HAMISH MACDONALD, HOST: Well, it is time to talk politics this Monday morning. Sam Maiden is the political editor for News.com.au, Susan Templeman is the Labor MP for Macquarie. Good morning to both of you.
SAMANTHA MAIDEN, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR NEWS.COM.AU: Good morning.
SUSAN TEMPLEMAN, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE: Good Morning.
MACDONALD: Lots in the news this morning about Lidia Thorpe, here’s what she had to say at a protest in Melbourne on Sunday.
[AUDIO GRAB]
LIDIA THORPE INDEPENDENT SENATOR FOR VICTORIA: So, we stand with you, every day, and we will fight, every day, and we will turn up every day and if I have to burn down Parliament House to make a point, and I am there to free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
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MACDONALD: Susan Templeman, your reaction to hearing another federal politician saying that sort of thing about Parliament House?
TEMPLEMAN: I think it’s appalling, this is a place where there are wonderful people working in there, even when politicians aren't found there, and to incite behaviour like that is completely out of order, and I think you’re hearing that across the board, I haven't heard anyone say ‘Yay, go Lidia’. It is just an appalling thing to say, right now we should be focused on thinking about how we support Gazans as they go back to their homes as we heard you talking about earlier. The UN says something like 95% of homes have been destroyed, so we have lots to do that can be productive and constructive, and that’s what I think Aussies should be focusing on.
MACDONALD: Sam Maiden the Opposition has been talking about possible penalties for Lidia Thorpe over this, what sort of measures might be available?
MAIDEN: Well, she’s been excluded from Parliament before, I think that the government is in a bit of a bind because from their perspective I think Tanya Plibersek said the quiet part out loud this morning on Sunrise when she said ‘We don't want to give it extra airtime’. So, their concern is that this is a bit of a pantomime from Lidia Thorpe, obviously the comments need to be condemned but from their perspective, in terms of if you want an explanation of why perhaps they haven't been as full throated as the opposition says they should be, is because they don't want to give Lidia Thorpe any more attention than she's already getting for making this sort of incendiary claim.
MACDONALD: Is there some truth to that, Susan Templeman, that it’s a sort of deliberate dulling of the response from the government?
TEMPLEMAN: I think we’ve seen in the past that often the real inflaming and flaring of a message comes because someone wants to talk about it after the event and so I agree with Tanya, and I think you’ve heard just about every politician talk about it in these terms from Labor’s side. We’re not back in Parliament for a couple of weeks, could we not spend our time doing something really productive and constructive in the Parliament when we are back there rather than revisit something that we all consider totally inappropriate, a really appalling comment, and not in sync with what anyone else in the Parliament is saying.
MACDONALD: It’s ten minutes past nine you’re listening to Mornings on 702 ABC Sydney; it is 18 degrees in Parramatta at the moment. I want to talk to you about gambling and the relationship between politics, politicians and the gambling industry. Senator David Pocock has been banned and then subsequently reinstated to the Parliamentary Sports Club after raising concerns about connections to the gambling industry, now here’s David Pocock on Friday explaining his position, saying many Australians are concerned about the links between gambling and sport.
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DAVID POCOCK, INDEPENDENT SENATOR FOR THE ACT: Particularly in the context of gambling, where we have the vast majority of Australians wanting a ban on gambling ads, you've got a parliament and government that hasn't done that, and then people learn well actually even Parliamentary Sport is being leveraged by the Gambling Industry.
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MACDONALD: So, Sam, can you help us understand what's going on here. Why is the gambling industry involved with the Parliamentary touch footy side?
MAIDEN: I think it’s called soft diplomacy. Funnily enough, I did see David Pocock walking into parliament when I arrived this morning, in his gym gear so he's definitely working out but possibly not with this crew. It’s just a very weird one to be honest, I don't think there's anything surprising that lobby groups use all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to get in front of politicians, so I don't think we should be surprised at that. Really strange thing is basically the fact that because David Pocock raised some concerns about this in Senate Estimates that basically the guy who runs this club has kind of lost his mind I think and sent him all these emails going ‘That’s it you can’t play with us anymore’. I would’ve thought that ...
MACDONALD: So, what is the relationship though, between, like they sponsor the club is that how it works?
