Interview with Pablo Vinales, ABC Afternoon Briefing
10 March 2025
PABLO VINALES: Well, let’s go straight into our political panel. Today, joining us now, Labor frontbencher and Employment Minister Murray Watt in Brisbane and Liberal frontbencher, Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume is in Sydney. Thank you both for joining us.
MURRAY WATT: G’day Pablo, g’day Jane.
JANE HUME: Good to be with you Pablo. Hi Murray.
PABLO VINALES: Just firstly, I just wanted to get your reaction to news that has broken in the last hour or so. The U.S President Donald Trump has taken to social media platform Truth Social, as he often does. He has slammed former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, saying that he never understood what was going on in China, nor did he have capacity to do so. He said I always thought he was weak and an ineffective leader. Jane Hume, firstly, what is your response to that attack by the U.S President?
JANE HUME: I have to admit Pablo, I haven’t been following Twitter today, so the first I’ve heard of it is here on your show. But, what I would say is that Malcolm Turnbull did manage to secure exemptions from the tariffs that the previous Trump Administration imposed on both steel and aluminium. Malcolm Turnbull will assert that he had a good and fruitful relationship with the previous Trump Administration. So, I can’t explain this tweet, I can’t explain what is going on in Donald Trump’s mind. But we would hope that the current Government is able to do what Malcolm Turnbull did and secure those exemptions that come into effect in the next couple of days, because the economic implications for allowing them to go ahead are quite serious.
PABLO VINALES: Murray Watt, is it an ominous sign, though, as Labor is now trying to secure a carve out deal for the threat of tariffs on aluminium and steel for Australia?
MURRAY WATT: Look, I don't quite know what's prompted this tweet from Donald Trump, and we've said before that we're not going to provide a running commentary on the things the President says. What we've also been clear about, though, is that we're not going to be copying and pasting policies from the United States in the way that we've seen Peter Dutton and the Coalition do. We've already seen them lift a number of policies straight out of the United States playbook, whether it be banning from work, working from home, like they did last week, going after diversity inclusion policies and putting in place their own Department of Government Efficiency with massive Public Service cuts. So what we're about is putting in place policies for Australians and for Australia, not lifting them straight out of the US.
PABLO VINALES: Okay, Murray Watt, can I just then get your response to that news that we were just hearing as we went to air. The police are investigating the discovery of an explosives laden caravan in Dural. That they have made 14 arrests and charged with 49 offences. What's your response to that development this afternoon?
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, obviously I was listening to that press conference as we were preparing to come on Pablo, and the part that I caught, I mean, I think that the government absolutely welcomes the finding by the police that there appeared to be no real risk to public safety in this instance. I think that's a great relief for the Australian community. We've, of course, entirely backed the police forces during these investigations, and we haven't taken the opportunity, like some, to make political statements trying to influence and interfere in that investigation. But I think even though the police have found that there wasn't a real risk to public safety, I don't think we can underestimate the harm, psychological harm, that it created for the Jewish community. We've said on many occasions, there's absolutely no place for Antisemitism in our society, and I think it's good news that the police have made progress in this investigation.
PABLO VINALES: Jane Hume, do you welcome this development?
JANE HUME: Of course, if there's progress made on this, what could potentially have been a disastrous event for all Australians, not just the Jewish community. We're very pleased to hear of the progress. Our concern, of course, is the rise of Antisemitism has been allowed to continue unchecked by this government and it's not just the Jewish community that are feeling under threat, but communities around those communities as well. Unfortunately, we have now a really important part of our Australian fabric, that is feeling unsafe in their homes, in their places of worship, and even when they're walking down the street or in their universities and that's because of the weak leadership of the Albanese Government on this issue of rising Antisemitism. That's why we've pushed the Albanese Government for much tougher penalties for Antisemitic behaviour and Antisemitic actions, particularly around places of worship, around mandatory sentencing, something that the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to. Finally, we saw some action in that last sitting week of Parliament, but it's too little too late for the Jewish community.
