Anika Wells MP on 4BC with Scott Emerson
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
4BC DRIVE WITH SCOTT EMERSON
FRIDAY, 14 JANUARY 2022
SUBJECTS: Novak Djokovic – should he stay or go; Rapid tests in short supply; Australian Republic model.
SCOTT EMERSON, HOST: And for the first time this year we've got Labor member for Lilley, Anika Wells, and LNP member for Ryan, Julian Simmonds. How are you both?
ANIKA WELLS, MEMBER FOR LILLEY:Flattered by your slick new promo.
JULIAN SIMMONDS, MEMBER FOR RYAN:Yeah. Our own intro.
EMERSON: Nothing, no dollar is wasted here at 4BC for our special people. And it's going to be a big year for both of you of course. It is a federal election year. So look, we've gone through the Christmas period. Are you guys into campaign mode now? First you Anika.
WELLS: Yes, I'm coming to you from my desk because it's not campaign mode, so much as delivering essential services. You know we’ve got this Omicron peak surge happening and our constituents need us more than ever. It’s been a very long two years. Everybody's at their wit’s end. And it feels like we're back in March 2020, to be honest.
EMERSON: Oh, look, I appreciate what you're saying that you're looking after your community Anika. But surely you are also yeah, there's got to be some campaigning as well. Because look, it is an election year. Election could be well, held anytime. Maybe March? Maybe May? But, so there's got to be some of it, surely Anika?
WELLS: Oh, well, normally the season would kick off with Australia Day. Because even if you take that lone example, I normally do two or three citizenship ceremonies. It's not clear whether they will be able to proceed safely in the current environment. And I normally go and do the mud crab races out at the Brighton Roosters. But whether that's going to be able to proceed? It just feels like a lot of things are on tenterhooks and things that we look forward to, may not be able to continue. And that's all part of it, I guess for me, Scott.
EMERSON: Julian Simmonds look, probably like Anika, you're doing stuff in your local community. But do you also accept that there's certain things that aren't proceeding, can't go ahead at the moment, because of the Omicron wave.
SIMMONDS: Well look, you know me. Always campaigning, always in the community, always working hard. So it’s good to be back after a Christmas break, I had a really nice Christmas break. And good to be back with it with gusto. But yeah, look I mean certainly you know, with the wave predicted to peak in a couple of weeks, a lot of community groups aren’t organising their usual community get togethers. Which is a shame. We want to see it back to face-to-face as soon as possible.
EMERSON: Well, look, both of you. I want to ask you this question. So should Novak Djokovic stay or go? Julian Simmons, what is happening with Immigration Minister Alex Hawke? We've been waiting all week for him to make a decision on Novak Djokovic.
SIMMONDS: Well all I'd say is it must be a very carefully considered decision, because he's taking his time, isn't he? But I guess he's weighing up the legal implications. And he's weighing up all the information that Djokovic’s team has given him. But, you know, look, I can't speak for him. I can't speak for what his decision will be. But…
EMERSON: What do you think his decision should be then?
SIMMONDS: If it was me, I think the visa should be cancelled. I just want to see the same rules applied to everybody. I don't want Djokovic to be singled out, but I don't want him to get special treatment either. So however you would be treated as an unvaccinated visa holder trying to come into Australia right now, is how Mr Djokovic should be treated. As long as there's one rule for all. That's, that's my guiding principle.
EMERSON: And Anika Wells, where do you stand on this one?
WELLS: Well, undoubtedly, Scott Morrison and the Australian Border Force should be criticised for ever allowing him to get on a plane in the first place. An appropriate assessment should have been made back in November at the visa application. But alarm bells should have been ringing for weeks that Djokovic was going to come. I mean the Australian Open is not a secret tournament. This is something that has been on the front page of the sports pages for months on end. But they have let this get to this point now, where it's kind of lose/lose for everybody. And we are an international laughing stock, because of how this is being carried out.
EMERSON: Well, Julian Simmonds, Anika Wells is right in terms of the eyes of the world are on us. And they're probably looking at…this has just been madness here. Why can't the government make a decision sooner? And how did they let Novak Djokovic in, in the first place?
SIMMONDS: Well, first of all, I mean, the Australian Open is a very important tennis tournament. That's great. But I mean, it's not the first thing on the government's to-do list, I have to say to vet each player in that tournament. We've got a global pandemic and a few other things going on. But you know, I mean, Djokovic has obviously come as a visa holder, an unvaccinated visa holder, saying that he has a medical exemption from getting the vaccination. But it turns out, when he gets to the border and is questioned by border officials who asked him, ‘Well, what's the basis on which you have this medical exemption?’. He says the medical exemption is based on having COVID in the last six months. And in Australia, under our border, border arrangements at the moment, simply having COVID in the last six months is not a legitimate reason to have a medical exemption from having the vaccination. And so those are the questions that Border Force put to him. And that was the reason the original decision was made to cancel his visa.
EMERSON: Even if Alex Hawke cancels the visa, Julian Simmons, as you say, he should do. It looks to me from the legal advice I've been hearing, it is more than likely that he at this stage, he'll still play at least some of the rounds of the Australian Open. Won’t that look damning for the Morrison government?
