|
April 27, 2025
MICHAEL USHER:
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher now, and Opposition Campaign Spokesperson James Paterson. Katie, I'll go to you first on the cost of living. A pretty big score, a big win for your leader, Anthony Albanese, there with 65% approval.
KATY GALLAGHER:
Yeah, well, I think, Anthony, the Prime Minister nailed it tonight, telling viewers what we've done and what our plan is going forward and, you know, it's totally focused on cost of living and I think certainly the response from those audience numbers show that people understand while doing it tough, the government is trying and looking at ways to help them through these difficult times.
MICHAEL USHER:
James, why can't your leader, Peter Dutton, land a blow here when it comes to the issue of cost of living? It's what everybody's worried about, but it's rated so poorly tonight on that.
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, look, I want to be respectful of the audience's views and their opinions, that's perfectly valid for them to hold those, but I think the objective facts are that the cost of living has gone backwards on Labor’s watch. Grocery prices up 30%, electricity prices up 32%, gas prices up 34%. We've had the worst fall in living standards in Australian history and the worst in the developed world in the last couple of years, back 8%.
MICHAEL USHER:
But why can't he get that message acorss to people, and polled so badly tonight?
JAMES PATERSON:
I think Australians know when they go to the supermarket check-out and it's worse than it was just a week before. Every week, it gets worse for them. I think they know that this Prime Minister has failed. And there's no reason to expect a second-term Albanese government would be any better than a first-term Albanese government in reducing the cost of living.
KATY GALLAGHER:
But you'd voted against many of those measures, which people responded to as helping them with the cost of living. I think that's part of the problem. You are in the way of it.
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, that's not actually true in many cases, but I think the most important thing is the Prime Minister promised at the last election that things would get better. He even promised cheaper mortgages. I mean, how many Australians have got cheaper mortgages today, Katy?
MICHAEL USHER:
Well, something that Peter Dutton did score fairly highly on tonight, the broader issue in Indigenous Affairs obviously has come up with the booing of the Welcome to Country ceremony at ANZAC Day. Peter Dutton was in positive territory when addressing that issue tonight.
JAMES PATERSON:
I think that's partly because the Prime Minister was so incapable of expressing a clear view one way or the other. I think most Australians are very respectful of our Indigenous heritage and culture, and they value it. But I think we've all been to events and conferences where every single speaker does an acknowledgement of country, or there are five different welcomes to country, and that is just, you know, it becomes tokenistic, I think. I think Australians want it to be meaningful and appropriate, not excessive.
MICHAEL USHER:
Was Anthony Albanese stumped on that issue tonight, Katy?
KATY GALLAGHER:
Not at all. I mean, Anthony, the PM's been clear. Acknowledgment of country is about respect. It's about respect for the fact that we share this beautiful country with a culture that goes back tens of thousands of years. He repeated that tonight, said it was up to other organisations to make decisions about how they do that. But I think what we saw from the Leader of the Opposition tonight was, you know, a fair bit of aggro and interrupting when it came to that part of the debate, which I think we've seen throughout this campaign, and we saw it on show tonight. A lot of aggro.
MICHAEL USHER:
Well, was it aggro or just healthy debate? Was it healthy debate and robust? Was it aggro as such? I know you like to paint Peter Dutton as aggro because it works well, but was he aggro tonight, do you think?
KATY GALLAGHER:
Me, watching the debate, I saw aggro there and I saw someone, a leader, Opposition Leader under pressure, who was just prepared to interrupt and try to disrupt.
MICHAEL USHER:
Let me interrupt you on that then. James, do you want to have a crack at that? Sorry.
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I think both leaders interrupted each other…
KATY GALLAGHER:
I don't.
JAMES PATERSON:
And it's a give and take in these debates, and if Katy's watched any of her colleagues debate…
KATY GALLAGHER:
I don't think so.
JAMES PATERSON:
For example, Katy's interrupting me right now while objecting to interrupting other people.
MICHAEL USHER:
I'm allowing it tonight for the sake of this.
JAMES PATERSON:
If Katy has watched any of her colleagues, including Jim Chalmers, when he debated Angus Taylor, constantly interjecting through every single answer that Angus Taylor gave on the Sky News debate and the 7.30 debate. I think that speaks volumes.
MICHAEL USHER:
Okay, what were you most proud of, Peter Dutton, tonight?
JAMES PATERSON:
Just the clarity. He's someone who has a view and answers questions directly. He doesn't step around things like the Prime Minister did on the Voice. It's not clear to me tonight does the Prime Minister still support the Uluru Statement of the Heart? It had three elements. Voice, we know he lost that, but it also had treaty and truth. Does the government still support those, Katy?
KATY GALLAGHER:
Well, I think the Prime Minister answered the questions, the referendum made a decision on that, and we respect the outcome of the referendum. You saw a leader tonight in the Prime Minster, the leader that we need in these uncertain times offering stability, very clear answers, a plan for the future and we had the Leader of the Opposition peppering and showing his aggro without a clear plan for the future, just wanting to whinge about everything that he saw as a problem. Not actually a plan for the country, not a one about building. One about cutting. And no answers on nuclear, no answers on nuclear, or why he won't go visit those sites.
MICHAEL USHER:
Let me try this one, see if this one works. What did Peter Dutton do well tonight, do you think?
KATY GALLAGHER:
Um, well, you might have to give me a while on that.
MICHAEL USHER:
Oh, alright, I will give you a second. All right, what did Anthony Albanese do well tonight, James?
JAMES PATERSON:
I've got many criticisms of the Prime Minister, but I think he sincerely loves this country and he's trying to do his best. I think what we've found over the last three years is that his best is not good enough. He's just not up to this job. He can't deliver the cost of living relief that Australians need, and he can't navigate us through the difficult climate that we're in internationally.
MICHAEL USHER:
That was a mixed response there. Katy, have you had a think?
KATY GALLAGHER:
Well, look, he's shown up for the fourth debate, like I think that's it, like, you know, democracy like ours, I think the fact that we can have two leaders offering, you know, vying for power to stand up and meet four times and have a debate like they did tonight.
MICHAEL USHER:
Hear, hear, I agree with that. All right, we've ended on that note. Katy, James, thank you very much.
JAMES PATERSON:
Thank you.
KATY GALLAGHER:
Thank you.
MICHAEL USHER:
Appreciate you being here.
ENDS