​​​Subjects: Melbourne Synagogue attacks, Emergency Management, Productivity Roundtable, PM visit to China, Childcare Centre Reform.

ANDREW CLENNEL: Joining me live from Canberra now is the Emergency Management Minister, Kristy McBain. Kristy McBain, thank you for joining us. Let me start by asking your reaction to the synagogue attack on Friday night and is the government doing enough to stop these kinds of attacks? The opposition said yesterday it had written to the PM weeks ago saying, can you improve security for the Jewish community and hasn't got a response.

KRISTY MCBAIN, MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, good morning, Andrew. It's good to be with you. The attack that we saw in that synagogue in Melbourne was absolutely abhorrent. The fact that we had, you know, a peaceful Shabbat dinner happening inside whilst this occurred is even more, you know, just crazy. And I do commend the Victoria police, the AFP and our security agencies. We know that a man has now been arrested and will face court. So, you know, we want to see, you know, that happen as quickly as possible. But it is really incumbent upon us to work with communities. After October 7th, there was $25 million given towards safety of places of worship. An additional $30 million given the year after for schools and synagogues in particular. And we'll continue to work in local communities to make sure that places of worship and schools are safe from attack and violence. But anti-Semitism, hate speech, has no place in this country and our government has passed a range of really tough laws, including banning the Nazi salute and really, you know, high laws on anti-doxing in particular, which had impacted a number of people in the Jewish community, which the opposition voted against in the last term of Parliament. So, we'll continue to work on those regulatory measures that we need to in Parliament. And as I said, we've already made sure that there is funding available for a range of places of worship in schools to make them more safe for the people that use them.

CLENNEL: Do you have any information on the motivation for this crime? Was it- because it's not being called, as I understand it, a terrorist incident by police, is it? So, is it happens the same night as this protest at an Israeli restaurant. Is it, and I put this in inverted commas, ‘protest’ crime as opposed to a ‘terrorist‘ crime?

MCBAIN: Well, I think those things are still being investigated by Victoria police and there's been full cooperation from the AFP and the resources of our security agencies as well. We'll let them do their jobs. But what we did see that night was obviously a protest outside local small businesses and that attack on the synagogue, and we don't want to see that anywhere in our country. You know, we're a country of peaceful protests, but we are seeing these things boil over into attacks on communities which, you know, just aren't good enough. Last week I met with the Mayor and Councillors of the city of Port Phillip in Melbourne, who had the Adass Israel Synagogue destroyed in their local community, and their words last week were that it impacted the Jewish community really heavily, but it's also impacted the wider community. So, we've got to be mindful that these things happening in our, in our towns and in our cities has an overall impact on the whole of the economy and the whole of the community. We don't want to see these things in Australia and the Prime Minister has come out and condemned them. The Minister for Home affairs will be there later today speaking directly with community as well.

CLENNEL: What message as a government Minister would you give Jewish Australians considering their concerns about these sorts of attacks?

MCBAIN: Yeah, I think we stand with Jewish Australians. You know what we've seen in the past that hateful anti-Semitic speech is not on. We have committed a range of funding for security measures. We've now got in place also a Higher Education Commissioner to ensure that these things aren't happening in our universities as well. But we've got your back and we'll continue to work with our communities right across the country to make sure that they feel safe and they can attend places of worship freely.

CLENNEL: Let's talk about emergency management, then. Where are we at in terms of rebuilding efforts after the cyclone in Queensland, floods on the east coast of Australia? What's the damage bill generally and what's the damage for the Federal Government out of that bill?

MCBAIN: Yeah, the first six months of the year we've seen a number of events in our communities. Obviously ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred had an impact in Queensland and NSW. We've had those south west Queensland floods flooding in North Queensland. Just last month we saw the Mid North Coast and Hunter floods and an event obviously over the past week on the south coast of NSW in particular. Also a time where we've got drought in Victoria and South Australia. So, we work with states and territories who are the lead in these disasters, but we have, for example, provided over $770 million in direct Commonwealth assistance to people in disaster hit areas. Whether that's through that $1,000 disaster ready payment that goes to community members that have been directly impacted to help them buy, you know, essentials for the coming days and weeks or whether it's through our Disaster Recovery Allowance, which is income support for up to 13 weeks where people have had their employment or livelihoods impacted by a disaster. And then we work with states and territories on a whole other range of funding, whether that's for primary producers, small businesses, tourism operators and then obviously that infrastructure bill comes in. So, for the first six months of this year we're close to $2 billion that we've spent and we'll continue to work with the states and territories who are lead organisations here to make sure that we are dealing with some of those infrastructure impacts.

