Waching daily Jan 30 2018

Negative gearing was in the headlines again this week after official documents

revealed that treasurer Scott Morrison was advised Labour's proposed overhaul

would only have a modest impact on property values.

now that's in direct contradiction to the government's claims that any

changes to negative gearing would smash Australia's housing market the ALP 's plan

to restrict the tax deduction along with having capital gains tax discount was a

major issue during the last election campaign. To discuss this and the

other big stories of the week we're joined by Assistant Minister for Social

Services and disability Jane Prentice from Brisbane and in the studio here

with us Labor MP Emma Husar . Good morning. Good morning welcome to you both, thank you very much

Emma let's begin with this issue of negative gearing because of

course as we mentioned it was some a big campaign item for the last election

we're seeing more revelations this week around the government's approach of

course we're also seeing more of what Labor thinks should be done so just

just fill out for us what when you think the issue is and how this will impact on

housing affordability.Well of course we've got a situation now where

homeownership is that the lowest that its ever been in the history of our country,

we've got wealthy property investors and speculators buying up all of the stock

that first-time owners or first-time buyers should really be taking up we

have the most generous tax concessions on property anywhere in the world so

it's not a surprise that people are using that loophole it's quite lucrative

but our policy is to restrict that negative gearing on properties that are

already in existence we want to see people stimulate the housing market by

using those tax concessions where we need it which is in new housing stock so

we took our policy to the last election, of course it was done you know

it was a little bit controversial we let the Australian people you know debate it

but we've got an extraordinary situation now where the government has actually

hidden this information for the last two years from the Australian public and

treated them like they're a bunch of mugs or they're not smart enough to make

up their own mind which is really quite disappointing for for a number of

reasons but most of all just how out of touch this government really actually is.

but can you understand the trepidation perhaps if you are a property investor

in particular as the government says, not everyone who takes use of of

negative gearing is wealthy, there's quite a lot of people middle-class

people who use it as a wealth creator there is a fear that this will cut into

to rising house prices and people might not be too attracted to that. I think

that those people who are using it and have used it so far as a way of you know

providing for their retirement income, we've put grandfathering provisions in

that policy so those people won't be affected we're not saying we're gonna

stop it we're saying just direct it in the area that it needs to be directed

into. Having such generous tax concessions for people I I think

personally it's a form of middle-class welfare you know you've got someone

that's renting but paying their tax they're also paying more rent to a

landlord they're being double dipped on so I think that it's it's a fair it's

it's a fair policy and it will actually benefit 76 percent of Australian

households and that's an extraordinary number of people to make a positive

impact on.

So Jane Prentis, has the federal coalition government also the New South Wales Liberal government where we're hearing they're we're hearing that they've basically

either been ignoring or misstating in terms of Treasury advice that's been

given on the issues, is the government just essentially ignoring the issue? Well

no they're not ignoring the issue and the reality is that that report is two

years old and the report doesn't say it won't have

an impact the discussions around the amount of the impact we need to realise

that over a million Australians benefit from negative gearing over two-thirds of

those sixty-seven percent earn less than $80,000 a year

these are Australia's battlers these are our hard workers these are people trying

to get ahead these are the people who are going to be affected another 11

percent earn less than a hundred thousand they're not wealthy they're not

speculators these are the people who will be impacted by Bill Shorten 164

billion dollar tax impost on this market which is what he's proposing.

Do you say accept the fact, to stop you there Jane Prentice, that the government may have

overstated the impact when it says things like smashing the housing market

and things like that to describe Labor's policy? Well if Bill Shorten

imposes a hundred and sixty four billion dollar tax on the

property sector it will smash it and that's the problem we have.People need

to understand what the impact will be the slightest change to this sector

really does have a major ripple effect and it's terribly important that we

support the Mum and Dad battlers out there who are trying to get ahead who

work hard save their money and invested in property more than two-thirds of

Australians invests their wealth in property in Australia and we need to

make sure that that market is stable so they can be confident of their

investment and they can plan for their future in their children's future I

think the only thing that's really been smashed out of all of these is actually

the government's credibility if you want to hide documents for two years and not

provide them and not put them on the table I think that's the only thing

that's actually being smashed what about Jane predators point they're about

stability I mean a lot of people have invested in housing because of these

rules and they expect them to stay there when you feel around with these types of

