TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW WITH DAVID EISENHAUER SOUNDS OF THE MOUNTAINS, 23 FEBRUARY 2023
Subjects: Regional Banking Closures, Blackspot Program
E&OE
STARTS 8:36 am
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Lots on, of course, as we head towards this coming weekend. We've got TumbaFest on, we've got the tractor Pull on in Gundagai, we’ve got Sara Storer out at Lacmalac Hall, the list just grows and grows. There's always something. A busy time of year and, of course, our Ag shows underway as well.
And, a man that's very busy out and about all the time, of course, Member for Riverina Michael McCormack, joining us on the line this morning. Michael, a very good morning.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Good morning to you too, David, and a big weekend at Junee this week as well. That's your old stomping ground and Laurie Daley's coming back. There's a big Rugby League game in Junee, where the old boys are taking on the new noys, and with Junee Diesels back up and roaring for the Group 9 Rugby League season. After a season of first grade recess, their Reserves and Under 18’s did very well last year, with Premierships, but their first grade had a year off and Junee needs to get that team restored and that's good for Rugby League. When Junee is strong, so too is Rugby League.
A bit the same with Tumut Blues and Gundagai. We need those teams – those traditional sides – to present good outfits and to be competitive.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Well, there's the loss in that discussion too, where the Wagga Brothers are not fielding a first grade team for Group 9 this year. We were only talking yesterday about becoming part of clubs, volunteering, the general sort of feeling particularly since COVID, but that's a shame. I mean, Peter Eisenhauer, and blokes like that, they’d be pretty disappointed. Big Brothers’ supporters, and yourself, very much across the Brothers’ team.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
I see Ike, a lot. He lives just around the corner from me and of course he was a prolific point– scoring winger for, not just Brothers, but Turvey Park as well and of course Riverina, and played a lot of representative football and Ike’s still running around, in his earth–moving bobcat.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
That's right.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
He does a bit of work around the region, and loves it, and he still doesn't look anything different than he did in the 70s and 80s.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
He doesn’t.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
He does not age.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
I have not seen him for quite some time because the family all lives up the coast, up around the Gold Coast way
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Yeah, he's intending to go there too, I believe. You know, Ike’s always great for a chat and I'll tell you somebody who else who is always good for a chat was Ken Warby. Of course, he's passed away after a short illness and Ken, of course, is very famous around Tumut way for being the man who was fastest on water. And it's quite incredible to think that even 45 years after he set the record on October 8, 1978, on Blowering Dam, that mark of 317 miles per hour, 510.2 kilometers per hour, has never, ever been beaten. In the spirit of Australia, and he certainly was the spirit of Australia.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
My word and look, we have that wonderful song that Slim Dusty or Joy McKean, wrote. But, Slim Dusty sang there called Spirit of Australia. We featured that yesterday because he was, as you mentioned Michael, a very big part of our local community and, of course, his son, David even more keen now to get out there and do his dad proud and then take that record, keep it in the family but just beat that score of Ken’s. And I’ll tell you what, what an amazing effort. I mean Ken, he sat in this studio many times Ken Warby, and told the story of sitting on a milk crate in that boat. Different safety regulations and days that have come and gone but gee there’s some wonderful stories there, Michael.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
His close friend, John Reid, summed him up, I think. His quote was: “He just had nerves of steel and he was just focused” and he was. You know, from humble backgrounds, or reasonably humble backgrounds, he was a great Australian and he just liked going fast and fast he went. My goodness.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Yep.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
I was looking at the old Daily Advertiser coverage of the actual record and it was fantastic. It was the front page, it was the back page of that edition. It started off, “with a breathtaking display speed Ken Warby, blitzed his way over the one-kilometer course at Blowering Dam”. Long may his memory live on.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
My word, and it certainly will, without a doubt.
One thing that we've got to talk about today, Michael, and something that was on The Project last night. I know Junee’s been featuring in the spotlight a bit as an example of a town that's under threat of losing all its banking services, but it was good coverage there last night and it was on one of the Channel 9 morning shows, I think it was last week. Regional banking; what's your take on it?
