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March 20, 2025
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PETER STEFANOVIC: While the Labor Party is playing to its strengths today by announcing the cost of medicines will be no more than $25,just in time for an election. Joining us live is the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. James, good morning to you. Will you support this?
JAMES PATERSON: Well, good morning, Pete. You say that Labor is playing to their strength, but in 2023-24, 8% of Australians went without or delayed prescription medicine because of Labor's cost of living crisis. So frankly, what they're doing today is just making up for the damage they've done to Australian households and families. And of course, we will deliver this in government. We have a proud record of supporting the PBS. It was the Morrison government which first announced a reduction in the PBS co-payment, and it is Labor that's following through on that commitment that we made.
STEFANOVIC: I mean, you're wedged on it. You can't not support it, can you? Because then you'll be, you know, accused of being anti-Health.
PATERSON: We want to do everything we can to improve Australians' living circumstances and their financial means. They've struggled over the last few years under Labor because their cost of living crisis has got completely out of control, and this will make a difference to some Australian families and that's why we support it, and that's why we will deliver it in government.
STEFANOVIC: Any concern about the cost at all?
PATERSON: We're going through our normal costing process and we will publish our costings in the normal way and we'll have the benefit of a federal budget next week to have updated forecasts about the economy so we can release that in due course.
STEFANOVIC: Does this increase the chances of the Trump administration, which doesn't like the PBS or at least Big Pharma doesn't anyway, placing tariffs on our pharmaceuticals next month? Would you be expecting that now?
PATERSON: Well, it certainly doesn't justify it, and the PBS is sacrosanct, and it is bipartisan, and it is not on the table for any negotiations with the United States. In fact, as far back as the Free Trade Agreement negotiations between Australia, which was led by John Howard, with the Bush administration, there was an attempt to open up the PBS, and John Howard put it off the table and said that it couldn't be touched and it wouldn't be touched. And we've defended it in government and we will continue to defend it in government.
STEFANOVIC: Alright, I mean, the American, the big pharma are calling it, you know, egregious, and it doesn't help American exporters. That's a formal complaint that's been provided to the Trump administration. How would you counter that?
PATERSON: Well, this is a domestic public policy issue for Australia. We decide what Australians pay for medicines, what is reasonable to be listed in Australia and what gets access to our publicly funded health care system, not a foreign government, of any foreign government. And any sovereign Australian government would not tolerate the meddling of any other foreign country, including our friends in the United States, on our domestic public policy settings, particularly our public health settings. It's up to us to decide, and we will decide it.
STEFANOVIC: All right, Mark Butler coming up on the program shortly on that too. Well elsewhere James, Angus Taylor said yesterday the deportation referendum is not formal party policy, is it?
PATERSON: Well, what we've said very clearly and what Peter Dutton has very clearly said is that all options are on the table to protect Australians and we will do whatever it takes to protect Australians from people who should never have become citizens in the first place and who then go on to violate the principles of citizenship with an egregious serious crime like terrorism or child sex offences. A referendum is not the first option that we would pursue to deal with this problem, though. There are legislative options that we would pursue first and only if they weren't successful would we contemplate a referendum. A referendum would never be the first policy choice that you would take and we think there are legislative options that can be pursued here and we will make announcements about the legislative changes that we would make to make it easier to remove citizenship for someone who has violated the principles of Australian citizenship.
STEFANOVIC: Is it a formal part of party policy though?
PATERSON: Well, our policy will be what we announce in the coming days and weeks, which will be to pursue all legislative options first, and we will detail exactly what those legislative options are, but to keep on the table the possibility of a referendum if those legislative measures fail. Because Peter Dutton is a strong leader who will put Australians' safety first. He will always stand up to protect Australians and if the Prime Minister is not willing to do the tough things in the national interest to protect our country, then that reflects on him.
STEFANOVIC: I mean the criticism has already been made on this point too but I mean cost of living is still front and centre for everybody so how will a deportation referendum help folks with the cost of living crisis which is now?
PATERSON: Well, cost of living is our focus too, Pete, and we understand that Australians have suffered immensely under Labor on that front. Our living standards have dropped more than ever in Australia's history and more than any other OECD country. Australians are about 10% poorer than they were three years ago, and they can't afford another three years of Labor. But we will also do what is necessary to keep Australians safe because on this government's watch, more than 300 violent non-citizens have been released into the community, and almost a hundred of them have committed new offences against Australians since they were released in the community. There are dozens of other offenders who the government decided not to deport under Ministerial Direction 99, who they allowed to keep in this country, who then went on also to commit other crimes. And this is a government that rushed through 3,000 Gaza tourist visas and only submitted them for ASIO assessment after the visas were granted and after many had already travelled to Australia. So they have a shocking track record on community safety. Peter Dutton has a strong track record on community safety and we will do whatever it takes to protect Australians.
STEFANOVIC: James, there's been a number of leaks this week, defence spending, the referendum as well. Has this been done to counter claims of a lack of policy and a few bad polls?
PATERSON: Pete, the media does what the media will do. They're interested in our policy agenda, they're speculating about it, they're trying to get access to it. That's a completely normal, healthy thing in a liberal democracy. We'll be releasing our full policy agenda in the normal time, in the normal way. We've put a lot out there already. Frankly, our plan to transition Australia to emissions-free nuclear technology is one of the most ambitious policies that any opposition has taken to an election. We've been public about that for more than a year and Australians have been able to evaluate that policy for more than a year. We've got a lot more to say, though, and that will happen in the coming weeks.
STEFANOVIC: All right, James, thank you. We'll chat again soon.
ENDS