rule changes aren't you damaging investor confidence well that's why we

put the grandfathering provisions in there we made sure that those people who

had invested it for those reasons and with that in mind that those people were

protected that they could continue to do that for the lifetime of their property

and that that their investment would continue to do exactly what they had

planned for it to do so I think the grandfathering provisions were a great

part of the policy I think you know restricting it to only new homes is

another you know great part of the policy and we're not saying that you

know Jane Jones quoted 85% of people that are at that lower income bracket

we're not saying they can't do it just do it where we need it. so Jane what then

is the answer? because we are seeing a situation where housing affordability,

particularly particularly for people trying to get into the market is, I mean

it's clearly an issue. so how do we correct that? well we're making some real

changes that will benefit everyone including tax incentives for young first

homeowners to invest some of their superannuation in their home we've given

incentives to older people to downsize to free up some of the market available

to people in sort of more of the established suburbs and we're also

looking at free up land so we can actually build more products so the

coalition government is actually delivering real change

to actually facilitate people into new homeowners. Home ownership under our policy

would actually increase by five point five percentage points so if we're going

to talk about actually making a real difference well five point five percent

percentage points is a massive jump and puts us back where we were probably

twenty or thirty years ago in terms of people actually able to buy and afford

our own homes. And I think that that figure comes from particularly the lower

end if you like of the income bracket but also as a caller if that does that

is accepting the fact that people who do own homes at the moment can and should

prepare themselves under your policy for lower prices and their investment will

be damaged. I think that the modeling has shown that it would have a

slight impact on property prices but that it wouldn't be significant All

right well let's move along to another issue which of course some has been

gaining ground around the world and that's the #metoo discussion

that's been had of course Jane Prentice we've also had a spotlight cast on that

with the Golden Globes awards ceremony is this just a symbolic moment do you

think or is there a game-changer moment happening here? well I think it is a

societal change as we do over generations

things that were accepted now thirty years ago people are now standing up and

speaking up about it not being acceptable you know David Morrison

famously said the standards you walk past as the standard you accept and

we've got to make very sure that we don't accept the behavior that it seems

to be endemic throughout some sectors we also need to be very careful I believe

to make sure that we maintain the presumption of people to innocence until

proven guilty no trial by social media perhaps is not acceptable but equally it

has highlighted an issue and and no doubt good has come from it but I think

there needs to be a balance in it all. We have seen some local of examples of some

of these allegations we were speaking before about allegations are only

against Craig McLaughlin we've also heard obviously about about Don Burke

should people in Parliament begin to speak out about the

sorts of issues and other community leaders? do we need to see a bigger

movement here in Australia against these kind of activities? yes well I think

politicians do tend to speak out is it's definitely gained more notoriety now

it's on social media I think it's important for management to take people

seriously it's a bit like the domestic violence situation you know ten years

ago when a woman would say I know I've been you know assaulted and people oh I'm

sure he didn't mean to and and I think that's the most important thing we can

do is say we believe you we hear you and management should be doing something

about it if it's reported to them. And Emma you've got, I hate to bring this up at some

deep personal experience with some of these issues at the at the extreme end

what are your thoughts on the situation here in Australia and and around the

world? I think speaking up is always you know favorable and people

being able to feel safe to do that I think that there are a lot of men around

the world that have probably been having a bit of a hard look at themselves in

the mirror and potentially running back over a few scenarios where they probably

have acted maybe inappropriately the power imbalance and the power structures

that we've come to know as women lead us into this space where we are more

vulnerable but I think the 'metoo' phenomena or the hashtag that's been trending is

actually not just looking specifically at the abuse of power but also looking

about other things where we are disadvantaged so the gender pay gap

women's representation in boards and in powers of in positions of power so I

think it's not just isolated to this one thing I think actually that it is going

to gain momentum for all the things that women have been fighting for far far far

too long when you look at Hollywood it's a socially progressive industry where

you would expect these things not to happen we're still you see men at the

top of that the large companies do you think that perhaps changing that gender

issue of that at the very top of even progressive companies like in Hollywood

would fix a lot of these issues absolutely um if we're not having a seat

at the table with these discussions then no one's there to call out or could Paul

behavior no one's there to call out inappropriate actions no one's there to

represent the voices of the other 50% of the population so I think that it is

incredibly important that we keep making those steps towards a gender

equal society and culture at wherever we are in the world and I think that then

we will see things like the #metoo campaign not needed.