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Well, here you've got banking executives earning big money. They get all woke around Australia Day –they want people to work and have the opportunity and option to work, and yet they don’t want to work in regional Australia on any day. And they want to talk about the Voice, yet they want to take away banking services to many of those banking towns, or towns which have banks, but certainly soon won't have. Where a lot – as Mark Coulton, the Member for Parkes tells me – a lot of them, their customers are indigenous. But more than that, to just leave a town such as Junee, 6,500 people there, without banking services, forcing businesses and people to drive to Wagga Wagga basically every night to drop off their cash, and then over the next day to pick some more up so they can continue with their day's trading. It’s unbelievable in 2023.
Now, I know they've put a stay of execution on Junee, the Commonwealth Bank. I was there last Sunday. I was going over there to talk to the RSL sub-branch about erecting a statue for Wilfred Knight, the ANZAC Legend, and I popped out in front of the bank to just take a picture of it, just so I could have it there on record whilst I was there – I was only there for eight or nine minutes – two people pulled up and used the automatic teller machine. Now, that was at four o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. So that tells me, that's very much outside work hours, and outside trading hours Heaven forbid, they certainly need a bank in trading hours. And I know they've reduced their opening hours, but they want to now reduce all hours. They want to just shut the bank and move on. Now, they've done very, very nicely out there at Junee, thank you very much, as have other banking services in country towns.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Of course.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
And what they've been doing in recent times, some of these banks, is transferring people’s BSBs – their branch service numbers – to banks in other, larger communities. And so, it gives the lie to the fact that they haven't got many customers and haven't got many people on their books in that local town and then they use that as an excuse to close the branch.
Well, that's not good enough.
These banking executives get paid very handsomely, thank you very much. I’m not saying they don’t earn it; I'm just saying they do very nicely out of banks and the banks have done very nicely out of the country towns and they should remain there, and that's why we've got this banking inquiry.
It's going to go right across the regions, and I would urge people to make submissions to it.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Well, at Tumut town it’s at risk, as I think a lot of country towns are where their service – we've seen hours reduced at ANZ bank, the talk is it will be closing down. I mean, you look at the way that technology moves forward.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
And I appreciate that more people are using their mobile and other devices rather than going to a bank branch.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
But not everyone.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
You go to a bank branch sometimes, you're sort of told, “well you can do that online and that's what you should do”. But for a lot of oldies, a lot of people who've used those banking services, a lot of businesses, they do need that branch and they do need to stay open.
I mean, there was a lady called Maisie Robinson, who they went to and reported on in Junee – and she's 88, she's been a Commonwealth customer for 80 years now. Why should she change her banking practises? She doesn't need to get on, it just beggars’ belief. It really does.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Well, it causes a lot of confusion and complication. I mean, we have schemes that come through that deceive people, we know very much, very well aware of those scams that exist.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
They're getting more sophisticated.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Yep, and they catch the unawares out. No-one's fault. It's, you know, it's not the customer's fault in that regard. They're simply not aware and these con artists are very, very clever people and the electronic industry, it's a very convenient, very clever system but you can't beat that face to face.
Michael, while I grew up in Junee and I know in Tumut here, lots more banks around the region, you know, banks on corners everywhere. And of course, we’re talking jobs in communities as well. The loss of jobs when these banks disappear.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Well, indeed. And you know, often those branches have anywhere between three and a dozen people. Well, they’re people who work in the community, who live in the community, whose children go to school in the community, who've lived there all their lives and, you know they lose their jobs, what do they do? So, look, I just think this banking inquiry is important.
We had one of Perrin Davey’s Regional Task Force looking into banks late last year and this is a step up from that. So, when that inquiry really starts to heat up, I think people should go online, or ring my office, find the details out about it and make sure that they can make their submissions and try and keep our banks as best we can in our country communities.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
One thing we need, Michael, if we're going to be using banking on our online services and we're going to be using the internet and so forth in a mobile capacity, is to have our mobile Blackspot Program continuing. What’s happening, what's the latest there?
