Joining you now for Canberra Conversations is Senator Paul Scarr, Liberal National Senator for Queensland, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Senator Scarr, you’ve had a pretty big week in Parliament. Thanks for joining us.
Senator Scarr
Great to be with you, Cheralyn and great to be with your listeners. As always!
Cheralyn Darcey
We’ve got a lot on the table tonight, but I’m going to get the big one out of the way first, because it’s something that concerned me greatly. In Parliament this week, you spoke strongly about the racist material targeting Australians of Indian heritage. Senator, what impact do you think this sort of rhetoric has on our multicultural harmony in Australia?
Senator Scarr
This causes me great concern, because when we’re talking about issues like Immigration, and we should have open, respectful discussions about immigration, that’s absolutely inappropriate, and I’ve said that, and I’ve previously spoken about, in my view, the failure of Government to appropriately plan at all levels in terms of making sure we’ve got infrastructure, housing supply, etc. And I’ve also spoken about skill shortages that we have, especially in regional areas. So these are issues that we have we should be discussing, but it’s so important we do it in a respectful way, which treats everyone equally and with dignity and with respect. I was terribly concerned and dismayed when I saw a pamphlet that was released prior to the rallies that are proposed to take place on Sunday, which singled out our Australian Indian community. And I was contacted by a great number of people from the Australian Indian community, who were really distressed about it. These are groups I’ve worked with since becoming a Senator. I’ve seen them raise funds to help rural communities recovering from drought. I’ve seen them raise funds to help people subjected to floods. I’ve seen them reach out to people in the community in need during the Covid 19 Pandemic. And I feel very strongly that we need to make sure when we have these discussions that needs to be done in a respectful way.
Cheralyn Darcey
How do you believe that leaders political, community and media should respond to pamphlets like this that have this sort of language in it, and also to rallies like the one planned this weekend, Senator?
Senator Scarr
I think when you’ve got any part of the community that’s in distress because they feel as if they’ve been singled out. They feel as if they’ve been attacked. I think it’s really important, whoever it is, that people in positions like I have make a public statement and provide them support. And really important for people generally in the community to give their fellow Australian support in their time of need. So I think this is a really important point. And again, I want to emphasize when we have the debates in relation to Immigration, and it’s important in all areas of public policy, we need to have debates. We need to make sure that the views of the Australian people are heard. It needs to be done in a respectful way to make sure no part of the Australian communities singled out.
Cheralyn Darcey
The Australian post suspension is something weighing on a lot of people’s back pockets. I can tell you, with small business I see it. I buy things online from a lot of Australian businesses, and all week, my email box has been filled with concern and messages saying we can’t post to the US or Puerto Rico anymore. What sort of concerns have been raised with you in your position by businesses and individuals affected.
Senator Scarr
I have received concerns from the public, and I think many businesses in particular are being impacted. So what this is all about is the US administration has imposed tariffs, general tariffs, on Australia at a rate of 10% and so Australia Post is saying, well, we can’t send deliveries to the United States if the value of those deliveries is greater than $100, So they’ve just suspended all postal deliveries to the United States. Now, obviously it’s going to have a huge impact on small businesses that are exporting to the United States, medium sized businesses, people sending gifts, etc, to loved ones in the United States. So at this point in time, Australia Post has just suspended those deliveries, and one hopes that they come up with the new system to enable that trade, those deliveries to recommence as soon as possible. Because it really is important.
Cheralyn Darcey
is this a solution that needs to be something coming from the Government? Do they need to step in to do something to minimize this damage to Australian small business?
Senator Scarr
Well, in my view, the Government should be liaising very closely with Australia Post. Australia Post is an independent entity, so it’s got its own board of directors who are responsible for the day to day management of Australia Post, but certainly I think the relevant government minister should be applying pressure, if I can put it that way, or oversight of Australia Post to make sure they introduce the systems as quickly as possible to allow that flow of mail to recommence. I think it’s really important.
Cheralyn Darcey
Senator, a hot topic at the moment with my listeners is the Thriving Kids Program and NDIS Reform. The Government has announced the Thriving Kids Program. You’ve called for more detail and consultation. What are the Coalition’s main concerns at this point?