CLENNEL: Yeah, $2 billion. And there's been speculation in recent times, Minister, that Jim Chalmers could come close to delivering a surplus. But the bills created by the natural disasters, I've been told, could be one thing that prevents that. Is that a fair characterisation?

MCBAIN: Well, I guess, you know, in a budget you are looking at a range of things that you can measure and predict and I think what we have come to see is that natural disasters sometimes are unpredictable and the impact they have on communities can be long and wide ranging. And what we've said from day one since the Albanese government was elected is that we will walk with communities through the long tail of recovery because recovery isn't, you know, a few days whilst catching cameras and lights are in the area. It's, you know, the weeks, the months and potentially years afterwards. Last week I met with the Mayor of Lismore to talk about their ongoing recovery efforts. I met with the Mayor of Mid Coast Council to talk about their recent flooding issues and a range of Mayors from the south west region of councils who have been impacted by flooding. So, we'll continue to work with local communities. These things are a little bit unpredictable, but one thing we do know is that the Disaster Ready Fund, which is a billion dollar fund, which looks at resilience and mitigation measures and making communities more prepared, is absolutely needed and there will be some more announcements for successful projects from round three coming soon. It's something local councils and the insurance industry was calling for before we came to government. So, we know how incredibly important it is to have the Disaster Ready Fund and we look forward to rolling out two additional rounds after round three.

CLENNEL: How do you feel about taking on emergency management? Because you sort of came to prominence as a Mayor, I think of Bega during the Black Summer Bushfires and now you're dealing with this on an ongoing basis. I mean, I guess it's. You would have valuable experience in bitter experience in these things, but it's a lot to take on, isn't it?

MCBAIN: Yeah. During my time as mayor of the Bega Valley Shire we had nine declared natural disasters. So, an east coast low, a range of floods, three bushfires and what's probably not widely known is the only thing that put out bushfires in my part of the world was a flood, which came immediately after it, before we were struck with COVID so, you know, I've been there from a community side of things, and I know what that impact looks like, like long term on community members. I also know the toll that it takes on agencies, our first responder agencies, but also on local council employees who are trying their best to help the community at a time where many of them are impacted themselves. So, I've seen it from that community level and I want to use that experience to make sure that there is a really close connection between the three levels of government during a disaster, but most importantly after the disaster, because, you know, when the cameras and the lights go off and the media cycle moves onto something else, these communities are still doing it really tough. So, you know, making sure we've continued to work with those communities on the things that will make a difference for the next time.

CLENNEL: And as you've taken on this portfolio, what have you been briefed about in terms of the likelihood of floods and fires and what we're expecting over the term of government?

MCBAIN: I think, you know, disaster season had usually been, you know, October to April every year, and we can see already from the floods, flooding and storm impacts on the east coast of NSW, we're now in May and June and July and we're still having those events occur. So, I think it's important to make sure that we are working with communities on preparedness, but also on making sure we've got more resilient infrastructure in place. You know, I've seen a range of those things already occur, including, you know, the hardening of a range of telecommunications assets, you know, working with communities to increase road funding so that they can deal with the aftermath in some of those areas. But I think as we look forward, you know, we've got to be really serious about making sure we get emergency management right and it's incumbent upon all three levels of government to be working closely with community and that's going to be my focus over this term.

CLENNEL: And the next big event for the government appears to be this productivity roundtable. You're also Local Government Minister. Is there scope there for you to contribute then, with the Prime Minister talking about cracking down on regulation, what sort of things would you and your stakeholders like discussed?

MCBAIN: Yeah, I've spoken to the Treasurer already about making sure we've got a discreet local government submission. You know, at a time where we've got housing issues across the country, we want to see, you know, those compliance and regulatory measures not duplicated across different levels of government and, you know, making sure that we are working with local government so that there is a timely answer to some of those development applications. So, last week in the Australian Council, when we had the Australian Local Government Association conference, we spoke about doing a local government submission and there was, I think, a lot of local governments who are really prepared to give some case studies on some of that duplication and compliance measures that slows up the process, in particular, of housing approvals. So, we'll work with the local government sector on making sure that that's in front of the Treasurer as he goes into that productivity roundtable.

CLENNEL: The Prime Minister has been criticised for appearing to rule out an increase in the GST in terms of tax reform on Friday. It does raise the question, just what sort of tax reform is the government interested in?

