Interview with Patricia Karvelas, RN Breakfast

11 December 2024

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Interest rates will end the year where they began, with the RBA opting to keep the cash rate unchanged and on hold at 4.35%. But what has changed is the language that the board is now using to describe what comes next. Governor Michele Bullock stressed yesterday that risks remain, but the RBA is now gaining confidence that inflation is heading sustainably towards its target. Joining me is Liberal Senator and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume, welcome.

JANE HUME: Good to be with you PK.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Before we get to rates, I want to start with this attack in Woollahra, which was graffiti and also a car set on fire. We understand two people have been apprehended. We will bring more of that as it emerges. Some strong language being used. The Prime Minister has just issued a statement suggesting that he will be briefed by the special group that's been set up with the AFP and ASIO on this. Are you satisfied with the response we're seeing?

JANE HUME: Well, unfortunately, this is becoming all too common. Antisemitism has no place in Australia. This is an appalling attack, as was the attack on the synagogue in Melbourne last week, as was the protest outside the synagogue in Sydney, that meant that worshippers were cowering inside, waiting for the protest to disperse because they feared for their safety. This is the second car bombing attack that we've seen and graffiti of cars in Woollahra in a month. Because this is becoming all too common, you understand why the Jewish community are crying out for leadership that they simply haven't seen forthcoming.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: But they have seen it right? Like the Prime Minister went yesterday to the synagogue. The Prime Minister has just issued a statement. He's going to be briefed by the Operation Avalite. Clearly, there is a response from the Federal Government and also the State Government and police.

JANE HUME: Well, let's be clear, Anthony Albanese was four days late to what even he conceded was a terrorist attack, four days. No wonder the Jewish community have been disappointed. More importantly, though, they've been looking for leadership on this issue for considerable period of time now, since the October 7 attacks and because the government has prevaricated, because it has used weasel words and wishy washy languages, it does seem that those that are committing these offenses have been emboldened, if not enabled, by a government that has failed to take leadership that the Jewish community are looking for. There are over 100,000 members of the Jewish community in Australia. They are great contributors to our pluralist, multicultural society. They deserve to be able to feel safe in their own homes, safe in their communities. They're telling us now that they won't even go into the city in Melbourne on a Sunday because they fear for their safety. That's simply not good enough. This is too little too late coming from Anthony Albanese.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: You said emboldened and enabled? Are you really saying that torching a car has been enabled by the government?

JANE HUME: Well, these crimes have gone unpunished. They've gone unrecognised.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, hang on a minute, people have just been arrested, is our understanding, or at least, apprehended. I'll give you the clarity exactly on what. I mean, Police are doing their job, but enabled is a really strong word, Senator, to say that the Federal Government has enabled this kind of violence.

JANE HUME: Well, they could have done so much more and so much sooner, because we're now hearing, I spoke to a Jewish couple just the other day who were in Elsternwick, who were saying to me that they are considering moving to Tel Aviv because they think that they will be safer in Israel, a country that is at war at the moment, than they would be in Elsternwick. Now, that's unacceptable, and that has unfortunately been because the leadership hasn't been from the Federal Government that they are crying out for.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I just want to clarify. Police are searching for those two people. They were seen wearing face masks, coverings and dark clothing. They haven't found them yet. I just want to be very clear, because that's why people rely on us here at the ABC, to be extremely clear. So you're saying these people don't feel safe, doesn't this new Operation Avalite deal with these, these problems that you're talking about.

JANE HUME: I would hope so. I mean, look, Peter Dutton came out last week and said that a task force should be together that would involve not just the AFP, but ASIO, AUSTRAC, Border Force, State police. Anthony Albanese has come late to the party on this, we also would like to see a Ministerial Direction to that task force that would not just look at current incidents, but would also look at outstanding complaints and unsolved crimes against the Jewish community since October 7th, so retrospectively, and that should include things like doxxing. It should include public displays of terrorist symbols, it should include harassment and other offenses and a re-evaluation of the decisions that might have already been made not to proceed with charges for these offenses, because this is very serious, and we expect that our Jewish communities should feel safe in their own suburbs, in their own neighborhoods, in their own homes, and certainly in their places of worship.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: We have a separation between these different levels of accountability in our country, the police don't tell you, sorry, the government doesn't say, arrest this person. That's not the way it works, right?

JANE HUME: No, but that's why you would direct the task force to take a second look at these particular issues, because they are crimes, and if there are laws there that would deal with those crimes, well then they should be enforced and if the laws are inadequate, well then that should be reported back to the government to strengthen the laws to protect the community.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I want to turn our attention if we can, to interest rates, which are on hold again. But we did hear different language from the RBA yesterday, saying that we are heading sustainably towards target. So it looks like they are going into a new phase now, there is a switch. Do you acknowledge that now there is a kind of change in the language of the RBA?

JANE HUME: Yes, they did say that they were looking at inflation returning sustainably to band by 2026. That is still far too long for inflation to have come down and of course, that means that because inflation has stayed too high for too long, interest rates have stayed too high for too long as well. So yesterday's news is cold comfort to those that are really doing it tough before Christmas, particularly those mortgage holders that were holding out for a rate cut before the end of this year. I should also mention that already the Reserve Bank have delayed their forecast of when inflation comes back to band four times over the life of this government, and there are 40 countries out there that have already seen interest rate cuts, but not Australia. The Reserve Bank has specifically said that public sector spending is keeping inflation too high for too long. That's why we've been calling on the government for some time to rein in its spending ambitions, that natural urge that governments have all used, but particularly Labor governments have to spend and spend in order to do its fair share of the heavy lifting and get inflation back under control.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Prime Minister, who I hope will be calling into the program in a moment, I do want to hear from him on a couple of these issues, but is going to deliver a very significant speech today in Brisbane, where he's going to make an announcement, which actually does follow a recommendation of the Productivity Commission to take the Activity Test off so that people can get a guaranteed three days of subsidy for childcare. Do you support that move?

JANE HUME: Well, we'll look very carefully at this announcement. I suppose, my disappointment is that one of the things that parents are crying out for at the moment is accessibility to childcare.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, one of the announcements I understand is also for childcare deserts, where there aren't childcare centers to also be established. Is that a good solution to the problems we're seeing?

JANE HUME: Well, at least they're being identified now because simply raising the subsidy or removing the activity test doesn't address that issue of child care deserts. It doesn't add a single child care place. It doesn't add a single child care center. That's really what parents need right now. The Activity Test is there for a very important reason, though, because there is an awful lot of money that gets put into child care subsidies at moments, about $15 billion a year, and it's growing towards around 18 to $19 billion very rapidly, we're now subsidising the wages of childcare workers as well as the subsidies. So both sides are being subsidised by the taxpayer. I think the taxpayer has a right to expect that the subsidies are going to those people that are either working or volunteering or studying.

PATRICIA KARVELAS (INTERRUPTS): So your instinct is not to change that?

JANE HUME: That's what the activity test was all about. Now, if this is a workforce participation measure, I would be interested in seeing the data that shows how that works, because I don't know how you remove an activity test that requires people to work and say that's going to help workforce participation.

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Jane Hume, thank you for joining us. I'll see you on Afternoon Briefing next year. 

JANE HUME: Great to be with you PK.