Murray Jones, Presenter: Nita Green joins me this morning. Good morning, Nita, how are you?
Senator Nita Green, Assistant Minister for Northern Australia, Tourism and Pacific Island Affairs: Good morning. Good to be with you.
Presenter: Always a nice song on a Monday morning. I'm going to give you your correct title because there's a few things we do need to talk about. Assistant Minister for Northern Australia, Tourism and Pacific Island Affairs. Now look over, over quite a few weeks. Matty Smith, the Member for Leichhardt, assured us that when it came to the disaster funding, it was still just something that the government was looking at. But even as recently as Friday, after talking to some of the state politicians saying no, it's done and dusted. And when it comes to the rearrangements of the funding policy with respect to disaster funding, it was across the line. But I think it's maybe surprised quite a few people and an announcement that's come through is that the status quo is going to remain I understand. Nita.
Green: Yeah, thanks for raising it because it is really important to people who live in our region where one of the most disaster prone areas in the country, and everyone well understands how important it is that communities get back on their feet as soon as a disaster strikes. And we've got a system in place which allows the federal and state governments to make contributions to disaster recovery funding, and we sought to make those systems more efficient and fair, and to get money out the door sooner. I think anyone watching from the sidelines would have seen that extraordinarily, most of the time, disaster funding is pretty bipartisan and nonpolitical. But the state government pushed back on these changes. Now, anyone who's been to a hospital in Queensland lately knows that the state government is running out of money to pay their bills. They're very happy to pay for billboards, but not for bills to pay for hospitals. And so they were unwilling to pay their fair share of disaster funding. They threatened councils over this, and they said that they would make councils pay the gap. And we weren't happy with that scenario. Murray, particularly going into this high risk weather season, we didn't want councils to feel that uncertainty. So we've taken those changes off the table.
Presenter: And look, you know, there's a certain uniqueness about our part of the world in particular compared to other states. So in a lot of ways I can understand why there was that pushback, because obviously there was a bit of a change in the funding there. But I should imagine that people like yourself and also Matty Smith, also saw that there was a specific, unique set of circumstances, particularly for our part of the world, though.
Green: Well, councils were never asked to pay for funding. We never made that suggestion. That suggestion came from the state government, and we work really closely with councils in disasters. They uniquely in Queensland apart from the rest of the country, are really the central point of communication and information during a disaster. And so we wanted to make sure that we could reassure them, heading into this high risk weather season, that there would be no change in circumstances for them. And we've made sure that the things that they rely on, like the counter disaster operations, which allows them to claim costs quite quickly stays in place. Now we've got a big issue in this country that we are going to have more extreme and more frequent high risk weather seasons and disasters. And most of them will hit Queensland. And so we do need to think about building back better, but we also need to invest in resilience. And what we haven't been able to do through this process is have a genuine conversation about how we're going to build up resilience in our communities so that when a disaster strikes, we're better prepared. But we'll continue having those discussions. As I said, I don't think that disaster funding or recovery from disasters should ever be a political football. And so we've worked constructively. We've consulted with councils and the state government, and we will continue to do that.
Presenter: Well, I mean, you know, you're darned if you're doing your darned if you don't. Because I know the federal government is certainly under a lot of pressure when it comes to reducing inflation, reining in spending. And obviously the measures the government is looking at pretty closely is all about reining in spending. But, you know, with the concerns with the bond market, at the end of the day, you know, when you do rein in spending, at the end of the day, the government, it's never popular at the polls. So it puts you in a very difficult position. I think that needs to be understood.
Green: Well, it is funny, isn't it, Murray? The same people that are demanding that we rein in spending are the same people who are asking for us to spend millions and billions of dollars on other types of measures. So we are very conscious of this. We're conscious of the balance that the government needs to strike. Our spending is investments in things like skills and for free TAFE and into Medicare. And we've really concentrated our cost of living measures on things that don't drive up inflation. So delivering tax cuts for every single Australian and making sure that people can see a doctor for free when they need to. These are the things and the bills that people can't avoid. And so that's why we've spent a lot of time getting this right and making sure that we can tackle those pressures that are coming from global uncertainty around the economy. We've got a really strong economy, and we are in a lot better position than other countries. We've driven down the debt that we inherited from the Liberal National government, but we'll continue working. We know that this is something that we need to do, that we are focused on, and we know that while there's pressure on households, it's our job to make sure that we're doing everything we can to relieve those cost of living pressures.
Presenter: And after talking to an economist the other day, certainly relieving some of the pressure on small businesses is something that I know is on the agenda for a lot of small business owners. And maybe somewhat tax incentives, but we'll leave that discussion for another time quickly. As we wrap up this morning, particularly in your role as the Assistant Minister for the Pacific Island Affairs. You know, Fiji, a bit of a celebration across the weekend for the Fiji National Day. But some concerns, particularly with the HIV and the drug supply coming through Fiji, Nita.
Green: This has certainly been something on the agenda that Pacific countries have raised with us and with me in my work that I do. And we are working very closely with them to help them manage what has been a really stark increase in HIV transmission in a country very close to ours and really needing as much support as possible when it comes to not just the transmission itself, but the trafficking of drugs through Pacific waters. And that's why you would have seen the Prime Minister at the PIF a few weeks ago announcing that we'll be working even more closely with our Pacific partners in terms of maritime security. Cams is central to that because we've got our Navy base here. We've got really good connections with our Navy and the Navies throughout the Pacific. We've got our offshore patrol vessels that help with that work, and we'll continue to make sure that we do everything we can to work as closely with our Pacific neighbours as possible. One thing, Murray, on Saturday, I was at the Fiji National Day celebration and it was just wonderful. It was really great to see the community, the whole entire Pacific community come out to celebrate Fiji National Day. While I was there, you know, establishing those relationships and bringing our countries closer together, Matt Canavan was in Brisbane insulting Pacific leaders at the CPAC conference. So it's a stark contrast between a government who is really focused on making sure that we've got a secure, prosperous and peaceful region and an opposition who just sledges them off whenever they get the chance.
Presenter: And now I probably feel a bit remiss about talking about Fiji National Day, then segway, segway straight into the drugs issue and the HIV, but an important day. And that really important for us to continue to build those bridges, Nita.
Green: Thanks very much for having me, Murray. It's been great to talk to you.
Presenter: Great to talk to you.