TRANSCRIPT: ABC DARWIN BREAKFAST INTERVIEW, 13 August 2020
E&OE
Subjects: Northern Territory Infrastructure Spend, Seasonal Workers, Regional Representation;
JOLENE LAVERTY
Michael McCormack is Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of The Nationals. Good morning.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Good morning.
JOLENE LAVERTY
We've got a few Northern Territory specific issues to get through. We're going to start with mangoes, which is our biggest horticultural export. For starters, did you ever get along to one of Senator Nigel Scullion’s famous Territory mango daiquiris, for the Coalition Christmas party?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Unfortunately, one too many and the trouble is, you attend one of those things and then you have to go into Question Time. I made sure I very much avoided the daiquiris because you just never knew just in fact, how much of the good juice was going to be in there and so it’s probably best when you’re answering questions in Question Time to be able to stand on your feet and deliver that response.
JOLENE LAVERTY
Well, I know when Senator McMahon took the seat, a lot of people in the Coalition were coming up and going, “you are still going to be doing that mango daiquiri party, right?” So, they had to keep doing that. I mean it’s so special here in the Northern Territory, its big business. It generates over $100 million in revenue. And this year, there are hardly any backpackers around to pick them. So we're bringing people from overseas in to do the job. When are you expecting the first plane load of seasonal workers from Vanuatu to arrive in Darwin to help pick mangoes?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, those discussions have been taking place on not just a regular basis, but in fact on a daily basis. And only yesterday, I mentioned this and talked about this with David Littleproud, the Agriculture Minister and indeed others in Cabinet because you’re right. It is a big export industry, it’s big for our domestic markets and it’s so difficult to find labour. I was only reading a report just last night about Northern Territory agriculture, which said water isn't the great issue. We've got plenty of water and of course, water infrastructure is something I'm very passionate about. But it's the labour issue and it's not just in the Northern Territory, its right across the nation, particularly so because of COVID-19. That’s why we extended holiday visas, backpacker arrangements when coronavirus first hit and it is difficult, I have to say, when you are convincing, as a Regional Member, city-based colleagues of the importance of importing labour. Particularly when you've got so many Australians who are out of work. But as we know, some of the work won't and can't always be done because of any sort of issues, including mobility by locals and so we have to have that important labour. Of course, as you mentioned, the Pacific Labour Scheme has worked very well. And of course, we get many backpackers from Europe and the Americas, we get many people from the North here to do that work and we'll continue to do that. We'll continue to work closely with Senator Sam McMahon and others to ensure that we've got the right number of people at the right time and that's the critical thing.
JOLENE LAVERTY
Well, when are these guys from Vanuatu going to arrive?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, hopefully we will get that Pacific Scheme in very, very soon and as you as you mentioned, we need to get them ASAP. So those discussions are ongoing. I can't sort of go into all the Cabinet discussions that we've had, obviously Cabinet confidentiality –
JOLENE LAVERTY
When you say soon, do you think maybe in the next week or two?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I know how important this for those farmers. I mean, I've already spoken to some of them since I’ve been here and I have been here since Sunday. It’s of critical importance.
JOLENE LAVERTY
And when they get here, they have to quarantine for 14 days even though they're coming from a country that has no cases of coronavirus.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
That is fair enough, though that is the policy and the rule that the National Cabinet adopted for people coming back into Australia or people coming to Australia – returning or new – people had to do the quarantine period. And I think most Australians would expect that that would be the case and that is fair enough.
JOLENE LAVERTY
One of the Coalition's election promises last year was to spend $20 million sealing some mango roads in the Northern Territory and then it's a pivotal moment at the moment, the mangoes are ready to be picked and there's no tar on the ground, where is that up to?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Look, it is so difficult sometimes because what we do is we allocate the funding, generally on a regional road, it's 80% from the Commonwealth, 20% State or Territory contribution, but it is the State or Territory that do the tendering, that do the contracting and therefore the work. We wrote the check, based on their priorities, based on their infrastructure requirements. We fast tracked $147 million for infrastructure in the Northern Territory. We announced that last November and they weren't just mango roads, they were life-saving roads like the Sturt and Barkly, Carpentaria and Victoria Highways and that of course, means more jobs, road safety all aspects and as Senator McMahon often says, the Commonwealth has now committed more than $2.4 billion to transport infrastructure in the Northern Territory. But we need to be able to do it with the Northern Territory Government and unfortunately, this is a government here in the Top End which has financial problems and it had financial problems going into COVID-19, let alone the situation where it is now.
