E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC STEPHEN CENATIEMPO BREAKFAST SHOW
TUESDAY, 19 JANUARY 2021
SUBJECTS: JobKeeper; superannuation; anniversary of bushfires; Blacklight filming in Canberra.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Well it's time, normally on at this time on a Monday on a Tuesday, what day is it, Eddie? Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday, we would have a political panel with two of our local Federal MPs from here in the ACT and not all of them are available at the moment. But Alicia Payne, the Labor Member for Canberra has made herself available and joins us now. Alicia, good morning and Happy New Year.
ALICIA PAYNE, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Oh, good morning, Stephen. Happy New Year.
CENATIEMPO: Now I've got a challenge for yourself, Andrew Leigh and David Smith, I heard a gentleman call The Two Murray's here on to 2CC on Sunday, suggesting that there are only two federal MPs in the ACT, Zed Seselja and Katy Gallagher. You three need to get out and do some more street stalls.
PAYNE: Well, maybe that person needs to get out a bit more too.
CENATIEMPO: Indeed, look, as I mentioned, a few minutes ago, JobKeeper is going to run out at the end of March. What can we do to support Canberra businesses once these government handouts effectively stop?
PAYNE: Yeah, well, actually, I'm going to be meeting next week with the Canberra Business Chamber again, to talk further about these issues. Obviously, really important for our capital. I think that the ACT Government have done a brilliant job throughout the pandemic, with the support that they've been providing. But it's about bringing people back to Canberra, tourists especially. It's about continuing with the strong, the way that we've responded so strongly to COVID-19 and been able to keep Canberra, you know, touchwood, relatively healthy and well through it, and so that people can continue to keep going out to shops and restaurants and cafes, and all of these things. But I do think that the Government would, the Federal Government should be continuing JobKeeper past March until we get back to a stable economic position as well.
CENATIEMPO: Who pay, how do we pay for that, though, Alicia? This is the problem. I mean, we're already and this is where one of my criticisms of the Opposition is, you're already looking at the Government and saying, 'Well, you know, the, the Budget's blown out and the deficit is going to be this'. Well, this is only gonna make that worse.
PAYNE: Well, obviously, the response to the pandemic has worsened the budget position, but I think that these measures actually pay for themselves by stimulating the economy. I mean, JobKeeper has kept many, many Australians out of unemployment and many businesses afloat and able to retain those jobs. And without that, we would have seen much greater need for more social security benefits. And also, we would have seen people not being able to keep spending on the way that they have been throughout the pandemic. So it's really important that we continue that until the economy gets back on its feet.
CENATIEMPO: Superannuation seems to be shaping up as being a fairly key political issue this year, the Government apparently is examining a plan that will give workers more choice as to whether they take money home or put it in their superannuation. Why shouldn't we be able to choose what we do with our own money?
PAYNE: This is just another classic Liberal attack on the foundations of an equitable society. The Liberals have an ideological problem with superannuation, with people needing to put a proportion away. But what this, what this plan would do is the Liberals would call it choice.
CENATIEMPO: Hang on, I’m gonna pull you up there. I don't think it's an ideological thing about people putting money away, it's about choosing to do it themselves.
PAYNE: Yes, well, as I was saying, the Liberals would call that a choice. But obviously, if you're on a very low income, you don't have a choice except to take that money now. And you're essentially robbing yourself of a decent retirement, which is the reason that, you know, Paul Keating and the Labor Party established our superannuation system, which is the envy of the world. So a small amount of money now, which would really not make that much difference to your wages now makes a huge difference in retirement. For example, people who took the $10,000 out, that the Government allowed them to, young people to take it as part of COVID, it's estimated that a person on average will be worse off by $100,000 in their retirement. So the value is obviously much more at that later end. It supports our pension system by meaning less people need to be on a full or part pension. It keeps people out of poverty. And it means that all Australians, even those in low paid work can have a decent retirement to look forward to and I think that's really important. This is just another attack from the Government on that.
CENATIEMPO: Yeah, I don't dispute all of the, the mechanics around it but I just, you know, at the end of the day, it is our money, and it seems to be something a lot of people forget. Now I want to talk about this time last year, the South Coast was starting the fairly long recovery out of bushfires. Next week's gonna be a year since the ACT faced its biggest bushfire threat since 2003. And yesterday, of course, the eighteinth anniversary there. What are your memories of that?
PAYNE: Yes, certainly it is a very tough anniversary for people who have been affected. I mean, I know that the 2003 bushfires really still stick with many Canberrans and that was a incredibly tragic day for Canberra. Last year, I mean, for Canberra, I was really struck by the response that constituents wrote to me was really a, people were very, very disturbed by what was going on both in our region, but particularly for the ACT, although we thankfully avoided actual fire. Well, there were some fires here, but we, you know, obviously avoided loss of life and property unlike other places around the country. But the smoke haze was a health crisis here in the ACT of its own, of itself. We had the most hazardous air quality around the world for many days over that period. I think it was around 35 days. We had businesses shutting down, we had people very concerned, people, particularly who couldn't afford to air condition their homes. I was handing out masks to people. It was you know, we were wearing masks here in Canberra before COVID because of the smoke, and it was, it's a time that we shouldn't forget. We shouldn't forget that there are people who did lose their homes who are still waiting on assistance from the Government. And we shouldn't forget that climate change is obviously a part of driving these more severe weather events. And that we need that action to come from the Government.
CENATIEMPO: Now, Alicia, is there any truth to the rumour that we're going to see you pop up as an extra in a Hollywood movie?
PAYNE: Well, it's been extremely exciting in the last week or so to see car chases around my office and for this new movie Backlight with Liam Neeson. So unfortunately, my office is going to be, using CGI, turned into looking like the streets of Washington. So unfortunately, I'm probably not going to make an appearance but it's been very exciting and lots of people outside filming, you know, taking videos on their phone. A bit of Hollywood in Canberra.
CENATIEMPO: I'm just picturing you when this movie comes out. You'll be sitting there watching so carefully to go I think that might be my office.
PAYNE: Well, it's been extremely exciting in the last week or so to see car chases around my office and for this new movie Blacklight with Liam Neeson. So unfortunately, my office is going to be, using CGI, turned into looking like the streets of Washington. So unfortunately, I'm probably not going to make an appearance but it's been very exciting and lots of people outside filming, you know, taking videos on their phone. A bit of Hollywood in Canberra.
CENATIEMPO: I'm just picturing you when this movie comes out. You'll be sitting there watching so carefully to go I think that might be my office.
PAYNE: That's right, yeah. [Laughing]
CENATIEMPO: Alicia, thanks for your time this morning. We'll catch up again soon.
PAYNE: Thanks, Stephen, have a good day.
CENATIEMPO: Alicia Payne, the Labor Member for Canberra.
ENDS
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