Minister Shorten interview on the Today Show with Charles Croucher

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

SUBJECTS: Pacific policing initiative; Prime Minister's comments; relationships and security in the Pacific region

CHARLES CROUCHER, HOST: Well, the Prime Minister's moves to bolster ties to the Pacific has been slightly overshadowed by a hot mic comment about sharing the price of policing with the US. For more, let's bring in opposition leader Peter Dutton, who's embracing the warmth of Brisbane, and NDIS and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten, who's still in the dark in Hobart. Bill let's start with you because it is chilly down there. The joke about going halfsies with the secretary, Kurt Campbell, led to the PM calling out ethics. Is he overreacting here? And is it overshadowing what's a big decision?

BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Well, I'm down in Hobart where the salmon are going windsurfing, so the Pacific looks like a great place to visit. I think it's a great deal, the Pacific Policing initiative. Hot mic incidents can occur. I don't think that's the main story. Pete's, you know, been the victim of hot mic incidents himself, so I'm sure he can understand and, dare I say it, even empathise with the Prime Minister. But it's a great deal. It's a Pacific initiative. It's going to make the Pacific safer. We've got to look at the Pacific, not as a place you fly over, but rather as the blue continent, made up of many diverse societies. So, I think this is a really good step forward in our diplomacy with our closest neighbours.

CROUCHER: Yeah, $400 million for a multicultural policing unit between Australia and the Pacific Islands. Pete, you were Home Affairs Minister, Defence Minister. How important is this?

PETER DUTTON, LIBERAL PARTY: Charles, it's a really important initiative. The people-to-people links are important so that if we've got intelligence on drug running operations or people smuggling operations, there's the ability to pick the phone up or to send an email to a colleague in the area. And we can provide a lot of support. We can learn a lot, but we can also impart a lot of knowledge on colleagues in both the policing and the defence spheres. And I think that's really important. So, we support the Government in that initiative. I think, you know, to be honest, I think the PM's probably getting a bit of a bad rap in relation to the hot mic incident, and it's generally the cover up, not the crime that causes the problem. And I think it's, you know, I suspect Bill's been on the end of it on occasion, but the PM's got a bit of a temper, as we know, and I think it's his reaction in the way that he's overreacted to it frankly, that's now over-clouded the Government's announcement. And that's unfortunate because what he said and the discussion he had with Kurt Campbell, who's a great friend of Australia, you know, I don't think there was anything too exciting in that.

CROUCHER: It seemed pretty jovial. Bill, is this going to be enough to keep China in check?

SHORTEN: Well, I think the way that I would frame this is the best security you can get is by having good relationships with your neighbours. You know, be it Indonesia and the Defence Cooperation Agreement, be it our endeavours with the Pacific Island communities, with climate change, health education, and of course this police initiative. So, for me, it's not about who it deters, but rather building up our own links. And I just think it's positive. And again, the way I view the Pacific is not really somewhere you fly over to go somewhere else, but it's almost like a blue continent. You know, there's, many people live there. There's opportunities for Australia not to be big brother, but to be good neighbour. And I think this police initiative is emblematic of that. And I think countries like America and everywhere else, they respect that Australia and New Zealand take an interest in our region, but we do it in a way as neighbours, not as being sort of superior. And I think this is, I think the Prime Minister's diplomacy is welcome in that of our Minister, Pat Conroy, the Pacific area Minister.

CROUCHER: Gents, we are short on time because of the Paralympics this morning, I appreciate you getting up and fronting up, particularly down there in the cold for us. Bill, great to speak to you.

SHORTEN: I'll say hello to the salmon. See ya.