Greens senator David Shoebridge says he's shattered by the government's failure to use the budget to make meaningful changes for people struggling with cost of living. He's also called into question the involvement of national anti-corruption commissioner Paul Brereton in investigations relating to defence while he holds the rank of major general in the army reserves.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Green Senator David Shoebridge, thanks so much for joining us today.
00:05Let's start with the budget.
00:07The key surprise was $17 billion in tax cuts.
00:12Do you agree with the Coalition that last night's budget was one for the next five weeks
00:16over the course of the election campaign and not the next five years?
00:19Well, I think 75 cents a day that you get more than 12 months from now is hardly the
00:24cost of living measure that Australians desperately wanted.
00:28I mean, we've been saying to the government this is an amazing opportunity to really address
00:32cost of living.
00:33We offered to legislate to put dental into Medicare, to implement the cuts in HECS, to
00:39make real meaningful differences.
00:42And instead we get, you know, a highly politicised pitch from the government, which I think most
00:49people won't see as addressing the urgency that they have, you know.
00:52I was trying to work out what you get for 75 cents.
00:55So I went on the Woolworths catalogue and I don't know, maybe a sort of out of date
01:00cake mix.
01:01It's not the fundamental change that people are looking for to address their cost of living.
01:05Let's move to the National Anti-Corruption Commission now.
01:08Over the weekend, I revealed that the NAC Commissioner, Paul Burritton, has recused
01:13himself from six referrals involving defence.
01:17Now I'm going to read to you from the statement that they provided me.
01:20They said that Mr Burritton, though, has appropriately remained involved in decision-making
01:25and deliberations where the matter does not involve the interests of an individual or
01:30unit with whom he has had or had a close association.
01:35Do you think that this is sufficient or do you think to avoid any perceptions of conflict
01:40of interest, Mr Burritton should step aside from any referrals or investigations involving
01:46defence?
01:48Well, Commissioner Burritton holds the rank of Major General in the Army Reserves.
01:53And that's the, I think, the third highest rank in the chain of command.
01:56And he's in the chain of command reporting up to the Chief of Defence.
02:01I can't see how he wouldn't take the step to protect the reputation of the NAC and say
02:09that anything touches upon defence, while he's in the chain of command, should not come
02:13across his desk at all.
02:15In relation to the six where he apparently has said he won't take part in the decision-making,
02:22potentially the deliberations, we don't know.
02:24He may have repeated the same error that he made on robodebt.
02:27But I think the far bigger question is, heaven knows how many other referrals there are in
02:32relation to defence, one of which is mine, involving a scandalous procurement program
02:37for $45 billion for some hunter frigates.
02:40I don't know if Commissioner Burritton is sitting on that investigation.
02:45While he's also a Major General in the Defence Force.
02:48I'll quickly ask you, you've shepherded a policy through your party room which would
02:52make deep cuts to defence, but commits money to defensive military hardware.
02:57Is this the first time the Greens have actually backed a commitment for a specific military
03:02acquisition?
03:03Well, previously, the Greens had a commitment to maintain a defence force and maintain a
03:08defence force at a certain proportion of GDP.
03:11So that's been a long-standing commitment from the Greens to have a defence force.
03:15I think this is the first time we've grappled with what it means to pull ourselves out of
03:19US military supply chains, to no longer have a two-way military trade with Israel.
03:24What does it actually mean if we're serious about disengaging ourselves from the US war
03:28machine?
03:29And if we are, well, then we need to have some alternative to defend Australia and to
03:33provide a credible defence force for Australia.
03:35So I think this is the first time we've really confronted what the reality of those parts
03:39of our policies mean.
03:41And if we're going to do that, well then structuring a defence force that is about defending Australia
03:46and not threatening our neighbours, disengaging ourselves from those global supply chains,
03:51means we have to have some form of domestically controlled defence industry.