Topics: Labor’s mass migration, Veterans, ABC breach of impartiality
Chris Kenny: I want to go to the Shadow Communications Minister, Sarah Henderson, who joins us from Canberra, of course with Parliament sitting. Good to see you, Senator. Let me firstly get your response, the Coalition’s response to these changes on immigration?
Senator Henderson: Well, Chris, good afternoon. Leith is absolutely right, Labor is addicted to mass migration and this does nothing to bring down migration numbers. It is tinkering at the edges. It is bluff and bluster. It is smoke and mirrors. And it just goes to show that Labor is not serious about doing anything about migration.
Chris Kenny: And even on the numbers, I know the Coalition does have an official number out there. But even if Labor met its targets and the Coalition came in where we think your policy is going to come in, you’re going to have at least 60,000 fewer migrants, from what we know already annually?
Senator Henderson: Well, what we do know is net overseas migration is not going to go down at all. In fact, looking at the numbers, 295,000 in the next year, 245,000. Now, even if Labor gets to that target, that will be a miracle because it continues to not reach its own targets. We’re working very hard, of course, on the details of our policy, Chris. So I won’t give that away, other than to say we are driving migration down. Migration has got to match housing. We are not going to bring excess migrants into this country, and we are going to put Australian values first. We’re going to get rid of the illegal migrants who are here. We are going to be very tough. And if you look what Tony Burke did, he issued 3,000 visas to people in Gaza. No integrity, no proper process, and I mean, I saw the grab from Tony Burke talking about, you know, sort of bringing in migrants to match the needs of Coalition electorates. What a joke. We have seen Tony Burke lead the charge in, frankly, rorting the system, and we saw that in spades with what he did with those Gazan visas, going out to the airport to welcome those people. Extraordinary. So Labor has done nothing to bring down migration. This is just, as I say, smoke and mirrors, and the proof is in the numbers that have been released today.
Chris Kenny: Let’s get onto a Labor backflip, a welcome backflip, but one they’ve been dragged at kicking and screaming to doing. It’s a victory for the Coalition. It’s a victory for our veterans. It’s a victory for some in the media who have pushed this. We’ve pushed this issue ourselves, but dips to Mark Levy on 2GB, who’s been absolutely dogged on this, they’ve rescinded this $5,000 cap on extra medical services for our veterans. Let’s have a look at some of the reaction in Parliament today:
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Michael McCormack: Will the minister apologise to veterans and their families after putting them through months of mental anguish and stress caused by his plan for cruel cuts or will he just resign?
Matt Keogh: And we committed to listen, and we did, and we heard, and we have responded.
Chris Kenny: Yeah, how he’s still in his job is beyond me. But let me go to straight to another grab here. This is from Phil Thompson, the Coalition frontbencher, who’s also a veteran:
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Phil Thompson: I know what it’s like to carry a coffin. I know what it’s like when your friends are no longer there. So this is personal for me because it’s my family, it’s my people, and this minister had failed them, continually. This prime minister has failed continually, and when the veterans came to Canberra to seek a meeting that they weren’t even able to get in the room with Minister Matt Keogh, and it is just disgraceful.
Chris Kenny: He is a good man. So that $5,000 cap on allied health services is gone, Sarah, how does Matt Keogh stay in his job after bungling that so badly?
Senator Henderson: Well, Chris, the bottom line is he cannot stay in his job. He has not listened. Together with veterans from around the country, the Coalition has been so proud to have led this campaign. This is life-changing and in some cases, life-saving. Our veterans have sacrificed their lives for our country, to fight for our country and yet they ended up having to fight their own government for a bit of basic compassion and justice. This goes to show, and it comes from the top, this prime minister has no compassion, no heart, and we have had to drag the prime minister and the government kicking and screaming to this common-sense decision.
Chris Kenny: Just very briefly, Sarah, in your portfolio, the ABC found wanting by ACMA yet again?
Senator Henderson: Yes, another breach as determined by ACMA and very disappointing, like, frankly, the Fazal case – when those allegations first emerged Four Corners said there’s nothing to see here. And now again we see the ABC not listening to the regulator about a breach of impartiality. It is a serious finding against the ABC, and frankly, it is time that the managing director and the senior executives of the ABC started to focus on lifting standards because the obligation to report impartially and accurately is a statutory obligation, and I’m sick to death of having to say over and over again to the ABC, lift your game. And the response today to the ABC is just not good enough.
Chris Kenny: Yeah, they’re just thumbing their nose at it, as you say. It’s written into the law, these requirements, but they ignore it. Thanks for joining us, Sarah. I appreciate it.