Politics with Michelle Grattan

Word from the Hill: A Father‘s Day backlash hits Scott Morrison

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the criticism Scott Morrison has already faced this week. 

Firstly, his trip to Sydney to visit his family for Father's Day, which required a special exemption to return to Canberra, brought a sharp backlash when so many families couldn't reunite for the weekend. The PM didn't breach the rules – but did fail the pub test.

Secondly, while his address to the National Summit on Women's Safety acknowledged that "Australia has a problem" when it comes to ensuring women feel safe, critics including Australian of the Year Grace Tame are scathing of his and his government's performance.

Word from The Hill: Learning to live with COVID

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the June quarter national accounts, released on Wednesday. While this quarter was better than expected, the September quarter is certain to be negative as a result of the prolonged lockdowns.

They also mark the change this week in the national COVID debate, as the Victorian government, following NSW, admits defeat in the battle to get to COVID zero.

Pat Turner on COVID – and god botherers – stalking Indigenous communities

COVID has been spreading quickly in western NSW Indigenous communities where low vaccination rates and poor conditions make for a toxic mix. The first Indigenous death occurred in Dubbo this week.

As efforts intensify to deal with the NSW outbreak Pat Turner, CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO) joins the podcast. As well as discussing the NSW situation, she warns of the vulnerability of communities in Western Australia, attacks religious figures promoting dangerous misinformation, and says Indigenous communities can't safely open at 70% or 80% vaccination rates. 

On western NSW, where there are hundreds of cases, Turner says crowded and bad housing make it "almost impossible to isolate and quarantine". People in Wilcannia are "having to isolate in tents –  in Australia in 2021". 

In WA First Nations communities, the low vaccine coverage "is a very significant concern to all of us". 

"It has by far the lowest uptake, with less than 10% of its population 12 years and over fully vaccinated".

 "I would think that the first death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people [...] has been a wake up call for some, especially those who didn't think that COVID would affect them. The reality is sinking in for many of those."

One obstacle is the spread of false claims by god botherers. 

"[Aboriginal] Pastor Geoffrey Stokes called out a circular that had been sent around by [a] so-called Indigenous prayer group in the goldfields of Western Australia. And it happened that it was a white bloke from Brisbane who had circulated the misinformation. So that was soon put to bed. 

"But there are people and communities, Aboriginal communities that belong to groups like the Assemblies of God and, you know, other such religions that strongly believe that God will protect them."

"God will not stop COVID killing our people. I'm sorry to the religious leaders who believe that, but I'm telling them that will not happen."

While the national cabinet's plan provides for easing restrictions for the general community at 70% and 80% vaccination levels of those 16 and over, Turner insists that can't apply in Indigenous communities. 

"No, no, no, 70 to 80% will not be good enough for our communities. We are aiming for 100% vaccination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 12 years and over by the end of this year."

Doherty’s Sharon Lewin on pivoting from chasing COVID zero

The Doherty modelling is the government’s underpinning for a proposed easing of COVID restrictions once we reach targets of 70% and 80% of the adult population vaccinated.

But the exit path has put Scott Morrison at odds with Western Australia and Queensland, states which would inevitably have to give up their present status of having little or no COVID.

The model’s priority is pivoting from reaching zero cases, to limiting COVID by vaccination, minimising serious illness, hospitalisation, and deaths.

This week, Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity joins the podcast to explain into the much-discussed modelling and its policy implications.

In the event things open up, our “first line of defence” will be the public health capacity, says Lewin. The ability to trace, test, isolate, and quarantine limits the explosion of cases and keeps the transmission potential “less than one”.

Some critics have said the 70-80% target won’t sufficiently protect the entire population from COVID. Lewin notes that amongst the varying models there is agreement we cannot open up on vaccine uptake alone.

“You can’t just open up a 70% with nothing else in place. There is no ‘Freedom Day’. You do need these additional public health measures.”

In particular, while “tremendous advances have been made in capabilities[…] it’s not universal across the country. In particular, First Nation communities, which have been prepared and boasted an "effective community lead response” earlier in the pandemic, will require a strengthening of their public health facilities.

Word from the Hill: The battle to exit COVID

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the frictions as vaccination rates rise and the debate turns to lifting lockdowns and border restrictions. They also canvass the Morrison government's modest promise on Afghan refugees, and crossbencher Craig Kelly's announcement he'll lead Clive Palmer's United Australia Party at the election.

Word from The Hill: Was the Afghanistan War worth it?

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the lost war in Afghanistan, as Australia tries to secure the evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who assisted the Australian Defence Force. They also canvass the government's hard line towards Afghans who came to Australia by boat and are on temporary protection visas.

Anthony Albanese says Afghans in Australia should be given permanent residency

Graphic pictures of mayhem confront the world as desperate Afghans attempt to flee their country, after the Taliban's seizure of Kabul.

Australia's moral responsibly to evacuate people who assisted the Australian Defence Force, and may now face Taliban retribution, has become an important part of our exit from this lost war. 

