2GB Drive interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

CHRIS O’KEEFE, HOST: So, Tanya Plibersek is the member of Sydney and of course, the Minister for the Environment and Water, and she's on the line now. Minister, thanks for your time.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Hi, Chris. How are you going?

O'KEEFE: Now, it might sound strange, a 36-year-old man talking about menopause and perimenopause, but it's extremely important. I want to get your take on the Senate inquiry. Where's the government at on this?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I think it's a terrific piece of work -

O'KEEFE: Looks like we've lost the Minister there. We'll try to get her back. … The Minister Plibersek, she's back on the line for us. Minister, you there?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I certainly am.

O'KEEFE: That's nice. So, yeah, the government's take on this inquiry.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, we've only just got the results a couple of days ago, so we've got to have a good look at the recommendations. But can I say how good it is actually to have bipartisan support. So, this isn't - the recommendations aren't divided across party lines - there was unanimous support for the recommendations from all of the senators that were part of this inquiry, and there's 25 recommendations, so we'll work through them methodically. But some of them seem like real no-brainers, like, you know, making sure that doctors get more than an hour's education on perimenopause and menopause in their six or seven-year degrees seems to me like a very sensible step forward. Making sure that we've got the medications, the hormone replacement and so on, that we've got adequate stocks of those, making sure that we're continuing to keep up with world's best practice so that we're not lagging behind other countries when it comes to support for women who are going through perimenopause or menopause. There's some really good work here from the senators that were involved in the report.

O'KEEFE: I've seen in my own life, women in my personal life and professional life who've been going through this in the workplace or at home. It's really tough, and I don't think society gives it sort of the credit that it deserves of just how much of a health impact it has on women.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah. It's just one other really crappy thing about getting older, isn't it?

O'KEEFE: Right, and it happens to everyone -

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: If you've been through it as a woman, if you know someone who's been through it, you'll know that it can have a big impact on people's health and their confidence. And, you know, a lot of women gave evidence saying that they'd left work earlier than they possibly would have otherwise, or they dropped back their working hours. It had a real impact, not just sort of physically, but also financially if you're making decisions like that.

O'KEEFE: Let's talk about some other topics. So, housing. I spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday. He said no plans to change negative gearing. He wasn't all that convincing though, what's your view?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: There's no plans to change negative gearing and he's been, I think, as clear as he possibly could be. We've got $32 billion worth of housing policies out there. We've got policy stuck in the Senate right now with the Greens teaming up with the Liberals and the Nationals to block young Australians being able to get into a home of their own, 40,000 extra homeowners. And this is a shared equity plan that we've got that the Greens used to say was Greens Party policy and now they're blocking it with the Liberals and Nationals. We've got the Housing Australia Future Fund. We just announced the first close to 14,000 homes being built from that. That would have happened a lot sooner if the Greens and the Liberals and Nationals hadn't teamed up to block that. We've got plenty of -

O'KEEFE: Can I discuss the Greens with you, Minister?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Sure can.

O'KEEFE: When did the Greens become the party of anarchy and rebellion and not the party of the environment and hugging koalas?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I've actually got legislation in the Senate at the moment that would establish Australia's first environment protection agency with, you know, tough new powers and penalties. And so far, the Greens don't want to vote for it because they're too busy if they're - you know, that fellow from Brisbane, Max Chandler-Mather, standing up, defending the bikies infiltrating the CFMEU.

O'KEEFE: When did it change though?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I don't, I can't answer when it changed. I mean, in recent years, what you've seen, it's not the party of Bob Brown anymore. It's not the party of environmentalists anymore. It's actually a party of what, I think you described it as anarchists. I don't get - some of the positions they're taking really are completely contrary to things that they've stood up for in the past and argued for. They've argued for an environment protection agency. They've argued for shared equity home ownership schemes. It's actually in their house housing policy, and now they want to vote against it. I think this obstructionism, this kind of chaos and obstructionism is really, Australians don't like it. They want us wherever we can, like this Senate inquiry, to think about what's good for the nation, cooperate as much as we can. When we disagree, to disagree in a healthy way, to state our case, to try and convince our opponents, you know, to make a compromise or find a pathway forward. But what they don't want to see is this sort of constant obstruction and blocking. I think it's, you know, not great for our democracy to see that.

O'KEEFE: You were around during the minority government of the Gillard years, and have you ever seen the Greens more unhelpful than they are now to the national debate?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I can't remember. No, I can't really remember a more difficult time. I mean, the problem now is, okay, I get that they don't want to necessarily agree with everything we stand for, but they don't even agree to do what they've previously stood for. So, it just doesn't make sense to say we want an environment protection agency and then be prepared to vote against it, or we want a shared equity scheme for housing and then be prepared to vote against it. That's the craziness of it. I don't expect them to vote for the Liberal Party's policies or the National Party's policies or even the Labor Party's policies, but I'd like to see them vote for their own policies occasionally.

O'KEEFE: Given that, do you think you should think about not taking their preferences then?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, preferences aren't a question for me, but I'll tell you what I want. I want people to vote number one Labor, and then we're not having a conversation about preferences.

O'KEEFE: You can ring head office and say to Dom and George and everyone at Sussex Street, hey, listen, just in the seat of Sydney, on principle, Tanya Plibersek will not be taking preferences from the Greens. Not that you need them, but just on principle, just to stand up for it.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, Chris, what I'd like people to do is vote number one Labor. And that's what I'll be asking them to do, because I think our policies are the ones that they should be voting for. They're the ones that take the country, take the country forward.

O'KEEFE: All the best with it. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate your time.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Always a pleasure. Thank you.