Press conference with Angus Taylor, Johnny Mercer, Tony Abbott, Andrew Hastie And Wandering Warriors Ceo Quentin Masson

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
POLLIE PEDAL DEPARTURE
SATURDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2023

SUBJECTS: Pollie Pedal, Veterans’ Ministerial Council 

ANGUS TAYLOR, SHADOW TREASURER: It’s great to be here in Kings Park for this year, the 2023 Pollie Pedal, a great tradition started in 1998, 25 years since it began. And this year for the first time ever, we're riding in Western Australia going south here from Perth, and eight days of fantastic riding, it’s going to be tough. But around 1000 kilometers and for an absolutely fantastic cause, the Wandering Warriors, supporting our veterans. So it's great to be here with my colleagues. We've got Matt Keogh, who is the Veterans’ Affairs Minister, fantastic to be here with Matt given that we're supporting the Wandering Warriors this year. Andrew Hastie, who's going to be riding with us, Shadow Veteran Affairs Minister and Johnny Mercer from the UK, the Veterans Affairs Minister from the UK has come to ride with us and to support our veterans and a great show of support from our wonderful friends in the UK to have Johnny here. I also have my other parliamentary, former parliamentary colleagues, Steve Martin from the UK, Tony Abbott, of course, the patron of the Pollie Pedal, and Quentin Masson, who is the CEO of Wandering Warriors. I might ask Matt to say a few words as the Minister of the Crown and really important portfolio of Veterans’ Affairs.

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS: Thanks, Angus, you might have noticed I'm not in the same kit as these guys, I only ride bikes that have motors on them. But the importance of this event has got to be highlighted. And that's why I'm here to support the Pollie Pedal today, in a bipartisan way, because supporting veterans isn't about politics, or partisanship. It's about doing the right thing for people that have done the right thing for our country, putting on our uniform and the Pollie Pedal this year is supporting Wandering Warriors, a great veteran charity, supporting our Special Forces veterans and families, doing such great work. And of course, we're joined as well, by Johnny Mercer, the UK Minister for Veterans’ Affairs who joined in the Australian Veterans’ Ministerial Council yesterday with my state veteran Minister colleagues that was hosted herein Perth yesterday, it was great to have not just the input from all of the states, into our discussions around how we best support veterans in Australia, but to also get the advantage of hearing from Johnny about the work they're doing in the UK supporting their veterans, two different systems, but we're both very committed to getting the best outcomes for veterans and families to be able to share what we are doing here in Australia, responding to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, making sure that we're delivering through the establishment of Veterans And Families Hubs and to see the work that they're doing, they're being able to share that information and come together is so important, just like coming together today, where it's not about politics, it's about supporting a good cause in Wandering Warriors, for our veterans, and importantly, their families that support them, as well. So I'm very happy to be supportive of the Pollie Pedal, I wish them all the very best. I have to say I admire their great ability to ride on a bicycle that far, I'll continue riding my motorbike. And think of them well as they go over the course of the weekend. And just get a few words from Johnny as well.

JOHNNY MERCER, UK MINISTER FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS: Yeah, it's good to be here. My first time in Australia. It's a long way. But I wanted to be honest, I wanted to support the ride and stuff. But the number one reason I'm here is to say thank you to the Australian people. Thank you for taking Eddie Jones off us before the World Cup, you did a real you did a real service to England and good to see you still on payroll. But thank you for having us. I'm looking forward to getting into some.

TONY ABBOTT, FORMER PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, it's wonderful to have a British Minister of the Crown here, the Poms can’t help themselves can they? They’re always sledging us, so that’s the equivalent of the barmy army that’s turned up to join Pollie Pedal. Thank you, Johnny. It's really good to have you. Look, I'm proud to still be on Pollie Pedal, 26 years after that started in 1998. We've done some 25,000 kilometers for good causes. Most recently for veterans charity Soldier On and now Wandering Warriors. It is important that we in public life, do what we can to support those who wear our country's uniform because they are the people who are prepared if necessary to put their lives on the line for us. And they deserve the very, very, best from the rest of us and least we people in public life can do is sweat it out from time to time to give them a hand. It is wonderful to have Matt Keogh here, Matt is my Minister in my capacity on the War Memorial Council. Thank you for being here Matt. Because Pollie Pedal has always been politically bipartisan. It's great to have Johnny Mercer here as well. I'm disappointed this is his first trip to Australia because I still regard Britain as family. I still think that the extraordinary institutional and personal links between our two countries are incredibly important. And I think the strength of this relationship is quite significant for the peace and good governments of the wider world, symbolised by the recent AUKUS agreement, initiated by the Morrison Government, but being taken strongly forward by the Albanese Government. So it's wonderful to be here. And I'm looking forward to be the rear guard of this wonderful Pollie Pedal. 

