Interview with Michael Rowland, ABC News Breakfast
13 March 2024
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The opposition's Finance Spokeswoman, Jane Hume joins us now in the studio. Jane Hume, good morning to you. Now the government blames all of this on what it says are technicalities in the Abbott government era legislation. So there's a claim and there's counterclaim here.
JANE HUME: Well, it's not unusual for the Albanese government to point the finger at anybody other than themselves. This has been a bungle from go to woe. If you can fix these visas through something as simple as Ministerial regulation, well then surely there wasn't a problem with the visas in the first place. This didn't occur under a Coalition government because we didn't release criminal detainees.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Well nor did the government. The High Court released the detainees.
JANE HUME: Well, the High Court released one criminal detainee. In fact, the government released 149, and they did so without waiting for the High Court's decision as to why they needed to release that many. Of course, since then we've seen a number of them re-offend. Some of them have been, you know, committed assaults, and the government has asked for preventative detention orders. The Coalition opposition has provided that. We went back to Parliament before Christmas so that we could do that and yet not one preventative detention order has been issued. This has been a mess from go to woe. Minister Giles failed to turn up to briefings from his own department. They have failed to take advice from the department. Apparently this issue around the visas was known in December. So why wasn't something done before now? Quite frankly, Minister Giles' position is entirely untenable, and the fact that Anthony Albanese has kept him in his position demonstrates that this is a government that's weak on border security and weak on community safety.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Well, the reason the government did this and the reasons had to be reissued, was the government insisting on ankle bracelets and tough security measures around the detainees, which is a good move, right?
JANE HUME: Well, this is exactly what the government have requested and apparently have been provided. But still, these criminal detainees continue to re-offend, and there seems to be no way out of it and that's because the government didn't get onto this early enough. They didn't listen to the advice of their own department. In fact, we know that Minister Giles missed three appointments with his own department that could have advised him to be better prepared for this situation.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Listen, there's been lots of politics around this. You mentioned some of the detainees on charges of alleged assault. I noticed Sussan Ley's tweet issued in the days before the Dunkley by-election, saying that if you don't want Australian women assaulted by foreign criminals, we're bringing up the tweet now. It is still there. Are you happy with that?
JANE HUME: Well, this is an issue that I think that you have canvassed with Sussan. A number of people have canvassed.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: But I'm asking you, as a senior colleague of Sussan Ley's, your deputy leader, are you happy with that wording?
JANE HUME: Well, the fact remains that there are still 149 detainees out there in the community, that there is a threat to community safety and it's been caused by the incompetence of this government.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: But are you happy with her saying those words?
JANE HUME: Well, it's Sussan's tweet and I won't want to put words in her mouth and they're not my words, they are her words.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: You don’t want to endorse the words of your Deputy Leader?
JANE HUME: They're not my words. They are her words and she has continued to support that.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: So you wouldn't have used those words?
JANE HUME: Well, they're not my words. They're her words. But what I will say is that there are still 149 criminal detainees out in the community, some of whom are reoffending, and this government has bungled this from go to whoa. Now they will point the finger at anybody else. They will try and distract on this issue. But this has been their incompetence and the fact that Anthony Albanese has failed to do anything about it, that he hasn't held a minister responsible for this, demonstrates that he has failed on border security and community.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Well that’s for the government, I will ask one last time. Would you like Sussan Ley to take that tweet down? You’re clearly uncomfortable.
JANE HUME: I don't direct my colleagues as to how they're using social media.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: What about the judgment though, of a Deputy Leader of a party?
JANE HUME: Well, that’s your judgment. I would not dream of directing any of my colleagues as to how they use their social media.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay, let's move to nuclear power. The Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he'll announce soon some incentives for locations that will host up to six nuclear power plants or what sort of incentives are we talking about?
JANE HUME: Well this is very early days, really what we want to do is have a conversation with the Australian community about the potential for nuclear power to be put into the energy mix to bring down the cost of electricity in the long term, but to also make sure that he's a reliable source of energy. Now, there are over 30 countries out there and more than 400 nuclear reactors that are already operating today. Those countries that are on a pathway to net zero sustainable and realistic pathway to net zero have nuclear energy in their mix. So why would you not include it in your thinking in Australia?
MICHAEL ROWLAND: It’s incredibly expensive, that's one thing you should know is the finance spokeswoman.
JANE HUME: Well, this will remain to be seen because there is also some expense considerable expense with maintaining coal fired power stations, and also with renewables that are very heavily subsidized by governments.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Do you agree with the Coalition's energy spokesman Ted O'Brien that he doesn't want to see coal fired power stations closed prematurely.
JANE HUME: Well, I think that his response was that the Labor government is already talking about extending the life of coal fired power stations largely because they have realized-
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Which ones?
JANE HUME: Well, that's a very good question. Why don't you ask the Labor Government that-
MICHAEL ROWLAND: No, no, you make the claim-
JANE HUME: - because quite frankly their renewable energy policy-
MICHAEL ROWLAND: they’re corporate decisions AGL, Origin Energy have announced or scheduled the closure of these power plants. I can't think of a government decision on power plants.
JANE HUME: Ted O'Brien has said and he said so on 7:30 last night that the government's renewable energy policy, although well intentioned, will mean that there isn't reliable baseload power to support it and that there will be blackouts. Now, for that reason alone, there needs to be some form of reliable baseload power. If it's not gas because let's face it, the government has made the gas industry walk away from Australia, and prevented that being sustainable baseload power, well, then what is the alternative?
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Final last question, we’ve run out of time. So you believe, the Liberal Party believes nuclear power is a vote winner at the next election clearly?
JANE HUME: Well, we certainly believe that it should be considered in the energy mix. You know, we have uranium resources, more than any other country in the world. Yet for some reason, ideologically, this has been something that Australia has opposed for too long. Now, it's probably time that, if we are genuine about getting to net zero by 2050, why not include it in the mix? It's not the only solution, but it should be part of the solution.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: We'll see how the debate plays out as always appreciate your time, Jane Hume, thank you.
JANE HUME: Great to be with you Michael.