E&OE TRANSCRIPT 2GB, RADIO INTERVIEW
TUESDAY, 28 JANUARY 2025
SUBJECT: COST OF LIVING, ELECTION
CLINTON MAYNARD: It is time for our Straight Shooters segment for a Tuesday afternoon. And look, we thought we'd do it a bit differently today because Chris Minns, the New South Wales Premier and the New South Wales opposition leader, Mark Speakman, they're actually meeting right at the moment to discuss the future of housing policy. They want to come up with some consensus, hopefully to try to solve Sydney's issues. So we thought, you know what we'll do? We'll get the two sides of politics together on the Sydney Now programme for a Tuesday afternoon, and try to solve the problems of the world. Holly Hughes, Liberal senator for New South Wales, joins me as she has been on Tuesday afternoons. Hello, Holly.
HOLLY HUGHES SEN: Hi, Clinton. How are you going?
MAYNARD: I'm good. And Susan Templeman, the Labor MP for Macquarie, on the programme today. Hello, Susan.
SUSAN TEMPLEMAN MP: Great to be with you, Clinton.
MAYNARD: See what we want to do. We want to do a big kumbaya session. And we want Labor and Liberal, I know it's close to an election, hold hands and to fix Sydney's problems. Is that possible, ladies?
HUGHES: Oh, look, I'm sure we can do it in about five minutes or so.
TEMPLEMAN: That's right. And I reckon there's heaps of overlap in so many of the issues that Holly and I both care about.
MAYNARD: Yeah. Look, I think we all care about power bills. And this has obviously been a big issue today because people are using their air conditioning. And sadly, we do hear about this. I hear about this from my listeners, particularly older people who will think about not putting their air conditioning on a hot day like today, because they're worried about the cost of power.
Now, Susan, at the last election, Mr. Albanese, your boss, made a pretty clear promise to bring power prices down by $275. Now, that was because of the switch to renewables. It didn't happen, Susan.
TEMPLEMAN: What did happen was power prices around the world actually went up. But what we did to compensate people a little bit and we recognised that only makes a bit of a dent in the bill is the energy relief. Now, this was something we didn't agree on with the opposition. They didn't support that extra energy relief, which this year is $300, that people are getting across their bills. But we're very mindful that a lot of factors are playing out. And ultimately there is more renewables coming online that will ultimately make a big difference to people. But we know it's tough, and I've been sending people to the government website, which is the energy made easy, because you can do a really easy comparison of your bill and look at who is going to give you the best deal.
MAYNARD: I have a feeling this is not going to be a kumbaya session overall because, Holly, you may have an opposing view.
HUGHES: Oh, very, very much so. Clinton, the $275 that was coming off your bills, we know, is a complete broken promise from this Albanese government. And what's important to remember with the $300 energy rebate, it's not really coming off your bills. The cost isn't coming down. What's happening is, taxpayers are funding a rebate off your energy bill and it's per residence. So for people that have multiple homes, they're getting multiple rebates all at the expense of the taxpayer. And I love when labor likes to talk about their race to renewables and their renewable policy, but they never mention the exorbitant cost of the new grid that has to be built that is currently absolutely bulldozing across particularly rural and regional Australia, as they have to build entire new transmission lines. We know that in the GenCost report that they so love to refer to, they actually treated these transmission line costs, which is going to be in the billions and billions of dollars, as sunk costs that they don't contribute to the cost of renewables.
MAYNARD: So how does that capital expenditure, Susan, how does that not put pressure on energy bills?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, no matter where you put new energy, there's always capital expenditure, whether it's a new nuclear power plant or a coal fired plant, you're going to need the lines, the poles and wires that get it to where it needs to be. But one of the most efficient ways to have renewables is on your roof. And New South Wales is miles ahead, really leading the world. We have the highest usage of rooftop solar in the world, and a million households have recognised that that is the one of the best things they can do to bring their bills down. And in fact, as I've been talking to people today in the heat, those who have solar panels are so grateful they've got them because they're not worried about the extra cost of their aircon. And one of the things we want to do is make sure that people who rent also have access to getting solar panels, and there's some great work we're doing with New South Wales, the Federal government and New South Wales to bring about these solar banks so that people who don't own their home can also get the benefit that homeowners can choose to have.
MAYNARD: I don't think we're going to solve and get consensus on energy policy before the next election, that's for sure. Susan, given the election is probably I think it'll be April 12th. You might disagree with me, but that's my tip. But given the election is not far away, you guys on the Labor side of politics must be concerned about the opinion polls. The Newspoll that was released this week shows the coalition has a 51/49 lead. Is Albo the problem here?