ANDREW HASTIE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: Thanks, Tony. Good morning, everyone. It's really good to be here and this year really is special because it is here in Western Australia. I want to thank everyone who's come all the way to WA, I think they can appreciate the distance that we deal with on this side of the country whenever we go east. And the reason why it's here in WA is because the SAS is here in Perth. And the SAS has had a hard couple of years. And we wanted to support a charity closely associated with the SAS and Quentin Masson, who heads up Wandering Warriors, former squadron commander, one of my former bosses, in fact, he heads up the charity. And so this ride is about sending a signal to the ADF, but specifically special operations and the SAS is that we thank them for their service. And we're here to help them as they transition out of Defence into civilian life. I want to thank two people first, Matt Keogh. Matt's my regular counterpart on 6PR every Thursday, or every second Thursday, we've built a friendship over the last eight years. And he was unhesitating in supporting this event on a bipartisan basis. So thank you, Matt, for your support. And for Johnny. Johnny has become a good mate. Twice I've been to the UK over the last few years. And every time we get to Westminster rock up to Johnny, rock up and Johnny's hanging out and we have a pint. And so when I said to Johnny, hey, are you willing to come out here and do a ride? He didn't hesitate as well. So thanks for coming out. Johnny is also an Afghan veteran seen a lot of action, he understands the cost of war. And I think that's why it's such an effective Veterans’ Minister in the UK. Thanks very much. And I'm looking forward to the ride.

QUENTIN MASSON, CEO WANDERING WARRIORS: Look, I think you'd all agree that we've got a star studded cast here. And it's a privilege and an honor as the CEO Wandering Warriors, to be here and participate, in our 10th year, for Pollie Pedal. Pollie Pedal and the work that they've done over the last few years is quite extraordinary. It's an organization and a charity that supports a lot of charitable organizations and a lot of their efforts to go unsolved and unheard. So we're very privileged to be here. Wandering Warriors, as our esteemed colleagues here have mentioned, supports Army, Air Force and Navy. But we grew up and we primarily focus on special operations. We partner with some of the other ESO’s, service organizations and charities in the in the arena, the Commander Welfare Trust, and also the SS Resource Fund. And we provide services to veterans as they transition out through education, mentoring, respite, and welfare services, really helping the veterans transition as they take all their skills and knowledge and expertise that they've learned through many years within the armed services and transitioning to a civilian environment, into the commercial sector. We're very privileged. I'm looking forward to some long, hard days. And it's beautiful to be back here in Perth. And thanks very much for everyone attending, and looking forward to getting into it. 

JOURNALIST: I just want to clarify, you take off and head to Mandurah, final stop is Augusta 

ANGUS TAYLOR: We turn around in Augusta, it’s a circuit. 

JOURNALIST: and you end up back in Perth next Saturday. 

ANDREW HASTIE: Though Nannup, Collie, Pinjarra. 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Matt we’re still working on, but other than that the whole team sets off today. There’s a little bit of too-ing and fro-ing but most of us are doing the whole thing.

JOURNALIST: First time in WA? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: First time in WA, it’s worth saying, part of the appeal for Pollie Pedal for us is that we get out on the ground in an unfamiliar environment usually, as politicians we spend a lot of time in Canberra and obviously events and functions in business, but wandering into a local café, or pub, or town and just having a chat to people and that's a fantastic way to see different parts of Australia.

So yeah, so and if you want to contribute Wandering Warriors website, yeah, jump on it. We've already raised several $100,000 from sponsors and others, and we hope there's more to become. Yep. So over the over the years, Pollie Pedal has raised northwards of $7 million, so it has made major contributions to a range of different charities Royal Flying Doctor Service, Ronald McDonald House, Soldier On, Carers Australia. And now of course, now Wandering Warriors. 

JOURNALIST: So you hope to donate a couple of hundred thousand dollars to this cause? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Absolutely right, so anyone can jump on, anyone could jump on the Wandering Warriors website and make a contribution. And we'd love, dearly love you to do that. 

JOURNALIST: Is there a goal you guys are pushing for? Was there a record you’re maybe trying to beat? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Ahh yeah, Tony said some pretty high goals when he was Prime Minister, we're working towards that. But we certainly looking to make many hundreds of 1000s of dollars and we're well on the way already. 

JOURNALIST: And what are you most looking forward to about the ride? And how does the WA terrain fit in compared to other places? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well the best part about it is that it's flatter. But we've got a few tough days. I think it's a tough day coming back through Collie. But the wind, I think is the hardest part here, but then everyone tells me it's going to be magnificent country to ride through.

ANDREW HASTIE: We're heading down to Mandurah tonight, beautiful ride, about 110 kilometers, and then off to Bunbury tomorrow, which would be about 130 kilometers, it gets hilly towards the end when we're on the way back up. But this afternoon will be very special. We've got a lot of British people who've settled here over the last couple of decades, and there's two families in Mandurah who both lost sons in Iraq and Afghanistan. So we're doing a small memorial service to honor their sacrifice and to honour those families. And that's why Johnny in his capacity as Veterans’ Minister to the UK Government, it's going to be really special moment. So we're looking forward to that as well. 

JOURNALIST: So they’re two British boys whose families have settled in WA. 

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah that's right. Killed, killed in action, 2006, 2009 and there'll be a ceremony at the Mandurah War Memorial tonight.