TRANSCRIPT: Interview with KIM LANDERS, ABC RADIO CANBERRA AM 17 JANUARY 2019
E&OE
Subjects: UK Government, live exports, Murray-Darling Basin Plan, water issues, funding for roads.
KIM LANDERS:
The Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals Leader, Michael McCormack, joins me on the line now. Deputy Prime Minister, good morning.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Good morning, Kim.
KIM LANDERS:
The world is watching what’s happening in the UK. Is Australia pleased that Theresa May’s Government has survived?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Australia is looking forward to any opportunities that may arise out of this. The fact is that her Government has survived and you want stability in the UK, you want stability in Europe; if that's obviously what last night's vote and decision has led to, then that's got to be seen as a good thing.
KIM LANDERS:
If I could take you to another matter and that is live exports. There's a story in The Daily Telegraph today that says Animals Australia paid to be given footage of sheep suffering on board live export ships. Does that undermine the criticism of the live animal export trade, in your view?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
There's been a lot gone on in the past to push an agenda, to push the facts and the cause that many people want the live trade ceased and they’ll stop at nothing to ensure that that happens. We as Nationals and we as the Government stand behind those people who are exporting sheep and exporting animals generally in a responsible and proper way using the proper channels and with animal welfare front and centre of everything that they do.
KIM LANDERS:
If I could turn to water issues – do you have confidence in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the management of it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
It's a bipartisan plan. It's very much an environmental document. It was signed off by all parties. The fact is it just hasn't rained, and for many, many areas in the catchment, it hasn't rained for seven years and so the lack of…
KIM LANDERS:
…But isn't that the whole point of the plan – that it's a plan for the bad times when it doesn't rain and it's supposed to work out how to divvy up the water when there's not a lot of it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes indeed, and we are experiencing a very, very dry period of unprecedented proportions; and it will rain again and when it rains, honestly, it'll come down in such torrents that people will probably say: what are we going to do with all the water? That’s Australia. That's the weather patterns and the climate of Australia. It's been going on since year dot. That's why we have announced, as far as this fish kill situation is concerned – and it's a terrible mess of course – but we've announced $5 million for a native fish management and recovery strategy. I know the New South Wales Government is working diligently and hard to do what it can do, but as I say again, until it rains and it flushes through the system, then we're going to be in a situation where sadly these sorts of occurrences happen.
KIM LANDERS:
But on the broader issue of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan itself, will you restate your commitment to it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
The fact is I think farmers also have been maligned in this situation and cotton farmers and indeed rice farmers and indeed any irrigated agriculture farmers are copping unfortunate memes and some dreadful things said about them on social media by those people in the city who have probably never been over the sandstone curtain that is the Great Dividing Range. They do not know, they do not understand regional Australia, and they don't understand the great role our farmers play. Yes, there has to be a balance in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The Murray-Darling Basin…
KIM LANDERS:
…But the plan as it is- sorry, Deputy Prime Minister. The plan, as it is, are you committed to it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes of course, because it took us 100 years to reach this stage. Of course, there need to be some tweaks and that's why…
KIM LANDERS:
…What sort of tweaks?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We've got the experts coming together later this month. They had a teleconference earlier this week, on Tuesday. They’re coming together later this month in a face-to-face situation, and we’ll listen to the recommendations at the same…
KIM LANDERS:
…That sounds like you're opening the door to making some fundamental changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan which is, as you say, supposed to be a bipartisan plan.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We're always looking to see how we can improve any legislation. If we thought every piece of legislation was as it should be, there wouldn't be any need for a Parliament, we wouldn't be changing any legislation but of course, as time evolves and as these sorts of rare events happen, you have to revisit what you've done in the past and improve upon it. So if recommendations come back and there’s the need to look at things, then look at them and we will in a, hopefully, bipartisan fashion. But the fact is we can't make it rain. The Government can't make it rain; the Opposition certainly can't make it rain; and we'll have to wait until we get that flush through the system, and rest assured, it will come and then we'll have more water than we probably need.
KIM LANDERS:
When we're talking about water, we're not just talking about water for farmers and irrigators, of course, there are town folk as well; and people in Menindee and Far Western New South Wales, they're having to shower, wash their clothes, in town water that’s the colour of mud at times. It smells pretty putrid. They say they feel forgotten. What do you say to them and will you go to visit?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes they do feel forgotten and I know that we've had Ministers go out there. I know Niall Blair was out there last week, and certainly the situation is dire. The fact is…
KIM LANDERS:
…What about you – will you head out there?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I'm more than happy to head anywhere. I've got a full agenda for the next month. I haven't actually stopped, not even over the Christmas break. I had about two days off and that was it and I'm back into it. The fact is we need a flush through the system and it can only happen through rain in the catchment areas and then flowing down; and it will happen. It will happen. At the moment in Wagga Wagga, where I'm Acting Prime Minister and Wagga Wagga is the acting capital, today, it’s going to be 44 degrees. So, there's not going to be too much rain on the horizon here. But eventually, it will rain and then it will rain in buckets and we’ll probably be cursing the fact that we've got too much rain and we've got floods. That’s Australia.
KIM LANDERS:
You’re also the Minister for Transport and last year's road toll was noticeably lower, but the Australian Automobile Association says more of the $12 billion that the Government collects in fuel excise needs to be spent on making roads safer. Will you do that?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
That's why we're spending, we’re investing, a good chunk, a good proportion of our $75 billion record amount of infrastructure right across the nation. That’s not just for roads but of course we can always spend more on roads. But we do that when we've got a stronger economy and that's why the Liberals and Nationals are committed to making sure that we've got a stronger economy. I look at the New South Wales Government – they’ve been in surplus for some time after 16 years of debt and deficit by Labor. They got themselves back into surplus and they’re now spending $89 billion, in fact, on infrastructure over four years. We’re spending $75 billion over 10 years. So that's what you can do when you're in surplus. I'm delighted that Josh Frydenberg is going to produce a surplus budget for the Federal Government, for the nation, on 2 April this year. So when we get back into surpluses and when we have a succession of them, we will be able to spend more on roads, but you can’t do it unless you've got a strong economy and you can't do it unless you're actually managing the economy well. Labor does not manage the economy well, and we're not going to be managing the economy well if we're going to hit everybody with the retiree taxes, with the…
KIM LANDERS:
Okay.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yep. I could go on, as you know. [Laughs]
KIM LANDERS:
Yes. Sorry but we’re a bit short on time.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Indeed.
KIM LANDERS:
Deputy Michael McCormack, thank you very much anyway for speaking with AM.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Thanks, Kim.
KIM LANDERS:
That is Michael McCormack, the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals Leader.