that will just fuel inflation even further.

ANDREW CLENNELL

Alright, well Philip Lowe also said he thought House prices could drop 10 percent. What do you make of that?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well, look, he wouldn’t be the only person making that observation. We’ve obviously seen strong house price growth in recent years, and I try not to comment too much on the ups and downs of the market other than to say the Australian housing market a long has been extraordinarily stable over a long period of time.

There’ll be times where there’s growth and where it plateaus. Obviously, the former Coalition government invested very heavily, particularly in first home buyers, to ensure that that cohort of people coming through that you were speaking about at the beginning of the programme have a genuine opportunity to purchase a home.

We saw first home buyers under the Coalition go from about 100,000 a year to 170,000 a year, which was quite an extraordinary achievement. So obviously Australians as their single biggest asset in most cases keep a pretty close eye on the property market. But we’ve got a strong banking system and we’ve got integrity within our market more broadly. And so, I’m always pretty bullish about the Australian property market over the long term, noting that there’ll be times where it grows strongly and other times where it plateaus.

ANDREW CLENNELL

You tweeted recently, I just want to move to the NDIS now. You tweeted recently Bill Shorten has been diagnosing problems with the NDIS but has not been doing anything to fix them. So what do you want him to fix?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well, the, the Minister really raised expectations prior to the election, particularly around those people who were seeing reviews to plans, those who were challenging plans in front of tribunals. Indeed, we’ve seen very recently the plight of those who are stuck in hospitals because they’re unable to be discharged into housing. And we’ve seen from the Minister a lot of diagnosis of these problems and noting that these problems exist, but almost acting as though he’s still in opposition and unable as the Minister to make any changes.

So I suppose the point of that tweet, Andrew, was it’s great to see a minister acknowledging problems that are emerging even more under his watch, but it’s not just his job to diagnose problems, it’s actually his job to fix them. So that was the point of that tweet.

ANDREW CLENNELL

There’s been a lot of complaint that NDIS isn’t over 65, so there’s a class action reported this to morning be aimed at that. What’s your view on that?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well look, Andrew, that’s obviously a foundational feature of the NDIS really back to its inception. And I know that much has been commentated about that over the years. I think as a key design feature, the way in which it interacts with our aged care system, which is significantly government funded, was one of those original design principles. So, you know, we don’t have obviously any view to making such a significant change. We understand the arguments of those in the community that that sort of point to that delineation in age. But as I said, it was a very key design feature of the NDIS, particularly looking at its long-term sustainability as well. So you know, we by all means encourage those individuals to speak about the problems as they see it. But it wouldn’t be our position to change that.

ANDREW CLENNELL

I wanted to ask you now about the passing of the Queen. What do you think this means to Australians?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Well, I think, Andrew, for most of us and including yourself and I, this is the, you know, the only monarch we’ve ever known. And when you look at how rapidly the world has changed in our lifetime, indeed over 70 years of her reign, she’s been a touchstone, sort of a constant in all of our lives. And I think that’s really represented a I also big part of the outpouring of grief.

I also think there’s a view amongst Australians that we are very fortunate to have the constitutional arrangements that we do. We look at many nations around the world, including other democracies, I might add, and look at some of the problems and gridlock that they face. And I think reflecting on our own constitutional arrangements and the sovereign and the monarch, obviously there’s a view that we’re very blessed to have a constitutional set of arrangements that we do.

So I think that all ties in together. I think also, Andrew, more broadly at a time when many people are probably a bit cynical about institutions, whether they be government institutions or others, to see someone with such integrity, someone who has really been able to manage so many difficult times and challenges over her reign and do it in a way, as I said, in a rapidly changing world, is something that has created so much respect for Her Majesty. I think that’s why it’s very understandable that people are reflecting and quite genuinely upset.

I must say, in speaking to some of my own family members, that genuine distress and that being genuinely upset over the death of someone that they didn’t personally know and had never met. You know, it’s quite an extraordinary thing and I know hundreds of millions of people are feeling that around the world.

ANDREW CLENNELL

Just a couple of questions now nearly out of time are you someone who would be sympathetic to the idea of a republic going forward? A lot of politicians are in this boat.

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Oh, look, Andrew, I don’t think now’s really the time to be canvassing it. I think my views are on the record on these matters as having sympathies in that way. But I also do believe that our constitution arrangements are so, so strong, so stable, that that they’re something that we should treasure and something that we should defend. But certainly, between now and the funeral of Her Majesty, I think the focus being on her service and being thankful to her is really where we should be devoting our energy.

ANDREW CLENNELL

At the beginning of the programme, I spoke about research which shows that in terms of a proportion of the population, millennials are replacing boomers. There’s more millennials in the electorate. Do you see this taking politics to the left? Do you see this as a challenge to the Liberal Party? Does this mean housing affordability and climate change really climb as issues from here on?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

No, I don’t think it does take politics to the left. I mean, in the end, it’s not a surprise to anybody that over time, the proportion of baby boomers will shrink, and Gen X and millennials and others will grow. I mean, our enduring values of freedom, of the individual, of entrepreneurship, of free markets, of the primacy of the family is the most important unit in our society. These are all values that are timeless Andrew.  And I think particularly after what we’ve experienced for the last two years, the core foundational principle of the Liberal Party is the party of freedom and, and of limiting the nanny state I think is going to be very attractive increasingly to those millennials. So I think the enduring values of our party in the end will connect with new generations of Australians, including the growing cohort of millennials, as it has for generations. In the past, since our creation as a party.

ANDREW CLENNELL

And just finally, I wanted to ask you about Monique Ryan. We ran a story last week. She’d said to you and your colleagues, put your masks on in the parliament. And then we showed this footage of this event where she’s clearly not wearing a mask and there’s no social distancing in Hawthorn there. A couple of weeks after she said that in the Parliament. What do you make of that?

MICHAEL SUKKAR

Look, Andrew, it’s sort of that sort of typical sanctimonious hypocrisy that we see for many people. It’s interesting mentioning the nanny state. Obviously, Ms. Ryan is one of those who thinks that telling people that they should wear masks, but not wearing one herself is appropriate. And I think people see it for what it is, that sort of sanctimonious hypocrisy that we’ve seen for many during the pandemic. And she’s just the latest incarnation of that.

ANDREW CLENNELL

Michael Sukkar, thanks for your time.

Ends