Anika Wells MP on 4BC

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
4BC SATURDAY WITH PETER FEGAN

SATURDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2024

SUBJECTS: Stage 3 tax cuts, Prime Minister at tennis, Brisbane 2032 Olympics

HOST PETER FEGAN: And one of those politicians that I'm sure will be heard will be the Federal Member for Lilley and the Federal Sports Minister and the Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells. Minister, good morning. 

MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SPORT, ANIKA WELLS: G'day. Feegs. How's it going? 

FEGAN: First and foremost, what are you doing? 

WELLS: I am coming to you from inside a pool shop. I've taken refuge in the pool shop because one of the council whippersnippers is going outside, waiting for roadside assist to help me with a fla battery. How's your morning been? 

FEGAN: If anyone's out and about this morning and they see the federal Minister for Aged Care, the Sports Minister, Anika Wells, she's looking for a jump start so give her a hand. She's at the pool shop!

WELLS: Oh, look, I'm seeing what strong neighbours and strong local communities can deliver for me this morning. 

FEGAN: I tell you what I'm doing, alright? I'm doing better than I think your boss is doing. Look, I'm going to ask you straight away, Anthony Albanese, my opinion and many opinions he's lied to Australians over the tax cuts. Do you agree? 

WELLS: I don't think we've walked away from the fact that we've changed our position. 

FEGAN: But hang on, Minister, did he lie? 

WELLS: Absolutely not. That's not what's happened here. And the what I was about to say is we've changed our mind. We've changed our view on something. And we don't walk away from that. We're fronting up and we're saying we have changed our mind on this. He went to the National Press Club last Thursday to talk Australians through that and to be honest, like I take you back on board. We have been hearing that in the media and I went and did a mobile office at Stafford City Shops earlier this week to get a gauge from my constituents about it, to see how they thought we were going and what they made of it all. And I can tell you the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It wasn't the question that you're putting to me, it was just, thank God someone's doing something to relieve cost of living. And for us, you know, that's always a risk when you're a politician to weigh that up. Most of all, they want relief from cost of living. Do we have a lever in front of us that we could pull to alleviate cost of living? We did. We had the ability to change the tax cuts that were coming in on 1st July, so that they weren't just going to come in for the, you know, the politicians, for example, on high incomes. We had a way to give a tax cut to everybody. So that's what we did. 

FEGAN: Yeah. Look, I get it. I understand it, you know, and this was something that was legislated by the coalition government, something, you know, you could stand there and say, this is something that you didn't do. But at the same time, there were plenty, Minister, there were plenty of interviews where Anthony Albanese said, my position on the stage three tax cuts is this we're not changing anything. We're not changing anything. I've got dozens and dozens of interviews. The fact is, yes, some people are better off. You can argue that the majority of people are better off. The argument here is, that your government, led by Anthony Albanese, said you weren't going to change something and then you did. It's a lie. You've broken a promise.

WELLS: What you said just then is the heart of it. The PM has been asked this question many times. We're in a global inflationary cycle. The tax cuts were legislated like you say, I'm not going to scuttle away from this. They were one of the first things I had to vote for in the Parliament when I was elected in 2019, but if you'd said to me in 2019, the next five years, you're going to have a global pandemic, you're going to have the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East, the economic circumstances that we all find ourselves in now are really different from what they were in 2019. So while I accept, and what the PM's always said is that he hadn't changed his view on that, he hadn't changed his position on that until we have. We've said and I say to you now, we've changed our position on that and we've changed it because the way that inflation has impacted everybody and the cost of living pressures that people are under ultimately it was more important for us to do something about that where we could and that's what we're doing. 

FEGAN: A change is a change. Look, we'll buttheads on this Minister. Moving on. I just want to talk about feedback. I want you to get your thoughts on this – some feedback from some fans at the Australian Open. “The Australian Prime Minister, the Honourable Anthony Albanese the deputy Victorian Premier the Honourable Ben Carroll.” Talk about overwhelming feedback. Look it's not uncommon for us to boo at a Prime Minister but what do you make of it considering that there was some interesting audio played at the Australian Open from the year before where they were clapping him? 

WELLS: Well, I think it's a time honoured tradition. It's a time honoured tradition. 

FEGAN: That's exactly what the Treasurer said! 

WELLS: Oh did he. I think I mean, the Treasurer and I have probably been next to each other at stadiums. 

FEGAN: Have you ever booed a prime minister? 

WELLS: No. I mean, I'm a school captain from way back, you know that's not really my wheelhouse, but I accept where we've got tough skins, where politicians and I would also say I was there for that. And there was also, you know, a different cohort of people in the stadium that obviously were quite upset at that and then spent the rest of the game in breaks yelling go Albo! 

FEGAN: Well, we didn't hear that. You might have been that sole person clapping. 

WELLS: How convenient. No, it wasn't me. I promise. It wasn't me yelling “go Albo” from up behind him. 

FEGAN: Anyway, look, I think for me, look, it's a tough one because the tax cuts, yes, more people are better off. Yes I think the fact that they were changes Ministers is what pissed people off the most. Let's move on. I want to ask you about the Olympics. It's been one of those topics here in Queensland, particularly here at 4BC, that has dominated the headlines. Annastacia Palaszczuk has now walked away from the Olympic Games. She's walked away, in my opinion from Queensland. Please give me a straight answer when I ask you this – Is it now better at the Olympics organising committee? Are they now better off without Annastacia Palaszczuk? 

WELLS: My straight answer is we haven't met since all this has happened. We haven't had an organising committee meeting since all that's happened. So I'm happy to give you a straight answer Feegs when we have it. But I mean, for me, I actually think this must have been what it was like for the others when we came in. You know, we had a change of federal government, which meant that between meetings they had a different federal sports minister. They had a different, you know, two different sets of federal reps at the table and that's what we have now, except for the fact that the now Premier Steven Miles, has been on the OCOG, often sits next to me, all the way along, and he is the consistent factor. 

FEGAN: But, Minister, just hang on for a second. But with Annastacia Palaszczuk, there was never any discussions between all three levels of government. And I think that she was letting down. And I've heard this from behind the scenes. No one will put their name to it, but she was just doing things that suited her and it's got to be easier now that she's gone. 

WELLS: There was an interjurisdictional leadership forum where all three levels of government met, we did those quarterly last year. So that's not the case. We did have those. And after the Mayor sort of sensationally quit that forum, but not the OCOG I'd note, we actually haven't met again. So I guess it's because of the timing of this, how it all happened at the end of the year. We're like you say, we're off to Parliament next week. All these kinds of things that happen on a quarterly basis are about to kick off again. I've obviously I've spoken to Grace who's the new sort of minister for infrastructure with carriage of all these Olympic projects a couple of times about this and we're booked in to meet each other again. We want to make sure that we get this right.

FEGAN: We run the risk of being the embarrassment of the world. There's no infrastructure. We haven't done anything. The Gabba is a mess. They're walking away from it. Look, I want the Olympic Games like any other Queenslander does, but we want it done right. And at the moment, Minister, we run the risk of being fools. 

WELLS: We need to get it right. I agree, you know, I think this is probably another case of you know tomato, tomato. You call it one thing, I call it another. This is Premier Miles listening to feedback. There's been a lot of concern about this. He wants to run the ruler over it and make sure that we're not, you know, we're not doing anything that we could catch nine years out. What makes this distinct from other Games… even the Paris Games, we have had the longest lead time of any Games. I don’t think Sydney was even announced at this stage.

FEGAN: Minister I have to let you go. If you see the Minister out there, give her a jump start, she needs it!

WELLS: Thank you for your help Northsiders!