Interview with Jacqui Felgate, 3AW

12 March 2025

JACQUI FELGATE: It is a political kind of day here on drive and it is the pre-election section. Joining me in the studio, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles. Good afternoon.

RICHARD MARLES: Good afternoon Jacqui, how are you?

JACQUI FELGATE: I'm well and on the line. Shadow Finance Minister, Liberal Senator, Jane Hume. Good afternoon Jane.

JANE HUME: Good afternoon. Jackie, good afternoon, Richard. I'm feeling very outnumbered today. Between the Prime Minister, the Premier, now the Deputy Prime Minister. I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch.

JACQUI FELGATE: An onion patch.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, two cats versus one saint.

JACQUI FELGATE: There are many ways to, many ways to break that down. Thank you both. Now, can I begin with you, Deputy PM. Obviously, I had the Prime Minister on less than half an hour ago, the US confirming there will be no exemptions on the 25% levy for steel and aluminium. Now the Prime Minister has called it, unprovoked and unjustified. You'd agree with that.

RICHARD MARLES: Well I do agree with that, and it's obviously a really disappointing decision. I mean, we've been obviously respectfully making the argument that it doesn't make sense for America that engaging in tariffs is an act of self harm. I mean, the point we've made all along is that obviously America has a trade surplus in respect of our two way trade, but to the extent that we export things like steel and aluminium to America, it supports American jobs, and so it would make sense for that trade to not have tariffs on there. But look, you know, we are very disappointed in this, but we will continue to make the argument. We will continue to diversify our trade here, which we're doing, we'll find new markets. But, you know, we shouldn't have to, but we will find new markets, and we'll continue to make the argument with America.

JACQUI FELGATE: You said that we will continue to make the argument respectfully. Are we showing them too much respect? Because Donald Trump doesn't appear to have much respect for Australia right now.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, I think what matters is, well what I think respect matters, obviously, but I think what matters is that you, you, you make the argument coherently and cogently, and that's what we're doing when tariffs don't make sense. They don't they don't make sense for the Australian economy. So we're not about to getting, go down the path of retaliatory tariffs. What we want is, is a trading regime that supports Australian jobs and Australian workers. So we're not about to engage in our own acts of self harm, but we will continue to make this argument to America. But look, I mean, the other point here is this is not unexpected. It is what they said they would do. They have implemented it across the board, in respect of every country. We've obviously been ready for this day, if indeed it came as I say, we've been looking at how we can diversify the trade and find other markets, and I'm sure that we will. But it is a very disappointing decision, and a disappointing decision in the context of our relationship with the United States.

JACQUI FELGATE: Jane, Peter Dutton has been saying that the Prime Minister should have flown to the US, at least, to have a crack at that those negotiations. Did we miss an opportunity there? Or do you think it wouldn't have really made any difference?

JANE HUME: We absolutely missed an opportunity. I cannot understand why he didn't at least pick up the phone. But yes, I mean, he's the only member of the Quad who hasn't met in person with President Trump. You know, Richard, you've met with your counterpart. The Trade Minister Don Farrell said that he would go, he would do anything. He would be on the first plane out of there to try and talk to his counterpart, and nothing happened. In fact, I feel that the Prime Minister was probably too busy campaigning to get on the phone to President Trump and make that coherent and cogent case that you say has been made, Richard, because there are families now and businesses that are going to be hit very hard by this decision. It's going to cause Australia economic pain because the Prime Minister was too weak to lead and to make sure that he did his duty, pick up the phone and speak to the President.

RICHARD MARLES: And yet, Jane, you know that he did pick up the phone and he did speak to the president, indeed, the President, in a press conference, spoke about his call with Anthony Albanese and the fact that he would give active consideration to trade exemptions in relation to Australia, which is why we'll keep making the argument.

JANE HUME: Did he do it this week though? I mean, when it was getting down to the wire. Why not?

RICHARD MARLES: Let me also point out when this last happened, it was nine months before a trade exemption was negotiated with the first Trump administration, when Malcolm Turnbull was the Prime Minister. So we're going to keep, we're going to keep doing this. We're going to keep making sure that we push the case. We absolutely have picked up the phone and we have been speaking to the United States in relation to this and will continue to do it. But I think, you know, we do need to acknowledge that they have implemented this across the board, in respect of every country in the world. What also matters is that we be prepared for this, whatever comes and we are, and we will make sure, as we have been, that we do see a diversification of trade and that we see these jobs continue.

JACQUI FELGATE: Jane, should Kevin Rudd have been removed from Washington once Donald Trump obtained the presidency?

JANE HUME: Well. let’s be honest, Kevin Rudd was the hand picked, the captain's pick of Anthony Albanese, so he should take any responsibility for a failure in his pick for Australian Ambassador. If that was the case, now, I would hope that the Australian Ambassador was out there every single day doing what he could do to repair that relationship, and if he wasn't, well, that's on Anthony Albanese. He was his choice.

