E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SUBJECTS: Official opening of Sorell Services Australia centre; population growth in Lyons; salmon farming policy; Labor’s electoral hopes in Tasmania
BRIAN MITCHELL, MEMBER FOR LYONS: Well, good morning. I'm Brian Mitchell, the Federal Member for Lyons. I'm here with Bill Shorten, the Minister for Government Services and the Federal Labor candidate for Lyons, Rebecca White. It's fantastic to be here in Sorell this morning on a very bright and sunny day, a little bit windy. But to see a 2022 election promise come to fruition. It seems like just yesterday that Bill and I were digging a hole right on this site. I think it was about nine months ago, digging the hole for this site, for this new Services Australia Centrelink building, and here it is fully operational servicing the people of Tasmania.
We're talking about maybe up to 200 people a day coming through here. It is such a popular place to come and get your fully serviced Centrelink issues and saves that drive to Rosny, which previously had to happen. So, I'm very pleased, as the outgoing Federal Labor member for Lyons to have this as a lasting legacy from the 2022 election to see this fully built, and I'm just so proud of it. So, Bill, I'll hand it over to you.
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: All right. Thanks, Brian. Hey, good morning, everybody. It's fantastic to be here, to be here with our outgoing Member for Lyons, Brian Mitchell, and hopefully the next Member for Lyons, Bec White. It was actually in May of this year that Brian and I set the example for productivity in Tasmania and construction, when we turned the first sod, but this building has now been open for weeks. It's a marvellous example of cooperation between Tasmanian Government and National Government. So, we've got a Tasmanian government agencies here and Services Australia. What that means is they're getting now 200 visits a day.
It means that when you come and get credentialed for your federal benefits, you can also sort out your driver's license and all your state issues in one stop. At the moment, there's a team leader and five Services Australia staff and three Service Tas staff who are working here, and this is good news for the local area. You know, if you live on the Tasman Peninsula or in Sorell, you no longer need to have to go to Rosny. You've got a service right here. That saves time, you've got federal and state functions in the same office. This generated 27 construction jobs. Congratulations to Jebsen Builders, they have turned this around in our enviable construction pace.
But most importantly this is part of Services Australia’s 318 Service Centre network. We have co-location between our Sub-agencies and Services Australia offices with 100 different organisations across Australia. But this is actually the future. This is almost like an Australia centre where you can come at any level of government and just get all your bureaucratic stuff sorted out in one go if you don't want to do it online.
So, congratulations to Services Australia and the Tasmanian Government. But this is also a promise that Brian Mitchell lobbied before the 2022 election. We committed to do it. This is a promise made, it's a promise kept. And the winners are actually the voters of Lyons and the voters of Lyons at the next election have got a really, I think, straightforward choice. You can get Bec White, or you can get some Liberal.
The point about Bec White's candidacy is she's well known in the area. She will be a champion in Canberra. I've got no doubt that if Bec White is elected, you know the sky's the limit for what she'll accomplish on the national stage. But I also know that Bec is an absolute daughter of Lyons, and she will keep delivering just as Brian's done with the Sorell office. Maybe we won't get back to say a few words and we can take any questions people have.
REBECCA WHITE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LYONS: Well, thanks to both Brian and Bill, I feel very lucky to be standing here to join in the celebration of the opening of this building, which has been operating now for about four weeks here in Sorell.
As someone who lives in this community, I'm so proud to see the Australian Labor Government delivering to make sure that people who are in regional parts of our state can access government services close to where they live. Whether it's Medicare or Centrelink or Service Tasmania, to have highly skilled staff available here, to support people to access information so they can get the access to benefits that they deserve is so important.
We know that transport can be a real challenge for people. This is located on a road that's close to a bus centre. It's located close to shops. It makes it easy for people to get access to Centrelink, Medicare, or Service Tasmania. It's going to make a real difference.
It's these sorts of sensible investments in regional Tasmania that a Labor Government delivers that improve people's lives. And that's why I'm so excited to be a candidate standing for the federal election because these are the sort of real outcomes that I want to keep seeing delivered under a Labor Government.
JOURNALIST: I might ask you a couple if that's all right. How important is this facility given the exploding population of the area?
WHITE: Well, this municipality is growing at an incredibly fast rate. We have a lot of people who live outside of the main city centres, who need access to these types of services. Building this here makes it so easy for people to finally be able to walk in the door and get access to that face-to-face customer service. A lot of people don't have reliable internet. They feel uncomfortable about joining up online or having a look at these services to get the information they need through the internet. They want face to face human contact.
Building in this community meets the needs of a growing population, but it also addresses the fact that we have an aging demographic who feel more comfortable talking face to face with somebody and getting excellent customer service, which they now will be able to do here in Sorell.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried the uncertainty around salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour will cost you votes in Lyons?