Well Jane just pointing to one of the key moments I think of the Golden

Globes award ceremony which was Oprah Winfrey's acceptance speech for the

Cecil B deMille Award for outstanding contribution to to the world of entertainment.

Three standing ovations during that event we've had people clamouring for her to

put a hand up to run for the US president so that does actually um lead

us to think about what is the correlation I suppose between this

movement and issues around people in power when we consider that the current

president is Donald Trump who has something of a very interesting 12

months in the top job there do you think Oprah Winfrey should run for US

President well it's a great thing about democracy isn't it anyone can run and of

course Ronald Reagan was very successful former president and former Governor of

California so America definitely have a track record for attracting celebrities

to the top job. Could you ever see a day Jane Prentice here in Australia where

we'd see a reality TV star up against a daytime talk show host for the top job

in Parliament? look nothing's impossible and I think in Australia we're probably

more prone to having sports stars that take on jobs you know look at Rick

Charlesworth transition from Celebrity sports star to Member of Parliament

we've got Damian Drum one of our great footballers there at the moment I know

in Queensland if Jonathan Thurston ever wanted to run for anything I'm sure he'd

be elected. Not sure which side he'd be running for of course though. It wouldn't matter with JT. And does it also point to that

moment we've also been talking about where populism in politics Emma has

really we've seen a surge in that not just around the world but also here

Australia? I think that we have a situation where politicians are seen as

out of touch and completely distorted from the reality of everyday life I mean

you know you've got a government hiding documents for two years people want to

see people in power who they can trust and who

like themselves they want to see them reflected back making decisions for for

their lives so I think if Oprah ran for President I think it's not about who

she is but about the morals and the values that she brings to that job and

diverse Parliaments and with all kinds of interests represented or okay with me.

Well it has been.. I always find that interesting you sometimes get

politicians who want to be celebrities I mean who can forget that great speech by

Albo where he delivered the lines from the American President that time so

sometimes see it in reverse as well. I think we probably need a comeback from you there Emma. Not one side of politics only there.

Oh look pop culture reference isn't my my forte but I think that we like to

think of ourselves as being fairly in touch. I can give you a great 'Tay Tay'

pop culture reference or you know but look I think politicians don't always

seek to be celebrities.. From time to time you get a few that are a bit

like that but I think Albo's fine. Alright well we look forward to the

year ahead of us not just the one that was it's always great to have you both

with us Jane Prentice and Emma Husar. Thank you. Thanks guys for having us.

For more infomation >> ABC News Breakfast - Duration: 14:22.

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ABC News 24 Weekend Breakfast 30 December 2017 - Duration: 12:28.

Ok from a Labor perspective, how would you sum up the year, clearly there's been difficulties,

but a successful 2017 for your lot?

We've had a great year.

We've finally got the government to agree to a Banking Royal Commission after the Prime

Minister convincingly telling the Australian public 22 times, no less than 22 times that

we didn't need one.

We now have a Prime Minister who had finally agreed to give what the Australian people

have been asking for.

So, I guess we'll mark that up as a Labor win.

Same sex marriage was another one on your agenda to that's been ticked off.

Yes, I guess I said it in my speech that I would have really liked to have arrived at

that position without the costly and divisive marriage equality survey.

We saw it get voted down in the Senate, of course the High Court challenge and the back

door, the Prime Minister take the back door option and get it in another way.

That cost a lot of people, it took a big toll on people and I think that I'm really happy

to have arrived here and I am looking incredibly forward to attending lots of weddings next

year and watching my friends finally be recognised in the same way everyone else can be recognised.

And Jane, how do you think your year went for your side of politics?

, for us it was a year of achievement, when you look at the jobs growth, more than 380,000

jobs in a year, that's more than 1,000 a day.

