WEBVTT - Adam Bandt’s plans for the next parliament 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.080 All right, let's get into it. 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:02.680 I'm just going to see them just turning you up 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:03.600 and a little bit softer. 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:08.440 Sure, okay. Adam band is the leader of the Greens. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.840 If things go his way this weekend, his party could 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.360 hold the balance of power and a minority Labor government. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.160 But given the Prime Minister's famed hostility towards the Greens, 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.439 and given the Labor parties continual approvals on new coal 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.840 and gas projects, questions remain about whether they really have 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:25.800 any power at all. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:28.920 The reality is that there has been negotiations during the 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.279 course of the parliament, not only between the ministers and 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.960 our spokespeople, but also between myself and the Prime Minister 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.480 as well. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.960 From Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven am 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.479 today Green's leader Adam Bant. I'm working with Albanezi and 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.559 what the Greens have to show for their record win 0:00:49.960 --> 0:01:03.480 last time around. It's Tuesday, April twenty nine and thanks 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.200 for being here. I want to start with your electorate. 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.760 Bornerong Elder Uncle Mark Brown was heckled on Friday at 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.840 the dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance. What does 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.160 that tell you about the current political environment? We're in. 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:17.560 I think we see the rise of the far right, 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.680 and we've been warned about that for some time, and 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.720 why supremacists and afar right sadly have had a history 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.720 of organizing in Victoria in particular. We saw it during lockdown, 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.160 we saw the marching and gathering in the Grampians. We 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:39.040 have been warned about this and now it is sadly 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.160 you got to the point where they're feeling emboldened enough 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.920 to go and start speaking out in public and promoting 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:49.480 themselves and their knee and Nazis. And one of the 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.640 really concerning things I think is that Trump has opened 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:58.800 the doors for a potential legitimation of this kind of politics. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.360 And we've now got Peter Dutton weighing in as well 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.880 by attacking welcomes to country at the same time, like 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.240 in the same week. Is this within a few days 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.480 of this happening, And so I am worried. I am 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.120 concerned about it, and I think one of the things 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.040 that we need to do during the election campaign in particular, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.240 but beyond is call it out for what it is, 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.200 call it out for a creeping introduction of Trump style 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.359 far right politics into Australia. But also white supremacism and 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.240 neo Nazism on the rise and take all efforts that 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:33.840 we can to stamp it out. 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.960 Adam, I want to talk to you about your record 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.400 in this term. What goals did you set for yourself 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.760 at the start of this parliamentary term and what did 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:43.320 you achieve. 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.720 So the last election, our campaign was to get Morrison 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.520 out and push labor to go further and faster on 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.160 the things that matter. And as a result of us 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.359 being there, we've got an extra three and a half 0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:00.760 billion dollars for public and community housing money going out 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:01.040 the door. 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.120 Now there was never on the table before. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.480 Some greater protections for the environment through especially for water 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.639 for the Murray, and we got the right to disconnect. 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:13.600 We managed to. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:18.360 Get a hard cap on pollution put into the climate legislation, 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.600 which means pollution can't rise, and that stopped about half 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.919 of the colon gas projects in the pipeline. We've also, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.519 and I think more broadly politically, we've put renters and 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.959 first home buyers on the agenda. Going back to the 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.760 last election in twenty twenty two, Anthony Albernezi ran a 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.840 really small target campaign and they came up with these 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.280 really piecemeal offerings around housing, and we pushed and we said, look, 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.080 this is not going to fix the problem. There are 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.240 some structural problems with housing in Australia. Go back to 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.320 the nineteen eighties, three times the average income was the 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.600 price of an average home and now it's eight, fueled 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.000 by negative gear and capital gains tax concessions introduced by 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.920 John Howard, and so the question is how do we 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.760 unwind it. We got the government to the point of 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.120 modeling some changes on that and seeking advice from Treasury, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.320 so as well as some really practical things they're going 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.160 to make a difference to people. From the practical things 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.320 like building more homes and helping public housing tenants get 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.960 things like air conditioning and solar panels up through to 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.120 shifting the political agenda, we've had an impact. 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.200 You talked about the modeling that the government is doing, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.159 and that'd be around negative gearing. They've rulled that out 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.240 for this election. Do you great not being able to 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:37.520 manage to secure more. 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:39.840 They also said they were going to change Stage three 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.720 tax cuts. They made that a solemn promise and we 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.839 pushed and pushed and said, look, it's massively unfair spending 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.080 billions of dollars to give tax cuts of politicians and billionaires, 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:51.120 and we got the government to change it, and we 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:55.400 gave them credit for that. So I actually think, notwithstanding 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.160 everything that said during the election campaign, I actually feel 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.400 that if we keep pushing, pushing, we can get somewhere. 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.120 Would we have liked to have been able to get 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:08.919 more on reform on negative geering and capital gains tax, yes, yes, absolutely. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.039 But what we're doing this election is putting forward what 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.640 we think is a fairly reasonable and fair way of 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.600 unwinding of defusing John Howard's time bomb. So we're proposing 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.000 leave the current arrangements in place if you've got one 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:27.440 investment property in addition to your family home, but rule 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.520 it out for the future, so that from here on 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.960 in like, if you want to go and buy multiple properties, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:34.719 then no one is going to stop you, but don't 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:36.839 expect to hand out from the government to support you 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.680 doing it, especially when the effect of it is that 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.120 you're pushing up prices out of reach of first home 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:42.120 buyers and renters. 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.040 You had a record number of seats in this Parliament 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.159 and yet on a number of fronts you weren't able 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.440 to influence policy as you would have liked. One example 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.279 is late last year Anthony Alberinezi pulled the pin on 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.800 the Nature Positive Bill after the Environment Minister Daniel Plipacy 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.160 got very close to a deal with the Greens. Did 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.880 you learn about negotiating with the Labor Party and how 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.799 would you go about it differently next time. 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.120 I think what we've learned from that is that we 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:14.880 need more pressure in Parliament so that Labor does not 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.520 think that they can get away with doing a deal 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.560 with the Liberals to weaken our environment laws. And we 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.360 know that just mathematically, of course the numbers are there 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.839 if they choose to do it. We have to put 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:28.839 them in the position where they don't want to do 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.719 it and where they understand that they can potentially lose 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.680 seats if they weaken our environment laws instead of strengthen them. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.400 The Australian Conservation Foundation said, as a result of that, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.960 we end the term with weaker environmental protections than we started. Like, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.640 that's a pretty astounding place to be. I guess the 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:49.640 second thing I would say is that this is what 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.040 you get when you have majority parliaments, so they feel 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.719 like they can get away with anything, and with the 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.120 experts saying there's every chance of a minority parliament. The 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.640 experience of twenty ten is that that's when you can 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:01.719 get them to pay attention. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.400 FB Albanezi is famously no fan of the Greens. He's 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:11.040 antipathy towards your party is well noted. Do you think 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.840 that's a liability when it comes to getting things done 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:14.520 in the Parliament. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.360 We've got a situation now where less than a third 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.760 of the country votes for the government, more than a 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.960 third vote for the opposition, and about a third vote 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.880 for someone else, including the Greens. I think the next 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.840 parliament is going to be judged on whether it tackles 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.480 some of these big issues, the underlying issues of the housing, 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.440 cost of living, inequality, climate crisis, like these big forces 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:40.240 at work here, and if they don't, and bearing in 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:41.920 mind of course they're going to have to negotiate with 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.600 us in the Senate anyway, because there's no majority in 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.800 the Senate. Like, if they're not willing to do that, 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:49.560 I think they're going to be pretty harshly judged. 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.800 So how would you characterize your relationship with the Prime Minister. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.280 But it's professional and it's we talk and we have 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.160 the ability to discuss the legislation that's before the Parliament 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.960 and how we can managine and. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:05.560 Get it through. 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.600 So the reality is that there has been negotiations during 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.120 the course of the parliament, including not only between the 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.200 ministers and our spokespeople, but also between myself and the 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.720 Prime Minister as well. It has actually happened and it 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.360 has resulted in good outcomes for people. 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.160 Coming up after the break, Adam bands plans for the 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:40.200 next parliament. You have the goal of the balance of 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.040 power in a minority labor government. How many seats do 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:43.719 you think you can win? 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.160 Well, we've got four that we're the seat of Melbourne, 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.199 plus three in Brisbane that we're working hard to get 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.800 re elected in and taking nothing for granted in any 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.040 of those seats. And then there's another five around the 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:02.839 country that Will and McNamara in Melbourne, Richmond in New 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:07.000 South Wales, Stuurt in South Australia and Perth Over in WA. 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.080 There are all seats. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:12.760 Where we're within reachi of winning those seats. So that 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:17.640 I guess would be we'll see how many of those 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.800 go green on election night. 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.240 How many of those seats would you need to win 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.000 to consider the strategy success. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:31.480 I obviously like to increase the hold and increase. We're 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:36.280 facing this time not only the well resourced attacks from Advance, 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.440 but also Liberal and Labor. Though this is the first 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.720 election that the Greens are going in where we've got Liberal, 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.199 Labor and Advance all deciding that they want to come 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.320 and take seats off us because they've seen that we 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.760 actually believe in something different and they don't want that 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.520 in Parliament. So we're not underestimating the task that we've 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.880 got ahead of us. But yes, we would like to 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.400 hold our existing representation and increase. 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.720 So if you do increase your representation, what will be 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:04.480 your top priorities for the next term. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.960 So we've put forward what I think would be called 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:12.440 like a really clear social democratic platform. The basic principle 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.880 underlying our policy platform that we've released is not this 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.720 band aid approach from the others, not tinkering around the edges, 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:23.160 but saying in a wealthy country like Australia, everyone should 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:24.839 be able to afford the basics. We should all be 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.480 able to have housing, health care, education, they should be 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.400 guaranteed in a wealthy country like ours. So I think 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.880 it's a platform that Whitlam would be proud of We've 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.120 identified a number of areas that we think we could 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.000 get action on really quickly. One is winding back and 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.640 raining in those tax handouts to wealthy property investors that 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.600 are denying renters chance to buy their first home, building 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.040 more housing and capping how much rents can go up 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.920 by like they do in the AC team, so that's critical. Second, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.600 another area would be getting dental into medicare. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:00.760 Last time we got it in for kids. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:05.079 Some we want to get in for everyone, pre universal childcare, 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.000 starting to treat childcare like we treat primary school where 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.760 it should be free to go and are available to everyone, 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:17.240 any native forest logging and stopping the government from opening 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.240 new coal and gas mines. So they're the areas like 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.560 of course, will pursue all of our areas across our platform, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.000 but there areas we reckon we could get action on 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:27.960 within a few weeks or months. 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.040 And the Greens yourselves, you've been the focus of a 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.680 campaign by the lobby group Advance, which came to the 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:37.800 floor during the Voice referendum debate. How much impact are 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.760 they having on the political climate and the Greens chances 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.520 of winning additional seeks this election. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:47.520 Look the Advance of this shadowy organization funded by coal 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:52.559 billionaires and others who can see that there are days 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.960 of being able to continue to back new fossil fuel projects, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.199 accrue billions of dollars and get away with whatever. 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.760 They want are potentially coming to an end. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.840 They know that there's a realistic prospect of a minority 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:07.480 government after this election. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:09.319 I think the attacks are very. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:13.520 Thin, and I think people can see what's behind them. 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.320 That there's also I think a growing awareness of what 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.000 Advance in groups like it represent, that there is this 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:25.160 in fact well resourced network of groups of which Advance 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.199 is part, but they operate in other countries as well, 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.800 and their goal is pretty clear is to defend the 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.120 interests of their billionaire backers and their fossil fuel interests. 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.600 They know they can't say that outright, so they find 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.640 other ways of trying to do it. About my senses 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:41.800 that people are seeing through it. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.480 If the government is returned with a majority on SAT Day, 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:47.959 we see that as a rebuke of the Greens. 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:49.840 I think we'll have to see what happens. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.480 So there's too with the Greens and our presence in Parliament, 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.240 and of course we're going to continue to have a 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:59.520 big presence in the Senate. I think this move towards 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.679 having more third voices in Parliament is unstoppable as you 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:04.480 look at the polls that are out at the moment, 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.520 regardless of what happens about people's vote here. One of 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.640 the constants that is coming through is now one came 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.360 out over the weekend that said only seventeen percent of 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.520 people think that this election campaign has given them hope 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.640 for the future, and two thirds of people think that 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.200 neither of the major parties who are tackling the big issues. 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.240 And I think that that underlying sense that you've got 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.439 to tackle the big issues is going to persist. And 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.040 I think one of the lessons from Trump is that 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:37.200 where governments do not use their power to make people's 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.679 lives better by making big changes to things like housing, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.480 to things like cost of living, then along come the 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:49.280 hard right or sometimes even the far right, and they 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.800 use that disconnection and that dislocation and they try and 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:54.880 ferment it and try and use it to get themselves 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.599 into power. And I think whatever the composition of the 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.120 next Parliament, it's got to tackle those issues otherwise that 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.400 disaffection is going to grow. And I think that would 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.080 be a really dangerous place for Australia to be. 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.240 Adam, thanks so much for giving your time. It's such 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.200 a busy part of the election cycle. Thank you. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:14.880 I really appreciate it. Thanks. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.840 We've invited the Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi and the opposition 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.000 where that Peter Dutton, on the show to lay out 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.480 their visions for the country. We still hope to bring 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:41.400 you interviews with both of them. Also in the news today, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.440 the Albanesi government has released its election costings, was Treasurer 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.160 Jim Charmers, saying responsible economic management has been a feature 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.280 of their government. The Treasurer says labor has improved the 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.920 budget position by more than one billion dollars compared to 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.520 the pre election outlook, claiming the savings will offset the 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.840 cost of their election campaign can commitments. He comes after 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.520 SMP Global Ratings warned Australia's Triple A credit rating may 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.200 be at risk if election campaign pledgures result in larger 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:14.640 structural deficits, debt and interest costs. And a colonial inquest 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.000 is underway into the mass stabbing attack at a shopping 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.480 center in Bondai Junction one year ago. The five week 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.960 in quest at the New South Wales State Coroner's Court 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.520 will investigate the deaths of the six victims and the 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.400 attacker who was shot there by the police at the scene, 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.080 as well as the emergency response and adequacy of mental 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.600 health services. I'm Daniel James seven am. Thanks for listening.