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Well, unfortunately there's a new round called Improving Mobile Coverage, or some sorts, but it's not improving mobile coverage in any of the Coalition held regional NSW seats. 25 out of 26 of the actual grants are going to Labor-held seats. Now, they tell me, Michelle Rowland, told the journalist I was talking to the other day: “well, this is an election commitment round”. Well ok, call it that. Don't call it improving mobile coverage or securing black spots or whatever. It's part of the Blackspot Program and it should be evenly shared. I mean, we never did this in Government. We were never, ever that blatant, and you know, Eden-Monaro has done very nicely, thank you very much. Ask Kristy McBain, and moreover half the constituents. Good luck. But to have 25 out of 26. But, if it is an election commitment round, why is the only one that is getting funding in Berowra? That's Arcadia, that's Hornsby Heights in Sydney. Now, that's not regional and last time I looked Julian Leeser, was the member for Berowra and last time I looked Julian Leeser, is a Liberal. So, you can hardly call it an election commitment round if a Liberal, city seat holder is getting one of the only, 1 out of the 26 mobile towers. So, this this is just terrible. I mean, ours was so fair and so even-handed. I sometimes wondered how come Indi, held by the Independent Member Helen Haines, received more towers than did Riverina and I appreciate it's very hilly down in North-East Victoria, and I can get that, and it was a competitive round but it was also based on merit. This isn't based on merit. This is just blatant pork-barreling by Labor.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
We will always, in these districts, it's different country. We've got hills, and as you mentioned with Indi, I mean hills, and mountains, and fairly arduous terrain. We've had Blackspot programs for television reception, you remember those years ago? They were left, at the end, to the council’s having to maintain these old transmission systems and it cost a lot of money.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
I do.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
In the end, obviously, digital telly came though. Technology is evolving. Do you think are our network operators are keeping up with it? Look at Elon Musk, and the satellite services he's putting up. It looks like sometimes, we talked the Blackspot funding program, it’s almost like a historic term these days.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
All technology is changing. We talked about banking services and earlier we’re talking now about mobile phone coverage. I mean, and you look at even the energy crisis and eventually, I understand we probably will have 100 per cent renewables. But it won't be in our lifetime, I have to say. But at the moment, we still use and have a mix of old technology, traditional technology, reliable technology, whether it comes to banks, whether it comes to mobile coverage, and when it comes to energy source and supply, and we need to make sure that we have a mix that is going to be satisfactory for all, so that people can have a bank, can have a mobile phone that is workable in most areas, and can turn on, flick the switch, and get power when they need it, so that it's warm in winter, and in their homes, and cool in summer.
But, at the moment we've got people who just want to change it all and change it all instantly, just instantaneously. It's just not going to work. I mean, we can't just turn off all our energy sources. We can't just rely on Elon Musk, or anybody else, putting satellites high above the Earth. And that's fantastic, too, but even so, even with the mobile coverage, I've been out to places like Forbes, where it's as flat as a pancake and the mobile coverage only extends about 5 kilometers from the tower because of technology. And the technology is good, you know, it's improving all the time and we're lucky we live in a world where there is so much, so many great inventive minds, improving life all the time. But we do need that traditional mix as well.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
And we need to be able to afford the mix whether it's, you know, heating our homes or turning our mobile phone on and making the calls.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Couldn't agree more and that's the point about it. I mean, I know the Greens are upset now about Labor's climate targets and climate philosophy. They want all coal and gas projects stopped. Well, yeah, good luck there because, you know, even you look at coal – and Australia's got the cleanest in the world – well, you know we’ve actually been the source of power for many of those Third World countries who otherwise would be burning rubber tires or cow pats. Now, is that right and fair in 2023 that we should be leading the lifestyle that we lead, and yet leaving these other countries high and dry. The other thing too, I think there is 55 000 jobs, two-thirds of our energy supplies, and indeed $66 billion worth of exports. That's from coal alone, let alone other resources that that the Greens want to shut down. But anyway, your listeners probably want to hear something a bit more positive than me banging out on the on the Greens, and indeed, Labor, their mobile blackspot pork-barreling, and there are some good things to look forward to.
