E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC BREAKFAST WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2022

SUBJECTS: Canberra Forum; Australia Post; New University Places; Cost of Medicines; PBS; Childcare.

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, HOST: Speaking of one of those politicians, but one of the better ones, is the Federal Member for Canberra Alicia Payne. Good morning, Alicia.

ALICIA PAYNE MP, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Good morning, Stephen.

CENATIEMPO: I have to apologise to you. I did get your letter in the mail the other day. The Canberra Forum letter. But I haven't had a chance to sit down and read it. I got to pick it out of the mailbox on Friday and I haven't had five minutes to scratch myself since.

PAYNE: Well, I'm a bit worried that a lot of them are going to be so wet by the time people get them out of the letterbox. Hopefully they'll still be able to read them. But yes, so my survey went out to all Canberrans last week, and we're getting lots of responses. But if people haven't yet and can respond, that will be wonderful. I'm keen to get as many as possible. And you can do it online. So there's a QR code that you can use your phone to do it directly, or you can go to my website and do it. So even if your letter is completely soaked and ruined, you can do it like that. But also, there's another letter to look out for this week, which is actually the invitation to be involved in The Canberra Forum, which is going to be 8000 randomly selected households. And then from that, from the people who respond that they'd like to be involved, we'll select 40 people trying to get the best balance of demographics to represent our city. And they'll have the opportunity to be involved over a period of six months in discussions around the issues that matter to them. So it's a really great opportunity and I just urge Canberrans if you do get get the random invitation to please take it up.

CENATIEMPO: All right. Well, I promise I will, when I get home this morning, I will open mine up, it's sitting on the kitchen bench waiting to be read. So I will do it. I promise I will do that. Now, while we're talking about things in the post, the Civic Square post office is set to close. You were pretty vocal when Centrelink closed their office in your electorate. We haven't heard you say anything about this yet.

PAYNE: Yeah, well, I have had a few people write to me and I must admit the way that I found out about that was from constituents writing to me. So Australia Post didn't actually, you know, usually you get a bit of a heads up with these things. And I am writing to them to find out exactly what's gone on there and a bit more information, because I think, that is that is a big loss to Civic again, to have another, to have that post office closing down. But it is it is a commercial decision of Australia Post. It is a bit different to the Centrelink in that that's a fully government run office. Australia Post is somewhat bit more independent of government.

CENATIEMPO: Well, yeah, but the government are the only shareholder.

PAYNE: Yeah, well, as I said, I'm going to write to Australia Post, today probably, and find out if we could get a bit more information about why that decision has been made and whether there could be a bit more consultation with the Canberra community about it.

CENATIEMPO: Do you know where the next nearest post office is? Off the top of your head?

PAYNE: Well, I guess they'll be the one, there's the GPO. Yeah, which is also in Civic. So it's not that far. But that one is obviously, right there at the Canberra Centre where many people probably are.

CENATIEMPO: Now 345 new uni places at ANU and the Uni of Canberra. Where are they been directed? Because I always, and this is not, you know, a political question. But usually when politicians say there's new open new spaces or universities, it doesn't necessarily mean they're the right places.

PAYNE: So this is part of our national policy of 20,000 new university prices over the next two years. And as you say, Stephen, we've had a good allocation of those to Canberra, with 237 additional places at ANU and 108 at UC. And these are in particular areas of critical skill shortage areas. So some of the areas include nursing, midwifery, allied health, psychology, teaching, and also software and IT engineering. And also those places are going to be allocated to groups that are underrepresented in universities. So people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, First Nations Australians and also people from regional and remote areas. So it's sort of a twofold aim of, more places in those critical areas of demand, but also making it easier for some groups that are less represented in our universities.

CENATIEMPO: Not that this is really relevant, do both unis fall completely into your electorate or does UC spill over into Fenner a little bit.

PAYNE: Yes, they are in my electorate.

CENATIEMPO: Okay, there you go. Because I gotta say, when I first moved here, I didn't think I was in your electorate, but I am, as it turns out. So if I've got a problem, I'll let you know.

PAYNE: I'm sure you will.

CENATIEMPO: One of the promises that both sides of politics made in the lead up to the election, and there was a slight variance in the amounts, was to reduce the prices of medicines on the PBS. When does that actually kick in?

PAYNE: Yeah, so this starts from the first of January next year, and this has actually already passed the Rarliament. This one, which is a really great policy, it's the first time in the 75 year history of the PBS that the maximum cost of general scripts will fall. So what our policy does is it's reducing the maximum general co-payment from $42.50 to $30. And so that means that, for example, someone who is on one medication could save as much as $150 every year, or a household, taking two or three medications could save up to $450 a year from that. So it's some, it's a really good policy to help people with their cost of living.

CENATIEMPO: But I know you talk about it being a cost of living measure. But it really does, the only cost of living measures that were announced in the budget, or the mini budget last week, really only affects small groups of Australians. I mean, there was nothing in there for the broader community.

PAYNE: Well, I think, like this cheaper medicines, I think if you talk to people, particularly older people, this is a really important, this is a really difficult cost. And we hear from pharmacists who say that people come in and say, which, which is my most important script to fill, because I can't afford to do all of them. And that's clearly not the aim of what the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was. It's to make medicines affordable. So this is an important adjustment to that which all Australians can access, the PBS so. But no we've got some really important cost of living support in our budget. Our childcare policies going to benefit 1.26 million Australians, including 23,200 here and the ACT. And as I've said, many times before, parents that use childcare, this is a huge cost to them. And this is good news for parents in Canberra and all around Australia, because we've got some of the highest childcare costs here in Canberra.

CENATIEMPO: Yeah, I know, I'm just, I'm always concerned when you increase the subsidies for childcare, what it tends to do is push the price of childcare up, rather than make it more affordable. And that's been historically what's happened. Andrew Leigh assures us that the ACCC is going to be on to it. But if you wait for the ACCC to clamp down on things, you could be waiting a long time. That's the only problem.

PAYNE: That is an important part of our policy. As Andrew said, the ACCC will be tasked with monitoring that. But this is really good news for parents, because it expands actually the people who can access the subsidy at all as well, which is a good thing moving towards a more universal system. Because obviously we've got universal public education. We know that education in those early years, preschool years, is critically important for children's development and sets them up for life. So it's sort of a strange artifact that we see it so differently to school. And so this is moving towards a more universal system as well.

CENATIEMPO: Well, the reason we see it differently is because kids have to go to school, they don't have a choice, but parents still have a choice as to whether or not they keep their kids or home at home or send them to childcare, depending on their financial circumstances, of course. So I understand that, but unless you're gonna make it compulsory, the comparisons not really accurate is it?

PAYNE: Well, it's some I see your point. And I'm not I'm certainly not arguing that it should ever be compulsory. But we know that the benefit of that early childhood education is is really there for kids for the rest of their lives. And particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, it really has a real impact. And so we want people to be able to access that if they want to. And the other side, of course, is the economic side, which is that the cost of childcare has been putting a handbrake on our economy. And the ABS, I think the figure was 73,000 people, have said last year that they weren't able to work because of the cost of childcare. Lke they want to work but they couldn't work because of that. So that's a really important part of it is that if people want to work, we don't want to see the cost of childcare standing in their way. And of course, it's usually women that are making that decision.

CENATIEMPO: Alicia, always good to talk. Appreciate your time. We'll catch up a couple in a couple weeks.

PAYNE: Good to talk Stephen.

CENATIEMPO: Alicia Payne, the Federal Member for Canberra.