E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS ON THE HOUR
MONDAY, 1 AUGUST 2022 

SUBJECTS: Territory rights; Alcohol taxes

ASHLEIGH GILLON, HOST: Let's move on to federal politics. Now take you live to Canberra. We have today's seen a bill tabled which aims to restore territory rights. Let's bring in live the Member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, she's pushing for the change. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much. We could see a vote in the House of Representatives, I understand, as soon as this week. The Prime Minister is allowing Labour MPs a conscience vote. Are you confident that you are going to have the numbers to get it through the lower house?

ALICIA PAYNE MP, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Thanks for having me today. I'm optimistic. Most of the conversations I've had with members of the House have been positive. So we really hope that this time we can get the Federal Parliament to remove these, what's called the Andrews legislation, and enable the ACT in Northern Territory to have a debate. So just as a bit of background for viewers. In 1997, the Federal Parliament legislated what's become known as the Andrews legislation to prevent the Northern Territory and ACT debating and legislating on voluntary assisted dying. That was in response to the Northern Territory being the first jurisdiction to pass such legislation. And in the 25 years since then, all states, other than the two territories, have now passed legislation. And this has been something that many people have advocated hard on over many years. 25 years that we have not had the same rights as other Australians in the territory. This is something deeply important and urgent for Canberrans. So I'm really proud to have introduced this bill with my Northern Territory colleague, Luke Gosling, today, and I really hope that this is the time that the parliament will make the decision to restore these rights for people living in the territories.

GILLON: How worried are you that your colleagues might see this bill, though, as a vote by proxy, essentially, on assisted dying, and that that could be the thing that trips you up?

PAYNE: Well, obviously, voluntary assisted dying is an issue that people have really strong views about on either side of the discussion. And that's exactly why we should be able to have that discussion in the territories. But as a federal parliament, we don't have a legislative responsibility for voluntary assisted dying. But what the parliament has done, has stopped the territories from having that debate. So I really hope that my colleagues see this very much as about democratic rights. That's how I see it, and the other representatives of the territories who support this, which is all federal representatives of the ACT and all the Labor representatives of the Northern Territory. And this is something where we're asking our colleagues to do this for our constituents. This is not something that affects their constituents in the states. And it may be something that they haven't even had cause to think about much before. But for us, it's personal, and it's urgent. And I really hope that they will see it is about democratic rights.

GILLON: It looks like it might be pretty tricky to get through in the Senate, though, where are you at in terms of discussions with Senators who are really on the fence?

PAYNE: I'm also quietly optimistic there. I know that many discussions are being had there. And I know that the Senate has changed somewhat, over time. The last time that a bill like this was narrowly defeated by the Senate, it was defeated by two votes. And one of those votes was Senator Zed Seselja, representative of the ACT, who didn't support us having the same rights. He's now been replaced by Senator David Pocock, who is a strong advocate for territory rights. So that's one of those two votes. And I'm hopeful as well that people are seeing that the debate has changed. Now that all the states have passed such legislation on voluntary assisted dying, it is much more really an anomaly now that the two territories are prevented from having the debate of something that has now happened in the other states. So when it was introduced, it was very much about stopping the territories doing something, getting ahead of the states. But now this is really about affecting people who are in the Northern Territory and the ACT and having, sort of unintended consequences on them. So I really hope that the senators will see it that way.

GILLON: Just finally Alicia Payne, I want to get your take on some news of the day. We've seen this new polling out showing that Anthony Albanese is increasing in popularity with voters. He has a 61% satisfaction rating. Latest Newspoll. It's the highest we've seen for an incoming Prime Minister. I do wonder though if that might change, we're seeing news of this big tax increase on beer kicking in soon. Reports today suggesting beer drinkers will be looking at $10 for a schooner, $15 for a pint of beer. It is the biggest tax increase hitting the beer industry in 30 years. Is Labor looking at that seriously? Can we expect tax relief for beer drinkers?

PAYNE: Well, I think Australians know that cost of living pressures are really going up across the board. And as I understand it, the increase, which is a result of a regular indexation on today, the first of August. It actually is an increase of tax of 80 cents for a carton of beer, and around four cents for a pint. So, I enjoy a drink as much as anyone. But I think in the scheme of things, we're seeing the costs of fresh food going up. I think in the context of us having inherited a trillion dollars of debt from the previous government. This is something that we probably can't address at this time. And I think that it's not something in the scheme of those other cost of living pressures that are affecting Australians that Australians would want to see as prioritizing.

GILLON: Thanks for joining us live there in Canberra. Really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

PAYNE: Thanks for having me.