Leader of The Nationals, David Littleproud's interview on Sky News
JAYNIE SEAL. Joining me live is David Littleproud, leader of The Nationals. David, good morning to you. So what do you think about this decision?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, we welcome it, albeit late. The Prime Minister was shamed into going to Alice Springs. He had no intentions of getting there until it became very evident that things were out of control in Alice Springs. The Government was warned about this in early July before the sun setting of the grog bans took place. They had ample time in which to continue on with those grog bans, but didn't, and there'll be further strengthening of these grog bans, I understand, over the coming couple of weeks.
But the opportunity is there to keep them in because the community was saying this, but the reason they've given is that they wanted to talk to Indigenous people about having a right to have alcohol. What about dignity, or about dignity and respect to those women and children who are being abused? The community wasn't ready for this, and this is just an abject failure of not listening to the community, of having politicians and departments on the ground in Alice Springs and in remote communities rather than tucked away in Canberra. This is something that the Government needs to understand. They need to be more agile and direct. They've failed the people of Alice Springs, now that they admit they got it wrong. Get on with the job and support the community and listen to people like the mayor out there that is giving very sage advice because he's living and breathing it every day.
JAYNIE SEAL
And the Prime Minister, David, also used the visit to advocate how an Indigenous voice to Parliament would lead to improved conditions for First Nations communities?\
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, I actually think this just proves that the Voice is another layer of bureaucracy. What actually got changed, was the Prime Minister was forced into some leadership, getting on a plane out of Canberra and getting into Alice Springs. That's what The Nationals have been advocating, despite the commentariat in Canberra looking down their noses at us and saying we don't understand, well, we live and breathe this and this is exactly what we were warning was going to happen, is that if you have an approach where you're sending a couple of representatives over from thousands, hundreds of thousands of square kilometres into Canberra to give some sort of bespoke model for Alice Springs, which will be different to what what's needed.
You actually need leadership of a Minister that's prepared to go out and sit around the campfires and in the communities because each community will have a different problem that needs a different solution. And I think you can continue to have a cookie cutter approach. And both sides have failed on this and Ministers of both sides have failed to do this. They've let departments run rampant. Departments now need to be told they need to get out of Canberra and they need to sit in these communities. You don't need a Voice, you don't need another layer of bureaucracy, you need the bureaucracy doing the job they're paid to do. They've failed. Governments have failed. And this is where we don't need bureaucracy, we need action. And that was proved yesterday, by the Prime Minister having to get on a plane and going to listen to the community himself, we got action. And that's exactly what should be happening day in, day out. That is your responsibility. Under a Westminster system as a Minister, you are responsible and you have to act. And that's where we really are seeing the fact that the Voice now is going to be nothing more than another layer of bureaucracy when all that needs to be happen is people get up off their rear end and get out there.
JAYNIE SEAL
David, new data has revealed that Queensland has the highest rate of youth re-offending in the country. It's prompting calls for Parliament to be reconvened to deal with this issue. How do you see this issue being tackled?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Yeah, look, I think sadly Annastacia Palaszczuk has checked out and she's lost control of our health system and now she's lost control of our streets and we've got not only people in Alice Springs, this problem is not just confined Alice Springs, it's the streets of Queensland. There are people who don't feel safe to go out at night. They don't feel that their own homes are safe, because this government has gone soft on youth crime. Now we get a lot of gratuitous advice from criminologists and child psychologists saying that, we can't take these people away, we have to rehabilitate them. But there comes a trigger point in which society needs to feel safe, a primary responsibility of any government is to keep its people safe. And when you have a situation where youth crime and the respect that these youths have for our system, our institutions has been eroded to the point of no return, then it becomes a point where society needs to be protected from these people. So I think we get a lot of gratuitous advice, but I just say I think the problem's getting worse, not better. With all the gratuitous academic advice we've been getting, I think it's time for this Premier to get back to work, to call Parliament to institute the laws that she said she wanted to put in place, not wait another six weeks. There was another loss of life, tragically, allegedly from a 17 year old boy in Brisbane. This thing is out of control and I think Queenslanders rightfully want to ask Annastacia Palaszczuk if your heart's not in it, get out.
JAYNIE SEAL
All right, let's turn to another topic. The New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society has dropped appeals in Europe that would have severely hit the multi-million dollar honey industry. What does this mean for the industry?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Yeah, this is one big giant step forward for Manuka Honey, here in Australia. And they rightfully and passionately defended their right to use the term 'Manuka'. And the Kiwis wanted to use it as their own. I've got to say that industry, the courage of the industry to stand tall and to stand up for their producers in legal action and when I was Agriculture Minister, we supported them. While we couldn't give them direct financial support for the legal case, we made sure that the industry remains strong with other support mechanisms as well as the rules of the legal case. But this just gives us the opportunity to use that name in terms of 'Manuka' and be able to get a competitive advantage because it is superior to honey and it's sought after around the world. And it just means now that our producers are able to use that. And it's important that if we put that green and gold kangaroo on, then Europeans will know very well that it comes from the best country on the planet. They can produce it in the most ethical and sustainable way. But it's now important that Murray Watt, while he's over there talking down Australian agricultural environmental credentials, which was just mind blowing to think that you would go and negotiate with the EU and say, well, farmers need to improve their environmental standards when the EU is saying they won't give us access because of environmental standards. I mean, who goes and negotiates on those terms? Murray Watt doesn't believe in our farmers. He's let us down, but he's now got an opportunity to stand up for Manuka Honey here in Australia and get us access that we deserve and that those producers deserve because of the courage and conviction of their peak body, that took this on full frontal on behalf of their members.
JAYNIE SEAL
Nationals leader David Littleproud, thank you very much for today and we'll talk to you again at this time next week.
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Thanks for having me.
