Interview with Jacqui Felgate, 3AW

19 March 2025

JACQUI FELGATE: It's that time of the week. Joining me on the line today, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Good afternoon to you both.

RICHARD MARLES: Hi Jackie. Hi, Jane.

JANE HUME: Hi Jackie, great to be with you. Hello, Richard.

JACQUI FELGATE: Richard, you didn't say hello back to her?

RICHARD MARLES: No, I did, I said hi, Jane.

JANE HUME: He did, he did.

RICHARD MARLES: I totally said hi, Jane.

JACQUI FELGATE: I cut you off. This is the problem when you're not in the studio. Richard. I was going to start with you today and just the terrible situation in your office in Geelong with the vandalism this morning.

RICHARD MARLES: Yeah. I mean, it's, look, it's obviously reprehensible. It's not the first time my office has been vandalised. People think they're having a go at me, but ultimately, I mean, our electorate offices, it's very much the same for Jane's and all MPs. Electorate offices are provide a service to the community. People come in with a whole range of problems which have got nothing to do with party politics. They're just interacting with the federal government and our offices and the staff in them are helping them out. What this does is ultimately make it less safe for our staff to do their job, and it gets in the way of our staff being able to help the Geelong community. And in this instance, um, and this kind of vandalism. Um, really? It's pathetic. It has no place, um, in, our country. We've seen it happen to MPs across the political spectrum, while Labor and Liberal MPs at least. Um, and, uh, and really, it should be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and obviously I do.

JACQUI FELGATE: What were they angry about? And have any of your staff been affected? Obviously they couldn't come to work today in the office.

RICHARD MARLES: I mean, the sorts of labels are around questions of war crimes. You can imagine what that's about. It's obviously reflecting on the Middle East. What we've seen is this kind of vandalism happening from people who want to make that argument really over the last 18 months but this is not participating in the freedom of speech, which we obviously enjoy in this country. And people have a right to say their views, whatever those views are. But actually what this does is get in the way of what is a really important service for the people of Geelong. And every time an MPs office is vandalised in this way with those kind of slogans put on it with, I mean, there was, windows were damaged, some canister with some kind of gas or smell was released into the office. It meant that my staff weren't able to go in there. And at this point, I'm not sure there have been in there through the day. You know, we need to get the all clear before that can happen. But all of that disrupts their ability to help the people of Geelong. And they're the real losers in this. But it is just, um, it is pathetic, really. And it's just getting in the way of us doing the really important work which goes under the radar, which all MPs do.

JACQUI FELGATE: And, Jane, can I ask you as well? Like, this isn't the first time this has happened on both sides of politics. But the brazen nature of this, I think, and the fact it's becoming more common.

JANE HUME: It is becoming more common. Unfortunately, it's happened to my office, too. Richard, I hope that your staff were all right, because it is a method of intimidation, isn't it. I mean, it is when you and I have a conversation on the radio or when we're out at town halls or in the community, that's where public debate occurs, and everybody is free to express their views. But what's happened to your office is not freedom of speech, it's destruction of property. And to be honest, if you have to wear a hood and a mask to express yourself well, your views don't deserve to be given airtime. That's a coward's protest. But there's just one more thing that I want to mention, and that is that while I know that Richard would call it out if it happened to me in my office and I will call it out if it happens to him and his office. The Greens never called this out, in fact, that they have often celebrated this behaviour and that is outrageous. Adam Bandt never calls it out.

JACQUI FELGATE: Richard, are the Greens at all affiliated with this type of protest?

RICHARD MARLES: Well, firstly, can I thank Jane for her thoughts about my staff and they are okay, but I really do appreciate her saying that. And obviously that was my first concern. And I completely agree with everything that Jane has just said. I don't know whether the Greens were a part of this, but what I would say is, I think, you know, we are all responsible for what we say in the public domain, and there's just no doubt that the kind of language that the Greens have used over the last 18 months in relation to this has created an environment where, um, which has enabled this kind of activity. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

JACQUI FELGATE: And this is in terms of what's happening in Gaza?

