E&OE Transcript
Radio Interview
ABC Radio Canberra Breakfast with Ross Solly
Thursday 11 September 2025
Ross Solly
Alicia Payne, good morning to you.
Alicia Payne MP
Good morning Ross, thanks for having me.
Ross Solly
No thank you for coming in. There's a lot happening in your electorate at the moment. I've got a few questions, which I'll go to in just a sec. But can I ask you about the ANU? Because the conjecture continues about what's going on. We're now hearing a report that that the Vice Chancellor is on leave this week, and there is still conjecture about whether she will be my understanding is that she's been asked to leave. I don't know whether you've received a briefing on it. Would you be expected to receive a briefing on it? And what's your view on where they're at at the moment?
Alicia Payne MP
Yeah, well, clearly, the ANU is in a very, well a crisis, really, at the moment. And I'm hearing from a lot of staff from the ANU. I've been meeting with them and I've raised their concerns directly with the VC. I've raised them with Minister Clare. I've met with TEQSA the regulator, and also the expert panel on university governance, and it is clear that there needs to be some sort of reset there, because trust has clearly been broken between the leadership and the staff and broader community. And you know, the ANU is such an incredibly important institution, not just for our city, but for our whole nation, and we're really at risk of seeing so much damage being done there at the moment. So I wouldn't want to speculate on the specifics of exactly what might be being decided by the VC this week and the council, but there definitely does need to be some sort of reset of the process there.
Ross Solly
Independent Senator David Pocock says that both Genevieve Bell and Julie Bishop need to go. Do you agree?
Alicia Payne MP
I personally, as a elected representative, I don't think it's my place to make that call, because I don't work at the ANU. I'm not closely involved, but what I have been doing is hearing from my community, the staff and broader community at ANU, and passing those concerns on, including directly to the Vice Chancellor, because I don't think it is our role to actually make that decision. But people are coming to us because they're not being heard, and their feedback procedures have been exhausted at the university. They're not feeling listened to, like academics, I understand, and a few of them have said to me we don't want to be spending our time coming and meeting with politicians. We want to be getting on with our research and our teaching, but they're coming to us because there's clearly a problem there.
Ross Solly
Yeah, and I get that and I hear what you're saying about as an elected representative, you don't feel it's your role to talk about whether someone should stay or should they go. But clearly, from what you're saying, a lot of people are coming to you to voice concerns. Are you being briefed? Are you being kept up to date with what's happening there? When was the last briefing you got from the ANU about what's going on there?
Alicia Payne MP
Well, they have been sending me, I think, a weekly sort of email update.
Ross Solly
Is that the Genevieve Bell weekly update that she sends out every week,
Alicia Payne MP
It might be the same.
Ross Solly
Which, by the way, hasn't come out this week.
Alicia Payne MP
Well, absolutely, there's definitely a problem there because of what people are saying to me and now other representatives my Labor colleagues, have also been very active on this issue, and when I've met with the VC, they've assured me that things are okay and they're not. They're clearly not okay.
Ross Solly
No, well, this governance report, and I'll move on in moment to more questions. But the Governance Project Center Report, which is, I believe it's going to be revealed tomorrow, the full details of it, 96% of the 700 respondents believe the university's governance was not fit for purpose and should be reformed. I mean, you've basically said that as well, that it's not fit for purpose at the moment,
Alicia Payne MP
And I've seen that proposal that that group have done, and I've talked with them as well. But so I would say as well that the Minister, Jason Clare, has acknowledged that there are problems with university governance structures across the board, and that's why he's established the expert panel on university governance, which is consulting more broadly and will put forward a report, I think, quite soon that is and I have alsomet with them and passed on specific concerns about ANU. Because one of the things that ANU staff have said to me is that, given there's so much thought about governance happening at the ANU at the moment, that there should be a particular opportunity for them to contribute, and they are able to do that. But this expert panel won't make recommendations specific to any university, but it is looking across the board at that.
