​SUBJECT/S: National Preparedness Summit; Digital Duty of Care; Delivery of election commitments

HOST ROSS SOLLY: Kristy McBain is the Minister for Emergency Management and also Member for Eden Monaro and joins us. Kristy McBain, good morning to you.

MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT KRISTY MCBAIN: Good morning, Ross.

HOST: I mean, the thing is, we've now been told about this, we've been warned about this for months and months that this is coming our way. What's the latest intel you have on what we can expect this summer?

MCBAIN: The Australian Emergency Fire Services Council have released their Spring Outlook and obviously there'll be continued Outlooks as we head towards Summer from not only AFAC but also from BOM. We know there's an increased likelihood of warmer daytime and overnight temperatures. There's an increased risk of bushfire across parts of the country in particular. And that's why we're really keen at the moment to make sure that people prepare their own properties now and put in place their own bushfire survival plan. But we're going to kick off today our fourth annual National Preparedness Summit, which is really important, as you said, to bring together all those emergency service agencies so that we can scenario out a range of issues so that we know how to act in an emergency when it does unfold over time.

HOST: Yeah, and the other thing I've been reading in recent days, Kristy McBain, and for someone who has an electorate that has a lot of farmland, obviously drought is a very real concern. And I've been reading about, people are concerned and experts are saying there's this new phenomenon that comes. it's a really dry, hot wind that can come in, just suck all the water, etc out of the ground and cause drought conditions a lot quicker than you might normally expect. I mean, that's very, very concerning and alarming. Not just for the fact that you're going to make everything tinder dry, but also for drought conditions.

MCBAIN: Yeah, that's right. Obviously it's been a very dry Winter anyway. We haven't seen a lot of the rain that we might have seen, particularly heading into Spring. So, we do have drier conditions than normal across various parts of the country and in particular across parts of Eden Monaro already. We do have a heightened bushfire risk now. That's why it's so incredibly important that people move now and prepare their properties and make sure those emergency plans are in place. But these phenomenons, you know, are emerging and we need to be aware of them. And that's one of the reasons we do scenario planning through the High Risk Summit as well.

HOST: Just on another issue, while I have you here, the digital duty of care, which obviously, you know, the social media companies are not going to be happy about it. The Opposition, Kristy McBain, is saying that it's a form of censorship. How do you get the balance right and are you comfortable with it? Because the critics will say that it's giving too much power to the Commissioner, also to a Minister who can determine what should be restricted on social media, etc. I mean, as somebody who I'm sure is a fan of free speech, are you comfortable with this?

MCBAIN: Well, we know that social media and the internet and growth of, I guess, online forums is important for social connection, but sometimes that doesn't mean social cohesion. It is really important in today's day and age that we make sure that we are providing some basic safety standards for digital services. We've put a lot of money into scams – to make people aware of scams. We've put money into taking down false websites, to educating people about how to spot a scam. And the digital duty of care is exactly that as well. We know, unfortunately, that, you know, young people in particular have taken their own lives because of some of what they've experienced online. And that is not good enough. So, this is simply about setting those basic safety standards for something that we're using in our everyday lives.

HOST: So, the likely what we'll end up having is that people can opt out or opt in to have the algorithms thrown out. I mean, to me, honestly, I'm not on social media, but people tell me there's just nonsense that comes up in algorithms all the time. So, the, the big change here will be people can opt out of that if they want. But the people who are against it saying, well, you know, freedom of speech, people should be allowed to access or people should be allowed to put out there on social media stuff that people might feel uncomfortable about.

MCBAIN: And also it's okay for people to opt out of seeing that, you know, you don't have to engage with everything just because somebody else does it. We don't do that in our everyday lives and we shouldn't have to do that online. This is simply a choice for people. My feed my way. If you don't want the algorithm that's being shoved down your throat, then you should be able to opt out of that. You know, we have a whole range of things that we can make personal choices on. This is another one of those. And so for those people saying we're limiting free speech. No, we're not. We're saying if people don't want to see some of what's online, then they shouldn't have to and there's a way for them to opt out of that. And I think that's a really responsible thing to do. We know in this day and age, people don't have the ability to move themselves offline for a whole range of things. We've got services that are now online, we've got social connections that happen online, we've got, you know, work which is online. So much of our life is online already. People should have a choice about what they see in their feed, and this is giving them that choice.

HOST: It's 9 minutes to 7 on the breakfast show. One other issue that the Major and Local Community Infrastructure program. Kristy McBain, yesterday, David Smith said there was one project in his electorate, the electorate of Bean, which was invited to apply for one of these grants. Do you know how many in… because Eden Monaro is, it’s not as marginal as it once was, but it certainly is an electorate that Labor fights hard to hang on to. How many projects in your electorate were invited to apply for one of these grants?

