Topics: Victorian by-election results, school funding, US tariffs
Kieran Gilbert: Welcome back to the program. Let’s get some more reaction to the results of the weekend in the Werribee by-election and the results in the outer suburbs when it comes to the polling today, Sarah Henderson joins me. She’s the shadow education minister a Victorian as well. You know the place well that we’re talking about with Werribee in the outer suburbs that swing against Labor. You encouraged by that and what it means for the upcoming federal poll?
Senator Henderson: First of all, congratulations to Rachel Westaway, who’s our new Member for Prahran and Steve Murphy in Werribee, did an exceptional job. This is very encouraging. We’re not taking anything for granted in Melbourne’s west, but it confirms what all Victorians know Kieran, and that is that Victoria is in serious decline under federal and state Labor. Victorians are really hurting, and in the West there’s been a failure to deliver any infrastructure investment, any services. Labor has taken the people of Melbourne’s west for granted for far too long, and they are telling Labor that very strong lesson at the ballot box.
Kieran Gilbert: So the Labor vote collapses. Not all of it goes to the Liberal Party. Are you confident that Peter Dutton can have that vote coalesce around the federal coalition when you get to the federal election in just a month or so, a couple of months.
Senator Henderson: Look Kieran we’re working very hard right across Victoria to win more seats. And of course, as we know, Labor has failed, whether it’s energy prices, whether it’s the cost of living, more broadly, whether it’s inflation, and also housing and in the outer suburbs and in towns or cities like Geelong and Ballarat, which have been traditional places where you can find an affordable home that’s just now out of control under the Albanese government and the Allen government and Victorians are really hurting. So I very much hope that they back us in.
Kieran Gilbert: And Peter Dutton particularly? The reason I ask that is because traditionally, he hasn’t been the most popular in your state, he is in Queensland, not so much in Victoria. Is that shifting?
Senator Henderson: Well, I think it’s not just about popularity. It’s also Australians are looking for a strong and decisive leader, and Peter Dutton is that and we have seen continuing weakness from the Albanese government on community safety, on national security, on the antisemitism crisis, on the management of the economy. And of course, Australians have seen what they’ve got from Labor. We cannot afford three more years of Labor, and we are determined, under Peter Dutton’s leadership, to get Victoria and Australia back on track on
Kieran Gilbert: On the school funding issue, the Deputy Premier of New South Wales Prue Carr, urging Jason Clare and the government to come to the table and finalize a long term school funding deal. You’ve had a crack saying that they’re missing this opportunity. Isn’t it good to see, even though they’re both Labor governments, that they are representing their constituencies like they are in New South Wales.
Senator Henderson: This is an absolute fiasco under Jason Clare’s watch, the Prime Minister has now intervened, but we have more than half of all public school students without any additional funding. That represents an effective funding cut of billions of dollars.
Kieran Gilbert: There deals being done, as you’ve seen with some of the states, obviously, hopeful they can get New South Wales across the line. Just finally, before you go, I want to ask you about Donald Trump and tariffs. He’s announced that they will be tariffs imposed. The formal announcement comes later in the week, apparently on aluminium and steel. Are you hopeful that this government, the ambassador, can navigate another exemption? Do you think the US would be open to that?
Senator Henderson: And we are backing those deals in we’ve made that very clear, but New South Wales and Queensland have no deal. And in breaking news, we actually got an order in the Senate for the bilateral agreements so we could see what was going on, and now Jason Clare has taken a public interest immunity claim and is refusing to disclose those bilateral agreements and the draft agreements, which shows that he’s got a lot to hide. But this is going very wrong, and of course, school students and their families are really paying the price.
Keiran Gilbert: Just finally, before you go I want to ask you about Donald Trump. He’s announced that there will be tariffs imposed, the formal announcement comes later in the week apparently on aluminium and steel. Are you hopeful that this government ambassador can navigate another exemption? Do you think the US would be open to that?
Senator Henderson: We are very hopeful that an exemption can be negotiated. I have to say, what was Richard Marles doing in the United States? Because, of course, he made this announcement after Richard Marles’ visit. Under Joe Hockey, when Joe was the ambassador, we, of course, had the exemption under the former Coalition government. It’s very disappointing that we have no exemption to date. We are, of course, talking about more than $500 million of exports in aluminium and steel from Australia to the United States. It’s a very important market, and this Prime Minister needs to focus on the fundamentals and sort this out very quickly.
Kieran Gilbert: Sarah Henderson, appreciate your time.