Interview with Sarah Abo, The Today Show, Channel Nine - Thursday, 30 January 2025
Topics: Escalating antisemitism; inflation data; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Oscar Jenkins
E&OE
SARAH ABO:
Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and The Age’s federal politics correspondent Paul Sakkal. Good to see you both. So Angus apparently stolen explosives – a caravan that was abandoned for weeks, a list of Jewish targets. It's all terribly frightening and really troubling, and it really speaks to the level of antisemitism in this country right now.
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Oh, it really does, Sarah, it's a horrifying escalation in the insidious antisemitism that we're seeing around the country and I think there are real questions here about when was this known about first, who's behind it, obviously, is the really key question, and what's the government doing to make sure that this doesn't happen again because we have seen this escalation, and it's completely unacceptable.
SARAH ABO:
The odd part is, really that it's been abandoned, and we were speaking to a former police officer before saying it could be a web of people. I mean, Paul, it's an alarming discovery. The investigation kept quiet until now. Is that acceptable do you think, from the public's perspective?
PAUL SAKKAL:
Well, as you both say, it is scary. It's kind of unbelievable that almost every week we're discussing on shows like this, new antisemitic plots or actual acts in the street, like it's unprecedented and quite disgusting. On the question of keeping it silent, Chris Minns, the New South Wales Premier, has been arguably one of the strongest leaders in the country on countering antisemitism. He's put it at the absolute forefront of his kind of government in recent months, and he said that there is good reason for having kept it silent to this point. He says police are taking it very, very seriously. It was immediately escalated to the counter terrorism squad, so I think I trust Chris Minns, but we need to learn more and it is very early.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, absolutely, Paul. That's right. Well, let's move on now and the PM is breathing a sigh of relief this morning, with low inflation putting the chance of an interest rate cutting February at 90%. Just in time for an election pitch. Angus, the Treasurer has declared the worst of inflation is now behind us. Do you share that opinion?
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Well, I think there's still a lot of pain out there, Sarah and core inflation is still above target. Services, inflation above 4% and worst of all, we know, even on the government's plan, Australians’ standard of living isn't going to get back to where it was when Labor came to power until 2030 so we've got a long way to go here. Australians have been hit very hard, inflation, interest rates, higher personal income taxes. The pathway back is a long one, and for the Treasurer to declare victory at this point suggests to me that he really doesn't understand what's going on in Australian households and businesses.
SARAH ABO:
You were out and about with some small businesses yesterday here in Sydney. How did they react to this news about inflation?
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Well, they're saying, well, nothing's changed. I mean, grocery prices are still high. Everything they're buying is still high. Prices aren't coming down, and there's still a lot of pain out there, and there's a long way to go before people get back to where they were a couple of years ago.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, there is a lot of pain out there, Paul, that's for sure. I mean, this will hopefully bode well for a rate cut. Everyone's saying potentially now in February. I guess that therefore means the government's chances of re-election have been bolstered a bit too?
PAUL SAKKAL:
Well, I'm sure Angus was watching the Treasurer yesterday at his press conference in Melbourne. He was looking pretty smiley, so the government will be praying desperately that that 95% market expectation of a cut comes true. They've been kind of in third or fourth gear, really, since the Voice Referendum, and there have been so many moments where the press gallery and people like me and you Sarah have said, could this be the reset that the government needs to launch them to re-election. They really hope that this rate cut and potentially another one in February is that reset that gets people feeling like the corner has been turned. But as Angus says, people are really still feeling it. The economy is very much two-tiered, and whether or not rate cuts actually play into people's immediate sense of comfort is up for debate. But for all the noise in politics and the questions we get asked on programs like this, this question about whether Labor has managed the economy well, and the battle between Angus and Jim Chalmers is absolutely the main game.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, it's a difficult one for you, Angus, because you want a rate cut, but you got to try and spin it (laughs)
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Yeah, and Australians do want a better situation. But my point is, the pathway back is a long way here because we've taken a big hit.
SARAH ABO:
All right, just quickly, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed that Australian soldier Oscar Jenkins, reportedly killed fighting for Ukraine is actually likely alive. Angus obviously a huge relief for his family, but Russia allowed them for weeks to think he was dead. It's classic mind games from the Kremlin. What are they playing at here?
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Well, you're right. It's a huge relief for family and for him. Look, I'm not going to guess what Russia is playing at. What I do know …
SARAH ABO:
Prison swap?
ANGUS TAYLOR:
Well, I don't know, and I'm not going to speculate. What I will say, though, is that there's very clear international laws on how prisoners of war are treated, and Russia needs to keep to those, and Penny Wong needs to keep emphasising that. We'll work with the government to do everything we can to make sure those protocols, those rules, are kept.
SARAH ABO:
Paul, do you reckon we’re going to see him again?
PAUL SAKKAL:
I hope so. But I don't trust the Russian officials, as far as we could throw them. I mean, this is a regime that's sending in tens of thousands of poor North Korean guys into a meat grinder without telling them that they're entering a war zone. They took a month to confirm that our guy’s still alive. So this is a disgusting regime. The threat to expel their Ambassador to Australia is still hanging around and I know the Opposition's been calling for it. All we can do is hope that our guy comes home.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, that's for sure. All right. Thank you both so much for joining me today. Really appreciate it.
ENDS.