MCBAIN: Well, my electorate, I've got five local government areas, and it spans 32,000 square kilometres. I think there were eight projects across Eden Monaro and all really important projects. You know, we have committed to rebuilding the Bega Wall Memorial Pool, for example, which opened in the 1950s, is currently five lanes and 33 metres long, so doesn't meet any of the current day standards. You also have to use 20 cents to get hot water in the showers. So, I think it's really important that we look at some of these projects on their merit. And when these projects are asked to apply through that Major and Local Community Infrastructure program, they still have to go through a value for money case test which is done by the department.

HOST: So, the eight projects, they all were successful? They were all invited to apply and they were all successful as far as you're aware?

MCBAIN: As far as I'm aware, yes.

HOST: Yeah. Okay. What was your role in it, Kristy McBain? Did you have to nominate which projects should be invited or, I mean, how does that happen?

MCBAIN: Yes. So, obviously my job as a local member is to understand what's happening in our local community. I worked with a range of local community groups and councils to understand what their main priorities were in terms of infrastructure upgrades and then put those forward as potential projects for election commitments.

HOST: Do you understand why critics say this is nothing more than blatant pork barreling? This is stuff that's going to Labor electorates or electorates that Labor wanted to win. If you're in a safe Liberal seat or somewhere that Labor's not going to win, you never even got a chance. You never got a chance to apply for any of this taxpayer money. It only went to those good, strong Labor seats like Eden Monaro.

MCBAIN: Well, the approach follows the Commonwealth grant rules and principles and the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audits. The guidelines…

HOST: Still looks like pork barreling though, doesn't it? When you look at the breakdown of who got the money, more than 70% of it went to, you know, Labor electorates. It still looks like pork barreling though, doesn't it?

MCBAIN: Well, there was a range of grants that also went to seats that Labor would never hold.

HOST: Not many.

MCBAIN: So, these election commitments were made across the country and, you know, is a standard practice that has been utilised for many, many elections.

HOST: 23% Kristy McBain went to coalition seats, 4% went to others. So, 73% went to Labor.

MCBAIN: And the guidelines we instituted explicitly state that if the applications didn't meet value for money criteria and department benchmarks, they wouldn't be awarded funding.

HOST: Yeah, but they weren't even asked. They weren't even given the chance to invite. They weren't even given the chance to make an application. An invitation only went out to the ones chosen by the Labor Party or by… Sorry, go on.

MCBAIN: I mean, obviously that's how election commitments work. If the Coalition formed government, they would have had to have a vehicle for their election commitments as well. But there are a range of open competitive grants that are available now. Over $2 billion available in open competitive grants now through Thriving Suburbs, Growing Regions. We had Urban and Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. We've got the Active Transport Program. There are a whole range of other grants and programs that are out there providing money to those communities who put forward those applications for community infrastructure and the like that is needed in their community as well.

HOST: The Prime Minister's in the news this morning because he's a member of the Marrickville Golf Club, which got, received one of these grants. The eight projects that you're aware of, are you a member of any of those projects, of any of those clubs Kristy McBain?

MCBAIN: Look, my family's involved in a whole range of sports. I'm a member of a range of social and sporting clubs like you are in every community that you're a part of. I'm a member of a whole range of sporting and social clubs in towns that I don't directly live in.

HOST: But in particular, any of these clubs that benefited from the eight grants. Are you a member of any of those clubs?

MCBAIN: Well, there's no clubs per se. These are all community infrastructure owned by councils.

HOST: Okay. And so you're not a member. You'd have no interest. You have no, you have nothing that you needed to declare?

MCBAIN: Well, council infrastructure is owned by councils.

HOST: I know, but you could be like a, and I know it sounds weird, but you could be a member of the Bega swimming pool, for example. They could have bestowed upon you lifetime membership of the Bega swimming pool, for example, Kristy McBain, which, you know.

MCBAIN: Well, unfortunately I'm not a great swimmer.

HOST: Okay, so there's nothing you, there's nothing you needed to declare? No conflicts of interest with any of the eight projects that received funding in your, in your electorate?

MCBAIN: No, once again these are council owned infrastructure projects which are incredibly important to local communities. As I said, I live in regional and rural communities where unfortunately we've got a range of infrastructure that needs upgrades and councils don't have huge rate bases to be able to upgrade some of this critical infrastructure. The Bega Wall Memorial Pool, for example, has been after a range of grant funding since 2019. So, it's obviously really important to the local community that we do have a fit for purpose pool that actually meets a standard criteria.

HOST: Kristy McBain, I know you've got a lot on this morning. Appreciate your time, thank you.

MCBAIN: Thanks so much.