Ross Solly
17 to nine on ABC Canberra breakfast, 1300 681 666 is our phone number, 0467 922 666 is our text number. If you would like to put a question to the Member for Canberra, Alicia Payne. On the text line a listener asks, 'Why is the eSafety Commissioner pushing these dumb policies in regarding in regard to needing ID to use social media and adult videos?' Now this is something obviously your government's been pushing very hard to and we read today that apparently Europe is looking at what Australia is doing regarding social media, and is very much thinking of doing a similar thing. Do you support it Alicia Payne and do you think that it is a dumb idea to make people have to provide ID et cetera, to get onto social media?
Alicia Payne MP
Well, what we are doing in that space is world leading. And so it was great to read this morning that Europe has been inspired by what we're doing, because there is so much concern in the community, particularly from parents, about the harm that social media and other things on the internet are doing to children and young people. And I'm a parent, and my son's seven, and I already see him using technology in ways that I don't even know what he's doing, and I'm surprised that he's been able to do, find things and teach himself things.
Alicia Payne MP
Is he saying things to you like skibbidy toilet and six seven? Is he?
Alicia Payne MP
Unfortunately he is, and skibbidy toilet has been banned in our house because it's just utter rubbish.
Ross Solly
It's been banned in my house as well, but only for me. Like most kids, have banned me from saying it which is fair enough to they have no idea what it means. But go on,
Alicia Payne MP
I don't either. But, um, I hate the videos so and, yeah, I think you know this is, this is about protecting our children, and we are it has an unprecedented impact on young people that we don't really know how to navigate. And I think it's really important that the big tech providers and the social media companies have a responsibility for that. And so we are backing Australian parents in being able to enforce these measures to stop the children and young people accessing things that are harmful.
Ross Solly
Do you know you still on schedule? Will it happen in November? Is that the plan? I think that was the original date that we're going to see the new laws come in.
Alicia Payne MP
Yeah well, that's my understanding.
Alicia Payne MP
Okay, yep, good. A quarter to nine on ABC Canberra breakfast. This is from Brendan. And "my question, Ms Payne, why does your electorate keep receiving hundreds of millions in federal funding for new infrastructure while Bean loses pools and basketball centers and gets no federal support for long promised projects like the Tuggeranong ice rink?" I guess you're going to say that's because you're such a good local member. Alicia Payne, but I mean, this is, this is a feeling that other electorates are losing out, losing out, and you're getting favored over others.
Alicia Payne MP
I simply don't agree with that. I don't think that's correct. I think for example, there was federal funding for the national convention center that we've announced, but that is rightfully something that is the center of Canberra, where next to our iconic Lake and national institutions, that's why it's there, not because it's my electorate. We've got a new Urgent Care Clinic opening in Bean soon that's funded by the federal government. We've got significant funding for roads that run through all electorates. , I just don't think that's quite right. And things like pools and the pool as well, again, if there, if the listeners referring to the aquatic center that's got the federal funding that is part of that broader Convention Center project that's about because civic pool will need to be moved, and that was part of working with the AC T government to deliver the new convention center, which, from my perspective, clearly has a federal element to it, because it's about the national capital and our standing on the international stage. So it's not about local sporting facilities in that same way.
Ross Solly
Just on that as the local member. Obviously, there's a strong push in some sections of the community for the new stadium to be built in your electorate on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, are you in favor of that? Have you lobbied the government at all on that, on behalf of your electorate, and if not, why not?
Alicia Payne MP
As listeners might know, I chaired an inquiry of the National Capital Committee last term into fostering the significance of the nation's capital, and one of our recommendations was that the federal government work with the ACT government on the new stadium as well as the convention center, but we as a federal government are guided by what state and territory governments, where they ask to put things. I personally don't have a strong view on where it should be. My understanding is is it's been shown that it can't be built there, with regard to things like transport infrastructure, etc, and that the ACT government's plan is to have it at Bruce as part of a revitalization of that whole precinct of Bruce, making it, you know, with more hospitality, accommodation, and making it a better place to visit, whether you're a Canberran or someone from outside coming to watch sport here and building on that. It's the idea of keeping it at Bruce.
Ross Solly
Would it be inappropriate for you to lobby on behalf of your electorate to have a new stadium put there? Or would that be quite something, quite reasonable for you to do?
Alicia Payne MP
Well, it would be, if I had a strong basis for why it should be somewhere.
