James Glenday, Host: We're joined this morning by Minister for Trade Don Farrell, who is at the Sydney Fish Market. Minister, welcome back to the program.
Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism: Nice to see you again, James.
Glenday: It's nice to see you there too, Don. Now, we're going to get to trade in a moment, but you've come from a pretty busy sitting week in Canberra. What is the mood like on the Labor Party's backbench at the moment? Are some MPs getting a bit nervous?
Minister: I wouldn't say they're getting nervous, James. Of course we are halfway through the term. We are well and truly aware that the plenty of plenty of cost of living pressures on Australians right at the moment. But I was in the United States a couple of weeks ago for the G20. Every country in the world right now is facing those cost of living issues. It's our job, Prime Minister's job, the Treasurer's job, to ensure that we are firstly listening to the issues that the Australian people are talking about, but most importantly, seeking to act on them. And that's what this Government does. It's an action government, James, the Albanese Government. We're listening and we want to help Australians through these difficult times.
Glenday: Okay, you're an action government. It's a nice way of putting it. There's not a lot that goes on within the Labor Party that you don't know about. That's why your nickname is the Godfather. What is behind this sudden outbreak of media outlets publishing stories about concerns, internal concerns about the performance of the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and some policies? Is it the case that the Albanese Government has misread some of the economic concerns voters have?
Minister: James, I've just had my fourth grandchild, a beautiful young granddaughter, Ellen. I prefer to be known as the grandfather rather than the Godfather these days. But to your point, to your point, how MPs and we've got a lot of them, particularly in the lower house, 94 of them. They do listen to their communities and look, there's no beating around the bush. There are difficult economic times. I've talked about some of those issues. While there's a dispute remaining in the Middle East, there's going to be continued to be difficult times. One of my departments, the Export Finance Australia, was responsible for ensuring that at a time when it looked like we particularly might run out of diesel, that we got adequate supplies of those diesels. Now, it's true, it was at a higher cost and it continues to be at a higher cost. We just need to work through all these issues. I mean, the first thing is don't panic, don't panic. We need to work. We're an action government, but don't panic and work through all of these issues, James, because as my mum used to say, every problem has a solution. We're working to find those solutions right now. And of course, the EU Free Trade Agreement, which is one of the things we were hoping to talk about this morning.
Glenday: Which I will get to the trade deal in just a second. I just want to ask one policy question before we talk about trade. You're at the Fish Market there this morning. Do you know if you can pay with a credit card to buy stuff or if the local traders have put up the price of their product to account for fees?
Minister: Well, we're here before I think it opens, so I don't know the answer to that question, James, but I shall make that inquiry and let you know.
Glenday: That just seems like such a big issue though, for your government at the moment. This was marketed as a cost of living pressure, but we're hearing reports of people either having to pay via cash or bank transfer or facing higher costs. Did you always expect this was going to be the case?
Minister: Well, look, what we have done is delayed the implementation of this change until next year. We've got, particularly Dan Mulino, I heard him talk on Insiders yesterday about this issue. We've, we've heard, heard what people have said about it. We've delayed the implementation and we have a very capable Minister in Dan Mulino handling this issue for us.
Glenday: Okay, just to trade then. Where are negotiations at with the coalition on the EU-Australia trade deal? Tim Wilson was in here before saying he has concerns, which is interesting. The Nationals look to be trying to kill it outright. Where do you think things are going to land?
Minister: Look, I'm hopeful, James, that the, particularly the Liberals, will come to their senses and not be dragged by Senator Canavan to oppose this agreement. This agreement represents $10 billion worth of new trade, rising very quickly to $30 billion because of our critical minerals provision. One of the reasons I'm here at the beautiful new Sydney Fish Market is to talk to some of the seafood traders about what this means for them. James, at the moment we export about $1.5 billion worth of seafood around the world. Only $7 million of that goes into the European market and that's because the tariffs are too high. From day one of this new agreement, tariffs go to zero for all of our seafood. So, for my state of South Australia, the crayfish farmers who for a long time had been locked out of China now, back in China, of course, but they'll be able to sell their wonderful product into Europe. All the wonderful fresh seafood that we produce will now be able to export tariff free into Europe and that gives us a very strong competitive position.
Glenday: Okay, no doubt more conversations about the trade deal to come. Before I let you go, The Greens leader, who of course you know in the Senate well, was on our show last week saying he only found out about allegations surrounding Jordan Steele-John when he became the leader. Given the whispers around Parliament House, do you believe him? Do you think that is plausible?
Minister: Well, I find Senator Shoebridge quite a reliable person. I have a good relationship with Senator Shoebridge and so if that's what he says, I have no reason to disbelieve him.
Glenday: Had you ever heard rumours about Jordan Steele-John, and his conduct towards women?
Minister: These issues are always difficult issues. We have institutions in the Parliament, the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. All of those bodies are available to assist in the resolution of these, of these issues. As Special Minister of State, I have a special responsibility to deal with these issues if they come to my attention and I then refer them to the relevant bodies and I'd be happy to do so in these circumstances. Nobody has asked me to do that this far.
Glenday: I'll note that you didn't answer my question about whether you'd heard these rumours before. I do want to get to what is happening though to Jordan Steele-John, while this investigation takes place. The Greens leader says he's on leave. The Senator in the centre of this says he's not on leave. Should he be on leave while these matters are investigated?
Minister: Look, that's -- that is a matter for The Greens and the individuals themselves to sort out. Again, if somebody comes to me, I'm happy to deal with the issue on a confidential basis as I do every day of the week, James. That's the job of the Special Minister of State. But if people have issues, my door is always open. I'm always happy to listen to try and resolve these issues which I do on, on a very regular basis. And I'm happy to be involved if somebody asks me to do so. But it will be on a confidential basis.
Glenday: Don Farrell, the grandfather and perhaps the godfather as well. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Minister: Nice talking with you, James.