We love to have a chat to the Shadow Minister for Immigration, Paul Scarr, and we call it Canberra Conversations. Very happy to say he joins us on the line. Morning Mate.
Tim Webster
Good Morning Tim. Great to be with you and your listeners.
Tim Webster
Back to work today. Big day, 10am to 8pm!
Senator Scarr
Absolutely. Well, it’s a big day today, and it’s a big two weeks, so we’ve got two weeks of sittings.
Tim Webster
Okay. Two weeks of sittings, and the PMs not there. We do have to say, and pretty much everyone’s saying it, even from your side of politics. We were expecting that maybe, our Prime Minister would get a bit of a dressing down from Donald Trump. But it didn’t happen, and it was all pretty successful.
Senator Scarr
It was a very good meeting, and I think it just reaffirms how close our relationship is with the United States, and has been for decades and decades. So there was some really positive things to come out of the meeting. The reinforcement of AUKUS, that really important defense treaty with the United States and the United Kingdom. Also the critical minerals strategy, which means there’s a real opportunity for us to work with the United States to make the most of the critical minerals deposits we have across Australia. So that’s a big tick. I would have liked to have seen more movement on tariffs. The UK has gotten some good tariff deals in relation to its steel production. It would have been good to have seen that for Australia. But overall, Tim, you’re right, it was a very productive and positive meeting. That is a good thing.
Tim Webster
I use the word sexy, I suppose, you know, ASEAN, after that doesn’t seem as important, but I need to stress, and I’m sure you do too, how very important ASEAN and APEC are for us in this region.
Senator Scarr
Absolutely and we’re here in the Asia Pacific region, and these are our closest neighbors. This is our backyard and these meetings are really, really important. So the Prime Minister needs to be there and again, we want to see positive outcomes from those meetings.
Tim Webster
Now, Paul, everyone’s been at your side of politics, me included, and Chris Smith and everybody else in the media about Net Zero and coming up with some sort of a platform, a policy on net zero, and we’re told that’s in the works and will we hear that this week?
Senator Scarr
Absolutely, I can bet there’s going to be more than one!
Senator Scarr
Well, there’s going to be more discussions in Canberra this week, but I think it’s important to note that there’s some foundational principles. There’s some fundamental principles which we’ve already agreed on. Priority One is to have affordable, reliable electricity for the benefit of all of your listeners, for consumers and also for business and second, to do whatever we can to bring down a emissions, so those fundamental principles have already been agreed. We’re having further meetings this week, and in particular, on Friday, there’s going to be an opportunity for everyone to say their piece.
Tim Webster
Yeah, well, that’s good. The most vocal critic of net zero, and of course, all of the drama associated with him and where he’s going is with Barnaby Joyce. Where do you reckon he’ll be sitting this morning?
Senator Scarr
I don’t know. Feel free to give him a call mate and get him on your show. I don’t know. I’ll leave that to Barnaby.
Tim Webster
I wonder whether he’d be looking at his mobile today and seeing how many calls he gets. You can bet can’t you Paul, that a television camera is going to be pointed at that side of the house and see where he is. That’s for sure.
Tim Webster
These two policies, and they are important. I mean, tax cuts is certainly very important as is industrial relations. Is that an appeal to younger voters from the Coalition?
Senator Scarr
I think it’s an appeal to everyone, Tim. I think it’s basically setting our direction and reinforcing our basic values as the Liberal Party, and we’re a party who stands for rewarding effort and encouraging enterprise and it doesn’t matter if you’re in a startup business, you’re a young person setting up your first business, or if you’re running a family business that you’ve had for three generations. We’re all about supporting people who are out there having a go, running a small business, starting a business up, and we want to make sure they’re rewarded for their effort and that means lower taxes, and it means getting the Government out of the way. When I move around, so many people talk about the red tape, the green tape, whatever tape that is just is making their life harder. We’ve got to make it easier for people who are out there starting a business and employing Australians. Remembering that millions of Australians are employed by small business.
Tim Webster
They are. It’s still the biggest employer in the country by a very long way. Now your portfolio and putting the Government under the blow torch, and you’re there for a couple of weeks on Immigration, Paul and, you know, on this radio station and others, and in the media, in the papers, you name it, it’s one of the big subjects, what do we do about this. It is mass immigration and too many people coming into the country, not providing us with too much in the workforce context.
Senator Scarr
Our immigration policy needs to be focused. Two thirds of our immigrants need to be focused on providing the skills that we are short of, so we can build more houses, more trades people. I had a meeting with the Master Plumbers Association in Queensland, and they told me that we are 8000 short for plumbers in Queensland. It’s extraordinary. So we need to make sure that our Immigration policy has the right settings, and that the people who are coming into this country are doing the things which we need them to do, and they’re doing it in the right places. So in particular, our regions are screaming out for people with skills.
Tim Webster
Well, do us a favor. Give it to them in the Parliament about that this week will you?
Senator Scarr
Okay mate. No problem.
Tim Webster
Good to talk to you. Thanks. Paul.