WHITE: I'm focused on representing my constituency and representing the people of Lyons. I'm very open about my support for Tasmania's salmon industry, recognising that there is always ways that we can improve it, to make sure the community shares that certainty about how sustainable it is, and making sure that it's adapting to new changes in technology and innovation so that it's always having a good impact, both on the environment and our economy, and supporting jobs in regional Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: The PM visited on the weekend but didn't deliver any sort of existing long-standing certainty for that industry. Do you think, or hope, it went further?
WHITE: The Labor Party position is very clear. You've heard it from the Prime Minister. You've heard it from the Labor leader. You've heard it from me. We support the salmon industry here in Tasmania. It can co-exist with strong environmental regulations and sustainability, making sure that whether you're living on the coast or you're eating salmon products in a restaurant, you feel proud of the fact that Tasmania has a very strong industry that's well regulated. That's one of the best, if not the best in the world, delivering. [recording interrupted]
JOURNALIST: [recording resumed] Being pretty strong and putting this on Tanya Plibersek, you might join her in Federal Parliament if you win. Do you agree that she needs to come to the table and make a decision?
WHITE: I'm very sure that the Federal Environment Minister understands how important this issue is for Tasmania. I've spoken with her about it. I know the state leader has spoken with her about it. I'm sure the Prime Minister is speaking with her about it. She has responsibilities under the Act that she has to adhere to and she's doing that. I think we all have to respect those responsibilities rest with her.
But it's very clear what Tasmanian Labor and indeed the Prime Minister's view is about the salmon industry here in Tasmania, which is to support it, to support the jobs that come from it and to do it in a way that maintains our reputation as a producer of environmentally friendly protein.
JOURNALIST: Minister, just quickly, there’s been a full court press of Federal Ministers in Tasmania in the last couple of days. Murray Watt, you today, the Prime Minister on the weekend. What are your hopes for Tasmania at the federal election? How many seats can you win?
SHORTEN: I think that - no, I don't think, I know, and I believe that Labor's running outstanding candidates across Tasmania. I hope that people realise that federal Labor is the party for Tasmania. If you look at the investments we've made here since we got elected, we don't treat Tasmania as flyover country. The fact that you've noticed that the Ministers are visiting now, that's been a pattern of behaviour since we formed the Government in 2022.
You know, I've been visiting Tasmania since I worked on the Tassall insolvency and reconstructing that. Labor federally is very interested in what happens here in Tasmania. And we're committed to jobs in Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried the salmon issue will hurt the party in Tasmania?
SHORTEN: I think you find a lot of the developments of the salmon industry have happened under Labor governments. As I said, for me, salmon is not a, the salmon industry, is not a new issue. I got, when I was with the Australian Workers Union to work on the reconstruction, when Tassall was insolvent. So, I'm aware that Tasmania has carved a global brand in terms of, uh, the quality fish farming. And Tanya Plibersek will apply the law. As a general principle though, federal Labor is very committed to the salmon industry and to the jobs that it brings with it, to the livelihoods it creates and to the important domestic and mainland industry which salmon farming supports.
JOURNALIST: It's not just the salmon farmers, it's the Robbins Island wind farm and the tailings dam. Are these environmental decisions are going to impact on your chances that the federal election?
SHORTEN: Governments get elected because they make the right decisions. Tanya Plibersek is an outstanding minister, and she'll be guided by the evidence. And we understand how fundamentally important getting the balance right in Tasmania is. But we understand the importance that, there's no point in having an island, which is pretty to visit if there's no jobs here. So, we are pro-jobs. And, you know, that's just a fundamental, sort of in the DNA of federal Labor, the jobs in Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: Just one question again on the NDIS, which we spoke about this morning. Do you have a bit of a heavy heart announcing all of these reforms and then seeing them being followed through by another Minister, not being there to be able to do it yourself?
SHORTEN: I'd have a heavier heart if the Coalition won. No, that's – you get a chance to serve, and you want to, you know, as the saying goes, in every unforgiving minute, have 60-second of race hard run. So, the last 930 days we haven't wasted.
I think that we've been able to get, frankly, a degree of bipartisanship. The Liberals know they couldn't fix up the NDIS. You know, they sort of had their crude smash and grab raid on the Scheme, and they were pretty hopeless at it. But the Liberals have supported our reforms by and large.
If you want to have a good NDIS, you've got to have a Labor Government. We're setting it on the right trajectory. We're making sure the money gets through to the people for whom the scheme was originally intended. We're clearing out the shonks. But the NDIS, like much of our public life, it's a bit like painting the Harbour Bridge. Once you're finished, you just start again. So, there'll be other Ministers will come after me and they'll do a great job too. I'm really pleased, though, in this term of government, I genuinely believe that we are giving it a chance to survive so that future generations can have the NDIS. That is a Labor accomplishment. We created it. Now we're fixing it. Thanks everybody.