RICHARD MARLES: Yeah, absolutely. So I don't know whether there are any Greens members who are participating in this, but what I do know is that the way in which the Greens speak about this, creates an environment where people think it's okay to engage in this kind of behaviour. And I completely agree with what Jane just said before, like, you know, we do call this out as we should, but the Greens don't. And this kind of activity should be called out. This is not participating in a debate. This is not a contest of ideas here. This is, I think Jane's right to use the word intimidation. And it's intimidating people who are not the political actors, like my staff, are actually there helping the constituents of Geelong. That's what they do each and every day. They're the ones who have to face this. It's pretty unpleasant. And it's the people of Geelong in this instance who miss out. But it's always, it is ordinary Australians who would go to their local members office to just get help on an issue which are denied the opportunity to do that because of this activity.

JACQUI FELGATE: Okay. Let's move on. I just as a breaking story in The Age by David Crowe and basically what it said, Big Pharma has slammed our PBS scheme here. And they're calling on Donald Trump to impose punitive tariffs on Australia because we subsidise medicines for millions of patients. So, Deputy Prime Minister, can I get you to respond to that? And I guess where are we at when it comes to the PBS and if such a scheme was implemented, would that bring up the cost of our medicines?

RICHARD MARLES: Well, let me be really clear, the PBS is fundamental to our health system, and that's not going to change. Like we're not there's not going to be any changes to the PBS. And the PBS has been a long standing feature of Australia's health system across governments of both persuasions, and was there when the original US-Australia free trade agreement was negotiated during the Howard Government. The PBS enables Australians to access medicines which would otherwise be really costly, at a rate which is affordable and is fundamental to the world class health system that we've got. So there’s not going to be any changes to the PBS. I mean, we'll keep making our advocacy to the US more broadly in relation to the tariff issue and to our trading relationship with the United States. But the PBS is certainly not on the table.

JACQUI FELGATE: Jane, I'd like to get your thoughts on this as well, because the industry has basically said our scheme is egregious and discriminatory. And basically it's Australia's policy, um, that has led to making prices in America for pharmaceuticals more expensive.

JANE HUME: The PBS is something that the Coalition not just stands by, but is extremely proud of. It delivers affordable medicines to Australians that need it. Not all those medicines will be able to be manufactured in Australia or invented in Australia. We have to import them. We will stand by the PBS unequivocally. But we do know that this escalating trade war, increasing tariffs are not good for the Australian economy. We want to make sure that we build a relationship with the US, maintain that relationship, that good relationship that we've had for many years past to ensure that the tariffs that have been imposed on steel and aluminium are, you know, not only are they revoked, but no additional tariffs are imposed. A trade war is no good for Australia. It's no good for Australians. It's no good for your hip pocket. We want to de-escalate this as quickly as possible. Use the good relationships that we have across the aisle and on Capitol Hill. That's fundamentally important, and something that unfortunately has failed to occur under this Government.

JACQUI FELGATE: If you have a question for the Deputy Prime Minister and the Shadow Finance Minister, jump on the line now, or 133 693.

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JACQUI FELGATE: 13 minutes to five. I am with the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles and the Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume, got a lot of callers today. I want to ask. I want to go to John first, please, because the CFMEU has been a massive story again this week in Victoria, and Peter Dutton has weighed in, Deputy Prime Minister. This is John on the line, Hi, John.

CALLER: Hi, Mr. Marles, I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your office. Obviously, vandalism of any kind is totally unacceptable. I wonder whether you would condemn the CFMEU. Intimidation and standover tactics have been revealed by News Corp in recent days. I wonder if you would recall when you last met with a representative of the CFMEU. And I wonder if you would explain why the Labor Party haven't deregistered the CFMEU, which has deep links with organised crime, and that's the proven fact. Why is it that the Labor Party doesn't have an appetite to cut off the CFMEU? Is it because it donated tens of millions of dollars?

JACQUI FELGATE: John, John, okay, John, can I get you to respond please Mr. Marles?

