E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: Middle east conflict; Negative gearing
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, it's a big question haunting Anthony Albanese this week. Will he make changes to negative gearing? He says he's got no plans to overhaul his housing policy, despite confirming Treasury has done some modelling on the issue. For more, we're joined by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in the studio. G'day, Pete. And Bill Shorten joins us from Melbourne. Good morning, guys. Nice to see you, Billy. First up to you, have we got a concrete plan yet to get Aussies out of Lebanon this morning? It looks just a terrible situation there.
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: It's a terrible situation. I feel for all Australians of Lebanese heritage and I feel for all Australians of Israeli and Palestinian heritage. Short answer is that the Government has been working on contingency plans, but I've got three words of advice for people in Lebanon. Get out now. You don't know if that airport's going to be shut.
STEFANOVIC: Yeah, that's right. Pete, you were pretty vocal on this issue, on the wider issue as well yesterday.
PETER DUTTON, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Well, Karl, I just think the Government has an obligation to provide support to Australian citizens, but at the same time, we need to be cognisant of the fact that we're bringing people out of an active war zone area and not everybody has good intent. So, whilst the vast majority will, we need to make sure that our security is paramount and that the Government's doing the right cheques on people that they're bringing into Australia.
STEFANOVIC: All right, let's move on. Negative gearing. Billy, I'm really sorry, you must have had a little bit of PTSD all week. You ok?
SHORTEN: I'm lovely. I'm at the Royal Melbourne show day 2, 11 days. Fantastic.
STEFANOVIC: Long week, though. You know that very detailed policy you took to the election and lost and then Labor grandfathered the policy and, hey, presto, granddad's still alive. It's a miracle, Billy.
SHORTEN: Well, the Prime Minister has been crystal clear it's not Labor's policy. We would like the Liberals to stop swinging, we'd like Peter Dutton, in fact, to stop swinging hands with Adam Bandt and delaying our housing policy to allow people to be able to buy into the housing market. It's all about supply, not about the tax policies.
STEFANOVIC: You're going to roll over on that, Pete?
DUTTON: Karl, just to show how clear the Prime Minister's position is, the four newspapers I've read this morning each have a different take on what the PM said yesterday. And that tells you that they are in a state of disarray, and I suspect the secret action here is actually from Bill Shorten. I think Billy has, I think he’s slipped the policy under the Prime Minister's door and the PM has woken up and he's brushed it off and he thought Bill was hopeless in 2019 and he could pull it off. I don't know, Bill, what's going on?
SHORTEN: Oh well, no, Pete, I think last night you heard a noise in the garden and you went out to check and it was Adam Bandt and the other pixies at the end of the garden giving you advice on housing. When are you guys gonna –
DUTTON: Another zinger.
SHORTEN: Is it Adam Dutton or Peter Bant?
STEFANOVIC: Hey, Bill, I just did want to raise this point. You did say at some point you would prefer to focus your attention on tax cuts, right? But members of your own party still won't let it go. Just rule it out.
SHORTEN: Well, I'm absolutely unaware and sure that we're not taking the policy to the next election. PM has already ruled it, made it very clear. So, you know –
STEFANOVIC: Hey, Billy, Billy. He hasn’t ruled it out. He hasn't ruled it out. He just said he's got no plans. Albo and the Treasurer, that they're willing to look at a plan even though they have no plans. Have you spoken to the PM about the plan to have no plan?
SHORTEN: No. And the point about it is, our focus is on supply. We'd really love the – this is the problem with the modern day Dutton opposition. They won't lead, they won't follow and they won't get out the way. Stop taking advice from the Greens. But I'll tell you one thing we would like to find is we've sent out search parties, we've got the tracker dogs out. Pete, where are those costings for your nuclear policies? And are you backing us on going after Coles and Woolies for not giving a fair deal to farmers?
DUTTON: I think a couple of points here. I mean, one is on the serious side. This will drive up rents and it will distort the housing market at a time when young Australians just have lost the dream of home ownership and twelve interest rate rises under this Government, they've brought in a million people over the last two years, only built 300,000 homes. So, it's no wonder that there is a housing crisis in our country and the Treasurer dumps the policy and then he jumps on a plane and lands it in the Prime Minister's lap. The Prime Minister hasn't ruled it out. This is the problem. And the Government doesn't know what they're doing. And I think the economy at the moment is suffering because interest rates have come down in the US, in the UK, Canada and New Zealand, but they haven't come down here because inflation's sticky.
STEFANOVIC: Billy. You can just rule it out. I mean, it's pretty simple. Just do that on our show this morning.
SHORTEN: Yeah. I'm very sure we're not taking our 2019 policies to the 2025 election. There you go.
DUTTON: Wasn't it, wasn't it Bill? There's that famous footage of Bill where he said, I don't know what the leader said, but I agree with the leader. Remember that? We can dust that off.
STEFANOVIC: I don’t think you should pick on Bill this morning. I mean, just because they, you know, Labor can be like a male praying mantis, you know, they know what they're in for, but they keep going back. You know what I'm saying, Billy?
SHORTEN: Listen, all I know about praying mantises, Karl, is there's 118 species. In ancient times they were the symbol of good luck, and they are sexual cannibals where the female, after upon copulation, takes out the male. But what that's got to do with Peter Dutton, I am really confused.
STEFANOVIC: You have turned into a weirdo, Bill. And we all kind of, we all kind of like it.
SHORTEN: You're the one who went there with us, Karl, I can't believe you are interested in the sex lives of stick insects.
STEFANOVIC: You know what? You gotta get through breakfast somehow. Three and a half hours a day.
DUTTON: That's a lot of detail to be keeping in your mind.
STEFANOVIC: He's got a lot of strange compartments.
SHORTEN: Mate, I’m the human encyclopedia.
STEFANOVIC: Thank you, guys. All the very best.
SHORTEN: I'm surprised Adam Bandt hadn't told you that?
STEFANOVIC: No, no, no. I'm sure that he's got different compartments too, Adam. Thank you, guys. Have a good weekend. Appreciate it.