NADIA CLANCY, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BOOTHBY: Hi, I'm Nadia Clancy, I'm Labor's candidate for the Federal Seat of Boothby and I'm here today with Penny Wong and Don Farrell and a number of community sporting organisations to announce that if elected Labor will deliver $5 million to the Brighton Sports Complex to ensure that Stage Two of this massive redevelopment can go ahead.
I'm really excited to have so much support here. I'm from the local community, it's a great announcement, its a great redevelopment that will benefit a number of people in our community. Not just the sporting clubs but everyone locally and I'm really proud that I've been able to advocate for this funding to ensure it can go ahead.
DON FARRELL, SHADOW MINISTER FOR SPORT: I just wanted to congratulate Nadia and the local sports clubs on this project. It is going to be a fabulous project for Brighton. I look forward, if we're lucky enough to be elected at the next election, as Sports Minister, coming down here with Nadia to launch this project. So congratulations to everybody involved.
PENNY WONG, OPPOSITION LEADER IN THE SENATE: Thanks very much Nadia for the invitation. It's great to be here with you, and also all of these local champions; the Mayor, Amanda Wilson, and many others who have worked so hard to support the community and to invest in the community. I'm really glad that Labor has been able to back this announcement with the funding that Nadia has been advocating for.
JOURNALIST: So just on the announcement, we know that this seat is a 2.8% marginal seat. Nicolle Flint currently here. Are you hoping this announcement could take this away from the Liberals?
WONG: I'm hoping this announcement will result in an announcement from a Labor Government that will benefit the community. That's what I hope about this announcement.
But on the broader federal election issue the people of Boothby have a choice to make and they can choose to vote for a party that invests in schools, in education in community and in health, or they can choose to vote for somebody whose primary action in the last term was to tear down Malcolm Turnbull. That's the choice they have.
JOURNALIST: We've obviously heard scathing report already of our banking industry. The Royal Commission report will be released today. Did you ever think that such unscrupulous findings would come out of our banking sector?
WONG: All Australians have been shocked by the scale of bad behaviour that we have seen from the banks. All Australians have been shocked by it and that is why Labor campaigned so long and so hard for a Royal Commission. It is extraordinary that Mr Morrison voted against a Banking Royal Commission 26 times.
We need to look very carefully at what the Commission says and make sure we don't see this sort of behaviour in Australia being repeated. I've met with people, including people that Nadia has been helping, who have been the victims of some of this bad behaviour and it has been extraordinarily sad to see the damage to the lives of so many Australians and their families as a result of some of this unethical wrongdoing by some people in our financial sector.
JOURNALIST: Could the report amount to any closure for these people at all?
WONG: Well ultimately that depends on whether the banks start to do the right thing, and do the right thing by the people who are the victims of their misdoing and their misbehaviour. And it also depends on making sure we have a government that responds appropriately to the Royal Commission report. It has been very disappointing, but frankly true to form, to see Prime Minister Morrison already starting to talk about walking away from dealing with this properly, just as he voted against the commission 26 times.
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask what sort of main legislative changes should be made?
WONG: We will look at the report and we will consider it carefully and I'm sure that Chris Bowen, Bill Shorten and others will make the appropriate response. But I would say this, we are under no illusions in the Labor Party about the scale of the misbehaviour, and unlike Scott Morrison, we're not going to be shying away from doing the right thing when it comes to the banks.
JOURNALIST: What's your response to the report Ian Goodenough escorted a delegation of hundreds of Asian business people to two lobster businesses that pay a commission to his company for securing export deals?
WONG: Well these are very serious allegations. It's very simple, you can't use your position as a Member of Parliament or as a Senator for personal or financial gain full stop. So Mr Goodenough needs to come out and explain very clearly what he's done. He has to explain to the people who elected him that he isn't using his position for personal gain. It's simply not appropriate for anybody in Federal Parliament to do such a thing.
JOURNALIST: Is this the type of issue that a Labor government's proposed federal version of ICAC would investigate? Would it fall into the scope?
WONG: We've been advocates for an integrity commission for a long time. Again this is another thing that the Liberal Party have been dragged kicking and screaming to and this does demonstrate why we do need a National Integrity Commission.
JOURNALIST: With the report in mind, how crucial is it that it's established under a Labor government?
WONG: I think that it's been clear that the commission has been something Mr Morrison and his colleagues have been avoiding at all costs. They were dragged kicking and screaming there because the Parliament went there with Labor's lead and it's very important that the commission is established appropriately. It's quite clear that the Liberals on this issue are not serious when it comes to a real National Integrity Commission.
But the more important issue today really is for Mr Goodenough. He should come out today, he shouldn't wait for a National Integrity Commission. He needs to come out today and explain to people whether or not he's used his position in the Parliament for personal/financial benefit.
Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.