Interview with Natalie Barr, Sunrise

5 March 2025

NATALIE BARR: For their tag, let's bring in Housing Minister Clare O'Neil and shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume Good morning to both of you. Clare, this would be a pretty big escalation, wouldn't it, in our support to Ukraine? Would it put Australian lives at risk, having peacekeepers on the ground in Ukraine?

CLARE O’NEIL: Well, Nat, Australia has been absolutely steadfast in its support for Ukraine, and that's because it's in Australia's national interest to prevent incidents like what we've seen happen there. Just remind your viewers, you know, this is an absolutely brutal, almost totalitarian regime that has violently invaded a peaceful, democratic country. And Australia does not want to live in that world. So you've seen our government commit $1.5 billion in various types of support to Ukraine. What the Prime Minister has said is that if a request is incoming for peacekeepers, he will consider that request. But I would say to your viewers at home, this is not a remote and meaningless war to our country. It's actually very important to the way the world operates.

NATALIE BARR:Would we be going against the US by sending peacekeepers in, Clare?

CLARE O’NEIL: Well, Nat, I just say again, I think we're jumping the gun a little bit here. We haven't had a request from Ukraine or from Europe to do anything about that. And what the PM has just pointed to is this history of Australia's steadfast support for Ukraine having been under attack in the way that they have been. He'll consider a request if it comes through, and that's where we are right now.

NATALIE BARR: Okay, Jane. Peter Dutton has said he's against sending boots on the ground. Does that mean he's against peacekeepers?

JANE HUME: Well, he's against sending troops directly to Ukraine. Obviously, our support for Ukraine has been unequivocal from day one. You'll recall we sent Bushmasters. We've also sent drones. We've done training with Ukraine troops. In fact, we're the largest supporter of the Ukraine outside of the NATO alliance. But Peter Dutton has said that it really is NATO's responsibility to put those boots on the ground if that's what's requested. And Claire's right, the request hasn't been made. The most important thing, though, is Australia stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine against this aggressive and immoral invasion by Russia.

NATALIE BARR: So is Dutton and Anthony Albanese really on the same page with the peacekeepers? Dutton may support peacekeepers in Ukraine.

JANE HUME: I'm not sure exactly what it is that the Prime Minister has committed us to, but Peter Dutton has been very clear that we think this is NATO's responsibility to put troops on the ground. Our responsibility, though, is to support Ukraine any way we can. We'd urge the government to fast track those Abrams tanks that have been committed to, but not yet delivered to Ukraine.

NATALIE BARR: Okay, moving on. The Federal Government is activating a national disaster response to assist Queenslanders once Cyclone Alfred arrives in the south east later this week. There's also speculation the weather event could derail plans for the PM to call an election this weekend. Not wanting him to leave the disaster zone to come back to Canberra and meet with the governor general and call the election. Claire is the PM hoping to avoid bad optics here?

CLARE O’NEIL: Oh no. Politics is the furthest thing from the PM's mind today. Um, you know, people are literally sandbagging their homes, and I think the discussion about how this affects politics is irrelevant and really crass. The PM has gone to Brisbane to stand with people in south east Queensland who are confronting what could be an incredibly extreme weather event. We've, you know, unfortunately, we've gotten pretty good at this as a country. I mean, I just say unfortunately because having a lot of natural disasters isn't a good thing, but we do have really good arrangements in place. And I've got to say from you know, we've got a Federal Labor government. We've got a Liberal government in Queensland. All of that is put aside at moments like this. The PM’s there in Queensland. We're working together already to try to protect Queenslanders and people in northern New South Wales. And all we care about right now is the safety and the preservation of property for people who are affected by this event.

NATALIE BARR: Yeah, you're right. Look, there are 4 million people in the way. Hundreds of thousands of sandbags are going out. The election has to be held. Then it's a numbers game, isn't it, Jane, and if he doesn't call it this weekend, then it will run into Easter and ANZAC Day. Do you think this is a consideration?

JANE HUME: Well, potentially, the consideration for the Prime Minister will also be whether he has to deliver a Budget. If he doesn't call it this weekend, he does have to do that. That would be something that we would encourage him to do. We think that the Australian public deserves that level of transparency as to what's actually in the books. We still haven't worked out exactly how the government's going to pay for the more than $20 billion commitments that they've made just since Christmas, while we make want to make sure that the people of Queensland are most supported at this time, and why many of my colleagues, including Peter Dutton, are out there in their own electorates, looking after themselves right now, battening down the hatches, quite literally. In the meantime, the Prime Minister should probably be concentrating on not just supporting Queenslanders, but whether he's going to deliver a Budget. That's what we'd like to see. We'd call on him to do that.

NATALIE BARR: Which has changed a bit, because you want now on him to delay the election. You're wanting him to bring it forward?

JANE HUME: Well, we would like transparency for the Australian people, and we know that the government is considering delivering an economic statement rather than a Budget that doesn't have the same level of transparency, the same responsibilities for the Charter of Budget Honesty. That's why we think we should go to a Budget so we understand exactly what it is that this government's going to leave us with.

NATALIE BARR: Okay, we thank you both. We'll see you next week, and you're right. Our thoughts are with the people of Queensland today.