Ross Solly
You're not convinced that that Civic or on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin is the best place for the stadium?
Alicia Payne MP
No. And the work has been done into looking at whether that can happen, and that sort of detailed planning work that I, as a local member, don't do and I would note that Bruce is still in my electorate.
Ross Solly
True. Yes, that is true. So either way.
Alicia Payne MP
So either way, Canberra wins.
Ross Solly
Yeah, it's 11 to nine. Can you if you want to put your headphones on there, Alicia Payne, and because we've got a caller or two to go to, so we'll go to those if you want to be part of the conversation and ask a question. Good morning, Ron.
Ron
Good morning. How are you?
Ross Solly
Yeah, good. Thanks. Ron and Alicia Payne is here with us.
Ron
Hello, Alicia. Hello. Minister, how are you?
Alicia Payne MP
Hi, Ron. I'm good. Thanks. How are you?
Ron
Good thanks. Look, I haven't really got a question, but I've got a proposition, if you'd like to think about it, elderly people in Australia, if they're on their own and they want to travel and they're single, they've got to pay an extra supplement, what they call a single supplement, which is nearly half the regular fare. My proposition to you is could social security set up a system where, if elderly people want to travel, they could meet them with some of the cost of that single supplement?
Ross Solly
Are you talking now? Are you talking about on rail, or what?
Ron
It doesn't it doesn't matter. Ross, wherever you go in Australia, say the fare is $2000 and you're on your own. You got to pay nearly $3000 you pay an extra $1,000 say, I'm just using that as an example.
Ross Solly
I don't understand why.
Ron
That's just what they do. That's what they charge you.
Ross Solly
So you can't get a single fare. You have to pay a supplement on top of this.
Ron
That's right, you can't get a single fare for the original, for the advertised price,
Ross Solly
You're talking about getting a concession type fare.
Ron
Yeah, So say $2,000 if you're on your own and you want to buy that ticket, you've got to pay $3,000. And I'm asking the Minister if they could think about subsidising that single fair to bring it right back for pensioners and elderly people to meet that regular price.
Alicia Payne MP
Well, like Ross, I'm not, sort of sure, I've not heard of that before,
Alicia Payne MP
I think what we should do, let's just take that on. Yeah, Ron, what we'll do, we'll get your details, and Alicia can check it out and find out exactly what it's all about and get back to you on that.
Alicia Payne MP
yeah, absolutely, if you want to send an email to me, we will look into that and find out.
Ross Solly
Yeah, we'll get in touch with you, Ron. We've got your details, and we'll put you in touch with with Alicia Payne, Thanks, Ron, Thanks for your call. This text from Martin in Chifley. Martin asks, "Why doesn't the ACT government apply for any federal grant funding outside of the major projects, funding programs like the thriving suburbs and prior. Authority, community infrastructure, are our federal members pointing this out to the ACT government." Now, just for some background on this, David Pocock has often said on this program that he finds it very, very frustrating that the ACT government doesn't apply for more federal programs, that there are a lot more projects out there that the government here could access. But for some reason, they don't get off their backsides and do it. Are you? Alicia Payne, I'm not asking you to tip a bucket on your local representatives, but this is what Martin from Chiefly, is alluding to. I think that they're maybe not. They're not accessing a lot of the programs that could be available to them.
Alicia Payne MP
Well, I would note that we do see the ACT Government applying for a lot of grants programs, but I do note that there have been some where other states and territories have received funding that we haven't. And I think part of it might be that we have such a different model here, with then the local council model. And sometimes it might appear that the grants aren't actually as tailored to exactly the way that we would deliver things in the ACT I do take that point Martin, and I think there are some areas where we could be doing that.
Ross Solly
I mean, do you do you actively reach out to the local government here and say, Hey, this program, we're running this program as a Commonwealth. Make sure you get your submission in. Make sure you apply for you do that.
Alicia Payne MP
We do that. Yes, where we are made aware as local members of the grants, which also doesn't always happen, but where that does we absolutely do encourage ACT government, and we talk with them about projects that could be eligible. And something else that I do is I put out a quarterly grants bulletin. This is for anyone in the community, that's a summary of not only federal grants, but ACT grants and non-government grants that any community organisations in Canberra might be eligible for. So people can, if they want to send an email, we can sign them up to that as well.
