Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has come under fire on Q+A over not only the nation’s housing affordability crisis but also accusations of not honouring election commitments on refugees.
Key points:
- The assistant treasurer offered no answer to Australia’s rental crisis on Q+A
- Labor came under fire for not honouring election commitments on refugees
- One panellist said she had seen petrol for as much as $5/litre in remote communities
Having already been pressured on what the Labor government were going to do to help curb cost-of-living pressures and exactly what Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s plans were, Mr Jones was rebuked by author and refugee advocate Behrouz Boochani.
Boochani, who was denied an Australian visa by the previous Coalition government before being given one by New Zealand, said it was a “shock” to see homeless people on the street here before rounding on politicians and what they spend money on.
The big topic: detention.
“I came here last month and I’ve been in shock to see homeless people on the street in this country,” Boochani, who admitted he was “angry”, said.
“These politicians, they are all talking about housing, but actually they will spend more than $40 billion on those islands, and that money went to the pocket of security companies.
“And now I find it ridiculous that last week this government made a contract with an American company, with $420 million, just to keep 70 people on Nauru, and those people are on Nauru for almost 10 years.
“You should ask this question [about] how they waste this money and they should be accountable.”
The comments were given applause by the Sydney studio audience, before Mr Jones defended the government spend on the contract.
“We inherited contracts, we’ve renewed them, we will ensure that there continues to be an offshore processing facility as a part of our border protection policies, but it is our objective to ensure that there is nobody there,” the Member for Whitlam said.
“There were over 140 people on Nauru when we obtained government, there are less than 65 people there today and our objective is to get to zero.”
Asked when that would occur, Mr Jones said, over the course of this year.
Mr Jones was then pressed on the $420 million dollars and what the objective for it was but all he could answer was that the detention centre on Nauru would be kept as a “deterrent, to be used as necessary”.
Where are the permanent visas?
If he thought his rough night on immigration was over, the assistant treasurer was again pressured later by Ukrainian refugee Yelyzaveta Marian.
Ms Marian said she was grateful to Australia for taking her in and loved her life in Sydney but said the uncertainty over bridging visas was “unbearable”.
Labor had promised at the election to abolish temporary protection visas and transition eligible refugees onto permanent visas but Boochani suggested the government had simply been grandstanding on the issue.
“Ukrainian people who fled the country definitely need protection, they need a proper visa,” he said
“At least 23,000 people, refugees, are living in Australia, they have been here for 12 years to 10 years, 11 years, and still they don’t have a proper visa.”
But it was his next comments that caused a stir.
“The Labor Party … I met many people in Australia that voted Labor to create some change, but actually we haven’t seen any change.
“What we’ve seen in this government after this election is that they just threatened that something change, like the photo that prime minister took with the Biloela family, and that became a national celebration, but at the same time there are hundreds of people in detention for years.
“I applied for visa to come to Australia and I think the reason that I got visa was a part of that show, that to say, to send this message that here is Behrouz Boochani is here, so something changed, but nothing changed.”
Mr Jones then had it put to him by Q+A host Stan Grant that this was a key election commitment from Labor, and so where was the process at?
Mr Jones defended the government before deflecting that the timeline was a question for Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
“We intend to honour that commitment,” he said.
“There is in excess of 19,000 people who are currently on temporary protection visas, we are working through the process to ensure that all of those have permanent settlement.”
He then blamed staff shortages for the process taking time.
Ms Marian said despite the promises, her situation was still stressful and Shadow Immigration minister Dan Tehan said the Coalition would work with the government on the issue, but that did not stop Boochani from taking a final shot at Mr Jones on the issue.
“Many people voted for you just because of refugees,” he said.
“Many people supported Labor for other issues, but many people trusted in what you said about refugees, but if we look at the policy over the past two decades, Labor Party always is in the defensive position in front of Liberal Party. Now you are in government you have support, you have power. What are you afraid of?”
Mr Jones said Labor was not afraid to make changes.
“It’s not about being afraid,” he said.
“It is about us delivering on what we promised to do, so our border protection policies will remain in place.”
Petrol $5 a litre in remote communities?
Refugee policy was not the only time the government were under fire, with the cost of living featuring early in the show.
Mr Jones touted Labor’s housing policy but when he was challenged on rent he said he could “not promise to keep rent down”.
That issue is one hurting younger Australians more and a fifth-year medical student said the issue was hitting hard.
The audience member said he felt for the most vulnerable and those in Indigenous communities, which got a passionate response from Catherine Liddle, the CEO of SNAICC, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
“It is a funny conversation to be having in Australia because in regional and remote Australia, particularly in Indigenous communities, we have been in housing crisis for decades.
“We have been screaming about it for decades and when our children come into universities, many of them have to come interstate and they are coming from families that absolutely have no capacity to offer additional support while you’re there.
“Things like ABSTUDY don’t cover the rent, they really don’t, not in this environment, and we know they barely pay for your food and yet the way the red tape exists around things like ABSTUDY and Austudy means it is very, very difficult to work simultaneously because it is an uncertain market, you don’t know what your shifts are going to be, you are not in full-time employment, you are constantly answering to what you think you might earn and I tell you what, if you get it wrong, you will be smashed by Centrelink.”
She then said the rising cost of living was even worse in the regions.
“It is an unfortunate time to find appropriate accommodation for anyone in a vulnerable situation,” she said.
“For our families, it is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.
“And when we look at things like the rising price of energy, the rising costs, the escalation of prices in remote and regional areas is ridiculous.
“Those communities have been paying $5 a litre for fuel for a very long time.”
Queried on that claim by Grant, she simply said, “absolutely”.
Watch the full episode of Q+A on ABC iview.