Topics: Social media reforms; Thank you and farewell.
07:45AM AEDT
29 November 2024
Peter Stefanovic: Let’s go to Canberra now. Simon Birmingham is there. The Shadow Foreign Minister who has called time on his career. We’ll get to that in a moment. Simon, good to see you, by the way. So the Prime Minister keen to talk about his hits of the year so far. But what’s he not saying.
Simon Birmingham: Well Pete, what he’s not saying is firstly the process by which more than 31, I think it was bills were simply rammed through the Senate last night, many with no debate at all. The billions and billions of dollars of extra cost to Australian taxpayer that the government has just weighed on them. The deals that have been done with the Greens and others to get these through that are still secret and unknown, and the big extra new regulation and cost imposts that are going to flow through the Australian economy yet again, adding to the productivity woes we have. And these are the real challenges from this government’s agenda.
Peter Stefanovic: So how would you sum up the year that that this government has had?
Simon Birmingham: Well, I think it’s had a really bad year in the sense that it’s been a tough year for Australians. And that’s ultimately what the government’s got to be judged by that Australians feel worse off after three Labor budgets and they feel worse off at the end of this year. And that has only been the case under this Albanese Labor government. And so when Australians do go to vote, I think that is what’s going to be weighing on their minds next year very much that that they saw real growth in their household income under previous Coalition governments, and they’ve seen a real decline in their household income under this Labor government. And that compared with the rest of the world, inflation, when Labor was elected and interest rates, they were in a better position in Australia relative to many other countries. Now, after those three Labor budgets, inflation is in a worse position than in many other countries, and certainly in many other countries. Interest rates have been coming down. Where here they’re staying higher for longer.
Peter Stefanovic: What about this the social media bill effectively banning under 16 seconds from getting onto social media. Look, it’s not going to be watertight. We all know that kids are going to find a way. It begs the question, what’s the point in the end? But I suppose it’s something that parents can lean on. What do you make of it?
Simon Birmingham: Yeah, look, it is Pete. That’s not everybody wears a seatbelt. But it’s the law to wear a seatbelt because it makes it safer. Back when I was education minister, I began the argument for getting mobile phones out of classrooms and often used to say to principals and teachers when we were talking about it, you know, let government be the bad cop in this regard. You know, I don’t want a situation where this teacher is being targeted by kids because they’re the one who won’t let them play with their phone during the class. Let’s actually set the standard and agree. And in this case, the standard is really applied to social media companies to say they have a legal responsibility to ensure that kids aren’t accessing their website until they hit the age of 16, and it will no doubt have teething problems. Any legislation like this would, but it sets that responsibility, and it actually sends a clear message that will help parents in setting the standards in their home, even when kids are trying to get around it, but also, of course, will ultimately and should have a serious legal impost on those social media companies to apply the technologies they have that know what to sell to us, that know what they want us to look at and drive us to all the time. To also know that if you’re young, you shouldn’t be on that site.
Peter Stefanovic: Simon, you’re riding off into the sunset, as they say. And you know, in Canberra, it’s a place where people say a lot of not nice things to each other. But over the past 12 hours or so, people have been saying a lot of nice things about you and your career. Does it make you want to stay on?
Simon Birmingham: It’s been a little emotional. I’ve got to say, if I’m being really honest and it’s tough to walk away. But no, I’ve made my mind up that it’s the right time for me, for my family, my career, to go and do something completely different in a commercial, finance oriented space with some engagement out into Asia Pacific. So, using those finance and trade skills that I hope I developed in those key portfolios in government. I hope I will find other ways to contribute to the economic well-being of Australia and maybe in other policy ways in the future. But nearly 18 years in the Senate, it’s time to call time.
Peter Stefanovic: Well, look, two veterans now in yourself and Bill Shorten. I was wondering if you were going to be heading off to a university as well. But you’re not, are you? Were you inspired by his departure at all?
Simon Birmingham: I may have been having some talks about my future around the time that Bill made his announcement. And so I won’t say I was inspired, but I chuckled. Bill came to the Parliament shortly after me actually, so, but only by a few months. So it is almost an identical time frame for both of us. So yep, he’s off into into uni and I wish him well. And yeah, hopefully our paths may cross in the future.
Peter Stefanovic: So Simon, I remember asking him the day after he announced you say one thing he was proud of and one thing that he regretted. What’s one of each for you?
Simon Birmingham: I am particularly proud of the school funding reforms that I legislated back when I was education minister. They were true to the Gonski review. They involved losers as well as winners. And that’s a hard part in policy making. And there’s got to be more of it. If we’re going to have responsible budgets and not have taxes run out of control, that you actually do need to stick to principles and be willing to make hard but principled decisions. In regrets. Look, I, you know, I wish in my earlier days as senior ministers and so on, that perhaps I’d pushed points harder with prime ministers of the day, and particularly I wish that we’d found a way to get same sex marriage resolved before the 2016 election. I think Malcolm Turnbull would have benefited had that issue that was so tricky, which he ultimately resolved and did so, so well. But if we’d got it resolved prior to that 2016 election, I think you’d have had a stronger win and been able to go on and be a strong government. And alongside that, hopefully you’ve got the National Energy Guarantee in place, which I think was a big missed opportunity when unfortunately, some chose to tear that down and ultimately tear Malcolm down alongside it.
Peter Stefanovic: Okay, so the cynics might argue that well, for the Coalition’s not going to win the next election. Maybe Simon Birmingham’s just jumping because he doesn’t want to do another term in opposition. So now that you’re going to leave, do you think Peter Dutton can win?
Simon Birmingham: Yeah, I do. And in fact, this decision has gotten harder as it’s gotten closer, because I may be stepping away from being Australia’s next foreign minister. But I think much like Bill Shorten, I’m doing it for my career reasons to go in a different direction. There will be some regrets if Peter wins and I’m watching somebody else be sworn in as Australia’s next foreign minister. But I think those pressures we talked about at the top of the interview that Australian households are feeling. They’re feeling that and under Peter, they’re going to get a very clear choice. He’s not running a small target strategy. He’s offering people a different choice in terms of our energy markets with zero emissions nuclear. But they also see a strong leader, true to his values, who will stand up to people when it’s required. And I reckon Australians are a fair chance of voting for him.
Peter Stefanovic: Well, well done. Simon Birmingham, congratulations on your career. You know, it’s not easy to be in the public eye as much and as long as you have. So, well done for your service and best of luck. I’m sure we’ll be talking again in the new year anyway.
Simon Birmingham: Thanks so much, Pete. Real pleasure.
[ENDS]