Senator Scarr
Well, just to give you and your listeners some background in relation to this. There’s obviously been quite a bit of ongoing debate with respect to the financial sustainability of the NDIS Scheme, which was originally established to provide support to people suffering from permanent and significant disability over the course of their life. So it’s a very important scheme, and there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who are currently accessing that scheme. One of the issues that has evolved is that children under the age of eight with mild developmental issues have been accessing the scheme, and the question is whether or not children with mild or medium developmental issues, very young children, should be accessing the supports they need through the NDIS or through another scheme. And the Government this week announced the Thriving Kids Program to put children suffering from a mild or medium developmental disorder under the age of eight onto the proposed Thriving Kids Program. So the intent is to divert children from the NDIS to this Thriving Kids Program so that the support which is provided to them is more bespoke, fitting their circumstances, and the NDIS becomes more sustainable. So that’s the intent. However, there’s been a lot of concern raised by parents with children suffering from autism as to what it means for the care which their children are currently accessing and may access in the future. So what the Coalition says, and I think what all fair minded Australians would say, is that it’s really important to involve the stakeholder groups that represent parents with children suffering from autism and other developmental disorders, really important to involve them in the design process. Really important to keep the families up to date with what’s happening, because you don’t want and I’ve had families contact me in distress as to whether or not they’re going to lose support, they’re going to lose services, etc. So there is fear and uncertainty out there. So it’s really important that the government engages with the families and with the relevant organizations that represent their interests to make sure that there’s that flow of information. And as the government develops this Thriving Kids Program, it’s got input from the families of children who are impacted.
Cheralyn Darcey
We’re talking about families with this affects everybody. Energy Policy is back on the table. Is it ever off the table? I don’t think it is. Households are facing power bills of up to $1,300 higher than what Labor promised us. What do you see as the root cause of this energy crisis, Senator?
Cheralyn Darcey
Absolutely it’s hard for them to manage. And then the knock on effect, of course, is they have to pay for it, so they end up passing it on to us. So our cup of coffee, or our our Mince Meat from the butcher or whatever it is, costs more. And most of that, I’m sure, these days, is because of this high energy price, it just rolls on and knocks on. It’s like never ending.
Senator Scarr
Well, I think we’ve got to we’ve got to come back to the policies of the current Labor Government. They promised the Australian people before the 2022 Election that the average electricity bill would actually decrease by $275 by 2025 and what we found is that’s quite to the contrary. The average electricity bill is now up $1,300 rather than going down $275 it’s in fact gone up on average, by $1300. So the policies the Government has in place now, including their All Renewables Policy, simply isn’t working in terms of delivering electricity to households and also small businesses and medium size and large businesses at a cost effective rate. Whenever I go and visit small businesses, and it’s everything from your local cafe to the local butchers to the local independent supermarket, they talk about the costs of electricity and the costs of gas, and it is quite crippling, especially for a business that needs to meet all of their regulatory burdens. And I think we’ve spoken previously about those burdens small businesses have to shoulder. And. It’s, it’s quite difficult for them to actually manage at this point in time because these high electricity prices.
Senator Scarr
Exactly. So that’s why the Coalition has got a process at the moment where we’ve put together a working committee of Senators and Members representing all parts of Australia, both rural and regional, parts of Australia, urban parts across all the different portfolios, they’re coming together under. Dan Tehan is one of our most experienced Shadow Cabinet Ministers to develop the right policy mix for us to take to the next election. Now, that takes time. That is going to take time because it needs to be based on the best available evidence, and we need to come up with a cogent plan. But at the moment, the Government’s current plan simply isn’t working, and your listeners are seeing that every day.
Cheralyn Darcey
Absolutely, and the Government’s really focused on separating the Australian energy regulator from the ACCC. Why do you believe this is the wrong policy?
Senator Scarr
Well, it’s just window dressing. It’s just window dressing. I mean, you’re shuffling the bureaucratic agencies, right? That isn’t going to bring down anyone’s electricity bill. So what we say is you’ve got to focus on the core of the problem and work out how we can deliver reliable base load energy at the cheapest cost for Australian families and Australian businesses. That needs to be the focus. And that needs a laser like focus, and this sort of bureaucratic shuffling of agencies, in our view, isn’t the main game. The main game’s delivering cheap electricity for the Australian people.
Cheralyn Darcey
Absolutely. Senator Paul scar, thank you so much for joining us for Canberra Conversations.
Senator Scarr
Great to be with you again.
