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April 8, 2025
Transcript – Sky News Credlin
08 April 2025
E&OE
PETA CREDLIN:
Welcome back to Credlin, coming to you live from Parramatta tonight at the scene of the Sky News People's Forum, the first head-to-head of the campaign for 2025. Now, in the background behind me, I think I can get you a shot. We've got the PM doing a walkthrough, getting his paces through, working out where he's going to stand and all of that stuff, which is what both sides will do ahead of when we kick off here at 7.30. But before that lot's to get through, I want to get into the news today that banned lobbyist David Nelson is playing a key role inside the Albanese campaign. Now, this is the guy who was banned as a lobbyist after being caught secretly running Anastasia Palaszczuk's 2020 election campaign. Apparently, he's part of Albo's inner circle. Not just that, Daniel Andrews too, we've heard he's been roped in to advise the Prime Minister ahead of tonight's forum and more. Joining me now to discuss this Victorian Liberal Senator and, of course, now the spokesman for the campaign headquarters for the Coalition, James Paterson. Well, you have moved yourself out here as has the Coalition because you know that seats like this in Western Sydney are your pathway back to government.
JAMES PATERSON:
That's exactly right, Peta. It'll be communities like Western Sydney, but also all across our home state of Victoria that'll be absolutely decisive in this election. And I think it's particularly the case in Victoria because they're suffering under not just one very bad Labor government, but two very bad Labor governments. And that's a terrible combination that's had terrible consequences for Victorians. But there are a lot of seats out here too in Western Sydney, and that's the reason why Sky and the Daily Telegraph have brought us here tonight as well. There are a lot of voters who feel like this government has let them down, whether it's on the cost of living, whether it's on community safety, whether on the failure to adequately invest in infrastructure. And they feel the impact of bad governments on their lives, it makes a material difference. They sit in traffic for longer, they can't afford the groceries they used to be able to, they struggle to pay their electricity bill. Elections have real consequences for Australians like that, and it's very important for politicians like us to come and meet them where they are, hear from them direct tonight and address their concerns.
PETA CREDLIN:
I was just speaking to Dai Le. She's out this way, as you know, and she said that work from home is just not an issue. Her voters are the engine room in factories and shops, and they work outside the home. As a campaign strategist, someone close to Peter Dutton, regardless of how the room scores him tonight, what do you want to see?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I just want Peter to have the opportunity to connect with the audience here in the room to answer their questions, to show the agenda that he has to solve the problems in their lives, the positive agenda that he's got and also to connect with the audience at home. I know the Prime Minister will be negative, I know that the Prime Minister will target Peter Dutton, that's his whole campaign, he's built his campaign around that, but we're not concerned about that. We're focused on Australians and what we can do to make their lives better because we know how much they've suffered over the last three years under this Prime Minister and his government.
PETA CREDLIN:
What do you make of some things that have gone around today with the Teals Allegra Spender has pulled out, despite saying she would do a forum like this, and you've got Zoe Daniel down in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein putting out flyers to say she's basically the best friend that Melbourne Jews have ever had.
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, in the case of Allegra Spender, I mean, this is just classic when it comes to the Teals. They talk about transparency, but they don't live transparency. Transparency is something that other people should do, but they shouldn't have to do, and we've seen that with Monique Ryan as well. When it comes to Zoe Daniel, I mean that pamphlet was one of the most patronising things I have ever seen. Completely tone deaf, lecturing the Jewish community about all the things she's done for them, including in completely unrelated areas of public policy that don't go to the core issues that concern Australian Jews at a moment like this. We're living in the worst antisemitism crisis our country's ever seen. Zoe Daniel, frankly, has failed to represent her Jewish constituents, has failed to stand up for them, has done ridiculous things like sign letters calling for UNRWA funding to be returned even though we knew that there were terrorists employed by UNRWA on that terrible day on the 7th of October, presumptuously saying that she speaks on behalf of the Jewish community. No wonder there are so many Jewish volunteers on Tim Wilson's campaign in Goldstein who are so desperate to get rid of Zoe Daniel.
PETA CREDLIN:
Let's talk about the Port of Darwin, because when he was opposition leader, Anthony Albanese said, I will take it off the Chinese and put it back in Australian hands. When he is Prime Minister, he gets a report that says he doesn't have to do anything, so he decides not to do anything, and he leaves it there. What changed on Friday night, and why didn't he do anything over the last time in office?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, this is a question for Anthony Albanese to explain; he hasn't even attempted to do so in the many times he's been asked questions, both in that terrible ABC radio interview, which he dialled into in a rushed fashion on Friday night, and in his press conference over the weekend, where he couldn't answer the most basic questions about this. But he did make one really important admission. He said, for him, that the Port of Darwin decision was quote unquote "a political decision." And I think that's all it could be because when he was trying to appeal to the Chinese government, he was saying the Port of Darwin can stay in Landbridge Group's hands, there's no need to change anything. And right now, before an election, when he hears that the opposition leader is about to make an announcement, well, he rushes out an announcement of his own. So I think we can see what this is. It's just politics for Anthony Albanese.
PETA CREDLIN:
What about his inner sanctum? You've got this, banned lobbyist, and now we see the return of the ghost of Daniel Andrews.
JAMES PATERSON:
You can tell a lot about the person by the company they choose to keep, and to invite someone who's been banned as a lobbyist in Queensland into the heart of your campaign says something, and to invite Victoria's worst ever Premier and least popular politician, Daniel Andrews, into your campaign says something else. And the fact that he wouldn't be upfront about that reflects very badly on the Prime Minister. He was asked by your Sky colleague Trudy McIntosh at a press conference today about this. He just completely ignored the question. He won't be up front and honest because I think he knows that Victorians would be horrified by the idea that Daniel Andrews is close to his campaign, close to him providing advice because of the shocking damage he's done to our state.
PETA CREDLIN:
It's been a rugged couple of days. I know you want to get Australia back on track, but is the campaign for the Libs back on track?
JAMES PATERSON:
I think absolutely, Peta. I think you've seen really strong performances from Peter Dutton on the campaign trail in the last couple of days. When Australians hear that they're going to be 25 cents a litre better off, every time they go to a petrol station under Peter Dutton, they're much more inclined to vote for us. When Australians hear about our plan to drive more gas into the domestic market and drive prices down, they are much more likely to vote for us, and when they hear that we're going to actually reduce immigration to take pressure off the housing market, it gives them hope again that their children will be able to buy a home in this country, and that's what Peter Dutton really truly believes in, it is what animates him, he wants to make this country strong again, he want's to get Australia back on track and I think we can do that.
PETA CREDLIN:
I'll leave it there, James Paterson. Thank you.
ENDS