MCBAIN: Well, I think you've seen from the Treasurer, he's got three priorities around productivity, budget sustainability and economic resilience. And we want to be able to have some conversations about what tax reform might look like so that we can put ourselves on a trajectory for budget sustainability and we know with events that are happening around the world that it's really important that we've got a resilient economy. We don't want to go back to COVID times, you know, if there is another upheaval in the world, we want to have learnt those lessons so that we're not at the end of broken supply chains and that we are investing in capability in our own country, which is what we have been talking about for the last three years or so now. You know, it's- I think it's important, I think that we come to the table with an open mind around what tax reform might look like. You know, there's no ideological perspective here, it's about what's pragmatic, what's practical and what we can do together as a country and I think everyone's up for that conversation. In the last election, I heard from community members around Eden Monaro who said, you know, we've got to have some serious discussions about tax and reform in this country, because we all want to make sure that we are doing our level best in this country to make us live up to that moniker of the lucky country.

CLENNEL: And when people were talking about tax reform, what tax reform did they want to see specifically?

MCBAIN: And again, I don't think anyone comes at this with a silver bullet. There are a range of discussions, I think, that need to take place and that's exactly what the Treasurer is doing with his productivity roundtable. He has said he's open to receiving submissions both before and after that. We're not going to be ideological-

CLENNEL: Did they want less tax? Did they want less tax or they want more tax or they want different tax? You said people in your electorate were raising it with you. What were they- what were they raising?

MCBAIN: Yeah, I think they want a refined taxation system. You know, everyone's happy with a tax cut, but, you know, when we're talking about productivity, we want to make sure that we are helping people through, for example, the housing system. You know, when a developer comes on board with an idea or a project to get more housing into a community, how do we streamline that so that they're not continuing to pay application fees, you know, interest rates as they hold onto that property, a whole range of studies and measures that they've got to put in place, all of these things which impact on the viability of a development application. So, I think it's looking across the board at what the three levels of government can do in terms of streamlining some of those compliance and regulatory measures that are in our system.

CLENNEL: The Prime Minister takes off for China later this week. What can we expect from that? And what would you say to people who would criticise the PM for undertaking this trip before he meets Donald Trump first and he gave a speech last night, the PM, the John Curtin lecture, which has been- which has had some commentators talking, saying the US might be a upset by it. What do you say to that?

MCBAIN: Look, China's one of our biggest trading partners. I mean, we've got a steady relationship with China now. We've done away with about $20 billion in trade impediments because we've had a calibrated and open communication with them over the last three years. You know, we've got a range of primary producers and exporters that are doing much better now because of those trade impediments leaving our system. I mean, this isn't an either or situation, you know, as a country, we're working really hard with all of our trading partners to ensure that we're getting good deals for our exporters, our primary producers, so that we can broaden out our trade relationships with a range of countries. I think the Prime Minister has been clear, he's had three telephone conversations with Donald Trump, each of them have been warm and friendly, you know, we did have a meeting lined up, but obviously the situation in Iran and Israel required him to be back in the US and I'm sure that visit will be planned and sorted out as soon as possible.

CLENNEL: And just finally, Kristy McBain, obviously this heinous crime in Melbourne in the childcare sector has taken up a lot of the news during the week. Jason Clare, the Minister- the Federal Minister, has been out talking about reforms to assist in this area. Can I get your reaction to it and there are even calls around for men not to work in childcare anymore, what do you make of that?

MCBAIN: Well, it was absolutely disgusting and I think there are a lot of parents out there who were probably second guessing their thoughts on sending children to childcare, which is not what we want to see. You know, my three children all went to the same long day care centre and they became like a second family to us. My eldest child, I had to put her into long daycare when she was five months old because I needed to get back to work to, you know, help us pay off that mortgage we had at the time and I walked in to the baby's room of that childcare centre, you know, really hesitant about giving over care and responsibility for my child to someone else. And I was, you know, I come from a small community and I walked in and I knew two of the three carers that were in there and I immediately felt a little bit better, but I know that's not the case for a range of parents out there. You know, we try our best to make any situation work for families and unfortunately long daycare has to be part of that solution for a lot of people because they need those extra dollars coming in. So, I think as a parent, I was really shocked and it sort of does pull at your heartstrings because you don't want to ever have to have conversations like that with your kids or with your family members and there'll be a range of measures that will be put in place by our government. I think Jason Clare has said that he'll bring legislation to the Parliament in our first sitting. But I just want to assure parents out there that we're going to do everything possible to make sure that those conversations don't have to take place. The childcare sector is a really important one right across our community and we have to make sure that parents have trust in that system and trust with the centres. So, there's some work to do here, but we will work really hard because, well what we've seen reported, I think is every parent's worst nightmare.

CLENNEL: Kristy McBain, it is a very upsetting story. Thanks for talking to me about it. Thanks for the interview this morning.

MCBAIN: Thanks, Andrew.

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