Four out of five of those are actually full time jobs, record number of women in employment,

economic growth, five consecutive quarters of economic growth and these things don't

happen by accident.

This is because we have a government working hard to deliver, not just locally with issues

such incentives for small business with tax relief, but equally trade agreements with

many countries have seen record growth in exports.

I think its table grapes, we're now exporting 216% increase, cheese, red wine, beef There's

a whole lot increased in our exports and so its important that we make sure that continues

and that's not just benefitting our service industries and employers in those sort of

areas, in our city areas, but also our regional producers and that's the important part

of maintaining this economic growth in the year ahead

That said, it's the internal divisions within the Coalition that have made the headlines

this past year, so it must have been a very frustrating year for you.

Well, at the end of the day, though, we have achieved a lot and we're a united team going

forward and unlike Graham Richardson this morning who came out and slammed Bill Shorten

for doing a deal with the CFMEU.

I think there could be some internal challenges ahead there.

And Emma, on the dual citizenship saga, that didn't discriminate, both sides of politics,

all sides of politics in fact got caught up with that, but particularly with Labor given

you were so adamant that your processes were in place to make sure everyone was ok.

That wasn't a good look for Labor.

Well, I think the difference between us and everyone else who has been embroiled, not

so much the independent that has been caught up, the difference is night and day.

Our guys have been through the processes and they've actually checked.

Barnaby Joyce didn't check.

Fiona Nash didn't check.

John Alexander didn't check.

The three they keep pinning on us and saying that these guys are in massive amounts of

trouble, they've all checked, they've done their paperwork, they've all done the

things that were required of them that say take all reasonable steps.

When you don't bother to check, as in the cases that I've just mentioned that's

where we see we're in trouble.

We've still got Julia Banks who may or may not be of Greek dual nationality and that's

going to be an issue that takes us forward.

But of course we all know that we've had the opportunity to deal with this the last

week of parliament.

Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals actually voted to not deal with it, so this will follow

them into the New Year and it will be something that again detracts.

Obviously with all of that we saw the extraordinary step of Parliament being cancelled for a week

where 53 pieces of legislation couldn't be dealt with.

Yes, Jane, it is bad news for the Australian voter because the likelihood that we will

face more by-elections . Well, I'm confident there won't be any

by-elections caused by anyone on our side of the Parliament.

I am concerned that Labor, who said they had a fool-proof system and clearly don't.

People like David Feeney and others maybe causing by-elections continuing into the New

Year.

I think the issue with David Feeney is that he took the steps, he's Irish and British

and you've got the extraordinary case that he can find his paperwork for his Irish stuff,

but not his British stuff.

Why would you seek to clarify only one part of your citizenship and not both of them.

So I think David Feeney – he's referred himself, he's done the right thing and fessed

up.

Obviously Stephen Parry let it all go through, there were senior Minister's on Jane's

side of the fence who said "Oh, we knew about this, but we did nothing."

So, they'll keep slinging mud, but at the end of the day I think that our processes

were water tight, especially having gone through that myself, being repeatedly told that I

was in some kind of strife, but having taken all those steps myself, can categorically

say we have got checks and balances in place.

But doesn't it show that perhaps those processes weren't water tight considering that there

are still some question marks?

The question marks are only the timing of when the countries that they sought information

from came back to them.

That would then be our High Court reflecting on a junior public servant in the British

Home Office stamping and ratifying.

We saw John Alexander's and Fiona Nash's come back really quickly, I think the turn-around

was three days.

So the people they keep calling into question on our side actually put their paperwork in

and waited for a response.

Alright, let's look at a couple of issues I know both of you wanted to bring up.

And Jane, we'll start with you, in the news we've seen recently so horrific scenes on

our roads.

I know that you in particular are very concerned with what's going on at the moment as far

as road safety is concerned.

Andrew, yes, clearly its not an issue for Federal politics, although we have got a review

going on at the moment, but its really a plea to all your viewers and everyone tuning in

please, Emma and I and our colleagues always say stay safe over Christmas and the New Year,

but it really is a genuine plea.

I cannot understand in these days when we have the best roads, the cars have never been

safer, education for learner drivers has never been better, its harder to get a license than

ever before and yet just in a few weeks before Christmas we've had 7,000 speeding fines

in Queensland alone.