SIMMONDS: Well, that may well be possible if they injunct it. I don’t know, I'm not a legal expert or an immigration expert, but we should not be making our decision around who comes into the country and whether they have a legitimate visa or exemption, based on whether or not they can play a tennis match. We should be doing it based on the rules that we have in place and everybody gets the same rules applied in the same way. That's what we're trying to do with Mr. Djokovic. It's not to allow him or not allow him to play in the Australian Open. The tennis, his tennis prowess is secondary. We just want him to be treated the same as any other unvaccinated visa holder who would seek to come into Australia. Because put a, put a face to this. And that is, a lot of Australians have made sacrifices during the pandemic. They haven't seen friends and family, who would otherwise have come to Australia because their visa holders and unvaccinated visa holders. And so they just want Mr Djokovic to be treated in the same way as their loved ones and, no better, no worse.
EMERSON: I'm talking to Labor's Member for Lilley Anika Wells and the LNP Member for Ryan Julian Simmons. Let's go on to the rat kits. They're in short supply. And I've said that at both or both the state and federal levels, more should have been done. Anika Wells, what are you hearing out in your community about the availability of the rapid antigen tests?
WELLS: Oh, it's a hot mess Scott, as you well know. And it's a repeat of the bungled vaccine rollout. And you would have thought that the Morrison government would have learned from that one. So people are really just incandescent, when you add the rats and now the children's booster debacle, but I'll keep that siloed for you, if you like. The Morrison government was told last year by the AMA, by the ACTU, by every key stakeholder, that rapid antigen testing was going to be key to keep Australians working and to keep our supermarket shelves stocked particularly. And those warnings were ignored. And now we've got reports that the federal government has been commandeering supplies ordered by businesses, because they've been left flat footed. It's just a complete shemozzle.
EMERSON: What about...Julian Simmons look…We've had a lot of texts through here. A lot of callers on 4BC drive this week about the lack of rapid antigen tests. Why didn't the federal government order them earlier and stockpile them before the Omicron wave?
SIMMONDS: Well, look, it is a global pandemic. There's a lot of global desire for these…
EMERSON: Yeah but other countries were stockpiling them last year. We didn't seem to do that.
SIMMONDS: No, I understand. And there's a lot on the way. But what's important for the community to understand, is if you have COVID symptoms, or you are a close contact and need a test to get back to work, you can get that test. You go to a state testing clinic and you either to get a PCR test or a rapid test, paid 50/50 by the state government and the federal government, as it has been throughout this pandemic. A lot of the you know, when I'm talking to my community, a lot of the issue is around people wanting to have rat tests for their own use, for their own future use. And I would just say look, as we build up our stocks, we want everyone to be sensible about this and use their common sense. Don't drive around pharmacies, trying to build up a stock of 10 rat kits for future use. Leave the stock that we have for the people who are close contacts and need a rat test to get back to work. And over the next couple of weeks, we'll see that stock build up on shelves.
EMERSON: Next couple of weeks…Anika Wells, sorry go ahead.
WELLS: I think that's pretty offensive, that ruling that kind of intent into what people are trying to do. People aren't driving around trying to assemble a stock. You can't get your hands on any, for love, nor money. If RATs were free and available, people would not need to hoard them, because they would be free and available. People need, and people want RATs not just for work purposes. But because the queues you know, you have to queue for eight hours at the Prince Charles to get your PCR test. If you've got 12-month-old twins like I do, you can't put them in a queue for eight hours.
SIMMONDS: Anika, I understand that. But I was going to try and avoid, you know, criticising the state testing centres because I think they're trying to deal with the Omicron variant which is infecting more people but leaving, but sending less to hospital, in the best way that we are all trying to, as this pandemic evolves. But you're right, we've been repeatedly told by Annastacia Palaszczuk that she's got the rolled gold state testing centres and they haven't kept up with demand. And the fact that people do have to wait six to eight hours for a test is completely unreasonable.
EMERSON: Both of you now. I want to turn to the Australian Republican movement. It brought out its model for a Republic, if Australia does vote for one at some stage in the future. And that involved a popularly elected president to replace the Governor General. First to you Julian Simmonds, do you support a Republic? Us moving away from a constitutional monarchy? And what do you think about this model?
SIMMONDS: Well, look, if you want my personal view, I personally don't. I’m personally a monarchist. But I just think they’re brave people suggesting to Australians right now that they need more politicians, more elections, political parties putting up eleven candidates across the states and territories. And then for us all to vote on yet another politician, above the Prime Minister and the parliament. We’re pretty over-governed already. That's the feeling that I think most Australians have. And so the idea of more elections and more politicians, I reckon this thing will fizzle really quickly.
EMERSON: Anika Wells, last election in 2019, Bill Shorten running to be prime minister, promised there would be a referendum from Labor in the first term of a Shorten government, if Labor won. For whether we'd have a referendum for…to become a republic. What's your view of the republic? And also why haven't we seen Albo do the same promise?
WELLS: I'm for a Republic, I think we should have an Australian head of state. But for Federal Labor since I've been elected in 2019, our priority has been constitutional recognition and a voice to Parliament for our First Nations people. And that remains our constitutional reform priority this term and in the run up to the election that we'll have this year. But I do think it is important that all Australians have the opportunity to consider an Australian Head of State in the future, and the best model of appointment. And I don't love the model that's been proposed. I think it's a bit of a Frankenstein model. But I do like the fact that we are having a debate about it. Because I think we need to think about the future. We've obviously got the immediate concern of COVID. And that tends to soak up the news cycle, day to day. But we need to think about how we grow as a nation and thinking about what kind of model that should be, and what better system of government we could have in the future. I think that's a good thing.
EMERSON: Alright Anika Wells, the Member for Lilley and Julian Simmonds, the Member for Ryan, appreciate you being on the show today. We'll catch you again next week for 4BC Drive’s version of Question Time.
ENDS
