OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: Are the Greens a chance of picking up the seat of Perth at the federal election? Adam Bandt thinks so, and he told Gary Adshead as much this morning, right here on 6PR.
ADAM BANDT, LEADER OF THE GREENS PARTY [PRE-RECORDED AUDIO]: I think Labor's obviously very worried, because they know the Greens can win. They know the Greens can win the Federal seat of Perth, which is part of the reason that I'm over here. If just fewer than one in ten people shift their votes, then the Greens could have their first lower house seat in the West. That is a smaller swing than we saw in my seat of Melbourne, or those Queensland seats of Griffith when they won the first time. Forty per cent of people in Perth rent, right, and the Labor MP has done nothing for the forty per cent of his electorate that rent, other than deliver unlimited rent increases and a situation where people are worried about complaining about mould in their rentals or massive rent hikes because they, because people in Perth don't have protection against being evicted at the end of their lease for no reason.
PETERSON: That was Adam Bandt this morning with Gary ad said on 6PR, the incumbent is the Labor Member for Perth, Patrick Gorman, who joins us live on Perth Live this afternoon, G'day, Patrick.
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Oly, and g'day to your listeners.
PETERSON: Are you very worried?
GORMAN: Look, not after that excessively arrogant performance from Adam Bandt. No, I'll do what I've done at every election, which is to get out there and talk to my community. And what I know when I've been out doorknocking just in the last few days, is that people are really sick of the sort of politics that we're getting from the Greens. I mean, Adam Bandt. I think the Melbourne Demons have been here more in Western Australia this year than the Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, but he's flying over at the last minute, trying to grab a seat. I mean, let's look at what he did last month. Last month, Adam Bandt told his senators to vote against a policy called 'Help to Buy.' Now, Help to Buy is a really important policy because about helping more people get shared equity home loans so they can buy their first house. Now, the reason that Western Australians will have real questions about Adam Bandt is that we've had that running here for more than 30 years. It's called Keystart, and most of your listeners would know someone who got their first home because of Keystart. Adam Bandt and his senators are stopping more people getting that opportunity. And I think it's disgusting.
PETERSON: If you look at your past performance, Patrick, at the federal election, and it's on a two-party question, so we're talking about the Libs, not the Greens, but you had an 11.6 per cent swing towards you, and you hold that seat quite comfortably. Labor versus Liberal at 65% to 35% if we go off the 2022 election results, but Adam Bandt says just one in ten of your constituents needs to change their votes. Is it that much of a simple scenario for you to potentially lose the seat?
GORMAN: Oh, you can throw those sorts of numbers around, but I mean, that's like me saying, oh, with an 8 per cent swing towards Labor, Peter Dutton would lose his seat. I mean, you can always make up a scenario. But it, again, just reflects, that I think Adam Bandt hasn't spent that much time on the ground here in WA. Here in WA people want to make sure they've got good jobs, good opportunities, and simple, practical policies that make a real difference, and the Greens simply don't get that. And I heard a bit of what Mr. Bandt had to say today, and really it was just more uncosted promises. In his press conference today, he was name calling against me. I think it's all pretty amateur, to be honest.
PETERSON: Well, your electorate includes Northbridge, Mount Lawley, Mount Hawthorn, Maylands, Morley, Yokine, Tuart Hill, Inglewood, Bayswater, Bassendean, parts of Dianella and Morley. It's very different -
GORMAN: It's a great electorate and I'm honoured to represent it.
PETERSON: Well, it's very different, though, to comparing inner city Perth, which is obviously your seat, and those areas we've just mentioned, versus Brisbane and Melbourne. It's a very different layout than it is putting our city across those cities and those examples where the Greens have actually picked up those seats.
GORMAN: Yeah, it is different. And every time I see anyone say, 'Oh, look, my seat is the same as somewhere in inner city Melbourne,' I'm like - you don't know Western Australia. And I saw that earlier this year, actually, when it comes to actually getting WA, we saw Mr. Bandt's Deputy Greens leader, out there attacking the WA GST deal, saying that they wanted to go to a different sort of GST system. I mean, seriously, you can't say one thing on the East Coast, that you're going to tear up the GST deal and then say something else, when you fly over here at the last minute trying to win a few votes, it's just seriously out of touch.