You know one driver doing 216kms in an 110 zone, another one doing 180 in Legacy Way

tunnel.

I just don't know what we can do.

People complain to politicians about don't bring in more regulations, don't become

a nanny state.

But what do we do to keep people safe?

It's just a tragic loss of life.

Emma, what do we do given we're in safe cars, the best roads, we've got consequences

already in place?

It is just a matter of the driver just not taking responsibility and pushing the boundaries?

Yes, absolutely.

I think we were talking about this earlier, people put a lot of pressure on themselves

at this time of year.

That Christmas is the deadline, we've got to get this done by Christmas or by the New

Year going forward.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get things done.

I mean a lot of people are off work.

Why are we rushing.

There's going to be a lot of those accidents that once the investigations are done on speed,

they involve human error.

They involve driver error, people not doing the right thing.

Look I think a nationally consistent licensing scheme that Anthony my colleague raised the

other day.

There are drivers who go and shop the States for various licenses and that could be dealt

with.

Something that Jane was just talking about, what do we do?

We'll they could do that right now.

That's something that the government could take action on and I think at the end of the

day that its actually about being responsible for yourself behind the wheel.

And Emma, another issue at this time of the year people look forward to what does 2018

hold for me and job security is certainly becoming an issue.

We are seeing, you could call it a revolution in the workforce and I know in particular

you are concerned about the casualisation of the workforce.

Absolutely, I think people do not pay bills on a casual basis, they don't get home loans

on a casual repayment basis, they don't have to eat on a casual basis.

This idea that we shift and have employees on casual rates or on casual contracts.

It happens in the teaching sector, there are a lot of people in our public schools who

can't get permanent jobs.

It's not just the retail workers or people who are in insecure work in those traditional

industries.

We find that its happening everywhere.

Moving over to contract, people becoming sole contractors.

I think there is a need to address this and provide some security for people.

Sure, when we go back to 20 years ago when people had a job for 40 years like my Grandfather

and my Father did, but we need to actually provide some security and stability for families

out there.

Jane, is casualisation of the workforce a concern and where do businesses come into

that?

Well, let's look at the facts, 383,000 new jobs just in the last twelve months and four

out of five of those are actually full-time.

So I don't think you'd call that a casualisation of the workforce, but I'd just like to point

out that I had my own business for twenty years and there were a lot of employees out

there who want to be casuals.

I had a lot of employees that I valued, that I particularly wanted to be full-time so I

could make sure they were working for me when I needed them and they used to prefer to be

casual because they could work the hours and times they wanted.

So, I don't think it will all be one sided here.

We need to realise that a lot of employees enjoy the opportunity of being a casual employee

so they can work to suit their own situations at home or other activities.

Which I think is fine, if people have a choice.

I think when they have a choice and they choose that, sure that's their choice, but also

I think we need to account for those people who don't have a choice.

I have a woman in my electorate that has been working the same casual job for 20 years and

cannot get part-time or full-time work.

She's an older lady, she's got rent to pay and she relies on shifts.

So I think if people have the right to ask and to be given more secure work, then that's

fine If you choose to be casual, you choose that if you have the choice and the option.

Alright, we're almost out of time.

Jane, just finally we spoke about the possibility of the electorate facing some by-elections

next year.

What about a Federal election, is there an expectation that Australia will go to the

polls.

No, not at all.

Not until 2019.

Next year we've got lots of great opportunities coming up.

I'd like to finish on a high for 2017, which was of course qualifying for the World Cup

and winning the Ashes back and I hope that next year will be just as successful in the

sporting arena.

In fact, as I came into the studio I ran into Lleyton Hewitt and I thought probably your

viewers would be more interested in him on the year past and the year ahead.

And Emma for next year what are your thoughts?

I think we'll be fighting for people's penalty rates, we'll be fighting for people's

jobs, like Malcolm Turnbull fighting for his job all of the year through.

Climate change and energy and gas security is a massive issue.

We would have liked to have dealt with that this year, but we didn't see any action.

So that will be a massive opportunity to go forward for next year.

