Interview with Peter Stefanovic, First Edition

31 March 2025

PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, not one, not two, but three national polls have a swing towards Labor this morning as we enter the first full week of the election campaign. Joining us live is the Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Jane, I know what you're going to say, that it's not going to matter and all of that, but the sign isn't good.

JANE HUME: Pete, I'm going to tell you the same things I've said to you for the last 12 months, and the only poll that matters is the one on election day.

PETER STEFANOVIC (talks over): Not good though.

JANE HUME: And that's really important, that's really important. I've been out in my home state of Victoria this weekend. I've been in the seats of Macnamara, Chisholm, McEwen and Goldstein, and the message is really clear, we can't afford three more years of Labor. On every metric, when you ask a voter, do they feel better off than they were three years ago, they say no. They say no. They know that there's a clear choice coming up at this election, and it's going to be about who can manage the economy and help Australians get ahead, because they cannot afford three more years of the same. They cannot afford three more years of Labor. Inflation ran out of control. Interest rates have stayed too high for too long. Fuel, power bills, food costs, insurance costs have all gone through the roof, housing is unaffordable and their streets are less safe. There's going to be a very clear choice at this election, and we intend to make sure that every voter out there, not just in Victoria, but right around the country, understand that Peter Dutton can deliver, can manage the economy, keep Australians safe and deliver a better future.

PETER STEFANOVIC: So with all of those points that you rightly point out, including a collapse in living standards, why aren't you running away with this thing?

JANE HUME: That collapse in living standards is real. In fact, Australians have gone backwards by about 8%...

PETER STEFANOVIC (interrupts): So why aren't you running away? Why are the polls going the other way?

JANE HUME: Well, there's always going to be a clear choice at an election. We expect polls to tighten. That's not a surprise in the least. The most important thing is what's happening on the ground here in Victoria, we've seen the evidence of what happens with 10 years of a bad Labor Government that has mismanaged the economy. That's why Victoria is going to be such a central focus for this election. And everywhere I go, they're telling me something very consistent, which is they've had enough of a bad Labor government in Victoria, and they can't afford 3 years of Labor, three more years of Labor federally.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Just a couple of policies. Then, Jane, do you think your work from home pivot was a miscalculation, given there's been no bump, particularly among women?

JANE HUME: Well, let me be very clear, Pete, we don't really care what the private sector does. The private sector makes its own decisions for its workplace. In fact, this is about the public sector. This is about the public service. And the public service now have a 61% rate of working from home. Every dollar that a public servant earns is $1 that has been earned by somebody else and paid in the form of taxes. Now we know that Katy Gallagher herself did a review into working arrangements, working from home arrangements within the public service. She asked the APSC commissioner to do this because there does seem to be an out of, like something's moved very much out of whack with the private sector. And we're now hearing stories about people you know, working from home, but in fact, travelling around Australia in a caravan with their family or stakeholders turning up to a department, flying into Canberra for a meeting with their teams, only to be shown into a meeting room where everybody dials in. That doesn't meet the expectation of taxpayers.

PETER STEFANOVIC: But it on the whole though, I mean, the Productivity Commissioner says it can benefit the economy.

JANE HUME: Actually, the Productivity Commissioner said working from home full time, in fact, can actually detract from productivity. That were her own words. That's the government's Productivity Commissioner. Now, flexible work is always going to remain. Of course, it's going to remain, but it's most important that it works not just for the individual, but it works for department. It works for the team, has to work for everybody. That's how it works in the private sector. That's how it should work in the public sector.

PETER STEFANOVIC: All right, so you're going to hold the line on that one. Now, is it reasonable to ask how much cheaper our gas bills are going to be if more of it is set aside? Otherwise, why vote for it? I mean, is there a ballpark on how much people might save?

JANE HUME: Don't you think that it's so important to have a policy on gas that you can actually deliver on because, let's face it, Anthony Albanese’s energy policy, not only have they gone silent on energy policy, but in fact, they've ripped up the modelling that they used prior to the last election, where they promised 97 times to reduce your energy bills by $275.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Right so you're not making that promise.

JANE HUME: That is gone. We've come out, We've come out with an alternative, a genuine policy that will inject more supply of gas into our system, bringing prices down as quickly as possible. That's the most important thing, and it's a genuine plan that's been worked up with industry, in conjunction with industry, so that we know that it can be done. A gas reservation has worked in West Australia. It's going to work on the east coast as well. The most important thing is we bring those energy prices down soon, and more importantly, in the long term, we have a vision to replace dirty coal fired power stations as they retire with clean, zero emissions nuclear energy.

PETER STEFANOVIC: I've got to go, Jane, but just a final one here. If the RBA holds tomorrow and Trump's tariffs target us in a big, big way on Wednesday, can things swing in your favour?

JANE HUME: There's a lot of ifs in that statement Pete.

PETER STEFANOVIC: Yeah there are.

JANE HUME: I don't think I can work on those types of hypotheticals. What I can assure you, though, is that whatever happens tomorrow, you're poorer under Labor.

PETER STEFANOVIC: We'll leave it there. Jane, see you soon.