RICHARD MARLES: Yeah so I mean, absolutely I condemn the CFMEU, and what we saw revealed on 60 Minutes was absolutely appalling. And it's not just what we saw on 60 Minutes, the revelations of what the CFMEU have been doing prior to that have been completely terrible. The question that's raised about, why not deregister the CFMEU? I mean, we could deregister the CFMEU, but what that actually does is put John Setka back in charge and remove any government regulation of the CFMEU at all. What we've done, which the Liberals actually never did, was put in place an administrator of the CFMEU, which has firstly seen a whole lot of officials of the CFMEU being removed from their positions, but secondly has been involved in a range of investigations which had given rise to the revelations that we saw on 60 Minutes and have enabled the police forces to undertake the work, the work they need to do in respect of what we specifically what we saw on Sunday night. We've said that those matters need to be referred where it is, within their jurisdiction, the Australian Federal Police, so that they can act on them. But there is absolutely no place for this at all, and we have cracked down on the CFMEU in the strongest possible terms.

JACQUI FELGATE: Can I ask you, Jane about that in particular? Peter Dutton’s push to actually deregister the CFMEU?

JANE HUME: Yeah I mean, if it was action in the strongest possible terms, well, the CFMEU wouldn't be laughing at you. They're completely ignoring any changes that are taking place because of this weak government approach to administration. Urgent action is needed now to confront it is a militant and corrupt organisation, and it needs to be addressed head on now. Bob Hawke had the courage and conviction to deregister the Builders Labourers Federation. Anthony Albanese should follow that lead and do the same. So we have said that we will immediately deregister the CFMEU on coming to government, a Dutton Coalition led government will deregister the CFMEU, and we will also reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission with increased powers. It is really important that we have a much tighter fit and proper person test the right of entry onto work site, and that we hold and holding office in those Registered Organisations. But most importantly, we will also introduce new offences that will allow police to target groups that engage in a pattern of criminal behaviour, and that's based on the very effective mafia takedown laws that exist in the US. So we need a much stronger stance and simply a slap on the wrist, which is all the Albanese Government has given to see it and isn't good enough.

JACQUI FELGATE: But can I ask Deputy PM just, just on that? Is it appropriate in light of the corruption and illegal tactics that the Labor Party does take donations from the CFMEU?

RICHARD MARLES: Well, I mean, I don't know whether that question is actually and so I'm not sure that those donations are there, but we have, as I said, taken the strongest possible action in relation to the CFMEU. And can I say, if you deregister the CFMEU, that will put John Sekta back in charge, because what you do is you remove any government regulation in terms of describing of this in the terms that Jane just did I mean, it's absolutely not right. We have seen a whole lot of officials being removed from the CFMEU so they no longer are part of the organisation. We've seen investigations take place, which have led to references to the police so that there can actually be proper criminal prosecutions proceed here. I mean that that's not a slap on the wrist. That's actually going through this organisation, root and branch, so that what it's there for, which is to represent its members, it can return to doing. What we saw from the Australian Building Construction Commission was an organisation that was completely obsessed with that or not people had union stickers on their helmets. That doesn't change anything. What matters here is that you actually get to the nub of this, and that's what we've been doing. And if the Liberals were really fair to about this, they would have taken these steps in the near decade when they are in office. It's not as though this action, that this conduct, has only happened over the last few years. This is something which has been there for a long time. When the Liberal Party were in power, they did nothing about it. We've actually stepped in and made a difference.

JANE HUME: Yet under your watch, Richard, we've seen projects like the infrastructure projects, like, you know, Melbourne Metro tunnel and the North East Link, they're blown out by billions of dollars under Labor's watch, federal and state and taxpayers are footing the bill. So this CFMEU behaviour is driving up the cost of residential property. It's driving up the cost of commercial housing, commercial property in Australia, it is unacceptable, and something has to be done. Your Government's response has been weak and inadequate, and that was writ large on 60 Minutes on Sunday night. But everybody knows it's been a problem hiding in plain sight.

JACQUI FELGATE: Can I get you to argue now about your two teams which are about to play each other on the weekend before we wrap up? I hope things are a little more peaceful.

JANE HUME: So do I, I am desperate for St Kilda to have a win. We had a terrible loss on the weekend to the Crows, if I was there and it was, it was an unpleasant experience. So I'm hoping for a much better…

JACQUI FELGATE: I'm sad to say, Jane, I don't think that's gonna.\

RICHARD MARLES: Are you excited Jacqui?

JACQUI FELGATE: Well, I'm very excited. I was very impressed with week one. Richard.

RICHARD MARLES: I’m getting really excited.

JACQUI FELGATE: Good to chat to you both, speak next week.