Like Jane said, there's a couple of sporting highlights coming up next year, of course

we've been enjoying the cricket and the Sydney to Hobart of the last couple of days,

but that will all happen irrespective of what we're doing in Canberra.

Emma, thanks so much and Jane you too.

For more infomation >> ABC News 24 Weekend Breakfast 30 December 2017 - Duration: 12:28.

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The Five 01/30/18 5PM | January 30, 2018 Breaking News - Duration: 40:25.

For more infomation >> The Five 01/30/18 5PM | January 30, 2018 Breaking News - Duration: 40:25.

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Facing South Florida Host Jim DeFede Joins CBS4 News To Discuss State Of The Union Address - Duration: 3:25.

For more infomation >> Facing South Florida Host Jim DeFede Joins CBS4 News To Discuss State Of The Union Address - Duration: 3:25.

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Spring Show News - Duration: 1:44.

Greetings dancers this is Ron from Spotlight Ballroom and Midtown Stomp.

We have a bunch of information about the Spring Show to share with you.

Sorry there's no selfie video today but I hope you enjoy the clips from the Winter Show.

The biggest change coming this spring is that we're not at the theater

in Davis. They have a single renter who's renting the theater for a production

from May until October so it's unavailable.

We looked into other theaters in the area and cannot find one that meets our

needs. So instead we're going to have the showcase at the studio. We are

working on exactly what the Friday night show will look like, but we're gonna at

least do a vignette from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday night before Midtown

Stomp. Kind of a pre-show or kick off for the weekend and give a bunch of you an

opportunity to perform for an audience that includes a bunch of people who

would come to Midtown Stomp but might not have attended one of our other shows

that weekend. Then Saturday and Sunday we will be having shows like we do for the

December show. If we have a lot of pieces and need to do another show we'll look

at adding a Sunday evening show. Right now, we think that the Friday pre-show, a

Saturday matinee and evening show, and a Sunday matinee will make for a fun and

exciting spring show. We have a couple of other things that we're working on.

A few of the pieces will feature some new lighting if we can get that ready in

time. We're excited about that. We're also working on plans for a potluck or a

pizza party or something fun for all the performers, friends and family at some

point during the weekend. So please talk to your instructor or our reception

staff about signing up to be on the show. If you haven't been in one of our

shows before, this is a great time to join us and as always

We'll dance with you soon!

For more infomation >> Spring Show News - Duration: 1:44.

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Jim's Local Market in Newport News to close Jan. 31 - Duration: 2:20.

For more infomation >> Jim's Local Market in Newport News to close Jan. 31 - Duration: 2:20.

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ABC News 24 W'end Breakfast 27 Jan 2018 - Duration: 13:12.

well as people across the country celebrated Australia Day yesterday

police were generally pleased with crowd behavior

there were also rallies calling for a change of date for Australia Day with

crowds of up to 60,000 attending the invasion day rally in Melbourne. To talk

about this in other stories of the week we're joined in Brisbane by Jane

Prentice Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability and in the

studio with us, Labor MP Emma Husar joins us welcome to both of you and

Emma we'll start with you because your colleague Anthony Albanese made a

contribution to the Australia Day debate yesterday when he spoke about obviously

this this movement to change the date he came up with an idea of actually having

a referendum on January the 26th to address a number of issues just talk us

through that idea and you think perhaps the merit of that idea. I think, well

you know Labor has always supported an individual referendum on each of those

things because they're both very separate issues and to conflate the two

together would not give either of them the respect or potentially the due

diligence that they both deserve they are both incredibly important issues and

they need to stand alone you know Anthony's comments. The Republic yes the

constitutional recognition? Absolutely yeah and so we've had no

successful referendums in this country I think over 40 years

so to give it the best chance to achieve the outcomes that we want to achieve

they need to stand alone and that's why Labor have supported separate referenda

I think Anthony's comments yesterday him simply you know contributing to the

debate like all of us will contribute to contribute over the coming you know five