Ross Solly
Matt might be able to explain more what Ron was asking about. G'day Matt
Matt
Good morning. Ross, how are you? Morning Minister.
Alicia Payne MP
Morning.
Ross Solly
By the way, I'm sure she's enjoying being called in minister, but, it's not yet, not yet.
Alicia Payne MP
I'll take it.
Matt
Morning, Member
Ross Solly
yes, that's the best.
Matt
In relation to the single supplement, what I think Ron was referring to, if he booked a bus to Sydney or a train or an Air flight, he pays normal that's fine, but think about the Canberra Times when you read it on the weekend or whatever, and they advertise all these great tours, whether it's a tour within Australia on a bus, or which is part of a tour group, or if you have a flight to Bali with hotel and etc. And it advertises the price as per person, twin share. If you were and so that means it's for two people, and you double the price. And if you're single and you want to go on that tour or take that up, you have to pay a single supplement.
Ross Solly
Yes, Matt and a couple of other people have said a similar thing on the text line. Someone says, I think he's talking about booking a holiday where the advertised fares are set for two people sharing a cabin. So he's asking, I think Alicia Payne, is there anything you can do to sort of supplement that or to make it easier for that.
Matt
I hope that helps help.
Ross Solly
It's great help. Thanks, Matt.
Alicia Payne MP
That is very helpful. Thank you, and apologies, Ron, that I didn't sort of get that, but, yeah, no, that does seem pretty tricky. I suppose it's really a matter mainly for private tourism providers. So there may not be much I can do, to be honest, but I'm happy to sort of pursue that.
Ross Solly
And Ethel's called to say that the single supplement typically applies to hotel rooms and cruises. Ethel has also been put in that situation. She had to pay double the price because she's one person sharing a room that they believe they could put two people in, and she said they can't afford to pay for two people, and it stopped her ability to travel as well. So obviously this is a bit of an issue for older members of the community. Good morning, Sally.
Sally
Hello.
Ross Solly
Hi, Sally. You got a question for Alicia Payne?
Sally
Yes, I've got five grandchildren at university who will all end up with exorbitant extents, largely as a result of the Morrison government's ridicule. Ridiculous imposition of increased fees for arts degrees and so called non vocational degrees. Why hasn't the Albanese government cancelled that legislation and changed this absolutely absurd situation? For degrees and teach people to think
Ross Solly
Good question. Sally,
Alicia Payne MP
yeah, thanks. Sally, and I do agree that that job ready graduates is a is really problematic and very unfair to people studying those degrees in really important subjects of humanities. I would begin by saying that we're wiping 20% of HECS debts, and this is a huge impact on people who are paying off their debts. I think off the top of my head, it's an average of about, or around five grand off the average debt that a student has. With job ready graduates, Jason Clare has put out the universities accord, which is a long term plan around addressing that, and part of that that we've committed to is looking at the cost of degrees, should align more with potential projected earnings as well. But I do acknowledge that this is an issue, and I do hope that it's one, that we will change that policy as soon as we can.
Ross Solly
Thank you, Sally, are you happy with that answer?
Sally
Not really. I'm hoping it would be more short term than long term.
Ross Solly
Yeah.
Alicia Payne MP
Well, yeah, as I said, there is a long term. There is a plan around a review of that particular Well, of the costs of all degrees and the direction to aligning them with projected earnings. But I, as I said, like my personal view, is that, yeah, we shouldn't be seeing humanities students penalized in that way and deterred from studying in these really important areas.
Ross Solly
Thank you, Sally, for your question. Thank you for everybody else who's contacted this morning with questions. I'm sorry I didn't get to all of them. Alicia Payne, thank you for popping in and taking the questions. Lots of interesting subjects there to get your head around. And a lot of people texted in saying they had a similar situation to Ron. In fact, I'm seeing five or six texts just pop up in the last five minutes about it. So that's obviously an issue.
Alicia Payne MP
So we'll get to the bottom of it.
Ross Solly
Good. Thank you. If you would, that'd be great.
