JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC BRISBANE DRIVE
MONDAY, 31 MAY 2021
SUBJECTS: Christian Porter defamation case; Emma Husar; Scott Morrison’s failures on vaccines and quarantine.
STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: Let's go to Jim Chalmers who's the ALP Shadow Treasury spokesperson. Jim Chalmers, I'm wondering what the ALP's thoughts are now that the Christian Porter and the ABC matter isn't going any further. Does this change anything for the federal Opposition?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: G'day, Steve. We'll go through what's been announced quite recently this afternoon. I saw some of the reports while I was participating in another meeting a little bit earlier on so I'm not across all of the details. I suspect that our view will be that this defamation case was never a substitute for a proper independent examination of whether it's right that Minister Porter be in the Morrison Cabinet. I suspect there will still be an appetite for some kind of inquiry. I'll be interested to see what Prime Minister Morrison says about that, but we'll respond properly via that usual spokespeople from our side, once we've had the opportunity to go through what's happened here.
AUSTIN: Has Mr Porter's political brand been damaged from this whole process?
CHALMERS: I think so, but I don't think that's the most important thing. I think there's an appetite in the community to make sure that people in the Cabinet are fit and proper people to be in the Cabinet. Obviously, this issue has been running for some time now and people have expressed a view publicly. I think the main conclusion to draw out of today is whatever outcome was reached between the ABC and Minister Porter, I don't think it's a substitute for the process that Prime Minister Morrison should have put in place.
AUSTIN: My guest is Jim Chalmers, Labor's Shadow Treasury spokesperson. Jim Chalmers is the Labor Member for Rankin, the federal electorate here in Queensland. I note by the way that Emma Husar who once was a Member for Lindsay for the ALP, says she was forced out of the ALP because of a false claim. And she's demanding an apology from Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Your counterpart, Bill Shorten, says that he feels that she was poorly treated by the ALP. Do you?
CHALMERS: I thought it was really sad what happened with Emma Husar. I'm really sorry to see it come to this. I worked with Emma. She won a difficult seat for the Party. Clearly, there were some issues that people raised about her office and the like, but I never really had a proper sense of that. She was a colleague of ours that we worked with. I'm sorry to see it come to this. Now if there's an issue between her and the Party organisation, then it's really a matter for the organisation and her.
AUSTIN: It's not a matter for the Party. It's a matter for the organisation you feel, Jim?
CHALMERS: Well, they're one and the same. I don't mean to make a distinction between the two things. What I'm saying is if there's some kind of legal process, then I'm not across the detail of that. The Party and its organisational wing will take care of that. But you asked me about Bill's view, and I was sorry to see it come to this, I was sad to see it play out the way it did. I knew Emma and I worked with her and it's a shame it's come to this.
AUSTIN: Seventeen to five, news at five. We're with Jim Chalmers. Let's go to matters of the pandemic, particularly effecting the state of Victoria. The federal Government's been accused by your side of politics, Jim Chalmers, of misleading the public about the coronavirus vaccine rollout, arguing that people should not be described as vaccinated until they've received two doses. So we know that Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines require two doses. If you've had the jab, why is it not appropriate to say "you've been vaccinated"?
CHALMERS: I think the medical advice on that, Steve, is that if you only have one dose you've only got partial protection. If you want to be vaccinated, not only do you need to have both jabs, but I think there needs to be something like 12 or 14 days after that before you'd consider yourself to be as protected as possible. I think there has been some misleading language from the Government and I think they are scurrying to cover up for this massive failure which has left Victorians and Australians more broadly more exposed to this virus than they should be. Not just the vaccinations, but the debacle which is quarantine. So many of these cases have escaped hotel quarantine. Hotels are built for tourism, not for this kind of purpose. It beggars belief really, not just the shambles in vaccines and the cover up, but also the failure to take responsibility for quarantine, has meant the Victorians shouldn't be in this position that they're in now.
AUSTIN: The federal government says four million Australians have been vaccinated so far, but you say because people haven't received their two shots it's much less. How many does the Opposition say it is?
CHALMERS: That's part of it, Steve, but even before you get to that one jab versus two jabs, they said that there'd be four million jabs done by the end of March. We're in the last day of May. They had all these targets that they failed to meet, and they said targets didn't matter. Now, they say it's not a race.
I’ll tell you, if you're a Victorian business or a Victorian casual worker, or indeed anyone in Australia who's vulnerable to this thing, it is a race! It makes me angry on behalf of people who need a bit of urgency here and a bit of compassion from the federal government. A little bit of competence wouldn't hurt either. This country is more exposed than it should be because of the lack of competence, lack of compassion, lack of urgency, and this abundance of complacency. I think when the history is written of this period, Steve, Scott Morrison's failures on these issues, quarantine and vaccinations, the COVID-Safe tracking app, all of these things might be the defining failures of this period. Having done so much for each other to get through the initial stages of the virus better than most other countries, I think it would be shameful if the Government let people down at this point.
AUSTIN: I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've heard Dr Brendan Murphy use the same phrase "it's not a race". He's the expert, or he's the Commonwealth employed expert, in this area. Is your beef with the expert advice or with the federal Government's interpretation of the advice?
CHALMERS: I don't accept that's the totality of the advice. There's a piece in the in the Herald today, experts saying "of course, it's a race". I don't mean to get hung up on that word, I guess what I'm saying is, this is urgent. And the fact that we haven't done anything like what comparable countries have been able to do with the vaccine means that we've left people exposed.
This incompetence is strangling small businesses in Victoria, and their workers, and their livelihoods because the Government hasn't been able to do even a reasonable fraction of what the Americans or the Brits have been able to do when it comes to rolling out this vaccine. So in my view, it is a race. In the view of whatever term you use, the expert community, they want more people vaccinated by now. Our failure to do so has left people unnecessarily exposed. And that means more lockdowns for longer until the Government can get its act together.
AUSTIN: Finally, one quick question before I let you go. Which State would you build a non-hotel quarantine facility in? If you're concerned about sort of the hotel structure, which State would you build a quarantine facility in?
CHALMERS: I think we need more than one, Steve. I met with John Wagner about this proposal that you and I have spoken about near Toowoomba. There's a lot of thought gone into that, working with the State Government. If that's not a good idea, then Scott Morrison should say what the alternative is, but I think we'll need more than then one extra facility. The Victorians have got a proposal on the table and others no doubt will have proposals. This thing is going to be with us for a while now and we need dedicated facilities. The hotel system is doing the best it can but a lot of these cases have come out of hotels. We need to do better by people and that means Scott Morrison taking responsibility for once and building some of these things.
AUSTIN: So you would build it here in Queensland and what other State?
CHALMERS: I'm not going to make the mistake that Scott Morrison made, which is say yay or nay to something without having all of the details. I met with John Wagner about his proposal, but I haven't gone through every page of it. What I'm saying is the Government should be considering multiple sites and multiple proposals. The Victorian one of course, but if the Queensland one is not a good idea, then come up with a different idea. We'll need more than one, it won't just be in one State, is the point I'm making.
AUSTIN: Jim Chalmers, thanks for coming on this afternoon.
CHALMERS Thank you, Steve.