or 10 years or however long this takes. Jane it's a big deal to hold a

referendum do you think Anthony Albanese is right to want to do these two issues

in one? well I think it's a bit ahead of himself first of all we need to make

sure that the indigenous communities are agree on what the change should be

Australians want to know what they're voting for and I think that was probably

the problem with the last referendum on the Republic monarchy issue and we need

to make sure what we're actually voting on before we get to that step

so we need the indigenous people and I think majority of Australians want to

see the indigenous people recognized in our Constitution but they want to know

how it's going to be worded and what it's going to say so we need to get that

right first. So Jane you're saying don't confuse that with the issue of this

movement to change the date then but would you say there's no political will

at this point at least to change the date but do you think it's worth

visiting at least debating? No I'm sorry changing the date won't change what

happened there's no point trying to rewrite history this is a classic Greens

distraction as the indigenous leaders said yesterday changing the date won't

make any difference to their health issues won't improve education for them

won't make one child's future better one of the leaders came out last night and

said of those 60,000 people who were involved yesterday what have they done

to help indigenous people today and that's what we're about is I think

Australia day has changed over the years we don't celebrate what we did a hundred

years ago we now celebrate on Australia Day what makes us the best country in

the world what we celebrate is multiculturalism we celebrate community

bringing people together making things better changing the date doesn't change

what's happened and you only have to look at other key dates you look at

Anzac Day the Minister for defence at the time said I refuse to have Anzac Day

celebrate on the 25th of April because of Gallipoli and what happened there and

he said it's it's wrong that we should have it on a day when we lost so many

Australian lives and yet Charles Ben and others said to him no we're not

celebrating what happened on the day we're commemorating what makes the

Australian Defence Force so great and Anzac Day has come to be recognizing the

strengths of our defence forces celebrating comradeship honor courage

resilience and all those great characteristics of Australian Defence

Force so just as we're not going to change that date because we don't like

what happened on the 25th of April we shouldn't be changing Australia Day

because we don't like what happened back the 26th of January when captain Philip

arrived Emma does Jane have a point there? Look I

think trying to mesh Anzac Day Australia Day together are absolutely ridiculous

Australia Day is a day that we celebrate in this country and that you know there

are people that come together in friendship and barbecues and crowd

around there's a few beverages had there's fireworks that do off at the end of

the day that is not what happens on Anzac Day we are ssolemn, we are

respectful we are reserved we are remembering and they are two completely

different dates so how you draw those same conclusions I'm really not sure and

I think that we need to have a calm and respectful and really considered

thoughtful thorough debate out in Western Sydney where I am - the largest

population of urban Aboriginal people in the country this means something

different to each and every one of them and I think that you know we need to

talk about our history and own our history we can't change it absolutely

not and those gaps are widening and and getting greater and we do need to be

focused on those things as Jane rightly has pointed out. Do you think at

the very least what this debates has prompted is a greater consciousness

among the broader Australian population about indigenous history? Absolutely

Andrew so my kids are you know going through school they have very very

seldom heard about actually what happened on the 26th of January we have

this very glossy history that we like to talk about and it's only been through

discussions with me or discussions a little bit broader outside of the

curriculum where they've actually learnt about what happened on the 26th of

January I am you know somebody that is inclusive and I want to see all

Australians be able to celebrate Australia Day for everything that we've

achieved in all of the great things that we have but also being respectful and

mindful that this is a day that is is hurtful to some Australians and by

acknowledging the past and owning it going forward in a way that we don't

keep making those same mistakes. Emma, with this momentum building for a change

of the date as you say that conversation about the real issues faced by some

Indigenous Australians happens more now in recent

years do you think if the date changed we wouldn't acknowledge that shared

history as much and those conversations wouldn't happen as much and is that a

good or a bad thing? Look I think it is good because it does stir debate it does

make people more alive and aware to the idea of what's happening as some of

those in justices that are still being faced by Aboriginal communities I don't

think it's the most important thing facing indigenous communities right now

I think that recognition is one of them and closing some of those major gaps is

probably really much more important. Jane let's just move to the another issue

that's been in the news this week the trans-pacific partnership it appears as

though it's back on the agenda despite Donald Trump and what he's had to say in

the past although we've seen him in the past 24 hours at Davos saying well you

know what the trade is not a bad thing between two countries so do you feel as

though perhaps the TPP will be embraced perhaps even by the Americans again? well

it's definitely going ahead with 11 partners America of course is always

happy to trade usually on their terms as an extra rider

to their agreements but it will go ahead and it's going to be of great benefit to

