Senator Jane Hume interview

NATALIE BARR:

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil is in the headlines this morning, after being linked to an organisation which has been associated with the Chinese government and its foreign influence operation. The Hubei Association had reportedly been recruiting volunteers for Clare O’Neil’s electorate before the Minister’s office was forced to decline the offer. The same group is now at the centre of an election watchdog probe into foreign interference within Teal MP Monique Ryan’s campaign, after volunteers said they were required to support her. For their take, let’s bring in Clare O’Neil now and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume. Clare, we will start with you. You are front page news this morning. Help us clear this up. What’s going on?

CLARE O’NEIL:

Well, I can be really clear with you there Nat, my staff and my office did not make any request for assistance from this organisation. The organisation offered assistance to the office, and my team did exactly the right thing, which is politely decline that offer of support.

NATALIE BARR:

So does it look a bit sort of dodgy, though? You worried that they were sort of were they trying to infiltrate you? Is that a problem?

CLARE O’NEIL:

Look, Nat, all I can say is my staff did exactly the right thing here. As I say again, I didn’t make any requests for assistance from this organisation. The support was offered to my team. My team declined that support, and that was the end of the matter.

NATALIE BARR:

Moving on. Peter Dutton says he believes younger voters tend to side with Labor while renting and before they own a home and start to worry about the economy and job security. Have a listen.

(excerpt start) 

PETER DUTTON:

A lot of young people, it’s probably not until they buy a home and have a mortgage that they start to worry about economic management and job security. Once they have kids, and people are renters for longer, and generally that means that they’re more inclined to support the Labor Party. And then as their views mature politically, they come across the Liberal Party.

(excerpt ends) 

NATALIE BARR:

Jane, do you have to have a mature political view to vote for the Coalition?

JANE HUME:

Well, certainly on Saturday Nat, we will be asking for the vote of all Australians. Our concern, of course, is that younger people are not just renting while they’re young. They’re renting as they get older too. We want more Australians to own their own home, which is why we have announced a series of housing policies on the supply side, investing in that, enabling infrastructure, $5 billion maintaining a sustainable inflation, sustainable immigration intake to reduce the pressure on supply, but most importantly too, allowing young people to access their own superannuation savings to make that deposit on their first home, and having tax deductible interest repayments for the first five years of owning their own home that they’re building as well. These are policies that we see will allow Australians to get into their first home sooner and that’s great for not just those families, but it’s great for their communities. It’s great for their families, because that creates a more stable family environment. Creates economic security. Home ownership is good for Australians. That’s why we want them to be there.

NATALIE BARR:

Yeah, but it was more about the way Mr. Dutton spoke. How do you think younger Aussies feel about this characterisation by your leader, that as you mature, you become a Liberal?

JANE HUME:

Well, I think that there is no doubt that young people feel left behind by the Albanese government, and they want to see hope for their future. They feel like that, they’re a generation lost that they’ve missed out on the prosperity of Australia, which is why these home ownership policies are so profoundly important.

NATALIE BARR (interrupts):

So why wouldn’t they be going for you if they feel left behind?

JANE HUME:

There is no doubt, there is no doubt that as you get older and you have a family, for instance, that you start looking forward to what’s, you know, better economic management opportunities. What’s the future going to hold for the prosperity of our nation, not just for you, but for your kids as well. I think that’s, that’s a pretty, pretty basic assumption.

NATALIE BARR:

Okay, Clare, Clare you seem to be laughing?

CLARE O’NEIL:

Oh, look, I just, you know, it’s, it’s Peter Dutton’s, ‘it’s not me, it’s you’ moment and in my experience, that doesn’t work romantically, and it certainly isn’t going to work politically. I’m in fancy coming in days away from an election and pointing at an entire generation of people and saying, you’re not voting for me because you’re not mature enough. It’s absolutely offensive and ridiculous. The truth is that the Liberals have got nothing to offer young people this election. They say that their massive HECS debts are absolutely fine, whereas Labor is going to cut them by 20 per cent on the first of June.

JANE HUME (interrupts):

But future generations are going to have to pay for that.

