Interview with Kenny Heatley, First Edition

4 November 2024

KENNY HEATLEY: Education Minister Jason Clare admitted on Sky News yesterday he asked for an upgrade on a private international flight that was declared because he had leg surgery. Joining me live is Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Good to see you, Jane, thanks for joining us on the program. So is that a fair enough reason to ask for an upgrade?

JANE HUME: Kenny, the issue here is about soliciting upgrades when you are in a position of influence over an industry and that's exactly what Anthony Albanese did when he was Transport Minister. He solicited upgrades and gifts, not just for himself, but also for his family members, and this is while he was in a position to make decisions about the airline industry that would affect all Australians. What we want to know in this week's Senate Estimates is whether those decisions, whether that benefit that Anthony Albanese received back when he was Transport Minister, had an influence over his decision to deny Qatar Airways an additional 21 slots at Sydney and Melbourne airports, that would have increased competition in the airline industry and reduced prices for all Australians. Have all Australians been paying the price with higher airfares because of Anthony Albanese’s cozy relationship with Qantas.

KENNY HEATLEY: The Albanese Government announced a plan to slash the student debt of 3 million Australians by 20%. It's coming at a cost of $16 billion but with changes to indexation, it's around 20 billion. Is that money well spent?

JANE HUME: Not according to every single credible economist out there. This is a demonstration that the Albanese Government has given up the fight on inflation, because the reason why student debts are higher is because of Australia's home grown and persistent, sticky inflation that Labor have been unable to tame. This is clearly a Treasurer and a Prime Minister that have been ridden roughshod over bedwetting backbenchers, that have decided to go the populist routes and adopt a Greens policy. It won't encourage more students into academic studies. It won't address the cost of living, and most importantly, it is an economically irresponsible and inequitable decision, because it favours those university students that will have higher incomes in the longer term, about 30% higher than those that haven't gone to university. But it's those that haven't gone to university or those that have already paid off their debts that will pay the price through higher taxes. Essentially, that debt is being transferred to other taxpayers. That doesn't seem fair.

KENNY HEATLEY: Okay, so you think that this move to attract Green voters. If it is, how effective do you think it'll be?

JANE HUME: Oh, clearly, that's exactly what it's doing. Labor are buying the votes of university students that haven't paid off their HECS debts by costing the rest of Australia more. There are 27,000 taxpayers out there. 3 million will benefit from this, but 24 million will pay more, and 27 will pay the price in the long term, because $16 billion is an awful lot to spend to buy 3 million votes.

KENNY HEATLEY: Was Labor's campaign launch in Adelaide the reset Anthony Albanese needed ahead of Parliament this week?

JANE HUME: Well, he certainly had a messy couple of weeks, but I don't know whether a campaign launch, carefully choreographed and with no questions whatsoever from the general public is going to be enough to put Anthony Albanese back on track, because he hasn't got a back to basics agenda. He has let the economy run out of control. He hasn't got a compelling message, and I don't think that one campaign launch is going to be enough that said, we will see. This is going to be a very interesting Senate Estimates week where we get to probe the Government on their irresponsible and unnecessary spending that's been pushing up inflation, keeping it higher for longer, and Australians have been paying the price. It's going to be a pretty rough old Christmas for a lot of Australians who have been suffering under Labor's cost of living crisis. Let's see if there are answers from Labor this week.

KENNY HEATLEY: Okay, Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume, appreciate it.