Australia I congratulate the Prime M,inister Julie Bishop and Stephen Chobo

because they have persevered with this at a time when Bill Shorten said it was

dead it would never happen he actually came out and told us to walk away from

negotiations but the impact of this particular agreement means that 98

percent of all the levies and Imposts with these countries will be or the

embargoes will be reduced and it means massive export opportunities for so many

of our businesses particularly the sugar people who'll be able to export more to

Japan Canada and Mexico wine embargoes are coming down it's going to really

create more jobs and growth for our economy because at the end of the day

it's not the big end of town quite often it's the smaller producers who actually

benefit from these trade agreements as well as our service industries so where

we've seen a thousand new jobs a day created over the last 12 months I

think you'll see that even improved more because of the trade agreements so we're

negotiating with our neighbors. Emma as Jane said at the time the u.s. pulled

out that deal Bill Shorten said that it should be abandoned now that a

successful deal has been negotiated was he wrong in saying that? Look I think

that you know all the trade deals that we look at all that we consider are all

done in detail at the moment we don't even know what the name of this is going

to be it's certainly not the TPP because all the countries that we originally had

consulted with and we're going to participate with have changed we are

waiting on the detail of this new agreement which we won't see until

around about March but what will always be at the core of the decisions we make

is as a Labor Party as a Labor government will be what's in the best

interest of Australians what's in the best interest for the jobs for

Australians and how many more small businesses will be created or not

created by this and what's in it for everyday ordinary working-class

Australian people as I say we don't have the detail we'll get that around March

it'll come on for debate after it's been significantly vetted through through the

committee process there's no transparency around this at this stage

and we've asked for independent economic modelling which is what we did with the

original version of this. And Jane we've seen a lot of tennis of course recently

in Australia are certainly up but you're part of the world - it began with the

internet with the of the Brisbane International now you are of course the

assistant minister for social services and Disability Services and I know you

were very impressed by the with the the Brisbane

International have been an inclusive event as far as disabled people are

concerned? Yes the Brisbane International I congratulate them because they had a

come and try day for potential tennis players in wheelchairs and we had over

60 people turn up which was great but this is what we want to see I think

something like 69 percent of people with disability participate in sport more

than once a week now that's very important we always say

sport is important for your health and lifestyle and it's not just the elite

sportsmen we want to encourage everyone to get involved and of course today we

see Dylan Alcott is currently our patron for International Day

people with disability he's going to be in the finals and we're all going to be

there to cheer him on and wasn't it fabulous to see him actually playing

center court last night on Rod Laver Arena and that's what we need to do is

promote the opportunity for all people with disability to get involved in sport

and I know down Emma's way in Western Sydney you've got Shaun Spence and the

Western Tigers who have an inclusive sport program for rugby league out that

way so at this time with the Winter Paralympics coming up I want to

congratulate all the major sporting groups for providing more inclusivity

with their sporting activities. So we do have a number of people in our

electric providing inclusive sports but it's done by on a voluntary basis it's

done by the goodwill of the people in those grassroots organizations there is

something that the assistant minister could be doing which is coming a bit

closer to what we need in the NDS which is the National Disability strategy of

course including people with disabilities in sports brings a whole

extra raft of challenges and some of the things that we need to see more

investment in facilities in our Building Code and legislative changes around that

so I think whilst I will always support inclusion on every front I think that as

governments we should step away from the area fairy light and fluffy part of

this and actually tackle some of the really difficult decisions rather than

leaving it up to the NDIS to sort of solve some of these issues moving

forward Jane would you like to respond to that? Well

of course sport is included it's not just the four hundred and sixty thousand

people who'll be covered by NDIS it's also the 3.6 million other Australians

who identifies living with disability and the Turnbull government strongly

supports inclusive programs and that's why I mentioned Shaun Spence in the

Western Tigers that's why we support the tennis programs that's why I was

supporting Paralympics with the elite sportsmen but we're also encouraging

sporting groups I know there's a soccer group in my area and a rugby union group

who include everyone and we're funding those through government programs

Jane Prentice in Brisbane thank you and Emma Husar here in the

studio. Thanks. Thank you for having us.