Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud on Weekend Today
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is off to Washington today for talks with US President Joe Biden. For more, let's bring in today's talkers, Nationals leader David Littleproud in Tambo in Central West Queensland and Triple M's Gus Worland here in the studio. Good morning to you both. David, there's no doubt that the conflict in the Middle East is going to form an important part of those discussions between the leaders. The Prime Minister has said that he is not going to visit Israel. Do you think that is the right decision?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, I think it's a mistake. You've seen other world leaders, you've seen Joe Biden, you've seen the British Prime Minister all go and show their solidarity. In fact, the Prime Minister's cancelled a week of Parliament to have dinner with Joe Biden and he’s going back in November to APEC. So, I don't think that the President will be thinking solely about our bilateral relationship. He'll be worried more about the conflict in the Middle East. And I think it's important that we show solidarity against these terrorists organization.
This isn't against the Palestinian people, this is against Hamas and what they did, these brutal acts that they undertook on the Israeli people. And it's important that we show solidarity as we did in 9/11. And I think unfortunately we didn't need to miss a week at Parliament. There's plenty of issues here. We tried to move a motion to have a Royal Commission and in fact also look at an audit into Indigenous Affairs spending, that we were doing something with. Australian people sent us a message last week, a very strong message, and we’ve got to get on with the job. And I think we should have been in Canberra. The Prime Minister can see Joe Biden in November if he was going to go overseas, we fully support him going to Israel. If he's not prepared to do that, then we should be in Parliament working.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Well, as David points out there, Gus, there is plenty going on at home. We just had the Referendum fail. There is a huge cost of living crisis as well as this trip to the United States. The Prime Minister has plans to head to China. Is this the right time for him to be heading overseas or do you think he needs to focus on things at home or can he do both?
GUS WORLAND
Yeah, timing is everything. And I think at the moment the timing's a little bit off. I think focusing on Australia would be better, but he's probably got a good village, a good team around him that can help things whilst he's away. And there is a part of me as an Aussie that likes to see our Prime Minister involved in these type of discussions. But I'm with David. He certainly should have gone to Israel. I think that would've been the right thing to do and I think that everyone would've tipped their lid to him for doing it.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Alright, another issue this morning, a ranking of every childcare centre in Australia has been released. They each receive a score out of 10 based on official inspections and parent reviews. Many of those with low rankings particularly find themselves in rural areas, and they're attributing the result to staff shortages. Gus, this can be such a dilemma for parents. It can be so hard to even find a childcare centre with a vacancy, but then if that's the only one with a low rating, you're kind of weighing up, is it worth going to work and putting my child here?
GUS WORLAND
Oh, it's a part of the discussion. A lot of homes now, you know, with both parents working, my three children have worked in daycare centres before, school care, after school care. Two of them still do. And I understand the stresses and the pressures that go on. At the end of the day, you just want your kids to be looked after and to be cared for and so forth. And you're absolutely right when it comes to a decision of, should I work or can I put them into a daycare? And if it's got a low ranking, it's a really difficult, an extra difficult question for Aussie families to have to deal with.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
And David, you are out there in Central West Queensland this morning. One in 16 childcare centres around the country are underperforming. Many of them are in rural areas. How can we help them facing those staffing shortages?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Yeah, this is a real challenge. And when I became leader, I didn't want to be harpy in opposition. So as a Nationals leader, I went to the Jobs and Skills Summit and we put $4.7 billion in, this new government did, into childcare subsidies. For us in the bush, it's actually about childcare availability. We just simply don't have the staff. And one of the ways that I think is about incentivising people getting into childcare, into early education, and that's about incentivizing them, particularly for regional areas, paying their HECS debts, actually paying for their training to come out and then giving them some support when they're out here.
We've actually got a childcare drought in many parts of our country. It's not about affordability, it's about accessibility. And that's actually adding to the cost-of-living crisis that we're in, that families want to go to work. There's jobs out in the bush, but they can't get their kids into a childcare centre. So we've really got to look differently at what we're doing. We don't begrudge giving support for cost-of-living pressure on subsidies. But we've got to understand that regional Australia's different and it comes down to accessibility. And that's really tearing away young families being able to go back to work.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
And a big shout out to all the brilliant childcare educators this morning. I love the ones that that look after my babies. So thank you.
GUS WORLAND
And 15 out of 16 were doing a fantastic job. So let's think about the positives there. Remember that?
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Yes. Now guys, there's no keeping rock stars away from the limelight it seems. So Paul McCartney took to the stage in Melbourne last night. He's 81 years old and he wowed the audience with an incredible 39 song set. Let’s check it out.
(Music plays.)
And it's not just Sir Paul, the Rolling Stones are celebrating the launch of their new album, bringing energy to the stage at a party with Lady Gaga. I want to ask you both, when you see these rockers still rocking, Gus, who's the ultimate performer that you want to see?
GUS WORLAND
ACDC, keep going ACDC please for me. But look at, if I'm like that at 81, I'll be very happy.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Me too. David, who's on your bucket list?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Neither on my Spotify list of those two, but I'm with Gus. A bit of ACDC, you’ve got to get things going.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Awesome, awesome. Well, I'm gonna fly the flag for Bon Jovi. It's time for them to come back down under. Thanks guys. Thanks for your time this morning.