PETERSON: So will you be preferencing the Greens in the seat of Perth at the next federal election, Patrick?
GORMAN: I don't decide preferences. That is done by the party, but I'm in it to win it. Oly, if my preferences are being distributed, then I will be looking for a new job. And the reality is, this contest in Perth, it's actually not between me and the Greens, it's between me and the Liberal Party. That's what it was at the last election. That's what I expect it will be at this election. So there's a really clear choice. If you want someone who builds and gets stuff done, vote for Patrick Gorman, if you want someone who blocks, well, you can vote for the Greens or you can vote for the Liberal Party, because that's what they both did last month when it came to action to get more housing built in Perth.
PETERSON: So the Greens are somewhat irrelevant in the federal seat of Perth, Patrick?
GORMAN: I respect that in the seat of Perth, normally, there's quite a few people on the ballot paper. I think at the last election, I had 11 or 12 people trying to challenge me, and across the broad range of different political persuasions. And that's a good thing. You know, our democracy is pretty important, and it's important and it's important that different people get a good choice. But again, I'll just do what I've done every election, which is just to stand up for practical solutions, things that help people. I'll be out there talking to people. I'll do what I've always done, which is just get out there, make myself available. I don't mind having differences of agreement, differences of views with people. I don't mind talking through tough issues, but I always want to talk about practical solutions. I think when it comes to the Greens, they never bring practical solutions. I mean, you only need to look at what they were doing, just remember, just a month ago, Oly, you had the Greens, one of the senior Greens members was out there endorsing all of the corruption, all of the criminality, all of the bullying in the CFMEU. And Adam Bandt said, 'Yeah, fine. No worries. No concerns at all.' Earlier this year, you had a Greens candidate, one of the lead Greens candidates in the state election, who couldn't even say that it was wrong to be naming the children of an energy resources company at their AGM. I mean, they're out of control. And I think the thing for me is this is not about my seat, but this is actually about what's right. And the lack of morals in some of the Greens campaigning is just unacceptable, and I think sometimes you've just got to call it out.
PETERSON: So a party that you say is out of control - hypothetically - and you probably won't want to deal in hypotheticals, Patrick, but I'll ask you anyway. Fast forward to the next election. You're in minority government, and you need the Greens support. How do you how do you start to talk to some of your potential colleagues, Patrick, if they're out of control?
GORMAN: Look, I'm in the business of majority government. I know that that's what's going to best serve my community, and I know that the reason that Labor's in majority government today, federally is because of Western Australia, and so I'll be out there campaigning to get my colleagues re elected because I don't want to be in those negotiations. They're not in the national interest. And it's not sort of campaign that we'll be running. We're running a campaign to get a majority Labor government. That means I'll be out there campaigning for Zaneta Mascarenhas. I'll be out campaigning for Tracey Roberts and Tania Lawrence, Sam Lim and our new candidate out in Bullwinkel - Trish Cook. I caught up with her last week. She's phenomenal. She's a nurse. She's a Mundaring local, a local councillor out there, and I'll give you a hot tip now - I think she's going to win.
PETERSON: Is she going to Keep the Sheep?
GORMAN: Trish, like all of us, is going to do what needs to happen, which is this orderly transition for more onshore processing of sheep meat. That's the conversation I had before I was on your program last week with the crew from Keep the Sheep. That's a conversation that I know those in the sheep meat processing industry are already having, that's what we need to do, because I want to have a bigger sheep meat industry. I just recognise that its future isn't on the precarious live export trade, which we've seen, has become less and less reliable over years, its future, and then processing that meat here in Australia.
PETERSON: It will be a tough ask in there in Bullwinkel, but it is setting up for a fascinating contest, Patrick, we certainly appreciate your time as always. Thank you very much.
GORMAN: Thanks, Oly.