The government is mounting a rescue mission for some of these people, as well as for Australians still in the country. But speaking on the podcast, Anthony Albanese describes the government's effort as "the latest example of too little, too late".

Meanwhile, in Australia at present there are more than 4,200 Afghan refugees on temporary visas. Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on Tuesday that "at this stage" no visa holder will be asked to return to Afghanistan. Scott Morrison said the government "had no plans" to return any of these people.

Albanese says the government should give them permanent residency.

"The idea that people, for example many of whom are Hazaras, are on temporary protection visas - the idea that the circumstances are going to change, that these are temporary circumstances - is just not real" Albanese says. 

"It doesn't acknowledge the circumstances which these people confront. And we want them to fully participate in Australian society, and they should have the capacity to become full Australian citizens."

Josh Frydenberg on uncertain economic times

When Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joined the podcast in December, the outlook was positive. While the forecast deficit was massive at nearly $200 billion, it had been revised down and the prospects for growth and employment revised up. 

Frydenberg said then: "Australians go into Christmas with real cause for optimism and hope".

But the economic climate now is bleaker. And very uncertain.

With the September quarter set to be negative, and the December quarter dependent on New South Wales' ability to get on top of the virus, a second recession can't be ruled out.

But joining The Conversation podcast this week, Frydenberg looks for some silver linings. He says a likely contraction of "about 1.5%" in the September quarter would be considerably less drastic than the 7% contraction the economy saw in the June quarter of last year. 

"Consumer spending is about 30% higher today than it was in March and April last year. 

"Consumer confidence, similarly, is around 30% higher than it was back then".

And the latest jobs numbers had shown that more than 200,000 people had come off unemployment benefits since that JobKeeper ended.

"So I'm confident that the underlying fundamentals of the Australian economy [are] sound."

With the New South Wales lockdown more than likely to continue into a third month and other lockdowns around the country, the government has remained steadfast in its decision to not reinstate JobKeeper, relying instead on COVID disaster payments to support workers.

A criticism levelled against the JobKeeper program was that money was wasted going to companies which ended up making profits, and then not returning the funds.

The treasurer calls JobKeeper "a remarkable success" which "restored confidence immediately after it was announced. 

"If we had said at the time, you know, Grattan Enterprises would have to pay it all back if somehow they got through the crisis, the likelihood would have been that[...]some businesses wouldn't have taken that money and therefore would have let their staff go."

Once borders are open, and we are back to some sort of normality, Frydenberg looks to  migration to assist in the economic recovery, and in countering "the impacts and consequences of an ageing population" outlined in this year's Intergenerational Report.

Frydenberg supports a migration programme which strikes "the right balance". 

A program which "goes to our humanity with the resettlement of refugees[...]goes to the needs, the immediate needs of the economy with skilled workers, and[...] goes to the harmony of our society, with family reunions and the like."

Word from the Hill: A reprimand for Christensen and Morrison on climate

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan now includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team.

In this episode, politics + society editor Amanda Dunn and Michelle discuss the House of Representatives' slapdown of controversial Nationals MP George Christensen after his attack on COVID-19 lockdowns and mask-wearing.

They also canvass Scott Morrison's initial response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers on promoting vaccine uptake and a 'modest spending program'

In the lead up to the 2019 election, the Shorten opposition attacked the government's planned 2024 tax cuts, and promised to curb negative gearing and halve the capital gains tax discount.

Last week, the Albanese opposition said it wouldn't try to unwind the tax cuts and would leave negative gearing intact - a pragmatic decision designed to make the party a small target at next year's election.

Speaking to The Conversation in the Mural Hall in Parliament House – COVID restrictions prevented a visit to his office – Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended the change of stance:

"I think people understand that the highest priority right now needs to be the management of this pandemic, which is doing such damage to the economy and to local communities, and also what the economy and our society will look like after Covid-19. And what we're able to do now is to focus properly on that. And that's why we took that decision and why we announced it immediately."

In a populist move this week, the opposition called on the government to provide a $300 incentive to anyone who was fully vaccinated by 1 December. Such an initiative – vehemently rejected by the government – would cost $6 billion, which Chalmers concedes "is not a small amount of money" but "is a fraction of the money that the government has given in JobKeeper for companies whose profits actually went up and didn't need JobKeeper support. $13 billion at least wasted there."

Chalmers says $300 per vaccinated person would be "a lot of bang for buck in terms of public health outcomes, but also in terms of economic outcomes."

If successful at the election, as treasurer Chalmers would be inheriting an enormous debt, with not much room for spending. Despite this, he says Labor's approach to spending "won't be held to constraints that the government's not held to." 

"The government spent a 100 billion dollars in one night on budget night[...]not a dollar offset, and nobody's saying to the government 'what taxes are you raising to pay for that 100 billion dollars in spending?'

"The commitment I give to the Australian people as the alternative treasurer is our budget position will reflect the needs of the Australian people and the economy[...]

"It will be more responsible than the Liberals. We won't be taking a lecture on responsibility from the most wasteful government since Federation, and our budget settings will reflect the economy."