April 27, 2023
ANDREW BOLT: Well, joining me is the Opposition's new Home Affairs spokesman, James Paterson, who I said a couple of weeks ago on the show was the face of the new Liberal Party. He's just 35 and I think destined for big things. James, thanks for coming on the show. You better not now disappoint me, disappoint the audience and make me look like an idiot. But anyway, the government's new immigration shake-up. What do you make of it?
JAMES PATERSON: Andrew, thanks for having me. I believe that migration helped build this country. We are a better and stronger country today because of millions of people from around the world, including your and my forebears, decided to make this country our home and helped build it to be what it is today. But the pace and the extent of the numbers and the composition of our migration intake is an absolutely legitimate issue for public debate. And we have to weigh the costs and the benefits. One of the big concerns I have with Labor's plan to bring in 650,000 people over the next two years is they have absolutely no idea how they are going to house any of those people. We already have a housing affordability and rental crisis in this country. We have a building industry which is on the brink. We have the cost of construction at the highest it has ever been. And I'm not sure how bringing 650,000 people in without a plan to house them and all the other Australians who need a home, a roof over their heads is a very good idea.
BOLT: Nor do I think we've got the mechanisms in place anymore to integrate it successfully as we used to with, you know, three flags, a disputed anthem, and even Anzac Day being used to promote the Voice, etc., etc.. I just think this has got whiskers all over it. But I want to switch to a speech you gave today on the new cyber threats. It's quite intriguing. I was thinking about this just last night, James, because we had Joe Biden actually become the first US President to announce on a video that he was running again. He didn't do it live. I mean, he could have been dead for all we know. It could just be a highlights clip that some, you know, wizard behind the curtain put together. And in fact, in your speech today, you mentioned how Russia spread a deepfake video of the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy supposedly ordering his soldiers to, you know, lay down their arms and stop fighting. Here's a little bit of it.
CLIP EXCERPT
BOLT: So, what is this threat that we're now facing with this kind of stuff?
PATERSON: Well, Andrew, in this country for a couple of years now, we have been recognising the kinetic dangers to our country when it comes to national security. It's the rationale for AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review that the government did this week. But alongside that very serious threat is something that will precede it, that is already preceding and that is conflict in the information space, information war, where states try and shape the choices that other states make through propaganda and disinformation, and the deepfake video that you just shared to your viewers then is a very good example of that. It involves the creation of fake and increasingly very convincing videos that purport to represent world leaders making major announcements in an attempt to sow disunity and confusion and undermine social cohesion and national unity at a time of crisis. And unfortunately, it was a very big feature in the lead up to the war in Ukraine, and if Russia was doing that for years to try and shape the information space in the lead up to the invasion of Ukraine, what's happening in our region and what's happening in our country? Given that the forecasts have been made from figures no less than Kevin Rudd and others, that we're going to see conflict in our region in the next few years. So, we need to be getting ready now to prepare and inoculate ourselves and our society against these threats in the information space.
BOLT: Yeah, but how you do that is another question. You know, with those... I mean, I saw a deepfake video on the internet where I'm supposedly interviewing Elon Musk about a you beaut financial scheme, invest now. I mean, it's just quite extraordinary. I couldn't even remember doing it. Maybe I should charge for my appearance fee.
I've said that you are the new face of the Liberal Party, James. Big rap. A lot of your colleagues will be saying, oh, that's why James Paterson agreed to come on the show. I don't know, guys. It was all my idea. James, what kind of Liberal Party do you want to see? Because obviously 35-year-olds and under the Liberals aren't really appealing to them.
PATERSON: Andrew, one of the most depressing political statistics I've ever seen was the Resolve poll in The Age a few weeks ago that said that 72 per cent of young Australians
believe they will never be able to own a home. That is an inter-generational existential crisis of despair and a lack of hope, and we must fix it for our country and for the Liberal Party, because a country where young people never aspire to or never believe they can own a home is a country that is not going to have people that are committed to community and family and put down roots and make a contribution. And so, I want the Liberal Party to be unambiguously on the side of young, aspirational Australians who want to get their first foot on the economic ladder. Who want to get into the housing market who aspire to create a better life for themselves and their children and to pass on their values through education to their children. And that is where the Liberal Party, I think, needs to be if we're going to have any hope of reconnecting with people my age and much younger.
BOLT: Yeah, but what does it mean? What does it mean policy wise?
PATERSON: Well, it's not my area of portfolio responsibility, however, let me say, I think every option needs to be on the table at the state and federal level. We know that the biggest determinant of housing affordability is the supply of land and the regulation of what you can do with that land when you're allowed to develop it. And in this country, we have no shortage of land, and yet we have among the most expensive house prices in the world. And all of that is tied up with high land prices. Although in recent times we have had high construction prices. We have to fix that at the state and local level. But we also have to look at the tax levers at the federal level. If we're ever forced to make a choice between a surgeon or an anaesthetist buying their ninth or 10th negatively geared home or a young family who wants to get into the property market for the first time - well, I think that should be an easy choice. And we should support those young families who want to get into the property market. You're right. Stamp duty. Another massive disincentive for people to sell a home that no longer is appropriate to them, to downsize, to move a big family home when they're older, to leave that home for a younger family it might be appropriate for. So, all the options have to be on the table. Otherwise, there's no future for this country as a property-owning democracy, which is what Robert Menzies vision for it was.
BOLT: Yeah, but I'm picking up on something, and I think he might have raised it too. But what you hinted at early on, I actually think what you've sketched out is a civilising thing. It's a way to, as you suggested, get young men in particular, the sense of responsibility. Here's, you know, they have to actually pay the debt for a start. But it's their own piece of land. It's a way of connecting to society and putting out feelers and anchoring yourself in society. If you're just renting all your life, you miss out on that kind of thing. And I think this is really, really crucial for the Liberals, as you suggested. James Paterson, I look forward, in your long career ahead, to talk to you a lot, many times. So, good luck to you. Thank you for coming on.
ENDS