CLARE O’NEIL (continues):

They don’t have real housing policy. You know, this is a party that does not support penalty rates, that does not support pay increases for low paid workers. Peter Dutton can’t even acknowledge that climate change is real…

JANE HUME (interrupts):

That’s nonsense.

CLARE O’NEIL (continues)

…and this is one of the main things that this young generation care about, which is- really, well, actually, check the record. Jane. I mean, it’s not been the greatest of campaigns, but one of the many blunders, one of the many blunders, has been petered up and saying he can’t quite bring himself to acknowledge climate change.

JANE HUME:

No he didn’t.

CLARE O’NEIL:

Look, I just say for young people across the country, Labor respects you. We respect you deeply, and that’s why we’ve got a policy offering that’s going to make a real difference to you, on the cost of living, on housing, on your taxes that you care about.

JANE HUME:

Nat, go out to those polling booths and you will see thousands of young people supporting the Liberal Party in this election because they feel let down by the Labor Party.

CLARE O’NEIL:

I thought Peter Dutton didn’t think they were mature enough to understand that they had to vote Liberal.

JANE HUME:

You don’t need to go out that far on the polling booths Clare. There might be Chinese spies that are, you know, handing out for you, but for us, there’s dozens, thousands, hundreds of young people that are out there handing out how to vote cards for the Liberal Party because they want a better life. They want a better future.

NATALIE BARR:

Chinese spies handing out for Clare.

JANE HUME:

Well, that’s what the newspapers are saying. That’s what the newspapers are saying.

CLARE O’NEIL:

I think they’re getting a bit I think they’re getting a bit desperate Nat, and I perhaps, if I were the opposition I would be too.

JANE HUME:

Clare, here is your opportunity, you can do what Monique Ryan did and refer yourself to the electoral integrity Task Force, as the former Home Affairs Minister?

NATALIE BARR:

She said she.

JANE HUME:

Are you going to do that?

CLARE O’NEIL:

Honestly, Jane, you actually sound a bit wild right now. This is totally desperate.

JANE HUME:

As the former Home Affairs Minister will you refer.

CLARE O’NEIL:

Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton is out there, Peter Dutton out there pointing, pointing at millions, pointing at millions of young people around the country, pointing at them and saying you’re not smart enough to vote Liberal.

JANE HUME:

They’re handing out for us.

CLARE O’NEIL:

Exactly. Young people know exactly where that’s going to go and it’s going to go in the bin. It’s going to go in the bin. Look at the stats.

NATALIE BARR:

I think you both had you say on that one. Finally, we know election campaigns can sometimes get nasty, but all week, we’re asking our politicians in our forums to say one nice thing about the other person. Clare, you first, what’s one nice thing about Jane?

CLARE O’NEIL:

I couldn’t think of anyone I’d prefer to spend my Wednesday morning with Nat and Jane. These have been wonderful experiences, these last three years, and I’ve got lots of nice things to say about Jane, but I will choose this morning that she’s a really snazzy dresser and I don’t say that just because we so often come on the show wearing exactly the same thing.

NATALIE BARR:

They do. I know our commercial break chats are actually really nice, sometimes. Despite what happens on air. Jane, your turn. One thing nice to say about Clare?

JANE HUME:

Do you know, probably your viewers don’t know that Clare has three young kids, and having done this job with three kids, myself now, my kids are a bit older, I know how tough that is when you’ve got kids that are demanding of your time, that don’t necessarily understand what it is that you do each day. Clare works exceptionally hard. She makes it look seamless and easy. It’s not easy. She is doing an exceptional job with those competing demands of family and professional life. So I tip my hat to her. But you can say one more thing to me Clare.

CLARE O’NEIL:

Let’s have a cocktail. Let’s have a cocktail. After the cocktail the election.

JANE HUME:

You could say one more thing to me. Clare, it’s my birthday today.

NATALIE BARR:

Happy Birthday. We should, we should put some of our commercial break chats.

JANE HUME:

We should.

NATALIE BARR:

Because people think, you know, we have the opposing side, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and people think, Oh, they must hate each other. We ring the bell, and then everyone goes and has a cocktail. Thank you very much. May the best woman win on the weekend, see you next week.