JACQUI FELGATE: Okay, Jane, can I also ask you just Malcolm Turnbull making the comments that he's made over the last few days in relation to Donald Trump. Is there a time when former prime ministers should just kind of, I don't know, fade off into the sunset maybe?

JANE HUME: Well, look, I don't really care what it is that Kevin Rudd said, what Roger Cook has said, what Malcolm Turnbull said, what Penny Wong has said, what Anthony Albanese himself has said. The most important thing we can do is maintain a positive relationship with our most important strategic partner, which is the US. Now that doesn't mean that we need to suck up or any of those silly things. It is all about maintaining those very important connections. Now, Richard, you do that. We were talking about that last week, that you met with your counterpart and built that relationship. I honestly think if you had have been there and in charge of these negotiations, maybe we would have got an exemption.

JACQUI FELGATE: You two are really close, aren't you?

RICHARD MARLES: Heroic assumption there.

JACQUI FELGATE: That is a big call.

RICHARD MARLES: That is a big call.

JACQUI FELGATE: A very financial call.

RICHARD MARLES: Look, that is a big call. Look, we've been building a relationship with a new administration, which is what you would expect any Australian Government to do.

JACQUI FELGATE: But do little barbs from people like Turnbull help?

RICHARD MARLES: Look at the end of the day, Australia, the Australian Government, speaks with the voice of the Australian Government. That's not Malcolm Turnbull, that's the Albanese Labour government. And you know, when Malcolm Turnbull was the Prime Minister, it wasn't former prime ministers who spoke for Australia at that point. It was him. So, I think former Australian Prime Ministers are going to do what they're going to do. We kind of see that in a number of different Prime Ministers. I think that's just that's life. But at the end of the day, I think governments around the world understand that who speaks for the Australian Government is the government of the day, and that's the case.

JACQUI FELGATE: As Defence Minister, does it come a point where you look at Pine Gap and also the US involvement in Darwin and in WA, and do you say, do you say we're going to, does that come in as a card for us to play if these tariffs continue to have an economic impact or our relationship worsens?

RICHARD MARLES: Look, I think we need to see all of these things in their own terms, and how we advance Australia's national interest. I mean, the Trump government were elected. We knew they had a position on tariffs that was not a surprise, and as I say, they've implemented a circumstance to in respect of every country in the world. Our alliance with the United States matters. It profoundly matters. It's at the cornerstone of our foreign policy and at the cornerstone of our national security and our national defence, and we'll continue to manage that relationship. In respect of that, we've got a lot of defence equities in play with the United States, and actually the meeting that I had with Pete Hegseth was really good in relation to those equities, and we'll continue to pursue them, because that's what's in Australia's national interest.

JACQUI FELGATE: Can I ask you on a topic that involves an American but a very, a question I never thought I'd have to ask you, like, I find this utterly ridiculous, but an American influencer has posted footage of herself. She grabs a baby wombat from the side of the road, she removes it from the mother, who's clearly distressed, and then she films herself. She is from America. She is here. Should she be deported? Have you seen the vision?

RICHARD MARLES: I've seen the vision, and what she is as a dill. And people who come to Australia on visas shouldn't be idiots, and clearly that's what she has been. You don't need any degrees in wildlife management to understand that this put the wildlife in a position of stress. And this is clearly a person being a complete idiot. I mean, look questions about being deported. I mean, there's whole legal processes to go through, being charged, convicted, all of that sort of stuff. All of that will play out or it won't. I mean, but that's a subject for a matter for other authorities. But I think the simple thing here, for anyone who's seen the video, this is a person being an absolute idiot, and they shouldn't be.

JACQUI FELGATE: Jane, have you seen it?

JANE HUME: I have seen it. Do you know, the mother in me kicked in that poor mother, wombat. Oh my goodness. It was like, you know when you watch Dumbo and they take away Dumbo's mother because she goes in and defends the baby elephant against the bully. Honestly, that was quite heartbreaking. I can't believe this silly, silly woman would do something so stupid, so irresponsible. Richard's right. She's a dill. She's a dill. She doesn't deserve to be able to be here, but whether we could deport her, that's another question. He's right. There's, you know, the court processes alone would take longer than her visa would last.

JACQUI FELGATE: Hopefully she leaves soon. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Liberal Senator Jane Hume join me more after this 3AW Melbourne.

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JACQUI FELGATE: This is the pre-election section with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Liberal Senator Jane Hume, we've got, we've got a couple of emails. Chris has asked ‘ask Mr. Marles please what Labor's biggest focus is for the upcoming election. Surely it is the cost of living’.