PABLO VINALES: Labor obviously disputes some of those claims that you've just made. But can we go to another topic now, Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Firstly, to you, Murray Watt, you're in Brisbane as the recovery gets under way now. we are already seeing thousands of insurance claims being made. How will the government hold these companies to account?
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, we are not too far off entering the recovery phase, Pablo. I mean, it's important to note that there are areas not too far from Brisbane that are still experiencing very serious flooding. Areas like Laidley to the west of Brisbane, and there does seem to be a risk to Ipswich as well in the coming hours. So we haven't necessarily seen the end of the peaking of the flood waters. But when it comes to insurance claims, we've been very clear that we will be watching the insurers, and we expect them to serve their customers properly. We've put a lot of effort in as a government to invest in mitigation to reduce the risk of flooding and other damage to homes and we did that on the basis that insurers would, over time, be able to moderate their premium increases as well. So we'll be monitoring this very closely. This is not an opportunity for insurers to profiteer. We've had discussions with them as recently as this week to outline our expectations, and I think all Australians would expect insurers to do the right thing by their customers.
PABLO VINALES: Jane Hume, can I get your view on this? Because there's been some confusion around the Coalition's policy to crack down on insurers that don't bring down premiums. Peter Dutton said the Coalition would intervene and threaten divestment similar to supermarket policy, and Angus Taylor says it would only be confined to supermarkets. So what is the opposition's policy on this?
JANE HUME: Pablo, the Coalition's policy is not to extend divestiture policy to insurance companies. We would expect our insurance companies to pay out promptly and appropriately to those that are suffering after these terrible and devastating events. The most important thing, though, is to make sure that insurance is available and affordable for ordinary Australians. The only way to bring down insurance premiums is to make sure that you contain inflation, something that the Albanese government has failed to do. The reason why insurance premiums have increased more than 18% over the last three years is because inflation has been allowed to run out of control, the cost of rebuilding is so much higher. That's why insurance companies have to raise their premiums. That's unacceptable and that's on this government.
MURRAY WATT: Pablo, I have to, I have to step in there. I mean, Jane must be the only person in Australia who hasn't seen the fact that inflation has dramatically fallen under the Albanese Government, is less than half of what it was when we came to office and building costs are not insurance premiums they have.
JANE HUME: But insurance premiums are 18% higher Murray.
MURRAY WATT: So you know, for Jane and others to be claiming that inflation prices aren't going under control is just a complete lie.
JANE HUME: Prices aren’t going backwards Murray.
MURRAY WATT: The other point about breaking up insurers, I'm not sure whether Jane saw this, but today, her own colleague, Kevin Hogan, a front bencher, was in the media saying that the Coalition would look at breaking up insurers. So we've had about five different policies from the Coalition in the last three weeks on this, and I think that that demonstrates why so many Australians feel that they're not ready to govern.
PABLO VINALES: Jane, can I get your response to that?
JANE HUME: You can take my word for it, Murray. You can take my word for it that divestiture is not part of our policy for insurance companies. Of course, we want competition in the insurance sector, because competition, of course, is the best way to ensure that prices can come down. But prices have gone up because of inflation. If you want to get those prices down consistently with the same companies, you've got to get inflation under control. They've gone up 18% and that's because inflation has been too high for too long under the Albanese government.
MURRAY WATT: Well, of course, we are getting inflation under control, as well as lifting wages, keeping unemployment low and now seeing interest rates fall as well.
JANE HUME: Too high for too long Murray.
MURRAY WATT: So you know, the solution from the Coalition, of course, was to take an absolute axe to the federal Budget, just like they're saying they'll do if they win the next election. They won't say where job cuts will come from. Just last week, we saw the Shadow Emergency Management Minister flagging the possibility of job cuts at our National Emergency Management Agency, as we were entering a cyclone phase, so a bit more clarity would help.
PABLO VINALES: Murray Watt, Jane Hume, we are going to have to leave it there. We have run out of time, but we appreciate your time. Thank you.
JANE HUME: Thanks Pablo.