Doorstop interview - Parliament House

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
MONDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2024

SUBJECTS: Remembrance Day; Polling; US Election; Cost of Living.

JOURNALIST: So today's Remembrance Day, what's your message for Australians today?

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: My message for all Australians on Remembrance Day is to take a moment, a minute’s silence at 11 o'clock and reflect not just on those who fought in the First World War or those that gave their lives for our country over the 106 years since, but to reflect on all Australians that have served in our Defence Force. Those that have served in wars, conflicts and indeed in peacekeeping operations like the 2,500 peacekeepers on operation right now and the sacrifice that they've all made on behalf of our country so that we can live in the beautiful democracy that we have and to reflect also on the families that support those Australians serving in the military as well.

JOURNALIST: So today is about veterans. What does Remembrance Day mean to veterans for people who perhaps aren’t connected to a veteran?

MINISTER KEOGH: Remembrance Day means a lot of different things for veterans. For some it's a real point of anguish reflecting upon their own service, the experiences they had on the battlefield, the lost mates that gave their lives in those conflicts. But it's also a time to come together to reflect, to think about the great times they had in service as well and to remember what they have given to our nation and how fortunate we are for their service and the great benefit that they've provided by putting on Australia's uniform.

JOURNALIST: Now the Defence Forces are struggling to recruit people at the moment. Do you think that today is a day to almost encourage people to join the Defence Forces?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think what I'd say is that when we reflect on the lives lost through conflict, when we reflect upon the sacrifice, we also reflect upon the purpose and that many people have signed up for our Defence Force over more than a hundred years because they had a higher calling to serve our nation and we continue to encourage the people to take up that higher calling to serve our nation through our Defence Force.

JOURNALIST: And just more broadly, some polling that's been out, the Resolve Political Monitor in the SMH and the Age today shows that while support for Labor is flat at the moment, support for the Coalition is rising. Is that something that you're concerned about as we lead up to the next election?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think the major poll today showed that support for both of us rose by exactly the same amount. 

JOURNALIST: There were two different polls, so perhaps we're only looking at one of them, or only the Nine ones.

MINISTER KEOGH: So look, what we've been seeing is that there's been movement in the polls over many months. We've also had state elections going on as well and that's what we expect to see over the course of a term of government. Obviously what's really important is when you get to the election itself, in the interim, in the meantime, we are governing for all Australians and we're very much focused on meeting the cost of living challenges that many Australians continue to experience. That's why we've been making sure that there are measures to support people with cost of living like tax cuts for all taxpayers and electricity bill relief, but also delivering budget surpluses so that we're able to weather whatever economic storms may travel to us.

JOURNALIST: Do you think you're doing enough on cost of living given what we saw in the US last week, that cost of living did play such a huge role in the re-election of Donald Trump? Do you think that Labor is doing enough on the home front?

MINISTER KEOGH:  I'm very pleased to see the things that we have done through tax cuts and cheaper childcare and delivering cheaper medicines and making sure that people are able to pay their electricity bills through the credits we've provided there. But we're always looking at what other measures may be appropriate, bearing in mind that not only do we want to help people be able to pay their bills to make ends meet but to do so in a way that means there's continued downward pressure on inflation and the way that we have approached this so far has meant that we've seen inflation go from having a six in front of it to now only having a two in front of it. We've got to keep that downward pressure on inflation because that's the main thing that really helps people in being able to manage cost of living and we'll continue to be applying that pressure to inflation whilst looking at other cost of living measures.

JOURNALIST: Great, thank you.

END

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608.