Interview with Natalie Barr, Sunrise
14 February 2024
NATALIE BARR: Hundreds of thousands of Victorian homes are still without power this morning and what's been described as one of the largest outages in the history. Wild wet, Victoria yesterday afternoon, with wind gusts of more than 120 kilometers an hour, flattening six major transmission towers near Geelong. Extreme heat, also not the state's largest electricity plant offline. At its peak, more than 530,000 homes were without power. And as we go to air this morning, there are around 280,000 left in the dark. For more, I'm joined by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neill and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Good morning to both of you. Both of you live in Victoria. Claire, what's happening in your house and around you?
CLARE O'NEIL: Yeah, so we're one of the 500,000 homes without power and my husband was texting me photos last night of my kids eating dinner by candlelight. We've got trees down in the yard. But I'm hearing that there are people all over my community far worse affected than this. We've got extensive damage around my suburbs that I represent in Parliament. We've got trees down all over the place. My kids' school has been affected. People can't make phone calls. This is really serious stuff. And of course not that comes off the back of what have been incredibly serious bushfires in Victoria. One of the things that's so incredible about our beautiful country is that these times of natural disaster bring out the very best in Australians. And I just want to say to the SES workers, to the firee's, to the workers who are trying to get the electricity back online. We love you. We are so grateful to you today and every day and thank you for everything you do for our communities.
NATALIE BARR: Yeah, we certainly are. It was an absolute nightmare yesterday. We're seeing those aerial shots of those six major transmission towers that were pummeled yesterday. They say it's unprecedented Clare. What did we do here? Is it something that could not have been prevented?
CLARE O'NEIL: Nat, I think we'll get into the wash up of the hows and the what's and the where's and the prevention process a little bit later down the track. Really, the Government's focus right now is going to be on making sure that Victorians get back up on their feet very quickly, which I'll know they do with that amazing resilience that we have down in the southeast of our great country. We've got our National Emergency Management Agency, working very closely with the Victorian State Government. I've just been talking to Murray Watt our Emergency Services Minister this morning, we'll be doing everything we can to support Victoria, get back online. And then I think you're right, there's some really important questions to ask and answer here about how it's possible that a country like Australia can lose power for half a million people because of a storm. But I do think those questions are for later, our hearts right now. And our actions and our thoughts have to be with those families that are really suffering.
NATALIE BARR: Okay, what about government assistance? Can that come from the federal government Clare?
CLARE O'NEIL: Again, that this has just happened overnight. So what I know is that our National Emergency Management Agency is working with the Victorian Government to get power back online. Murray Watt, our minister I know, will have some things to say about that this morning. But this is very, very fresh, and I've just had a chance to liaise with him quickly this morning.
NATALIE BARR: Okay Jane, we know, the people in the department are doing their absolute best to get the power back on but the word is it could take weeks in some areas. We know you're affected too.
JANE HUME: Yes, my household was affected. But strangely enough, my mother down the road wasn't. So it does seem to be random. But it's one in 10 households in Victoria that have been affected by this overnight. Sorry it's one in 10 now, it was one in five overnight, so you can see just the scale of the problem that we're facing. It is going to be important today to make sure that you reach out to your neighbors. Reach out to your friends, understanding that some of them might not have mobile phones because they can't charge them up overnight. But just check on everybody that you love to make sure that they're okay in this really difficult time. Yes, Clare's right, there will be time for a wash up, there will be time to assess whether we need to make sure that our electricity system is resilient to weather rather than reliant upon it. But right now the priority is getting people back online, back connected, making sure that businesses are operating, making sure that cafes could open, that restaurants who have lost all their stock from their refrigerators that aren't working that they get back on their feet
NATALIE BARR: Yeah you're right. In one of the biggest losses of power supplies Victoria has ever seen. Let's move on now. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has been accused of skipping important meetings about the release of immigration detainees to instead promote the Voice referendum. The Coalition claims Mr. Giles did not attend three meetings in the lead up to that High Court ruling, which prompted the release of those 149 detainees, including more than 100 convicted criminals. Clare, is this right? Why did Minister Giles miss those important meetings?
CLARE O'NEIL: I don't agree with your characterisation at all there Nat. What the documents released this week actually demonstrate is that both Minister Giles and I were very involved in the High Court decision, which eventually led to the Government being legally forced to remove these people from immigration detention. The proof is ultimately in the pudding there Nat. What you saw was within a number of short weeks after the High Court's decision, the Government had put in place four layers of protection for the community. That included two new laws in our parliament, the imposition of ankle monitoring bracelets, and curfews, a $250 million investment in our police to make sure that the community is safe. I just say to your viewers, that Minister Giles and I have had one singular priority in the management of this issue, and that has been the safety of the Australian community.
NATALIE BARR: Jane, the problem this morning seems to be that the Government says it's preparing applications to re-detain some of these and it takes a long time because of the legal process. But so far, zero applications to the courts have been placed. Are you happy with that?
JANE HUME: Well, the last time that Clare and I spoke about this on your program Nat, she said that if I had the legal power to do so these people would be behind bars. We actually went back to Parliament in December to give Clare the legal power to do this and yet still no applications have been made. In the meantime, we now have 149 criminal detainees, wondering about the community we've heard this week, just the types of criminals they are. There's murderers, there's sex offenders, there's violent offenders. This is really serious stuff. Andrew Giles, quite frankly, been asleep at the wheel. Those meetings he didn't attend, because he was out there campaigning for the voice referendum. I think that goes to the priorities of this government. The Attorney General was aware back in June, the Prime Minister's Office has been updated. All of that has come out this week and yet, those criminal detainees are still out there. 24 of them have already reoffended, and yet they're still out there. Clare, I cannot understand why your department why the Attorney General's Department has failed to make even one application to keep these people behind bars.
NATALIE BARR: Okay, last word, Clare, about why the Government hasn't put the paperwork in to get some of them back behind bars?
CLARE O'NEIL: Well, Jane actually already does know the answer to this question and it is to do with the high court's decision. So let me very quickly explain to your viewers, I have said repeatedly that I would keep these people in detention if I had the legal power to do so. And again, the proofs in the pudding-
JANE HUME: You do-
CLARE O'NEIL: Because when the high court's decision was made, these people were in detention.
JANE HUME: We gave it to you.
CLARE O'NEIL: When I had that power, they were in detention. Now what the High Court said is that that power that was being used to keep people detained was not only unlawful, it was unconstitutional. The only option for the Parliament is to is to have created a preventative detention regime, which has a much higher threshold-
JANE HUME: Which we did.
CLARE O'NEIL: Now it is much more complex and much more difficult. Jane, I know you know the answer to this question, because that regime is based on one that you created when you were in government and it took you three years to make your first application-
JANE HUME: So it's too hard. Is that what you're saying?
CLARE O'NEIL: We have done a very comprehensive and fast response to this. But I just want you to see our focus here is community safety. As usual the Opposition is playing politics and I don't think that's appropriate.
NATALIE BARR: Okay. Thank you ladies. We'll leave it there.