Topics: Labor’s toxic taxes, Anika Wells misusing taxpayers’ money, Victorian state election
Stephen Cenatiempo: Time to talk federal politics with the Shadow Communications Minister, Senator Sarah Henderson. Sarah, good morning.
Senator Henderson: Good morning to you, Stephen.
Stephen Cenatiempo: This polling has got to be a concern. As I say, I think the Coalition is making all the right noises now but it’s getting that cut through that is always the problem.
Senator Henderson: Well Stephen, I’m not a commentator on the polls but of course, we know that so many Australians are incredibly angry. They’ve had an absolute gutful of Labor’s lies, its incompetence, its excuses, its fraudulent Budget which is sending so many Australian families and businesses backwards. And I think the Coalition is seen as part of that system, and so it’s absolutely on us every single day to go out and fight for the Australian people. We know that we’ve got a very big job to do, that’s going to take a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work, and a lot of focus every single day. But under Angus Taylor, we are going hard like no tomorrow with our tax-back guarantee, our migration and housing pledge, putting Australians first with reserving welfare payments and the NDIS for Australian citizens. We’ve got a very strong plan for small business. So look, we are fighting every single day but we know Australians are so angry and that’s explaining why Australians are going to One Nation.
Stephen Cenatiempo: What it doesn’t explain to me is the continued hubris and arrogance of the Albanese government and an example of that is your counterpart, the Minister for Communications, Anika Wells, embroiled in more travel rorts now. It’s almost as if they think they can get away with anything. I mean, there’s one report that she spent $329 on a COMCAR trip 2km from Parliament House, I mean, she could have walked?
Senator Henderson: Well this is now a complete reflection on the Prime Minister and his failure to uphold and treat every single dollar of taxpayers’ money as precious. He’s turned a blind eye to what I would say in some cases is blatant rorts by Anika Wells, the Communications Minister. She’s got to go. I’ve called a number of weeks ago for the Prime Minister to stand her down and investigate her rorting trip to Adelaide where she claimed taxpayers’ money after going to a birthday party for a close friend, then tried to concoct that she was attending a ministerial meeting on the Saturday night at the birthday party, the husband of her friend. So this reflects fairly and squarely on the Prime Minister and frankly, Australians have had enough.
Stephen, I go to the supermarket, people are wandering around in a daze, they don’t know how they are going to buy enough food for their families, they don’t know how they are going to pay the bills, they don’t know how they are going to meet the basics in this cost of living crisis, compounded by mass migration, compounded by the housing crisis we have in this country. And in Victoria, of course, it’s even worse with the Jacinta Allan government, a government mired in corruption, in crime, in economic mismanagement. So I know and understand why Australians are so angry and that’s why the Liberal National Coalition is working so hard to stand up for Australians and to fight every single day.
Stephen Cenatiempo: Well I guess it’s just extraordinary that you know you don’t learn the lesson when you’ve been called out to continue this kind of behaviour. But I want to talk more generally about the Budget because we are feeling all of those effects that you talk about. This is the first time I can remember that we’ve continued to talk about how bad a Budget is this long after it was handed down. And now it’s passed the lower house but we’re now going into the consultation phase? I mean, this just, to me, seems extraordinary.
Senator Henderson: It is extraordinary. It’s the worst Budget in living memory and this is a Budget that basically punishes every single Australian and is a real attack on younger Australians. It robs Australians of aspiration. It is punishing – the taxes on small business, on investments, on savings, and of course, the death tax. So these are toxic taxes which are a complete assault on aspiration, and of course, this has been fuelled by Labor’s record spending which means the budget is now forecast to be in deficit for a decade. Debt is set to pass $1 trillion So we are, as I say, Stephen, focused so strongly on the need for a fairer, freer, and better Australia. And part of our plan is to deliver automatic personal income tax cuts every year by getting rid of bracket creep, by ending mass migration to give Australians a fair go, particularly in the housing market, and every single day to put Australians first.
Stephen Cenatiempo: The first test of all this polling, and we’ve got a couple of tests before we go to a federal election, will be in your home state of Victoria, the Victorian election, and then of course, we’ll have New South Wales not long after that. The latest polling in Victoria shows that the Allan government is going to be completely wiped out here. So I wonder, is this going to give us a real indication of what’s happening at a broader national level?
Senator Henderson: Well as I say, the anger is palpable, and it’s particularly the case in Victoria where people are being taxed out of any sense of having any hope for their future. Victorians have lost hope under Labor, under a toxic and incompetent state government compounded by the Albanese government, and we are now seeing that starting to reflect in the polls. And of course, there’s now the discussion that Jacinta Allan will be rolled. But under Jess Wilson and the Liberal National team in Victoria, again, we take nothing for granted. We are working very hard to deliver a plan, which will show Victorians that we are going to give them real hope to invest in their families, to invest in their future and to rebuild our great state.
Senator Henderson: We live in interesting times as the old Chinese curse says. Sarah, good to talk to you. We’ll catch up in a couple of weeks.
Senator Henderson: Great to talk to you as well. Thanks so much, Stephen.
Stephen Cenatiempo: All the best. Senator Sarah Henderson, the Shadow Communications Minister.