JOLENE LAVERTY
So are you suggesting that, although you put up the 80% of the money required for those roads, the 20% was unable to be brought forward from the Northern Territory Government?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, what I'm saying is that whether it's here or whether it's in other states, it is the requirement of those states to stump up the additional money, the 20% of their commitment, but also to get the tendering and the job done and quite often I find when I work with States – and I’m not being at all political here when I am going to make this statement – it’s sometimes very, very difficult when those States then go into slow mode for those projects and that could be for any number of reasons. Down south it was bushfires and drought and other sorts of things – and finding the labour. That's also difficult, I appreciate that. But we're willing and waiting to work with Territories, with States to make sure that we can get that bitumen on the ground because at the end of the day that creates jobs. At the end of the day, that creates life-saving roads and transport prospects that can boost our exports. I know, this is an issue for Northern Territorians, it's not just an issue here, it is in other parts of the country too.
JOLENE LAVERTY
Michael McCormack is the Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of The Nationals, this is ABC Radio Darwin. Our population decline means we're at risk of losing one of our two seats in the lower house, which means we'll just have one person to represent the whole of the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives. There is a private member's bill, which if passed, would guarantee we get to keep our two seats. Will you support that bill?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, that bill has been put forward in the Upper House, it would then have to go through the House of Representatives, I know Northern Territorians are pushing for it, so in the Federal Parliament it has got to go through the House of Representatives and that of course is going to be the difficulty of it. So, it has got to go through the Senate, it has got to go then through the House of Representatives. I know the Legislative Assembly here is very clear on making sure they retain two seats. I know that if you're in Katherine, Tennant Creek or if you’re in Alice Springs and you've got your House of Representatives Member in Darwin, that creates difficulties when you want that representation, you have to have accessibility and availablity, I appreciate that, I’m a House of Reps Member in a seat which is 50,000-square-kilometres in the South-West of New South Wales and whilst that is a fairly large seat by New South Wales standards, up here it is nothing more than a back paddock. I appreciate that Senator Sam McMahon does an amazing job getting around. I mean yesterday and the day before she drove around something like 2000-kilometres just getting to see people in Katherine and other parts of the Northern Territory. I mean, people in the East just sometimes don't appreciate how large these land masses are, these regions are, these districts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia are and so I’m supportive of the regions having better representation and more accessibility to those representatives.
JOLENE LAVERTY
So you will support the bill?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well look, we've got to see exactly what's being put forward and how it's being put forward, of how they intend to go about it, but this is a decision at the end of the day, for the Australian Electoral Commission. They make these rules –
JOLENE LAVERTY
They do, but the Parliament of Australia can override that rule –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Indeed, they can and so what I'm keen on doing is making sure that we grow the population in the Northern Territory and only Lia Finocchiaro and her CLP team have the policies in place to be able to do just that, to ensure that we don't have to go through this argy bargy of whether there should be one or two seats.
JOLENE LAVERTY
Well, we don't have to go through the argy bargy if you support the bill –
MICHAEL McCORMACK
That's something that's going to come up in the in the next few months. I'm not going to telegraph my punches, too soon or too early. We have to see all the whys and wherefores of what's being put forward and as the National Party, we will sit and look at that but at the end of the day, we are a regional Party. We’re about regional representation and the Northern Territory is one very big region, in fact, it’s two, Solomon and Lingiari and I appreciate that this is important for Northern Territorians.
JOLENE LAVERTY
It is pretty straightforward though, isn't it? In terms of when you want to look at the ins and outs and what they're asking for, we're just asking for two seats to be guaranteed and it has been done before in the history of Parliament. So, it's very much like that, so would you support the bill?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I am going to be looking at it very, very seriously and talking about it with my National Party colleagues and we'll make a decision when the bill comes forward.
JOLENE LAVERTY
Good to speak with you today. Thank you for your time.