You mentioned Tumbatrek, that's fantastic. You know, I've talked about the Junee Rugby League Carnival this Saturday. We've also got the Stronger Communities Programme open again, for those not-for-profit organisations around Tumut and up in the Upper Murray, elsewhere in your listening area, as well as right throughout the Riverina and regional Australia. That Stronger Communities fund is up, is open, grants between two-and-a-half and $20 000. It's 100 per cent of eligible projects for those not-for-profits and it provides little things like upgrades of netball courts or a photocopier for a scout hall, or upgrades of showground lunch pavilions, those sorts of things shade sails for you know, organisations that are NFPs, so, I urge and encourage people to look at that. It closes, expressions of interest close on the 20th of March, so it's not far away, and get in and your organisation funding for that little project that you've thought needs to be done for many years.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
And Michael a question that gets asked from time to time, if somebody's looking for assistance, somebody needs to talk to one of our local pollies, like yourself, like Kristy, like Steph from a State level, they're always welcome to contact the offices of our local government, aren't they?
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Of course. Yeah, there's always time for constituents and there's always time even if – and I appreciate Steph is busy campaigning at the moment. She's still, of course, doing ministerial duties and everything else because she worked so, so hard. And I know that Andriana Benjamin, and others, are working hard in the Wagga Wagga electorate, campaigning, as is the current Member, Joe McGirr, and good luck to all of them. But you know, make that call to that office if you want to talk to a pollie. I'm sure, as I can't always actually meet people face to face because there's only so many hours in the day, but I'll always ring people, when I'm in the car and driving around my huge electorate, which, if it were a country, would be one of the largest in the world. I still make the time to call constituents about their issues and I'm sure most members, Kristy included, would offer the same service.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Absolutely. And Michael, we must mention as well, a certain cricket match, before we go in Canberra. Just recently a fairly historic sort-of match that comes up each year.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Yeah, the pollies played the Press again. We took a few beatings there early on, when I first became a Member and Kieran Gilbert from Sky News always managed to score 50, and Andrew Probyn, now at the ABC, with always a match-winner with his in-seam bowling. But we've won the last few and we had our game there, on Sunday a couple of Sundays ago, and yeah, I managed to scratch a few together, top scored.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Yeah, top score.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
For the pollies anyway. I was pretty happy with that and only made 24, but it was a pitch resembling one of those Indian wickets that Australia's been getting into so much strife on. But you know, if you don't play silly sweep shots that don't lift your head, David, you can actually score runs. You can connect with the ball and it's an amazing thing.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
That’s right.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
We were pleased we won and Joey Dawes – like Ken Warby, there at one stage – he was Australia's fastest bowler, that is, and he took a hat-trick, so that helped us. So, he works for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, so it was a bit of a handy pickup to have him in the in the team because it's pollies and their staff versus the press and they have a few ring-ins too.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Of course. And of course, people wondering which match, this is the one where Bob Hawke had his glasses broken many years ago.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Bob Hawke had his glasses famously smashed and so – I don't know whether John Howard ever played, and, of course we all remember the terrible attempt at bowling when he was overseas on the military base, that he couldn't quite get the ball after a couple of tries down the wicket.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
That’s right.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
But, yes, this game is played annually and it's a fantastic day, gets the journos and the pollies together. And I have to say – and I know people give both lots of professions a bad rap, I've been in both camps –I must say, but I tell you what, that Mid-Winter Ball that the press put on with the pollies, that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars just about every year for charities throughout Canberra and beyond and it's a very, very good thing, particularly for mental health and those sorts of things. It's always been something that has been very welcomed by those charities which have received the funds very gratefully.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
And the Mid-Winter Ball, that's not that far away, I mean, we've got probably a few months to go Michael, but that's certainly on –
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Well, we’ve had the last couple in Spring, for one reason or another. COVID hasn't helped but –
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Yeah.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
It’s always been held. It's always been a good function and I have to say David Speers, and others, do very well to run that show and it's a great thing.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
My word. Michael, really appreciate you taking time out, particularly talking about our regional banking and our Blackspot program today, and, of course, encouraging people to put in the not-for-profits, our NFPs, for the Stronger Communities Programme.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Just ringing in. For those people in your area, ring Kristy McBain’s office, or ring my office I don’t mind, and just get the details on that. It's a good scheme and those little organisations scouts, CWA, you name it, they do a power or work – Rotary – and those organisations can really get some good things out of it. It’s a lot better than chook raffles in the pub on a Friday night, let me tell you.
DAVID EISENHAUER:
Oh, yeah, no. Some good dollars there for our community groups. Michael, thank you very much for joining us as always on a Thursday morning. Appreciate your time.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
No worries at all. Thank you, David. Have a good day.
Ends 9:56am