MAIDEN: So, they're putting in money, why they need that much money for a couple of middle-aged men and women to run around at 6AM in the morning I'm not a hundred percent sure. They do sponsor it, and they're sort of running it. I don't know, it’s got big kind of Canberra bureaucracy vibes, doesn't it? This bloke that runs the thing sent David Pocock this deranged letter, anyway its completely backfired on them, they look insane, now they’re telling him he can come back. Allegra Spender’s basically blown up and said she wouldn't want to be a part of it because it breaks her heart that any sort of involvement in gambling in this sort of stuff, and I don't think David Pocock will be like busting a gut to rejoin so they’ve really made themselves look like complete dills really and I don’t really understand any of it, it all just seems very strange.
MACDONALD: Susan Templeman, have you got any involvement with this club, do you think it’s appropriate that it’s sponsored by the gambling industry?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, this is where I confess that I am not one of the Members of Parliament who gets up at six in the morning and goes and plays sport. I haven’t done it. I’ve been in parliament nearly a decade and I’ve not once taken part in any of their activities, so I don't feel like I’m an expert, I much prefer to do band practice on a Tuesday night with Tony Burke’s ‘Left Right Out’ band.
MAIDEN: Oh my god, you’re letting the secrets out now.
(laughter)
MACDONALD: Have you got a sponsor Susan?
TEMPLEMAN: We don't need a sponsor, we fund ourselves, we’re very self-sufficient.
MACDONALD: Okay, but are you comfortable with parliamentarians being sponsored to play sport in the morning by the gambling industry? Does that sit well with you?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, I don’t actually know what’s involved and exactly what it’s for so I really don’t feel I’m in a place to comment but what I think is wrong, you know, MPs who want to exercise should be able to do that in an environment that ... what I see when they come back in the doors sweaty from being out playing is that it’s really non-partisan like you see Labor people talking to Nats and Libs and Independents and I’m sure it is a great relationship developer, how it works I don’t know and that is probably something for the members to have their views on. David should be entitled to his views on it and in no way should he be turfed out and certainly I don't think the pollies would be keen to be losing one of their best competitive players when they go up against the press gallery for instance.
MACDONALD: Maybe they would be pleased to not have to play against David Pocock perhaps. Sam Maiden you had a story in the paper yesterday about the Prime Minister being on a short holiday, what’s the deal? I read that he hasn't actually had an overseas holiday since 2022.
MAIDEN: Listen to you, you’re already full of sympathy for the poor man just trying to have a tropical holiday to a luxury destination. So, look the backstory is this, Anthony Albanese is sometimes accused of being ‘Airbus Albo’ by his opposition critics but certainly not for taking holidays. He clearly appears to be the hardest working man in showbiz because he doesn’t seem to have gone on any overseas holidays since he was elected, not this time around but last time around in 2022.
Now, I don’t know if there's ever been an Australian Prime Minister that has had an overseas holiday since Scott ‘Aloha’ Morrison was busted in Hawaii during the 2019/20 bushfires that obviously blew into a huge situation and one of the reasons was because the government wasn’t particularly upfront about where he was or the fact he was overseas, now this is where this gets a little bit interesting with Anthony Albanese because his office put out a statement on Saturday saying that he was on leave, it didn't actually explain that he was out of the country, and that Richard Marles would be the acting Prime Minister, so far, so good.
I’m told (although I didn't get the briefing thank goodness, just like last time in Hawaii), that the Prime Minister's Office may have spoken to some select media outlets and basically said again, he’s going on holidays but not actually explaining he was going overseas unless they were asked in which case they said ‘Yes he is going overseas but please don't reveal that or don’t say where he is’. Now I basically got a tip off from some delightful Australian tourist/travellers who saw him on a plane to a location that I won’t reveal, and I’ll explain why in a minute and dobbed him in, well not really, they were just chortling a bit that he was in economy with Jodie Haydon his fiancé and bride to be and that they were joking that they should send some fancier champagne up the back of the plane for the Prime Minister. So the interesting thing is that the Prime Minister’s Office has asked us, and we did agree to this, to keep the location secret for security purposes. He is over there with an AFP security detail like Prime Ministers have to travel with that, so while the trip is privately funded, there will be substantial cost to taxpayers because the AFP has to travel with him. So that’s the backstory and when he gets back on Saturday or Sunday, all will be revealed about his preferred tropical location.
MACDONALD: We will look forward to it. Susan Templeman and Sam Maiden, thank you very much indeed.
MAIDEN: Thank you.
TEMPLEMAN: Thanks, see you later.
ENDS
