Senator Dean Smith Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury Liberal Senator for Western Australia TRANSCRIPT – ABC DRIVE WITH GARY ADSHEAD Topics: Federal election; cost-of-living; antisemitism; Greens housing policy E&OE GARY ADSHEAD: Without further ado, let’s get down to it. It’s the campaign. Of course, we’re all watching with interest as the Federal politicians go out there and make us promises that they don’t want us to refuse. But there’s lots of debates that go on when these election promises come up. There’s also side issues. The government of the day still has to deal with things. And of course, the Coalition has to continue to hold them to account. So let’s get into some of the issues. In the studio with me I have Senator Dean Smith, WA Liberal Senator. Thanks very much for coming in, Dean. DEAN SMITH: Good to be here, Gary, and happy New Year to you and ABC listeners. And, of course, to Patrick as well. GARY ADSHEAD: Patrick’s there. He’s listening right now. Patrick Gorman is the Member for Perth and, of course, the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister. How are you going, Patrick? PATRICK GORMAN: Very well, Gary. And I will also say happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to Dean. Happy New Year to all your listeners, most of whom will be voting a couple of times in the next few months. GARY ADSHEAD: Yeah, okay. I’ll start with that. I was going to start with Trump, but given that you’ve just said that Patrick and people can feel free to call through and have their say or ask you a question. Does it make it hard in terms of the state election and a Federal election? I don’t know the date. Dean Smith, you might not know the date. Patrick Gorman you might know the date. I’ll say April 12th. And so, we know that that’s like within a month, we’ve got two elections, the state and the Federal. Does that make it difficult for you to prosecute your messages? First up, Patrick Gorman. PATRICK GORMAN: Not at all. I think Western Australians love having their voice heard and they love having their voice heard on the national stage. So, a Federal election is the best way to do that. What we’ll do is we do what we do every Federal election, which is put forward our plans, put forward our plan to build Australia’s future and also point out some of the real problems with what would happen for Western Australia if Peter Dutton was to get the reins of power, including the massive blow that he would hit to the WA budget with his really aggressive cuts. GARY ADSHEAD: All right. Well, Dean Smith, your response to that. And first up, I mean, is it better or worse for you that you’re going to have a state election, which let’s face it, I’ll call it, I’ll say Labor get returned, maybe with a less of a majority, but Labor get returned here. Does that make it a problem for you? DEAN SMITH: Gary, I’m in your corner. I’m picking the 12th of April as well. I’m not a betting man. Perhaps by the end of the program Patrick might be able to let us know whether we’re hot or cold on the 12th of April as an election date. As we know, voting and elections are very important. They go to the heart of our democratic tradition in Australia. It’s an important and timely opportunity for West Australians to make a judgement. Do they think that Anthony Albanese is taking our country in the right direction, or is he taking us in the wrong direction? This is clearly going to be a cost-of-living election. I think that many Australians feel worse off under Labor, and that’s a very important point because Anthony Albanese, in Perth on May 2nd, two and a half years ago, said to people that they would be better off under Labor. And we know that is certainly not true. And then the developments over the last few months, with the rise of anti-Semitism, the threat that poses to not just the Jewish community, but the broader community in terms of social cohesion. I think that Australians are feeling worse off and less secure. GARY ADSHEAD: Patrick Gorman, on that. On the anti-Semitism. Obviously, there was a national cabinet meeting where decisions were made around databases and so on, but you would have a lot of Jewish people and members of the community in your electorate worried that the PM didn’t jump quick enough. I mean, we saw the example of when the synagogue got firebombed. You know, he was in Western Australia and there was a lot of criticism around that. Do you think, Patrick, that more should have been done faster? PATRICK GORMAN: I visited a synagogue in Perth with the Prime Minister while he was there, while he was in Perth on that visit, this government has provided some $57 million to improve safety and security at Jewish schools and synagogues, because what we know is that there is no place anywhere in Australia for anti-Semitism. It is a disgusting hatred that needs to be called out and stamped out. And I want to pay a particular thanks to our police officers who are working around the clock around the country at the moment, with both Operation Avalon, which is the special operation that the Federal government has set up, plus the work that the WA police are doing. New South Wales Police, Victorian Police, to make sure that people who are spreading this hatred, putting fear into communities, are brought to justice. That’s what I want to see, because it sends the strongest possible message to those who are trying to put fear into people for just being who they are. It is disgusting. GARY ADSHEAD: But should it have gone to that point where…
