Interview with Peter Stefanovic, First Edition

9 December 2024

PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, as we just reported, voters consider Anthony Albanese to be the weakest Prime Minister in decades. That's according to Newspoll, out today. But despite that, Peter Dutton has also gone backwards on the question of who would be the better Prime Minister. Joining us live now, the Shadow Finance Minister, Jane Hume. Jane, it's another poll that you'll probably kick to the curb here. But what stands out for you in it?

JANE HUME: There's a reason why we don't discuss polls, and that's because they do tend to move at the margins. But the trend is overwhelming here. People are feeling poorer under Anthony Albanese and he has broken his promises. Three years ago he came to government saying that you would be better off under Labor, that he would reduce energy prices by $275 and yet they've gone up by as much as a thousand. He said that you'd have cheaper mortgages under Labor, and yet an average mortgage these days now costs around $30,000 more per household. If you are feeling poorer, it is because you are poorer. Your living standards have gone backwards by 8.7% in the last two and a half years alone, and we heard last week that we're now in the longest household recession in 50 years. The reason why Anthony Albanese is becoming so unpopular in the polls is because people have realised that under Labor they are worse off, not better off, and they're looking for alternatives.

PETER STEFANOVIC: But if you're going backwards or if Peter Dutton's going backwards as the better Prime Minister, does that prove that voters don't trust you either?

JANE HUME: Certainly, the message that is coming out loud and clear from these polls is that they want a decisive leader. They want a leader that is going to take the country to a better place. It's not just about, uh, the day to day decisions. They want to see a leader that isn't going to head off to a Katy Perry or a Taylor Swift concert that isn't going to appear on an ABC game show, or head off to a holiday house in Copacabana. They want to see a leader that is doing right by them, that has a plan for the economy that is simply more than increased migration or increased government spending, which is making the economy weaker and your personal circumstances worse, keeping inflation higher for longer.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, Jane, this Newspoll was conducted before the events of Friday. As a Victorian, how do you think the Prime Minister has responded to it?

JANE HUME: The news last week of the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne was so confronting because there is no other word for it. This is an anti-Semitic act of terror, and the Jewish community have rightly looked to their government for leadership on this issue and found it sorely lacking and let's not forget that this issue of the firebombing of a synagogue comes only a week after a protest outside a synagogue in Sydney, where worshippers cowered in fear of their safety inside. That's only a month after cars were set on fire in Woollahra and covered with anti-Semitic slogans and in May this year there were anti-Semitic slogans graffitied all over a secondary school here in Melbourne. This is becoming progressively worse. There is no other word for it other than anti-Semitism, and unfortunately that has been emboldened and indeed enabled by a government that has failed to take the lead on these issues.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Should there be an emergency session of National Cabinet?

JANE HUME: We certainly agree that there is work that needs to be done to ensure the protection of our Jewish community, our loved Jewish community, our Jewish community in Australia that has contributed to our economic well-being and prosperity for decades, is now being singled out and persecuted. That is unfair and unreasonable. We need to make sure that the laws that we have already are being responded to, that we are enacting those laws and if the laws are inadequate, well, then they need to be strengthened. This should be a priority of government and if it's a National Cabinet that takes that, well, so be it. But I think we are looking to the Prime Minister to take the lead on this issue.

PETER STEFANOVIC: What about and we'll just have to wrap here, Jacinta Allan's no show yesterday, the Victorian Premier. Do you have a thought on that?

JANE HUME: Yeah, it was disgraceful. This is a really important part of the fabric of Victorian, of Melbourne society and Jacinta Allan simply didn't show up. This is a community that are crying out for her help, for her to show leadership, in the same way dare I say that Chris Minns has shown in Sydney. Jacinta Allan has failed the Melbourne Jewish community. She has failed the broader Australian community, the broader Victorian community who are looking to her to protect a much loved section of Victoria.

PETER STEFANOVIC: I've got to say it was an odd decision by the Premier. Jane, thank you.