TEMPLEMAN: I think we know Australians are doing it tough and I think that, you know, you see how people are feeling gets reflected through conversations you have plus whatever data people collect. And it has been tough. It's been a really tough few years. We know that we're making some progress, but we know there's lots more to do. But we also know that had it been the other side in charge through this really difficult economic period, people would have been families would have been, on average, about $7,000 worse off because, you know, unfortunately, Holly and her crew, they voted against the tax cuts that gave families a bunch of support. They were against the cheaper childcare, against cutting medicines, against lifting wages. That's something that's not in their DNA.
MAYNARD: So Holly, $7,000 more, we'd be worse off.
HUGHES: This is a hypothetical, right. So this is based off some modelling that the Labor Party is desperately scrambled together to try and make the case, because every single Australian household, if you ask them the question, are you better off now than you were when the Albanese government was elected? Every single one of them would tell you no. Labor loves to talk about cheaper childcare. The reality is childcare is up 11%. Bulk billing rates have fallen. At the last election, Albanese went to the Australian electorate and said your groceries will be cheaper, your mortgage will be cheaper and we're going to take $275 off your energy bills and not one of those things has eventuated. And so the Labor Party is now scrambling, putting together hypotheticals, because I can tell you, there's a lot of things that this government has done that we would never have done in a million years that is adding significant costs. But it's this excessive government spending that is leading to inflation being higher for longer and the inflation stays sticky, home grown and high - that means your mortgages are going to stay.
MAYNARD: Holly I think you'd probably agree the previous coalition government I think did a pretty good job during the COVID pandemic with keeping the economy on track. They kept a lot of people in jobs. There was a lot of spending to do that. But Scott Morrison also lost an enormous amount of personal support, and analysts will say they point to his drop in popularity as the reason the coalition lost the last election. Well, Susan, are you facing that same problem now? Because Albo is personal based on opinion polls, his personal opinion poll ratings are slipping. Is he going to go the same way as Scott Morrison because it's starting to look that way.
TEMPLEMAN: Well, what happens at the election will absolutely be up to every single voter in this country. And what I'm seeing in my community in the Blue Mountains, the Hawkesbury and the lower foothills of the mountains is that people are interested in hearing about solutions, you know, and healthcare is one of them. It's just not true, Holly's claim that bulk billing rates have gone down. They were in freefall when we came to government. We stabilised them and they've turned around. In my community, bulk billing rates have gone up as they have across New South Wales.
MAYNARD: Well, what are you what do you say about that, Holly?
HUGHES: Well it's wrong. Bulk billing rates have absolutely fallen since this government has come in. They are, and I'll have to double cheque the figures, but I think when we left office, they were at 88% and they're now around, in the 70s. So they have definitely fallen the number of bulk billing appointments that are available. So there has been a drop in bulk billing rates. And we know that people, when they're in a cost of living pressure and experiencing whether they can afford the out of pocket to the doctor, they're not going to be heading off when they maybe should, which is exactly what we want people to do early, get things pre-emptively or early, taken care of early intervention. And unfortunately, because of the lack of access to bulk billing doctors, people are either going to be putting it off or putting the pressure on the emergency department.
MAYNARD: I think whether it's hospital costs, bulk billing, what we spend on our medical care, our medical insurance, private health insurance or energy, cost of living is going to be and it should be the biggest issue in the lead up to this election.
Ladies. On a lighter note, some figures have been released that show Australians eat 50kg of chicken per year on average. Every single one of us. We're going to talk about favourite chicken shops in a moment. Do you have a favourite chicken shop, Susan?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, I have long been a purchaser at Springwood Charcoal Chicken, which was my go to when, you know, when it was my turn to cook. And I'm not a very good cook. But I'm very lucky. I've got a husband who cooks and he's a supermarket, uh, charcoal chicken fan. So yeah, we, shop around and sometimes to get the best price. But my personal favourite I pop into Springwood charcoal chicken. That's Springwood charcoal chicken.
MAYNARD: Holly, do you love going to a local chicken shop?
HUGHES: Well, we don't have one around us. So I must say with Susan, if I've got the kids with me and we're getting one, it's a bit of a it'll be a Coles special that we go over and grab a charcoal chicken. But if I am out, uh, particularly if I'm heading back from Bondi, there's one in Rosebay called Plumer Road, which is very good, and that's, if I can get a park out the front, I have been known to call in there.
MAYNARD: That is tricky though. Thank you Holly. Thank you Susan.
TEMPLEMAN: Thanks, Clinton.
HUGHES: Good afternoon.
MAYNARD: Susan Templeman. Holly Hughes, our straight shooters for Tuesday afternoon 131873.
