April 15, 2025
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SHARRI MARKSON:
Well, let's bring in now Shadow Home Affairs Minister and Coalition Campaign Spokesman James Paterson. James, great to see you again.
JAMES PATERSON:
Good to be with you.
SHARRI MARKSON:
Are you convinced by this assurance from Richard Marles tonight?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I certainly hope that it's true, and it would be welcome news if the Indonesian government had ruled out any Russian Air Force access to Indonesian military bases, but it's not sufficiently clear, I think, from the Minister's statement that that is the case, and I look forward to official confirmation from the Indonesian government that not only will Russian aircraft not be based in Indonesia, but they won't have any sort of visiting or access arrangements at all, because Indonesia is an incredibly important national security partner for Australia. We work very cooperatively with them on things like people smuggling, counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics trafficking, and other important issues. And we want to make sure that relationship remains strong. The thing that concerns me most from today, though, Sharri, is it was very clear that until this was reported in the media, the Australian government, the Albanese government, had no idea that Russia had made this request of Indonesia. And they were rushed into a panicked phone call to try and get to the bottom of this. Well, a good relationship should make sure that you know about these things in advance, and good intelligence should make sure that you know about these things in advance, but it does seem like a pretty significant failure on this government's watch.
SHARRI MARKSON:
Ok, let's turn to the polls now, which show that Labor is on the ascendancy. It shows the Coalition falling behind. Now the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, was on with Chris Kenny earlier tonight and he said something really interesting. He said that the national polls weren't an accurate reflection of the election or what the internal Liberal polls are showing. Here he was.
[CLIP START]
DAVID LITTLEPROUD:
I don't think the national polls are reflective of the hyper-local campaigns that are taking place there, and I think to your point it's exactly about cost of living, about in particularly as you get out of the inner suburbs where there is not necessarily as big of a cost of living crisis as it is, as you get further out, they're not feeling it as much. And I think what's important is that while we're not walking away from the national polls and what they reflect, what we're seeing now in internal polling is that as you get out where Australians are struggling, and we're saying to them, we're going to give you a tax cut of $1200 an individual, $2400 a family.
[CLIP ENDS]
SHARRI MARKSON:
James, he also said this was more like the 2019 election than 2022. So is he right? Are your internal polls showing the Coalition ahead in those outer suburban seats?
JAMES PATERSON:
Sharri, you won't expect me to disclose internal polling on your program tonight, but let me point to something that's in the public realm that shows something very interesting about leaders. Peter Dutton was in three seats in Melbourne today. He was in McEwen, he was in Hawke, and he was in Gorton. Now one of those is a traditional marginal seat in McEwen, but we haven't held it for some time. Hawke is a new seat, but it covers territory that's been safe Labor. And we've never held the seat of Gorton, and that's where Peter Dutton spent his time today. And he got a terrific reception, so much so that even the press gallery wrote it up. Where was the Prime Minister today? Well, he was Franklin in Tasmania and he was Cooper in Victoria. Now your most scarce resource in the campaign is your leader, and it's a very strange thing to send your Prime Minister to safe Labor held seats if you've got no concerns at all. So perhaps the Greens are surging in Cooper, and they are in danger of losing it there. Perhaps the independent in Franklin is of grave danger of taking the seat off Julie Collins there, and that could be a very big upset. And if the Prime Minister has to spend time and money defending seats like that, well, it makes other contests much more competitive.
SHARRI MARKSON:
I mean, you said that you wouldn't talk about internal polling. But of course, the Nationals leader did. He said that your internal polling showed that Dutton was ahead in those outer suburban areas. But we're hearing a lot of public criticisms about the Coalition's campaign, including that the work from home policy wasn't dumped early enough, that other policies were announced too late, that the TV ads didn't start soon enough. What do you say to concerned Coalition voters that the election is slipping away from the Coalition? You know, what is the path to victory?
JAMES PATERSON:
I would say that when people hear our message, they are incredibly receptive to it and to us, and they're inclined to vote for us. Now, particularly when they hear that we're going to cut people's petrol and diesel tax by $14 a tank, they're going to vote Coalition. When they hear that we'll give them $1,200 of their taxpayers' money back as a cost of living rebate, they're inclined to vote Coalition. When they hear that we're going to push more gas into the system to drive down prices, they're going to vote for the Coalition. When they're here about our comprehensive housing plan to get first home buyers back into the market for the first time in a long time, they're very open to voting for the Coalition. So we've got a sell to make over the next two and a half weeks, we know that, but when people hear our message, they are very receptive to it and very inclined to vote for us.
SHARRI MARKSON:
Chris Kenny revealed on his show earlier today that although the Labor government officially opposes your taxation benefit for first home buyers, he says MPs are actually able to claim these deductions personally. So James, do you think that the Prime Minister and other Ministers, and Coalition figures as well, should declare if they're receiving this benefit that they object to first homebuyers having?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, I certainly hope that there's no Labor MP claiming a benefit that they want to deny to a first-home buyer. But when it comes to the Coalition, we're very clear. We think we need significant change to our tax system to facilitate first home buyers getting into the market. We want to give them a leg up. We want give them an advantage in the market, we want them to be able to go to an auction and bid with confidence, knowing that they'll be able to get a significant tax rebate if they're a first home buyer buying a new home to the tune of $11,000 to $12,000 a year, which would be transformative for a lot of young people who feel they've been locked out of the market, in conjunction with our other policies to boost supply and reduce demand by cutting back on immigration. That's what the offering is we're making to young Australians to restore that hope of home ownership, and we think that when they hear that message, they'll increasingly vote for the Coalition.
SHARRI MARKSON:
But if Labor is objecting to this tax benefit and they're personally receiving it, then shouldn't they publicly disclose that?
JAMES PATERSON:
Certainly that would be an act of hypocrisy and probably not the first one from this Labor Party. They're often ones to claim benefits for themselves that they deny to others. But for us, we are about getting Australians into the home market.
SHARRI MARKSON:
I just want to ask you about my report from the start of the program, where the Teals have been paying influencers to endorse their policies. Now you personally wrote to the AEC commissioner asking for an investigation. What are your concerns here? And is the Coalition paying any influencers to produce positive content?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, the only content that the Coalition publishes in the election campaign is authorised and released by the Coalition. We're not covertly paying anyone to say nice things about us without declaring it, and that's the problem here. The Teals run on a platform of integrity and transparency. But this is not transparent. And integrity is doing the right thing even when you think someone's not watching. But when Allegra Spender thought no one was watching, she thought she could get away with secretly paying influencers to say nice things about her without disclosing that to voters. It's similar behaviour that we've seen from other Teals, like Monique Ryan's husband, who thought, when no one was watching, it was ok to steal your political opponent's signs. And that's why a lot of people are waking up to the Teals. They're realising that what they've bought and what they got is not what they paid for. And it's time for them to make a different choice at this election and return Liberal members to the Federal Parliament who will actually fight for their communities, who will actually have a seat around the table, who can actually make a difference.
SHARRI MARKSON:
All right, James Paterson, really appreciate your time and insights as always, thanks so much.
ENDS