E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SUNRISE
MONDAY 29 JULY 2024
SUBJECTS: Cabinet reshuffle; Albanese Government response to High Court decision on immigration; Barnaby Joyce “bullet” comments; wind energy
NATALIE BARR, HOST: Well in other news Anthony Albanese has shuffled the deck on his cabinet, promoting MPs Malarndirri McCarthy and Pat Conroy while removing Claire O'Neil and Andrew Giles from their Home Affairs and Immigration portfolios. It comes after the controversy generated by the freed detainee saga, where the opposition called for both Ministers to be sacked altogether. Tony Burke will now take on both roles while O'Neil takes over housing and Giles picks up skills and training. For more, let's bring in NDIS Minister Bill Shorten and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Bill, is this an admission that your Government failed on immigration?
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Not at all. What we're doing is with Claire O'Neil moving to housing after the good work she's done in cyber security, and the three reports identifying all of the mess ups that Peter Dutton made, she's now going to be our lead spokesperson on housing. So that's - I mean, Claire will be great in that gig.
BARR: Bill, how can we be talking about mess ups from the opposition when there were clearly mess ups with immigration? The detainees were released, one fifth of them reoffended, 28 out of 153. Where was the application to return any of them to prison? Where were the ankle bracelets? Then there was the ministerial direction to get them back into, to get them back into prison. The rapists and domestic violence offenders used the ministerial direction to stay in this country. It was a failure on anyone's language.
SHORTEN: Nat, I didn't mean to interrupt your statement with any question there, the reality is it was the High Court who freed them. The High Court.
BARR: Yeah, and then what happened?
SHORTEN: Well, then what's happened is that we've put in place a regime to make sure that we can get these people back under control. Of course, what's happened in terms of the assaults is terrible, but the High Court after 20 years, turned the law on its head. The reality is, I wish that Peter Dutton had drafted stronger laws so the High Court couldn't find the loopholes.
BARR: Where were the ankle bracelets, Bill?
SHORTEN: Well, of course we need to set up new regimes of security. And that's what's happened. In terms of the of the reshuffle, which is what you've asked about, the other point I would make is that the Coalition, they're an opposition, but they've had no less than four reshuffles in the time that we've had one.
BARR: Bill, we had rapists and domestic violence offenders using a ministerial direction made by Giles to stay in this country. How was he a success?
SHORTEN: Nat, as much as I don't want to disagree with you, I have to disagree with you. Those ministerial directions were the same that were used under the previous Government. Now, if you want to talk about that, that's fine. I think it's dreadful what these ratbags did, and I'm glad that they're behind bars. I think it's shocking, but the reality is, the High Court
BARR: He put in direction 99.
SHORTEN: But the reality is, there were earlier directions which were put in place by –
BARR: So? That’s what they used.
SHORTEN: Sorry, that's what they used. Nat, that's your third interruption, mate. I'm just telling you the facts of the matter. The High Court, the High Court was the person who, were the people who changed the law. And then we've been trying to fix it up ever since.
BARR: We know. We know the High Court let them out.
SHORTEN: Thank you.
BARR: But it was your Government's reaction that people are angry about. If there was no problem, why are they reshuffling?
SHORTEN: Well, the reality is that in any government, you do eventually have a reshuffle. And what we've now got is this department is now going to be under one Minister. We're cleaning up the mess, which was creation of this sort of Frankensteinian Home Affairs department. And what we're finally doing is also setting up, bringing some new blood in and a range of other areas, due to the resignation of Brendan O'Connor and Linda Burney. And that has, and they were great, they're great ministers and I wish them very well. And Senator Carol Brown.
BARR: Okay, Barnaby. So according to this Government, there was no failure on immigration. Is that what you think?