RICHARD MARLES: It is the cost of living, one hundred per cent. But look, we've gone through a period where we've seen real cost of living challenges. When we came to government, inflation was running at 6.1% going north, and it was clear to us then that it would be the issue through this term. And so, you know, our whole focus, be it, you know, tax cuts for all income earners, be it more affordable childcare, cheaper medicines, energy rebates for everyone. That has been the focus and will continue to be the focus going into this election.

JACQUI FELGATE: Do you reckon it's harder to be a Victorian than it is to be in any other state right now? Like today, there's some data that shows that Victorian homebuyers are slugged an extra $373,000 on the average home bill just because of red tape.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, I think, I think that people are facing challenges around the country, but certainly, you know, it's really important, and as a federal government, we are very focused on doing what we can to ease the cost of living pressures for Victorians.

JACQUI FELGATE: You didn't answer my question, is it harder to be a Victorian?

RICHARD MARLES: Uh well…

JANE HUME: Yes it is.

JACQUI FELGATE: I know what you think.

RICHARD MARLES: Look, I think there are challenges around the country. What I know as a federal government is that we need to be very focused on Victoria, and we are. You know, what we're doing with urgent care clinics, what we're doing with Medicare, providing much greater access to affordable GP visits. I mean, all of those things really ease the cost of living pressures for people in Victoria. So it's a big focus of our government.

JACQUI FELGATE: But Jane, he didn't answer my question. What do you think?

JANE HUME: Yeah, and we've had the most unprecedented fall in Australia's living standards. We actually continue to be the worst in the world, the fastest fall in living standards in the world over the last three years, and Victoria is the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country, because we've had a decade of Labor mismanagement of the economy and the resulting fall in living standards. One of my roles in the last parliament has been Chair of the Cost of Living Committee. I've travelled right around the country to see how the cost of living crisis has affected different demographics, different industries, different businesses, community groups and Victoria is by far the worst that fall of 8% over the last two and a half years, essentially mean meant that we are poorer than we were three years ago, and that's happened on Labor's watch.

JACQUI FELGATE: And I want to ask you as well, Jane, just another topic. You've made this formal complaint to the AEC about this alleged fake newspaper. So what is that all about?

JANE HUME: Well, this is very interesting. So there's a website called Gazette News, and that has set up five local digital newspapers around the country. But ironically, they seem to be in Teal seats, and this seems to be, it appears to be a quite a highly sophisticated fake news corporation that is attempting to potentially influence the 2025 federal election. They promote themselves as independent, genuine local news outlets, but actually what they're doing is putting out stories that then Teal independent candidates put on their social media make it look like it's independent, but they're very highly political, highly political stories. So we've asked the AEC to investigate this, because if this scheme appears as it is to be a deliberate attempt to deceive and influence public opinion. They're evading, potentially donation laws that could potentially be avoiding authorisation requirements for electoral measure. That's all a breach of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. So that's why we've asked the AEC to investigate it, because it does appear that it to be a very highly sophisticated domestic disinformation campaign bankrolled, potentially by the same people that have bankrolling the Teals.

JACQUI FELGATE: That means we are coming up to an election, when is it happening? I’m tired of asking you this question. Every week he knows he's gonna get it.

RICHARD MARLES: You’re expecting an answer.

JACQUI FELGATE: Not really, but I have to ask you, but it is dragging out a little isn’t it.

RICHARD MARLES: Oh, well. I mean, look, the election is going to be what it's going to be. I mean, we will be handing down a budget, as we had planned to do at the Budget day is the 25th of March. It's been in the sitting schedule now for a long time. You know, we need to hold an election by the end of May. So, you can do the sums. There's, I mean, we know roughly when the election is going to be, in that sense, and every time we do have a federal election, it's a big moment for the nation. And so people are making their arguments. And this is what Jane said, that I wasn't aware of those newspapers, but obviously the electoral laws are there to provide transparency. Authorization is a very important part of that, as Jane alluded to and so it's really important that people are complying with that.

JACQUI FELGATE: Are you going to the Grand Prix this weekend?

RICHARD MARLES: I'm not going to the Grand Prix. Look, it's, I've been to Grand Prix once in my life.

JACQUI FELGATE: You didn’t like it?

RICHARD MARLES: It's not, I like Drive to Survive.

JACQUI FELGATE: Yeah it’s good isn’t it. But you don’t like the event?

RICHARD MARLES: It's not my favourite sport, although I do like Drive to Survive, but I'm not, but it's one of the grand Melbourne's great events, so I've seen it.

JACQUI FELGATE: You've got to go back. You're missing out.

RICHARD MARLES: You think I am? Yeah, it's good. Jane, are you going?

JANE HUME: I'm interstate, unfortunately, this week and next week, so I won't be making it back for the Grand Prix. But, yeah, it is a very noisy event, I get enough noise in my life.

JACQUI FELGATE: I think you both sound traumatised by it. Good to see you look forward to talking to you next week.

JANE HUME: Thanks, Jackie Thanks, Richard.