Senator Nampijinpa Price talks with host Sarah Abo and panel guest Jacqui Felgate on the Today show Channel Nine

15 February 2024, 6:45am AEDT

Subjects: Victorian Blackouts - Electrical Trade Union, Stage 3 Tax Cuts -$40m publicity spend, Taylor Swift – Eras Tour

Sarah Abo
Now to Victoria's power outag. Linesmen crucial to fixing those outages were allegedly instructed by their union not to answer their phones amid an ongoing industrial dispute. We've just spoken to the ECU and they categorically refute the story saying these linesmen have been working night and day alongside frontline workers. Joining us to discuss is Senator Jacinta Price and 3AW Drive host Jacqui Felgate. Thank you both so much for joining us this morning. Jaqui, I want to come to you first because I know on your Drive program yesterday you had so many people calling in it was all hands on deck, wasn't it yesterday?

Jacqui Felgate
It sure was and it's very interesting that the ETU, Sarah, has come out straightaway and rubbished these claims on the front page of the Herald Sun, because you can't imagine a union at this point in time coming out and saying, "you know what down tools during a crisis" because that's exactly what it is. You know, Victorians are waking up this morning, 70 to 90,000 people still without power two days later, and on Drive yesterday and throughout the day on 3AW we took calls from so many people ringing in and saying, you know, "my 88 year old mother, I can't reach her she doesn't have power," and probably even more importantly, "she doesn't have a phone line out to contact us". So we don't know if our relatives are okay, so we're looking at this now two days later and thinking is it going to be weeks out for those communities? And when we say communities as well, some of them are here, right in Melbourne Metro. So if you're from somewhere else in the country, we're not talking about isolated rural communities. Yes, they're affected, but there are people sort of 15 case from the city that are now entering potentially weeks without power and without a phone line.

Sarah Abo
Yeah, absolutely. And Jacinta, we had the AusNet spokesperson on before telling us that it could be Saturday, perhaps next week, as Jacqui has outlined there, before power is restored. I mean, something needs to be done, doesn't it, across the country but also right now across Victoria, to try and strengthen these power lines.

Senator Nampijinpa Price
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel for the people of Victoria at the moment. It's horrific. You know, if there there is any truth at all in these accusations, and it probably needs to be looked in to further, but if there is any truth in it, then you know, it's terrifying to think that that could take place again, and the if the unions were in fact conducting themselves in this particular way. And Jacqui is right, it's the most vulnerable in these communities that are affected. Obviously it's it's the senior members of the community, it's those who are sick, and, yeah, I just hope that this situation can be rectified for the benefit of Victorians sooner rather than later.

Sarah Abo
Yeah, well across the nation right? I mean, we rely on power so heavily not just homes but also small businesses. Jacqui, I know yesterday, we discussed on our show and so did you on Drive yesterday, I was listening in, that so many people were also concerned about the response time here from the state government. I mean, not putting out a press conference until after 11am. Surely that's too slow?

Jacqui Felgate
It was a really interesting strategy from the government and we did speak to the energy minister here in Victoria yesterday and she said she was comfortable with that position. But again, putting out a Tweet when you've got hundreds of thousands of people at that point, at the height of the storm, 500,000 people - who's got access to social media? You know, so interesting, the former Premier here, Dan Andrews, he was criticized a lot for constantly coming out and addressing the media, but I think in a case like this where you're looking at a natural disaster and then you've got the flow on effect of no power and no communications, however you can get your message out is key. And they did seem to be sort of - 11:20am the next day was the first time we heard from the Premier and the energy minister. We've got power lines down and even now we're still asking, you know, do these communities have access to a generator? How many days are there going to be without power? And yesterday, the government wasn't able to answer that. And again, going to a green energy here in Victoria, moving away from coal, fire, and gas. What is the future of Victoria's energy supply? I think that's the question a lot of people are asking today.

Sarah Abo
Communication certainly needs to be clear at this time. All right let's move on now on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has budgeted $40 million of taxpayer money to sell the government's new stage three tax cuts. Jacinta, this comes as well as new evidence that reveals the government has was warned early on by Treasury that they may need to break this election promise.

Senator Nampijinpa Price
I'll look it's not a surprise at all. The Australian people aren't going to be taken as, you know, ignorant to the fact that the Prime Minister, after spending $450 million on a failed referendum and &209 billion on top of that in extra spending, to suggest that $15 a week is going to actually help Australians. In the long term, we're looking over the next 10 years, it's going to be costing $28 billion and therefore, you know, 4 million Australians will be worse off as a result. You know, this is this is the Prime Minister attempting to use hush money to keep Australians sweet, when he knows he's been doing a terrible job with our economy. And we're heading toward the next federal election, you know, I was on the ground in Dunkley the other week, over the weekend, and Australians aren't silly, they can see straight through this attempt at you know, almost blackmail of the Australian people. I don't think it's going to work for the Prime Minister. I think it will backfire for him in the end.

Sarah Abo
Yeah Dunkley is a very important Victorian seat for them to hold on to, but I guess Jacqui, the part that I don't quite understand either is that these tax cuts already have, however begrudgingly, bipartisan support, so why the need to sell it to the public?

Jacqui Felgate
We're just sick of the spin. I think all of us, Jacinta, Sarah, everyone who's watching is so sick of government spending money on spin doctors and wouldn't $40 million be better spent somewhere else? And as you said not only bipartisan support, but I think if you ask the community, most people go "Okay, moving some tax cuts away from the very wealthy to those who need it most, yes, it's a broken promise and he's got an issue there dealing with the future of can we trust him again, but for me, I actually think to be honest, I don't mind the fact that the money has been moved to people who need it most. And I think why do we need to sell that then when generally most people support that idea? It's the broken promise that's the issue.

Sarah Abo
No, absolutely right. All right, well also making headlines Taylor Swift has officially touched down in Melbourne. Jacqui, does it feel different down there this morning?

Jacqui Felgate
I've got a 12-year-old asleep in the house at the moment, I've got my merch, I got it yesterday. We're actually going as a family. Is this the Beatles of the younger generation? Do you think? Seven thousand people were tracking her flight as it came to Melbourne. There was some diehard fans at the airport. But $1 billion alone - she's her own economy! She's injecting $1 billion into the Victorian economy alone over this weekend. It's just crazy, isn't it?

Sarah Abo
It is crazy. And Jacinta is there an inner Swifty within you?

Senator Nampijinpa Price

Look I admire her, I admire her because she is an incredible artist in her own right, you know, a songwriter and she's managed to create such a business out of her as an individual. She's a household name everywhere. Mind you, I've got sons, so they're not that interested in Taylor Swift, but I take my hat off to her, she's done an incredible job and I'm glad Australians are excited.

Sarah Abo
We've gotta get excited about something don't we? Jacqui, Jacinta, thank you so much for joining us this morning, appreciate it.