BARNABY JOYCE, NATIONAL PARTY: What else could this guy have done, Adam Giles? What, robbed a bank, glued himself to the Sydney Harbour Bridge in peak hour, wandered off to Long Bay Gaol and let the let them all free to wander the streets? I mean, it was a complete fiasco. Why did this guy last so long? Why was he still there? And now to even say, oh, well, there's nothing to see here. Now stop interrupting me. He was doing a brilliant job. He was absolute genius. I mean, it's just not only shows that he was bad, it shows they don't accept he was bad. In fact, he wasn't bad. He was atrocious. In fact, he would get to the Olympics of atrocious Ministers. He might even get the gold. I mean, definitely getting the silver or bronze. He'd definitely be in the medal tally, there's no doubt about that. Now - and then they go and back it up. For them, Agriculture is the booby prize. It's now Julie Collins has got Agriculture. Murray Watts, he wouldn't have not, he would have taken the doormat with him as he ran out the door, they hate agriculture. And Tony Burke, I don't know why he's just - why not just make him the Prime Minister? He's got every other portfolio, by the looks of things. Malarndirri McCarthy, that's a good that's a good pick, right. So, I’m balanced. Malarndirri McCarthy good. Adam Giles catastrophic. And he's still there somewhere. He's still lurking around the background in the outer ministry. I mean, are you telling me there's no one better than Adam Giles. Are you telling me that he actually deserves to stay? I can't believe that, Bill.
SHORTEN: I reckon the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Adam Giles, would be a bit annoyed that you were blaming him.
JOYCE: Sorry.
BARR: Okay, Andrew. Okay.
JOYCE: What? Sorry. What's his name again? Um. He was such a, such a genius.
BARR: Let's move on. Barnaby -
JOYCE: What was his name again, Bill?
BARR: Andrew.
JOYCE: What was his name?
SHORTEN: It’s your rant, mate, it's up to you.
BARR: Andrew.
JOYCE: Give me, give me – what’s his name, what’s his name?
BARR: Let's move on, Barnaby. You're in the spotlight this morning after some comments you made at an offshore wind protest yesterday, likening an election vote to a bullet. Take a look at this.
JOYCE: [VIDEO] And the bullet you have is that little piece of paper. And it goes in the magazine called The Voting Box and it's coming up. Get ready to load that magazine. Go. Goodbye, Chris. Goodbye, Stephen. Goodbye, Albo.
BARR: Barnaby, do we need to be using bullets in the lead up to an election?
JOYCE: Well, I said that the - your ballot paper is the obvious, is the weapon you have. It shouldn't be a bullet. It should be the ballot paper; it should be the ballot paper and the ballot box. But I'll tell you what my best line was down there is this idea that wind towers have efficacy work and are environmentally beautiful is like saying that, you know, that the fertilizer capacity and the beauty of a dog turd on your lawn in the middle of the morning works as well. And so, you know, wind towers are like dog turds in the ocean, dog turds on your environment. They're absolutely disgusting. Nobody wants them.
BARR: But the language, though, using the word bullet.
JOYCE: That's the issue that people don't want them.
BARR: We just had an assassination attempt in the US. Do you think it was a good idea to use the word bullet?
JOYCE: I didn't, I didn't, I didn't - I said a ballot paper and a ballot box. I mean, that is what people should be using. If people want to say, oh, well, it's actually working, what they're doing is they're cutting through. People don't like these wind turbs out in the ocean or all over their environment. Find something, find a fence, run out and find a fence. Well -
BARR: Bill, are you – okay, Bill are you concerned about this language?
SHORTEN: Yeah. Barnaby obviously feels very passionately about wind towers, but I think that if he had his time again, he shouldn't be using the metaphor of bullets and magazines. There's enough words in the English language, although I wouldn't have necessarily used the floating doodoo that you just did then, but, um. Barnaby, I reckon sometimes in politics, mate, we speak first and because our passions take over, smartest call here would be just to say, apologize for using that metaphor because we've just had the Trump assassination attempt.
JOYCE: Okay, here we go, here we go. I apologize for using that metaphor. I've done it on Sunrise. Now tell me Mr. Giles is a good minister again.
SHORTEN: He'll be a great skills and training minister.
BARR: Okay, okay, we'll leave it there. Thank you, gents. See you next week. Here’s Shirvo.
MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: And they are just some of the leaders of our country. There you go.