GRAEME DAY:
I know someone that looks forward to the weekend because it’s pretty torrid in the bowels of federal Parliament. And that is the Member for Whitlam, Stephen Jones, who is on the line right now.
G’day, Stephen. How you going?
STEPHEN JONES:
Good to be with you, Graeme. Like many in your industry, I don’t really have weekends.
DAY:
Yes, I know, I know. None of us do anymore. None of us do anymore. But nevertheless, you have been working hard. There’s a lot of things that have been bobbing up and what have you. One thing before we get on to what we mainly want to talk about, because people are really concerned about scams and what have you, and it’s over your portfolio. But the situation as far as building is concerned. Now, Labor has released a whole lot of money and a whole lot of incentives to get buildings up and about for social housing and what have you. How can you possibly deliver the targets when you’ve got local councils that are dragging the chain and we see this in the Shoalhaven and also the Wingecarribee as far as DAs are concerned. Surely you’re concerned about that because it’s in your backyard?
JONES:
Yeah, deeply concerned. It’s taking too long to get approvals up and projects up and running. We’ve got a huge gap to close and we’re not going to be able to build the number of houses that are going to be necessary over the next decade. This is with or without migration, by the way, with or without migration, we don’t have enough houses today. So, we’ve got to get cracking on meeting those building targets. And we can’t have one tier of government pushing in a different direction to the others. So, we need local government to be playing as a part of the team and doing their part to get approvals through in a reasonable period of time into ensuring they’re doing what they do to ensure we can get more houses built in the Wingecarribee and elsewhere.
DAY:
Well, the situation is – I think it’s falling on deaf ears from a state, the state side of things, like, and obviously there from your side of politics, the state Labor government, it seems that they’re just not instigating where things need to be instigated about moving on. Like, there are so many delays at Wingecarribee Shire Council, people are on the edge. I had an email only last week where people are living in a shed and have been for over 12 months simply because they won’t get back to them or won’t talk to them. There’s no one in the department, they’re all consultants. It’s got to be a worry for the federal government. Surely?
JONES:
That’s a worry for the, it is. I want to ensure that we’ve got these decisions being made, that’s just basic stuff, responding to emails, responding to correspondence. People should be able to do that in a reasonable period of time. And, yep, I’ll be raising this issue with the Planning Minister in NSW to see what he can do. I know that they have used some pretty tough measures in some of these Sydney councils to ensure that we can get the development planning application process smooth through, to get the housing stuff up and running in some of these Sydney councils. I’ll raise the issue that you’ve raised with me, with my colleague and the Planning Minister in NSW as well.
DAY:
Well, if you could, because at the end of the day, when you’ve got to turn around a few years and say, look, we couldn’t deliver what we promised, it’s purely and simply going to be due to councils like Wingecarribee that just are not on the job. Anyway, we’ll move on to scams. And this is something that you’ve been talking about for a while and a bit of a worry as well.
JONES:
Yeah, look, Australians are losing too much to these criminals that are stealing, preying on them and stealing their money. Scam losses had been doubling every year when we came into parliament. People were on their own. The general feeling amongst government until then was that if you get scammed, you’re a mug and it’s your own silly fault. What we know now is the increasing sophistication of these international crime gangs. They’re using all the modern technologies and techniques to prey on Australians and rob them of their hard‑earned cash. So, very pleased that the measures, the first wave of measures that we’ve put in place are working. Scam losses actually dropped last year. Only country in the world where that has occurred, and that’s a good thing, but we’re still losing $2.7 billion a year and that’s too much.
So, keen to put in place another range of measures that I’ll have legislated in the near future. We want to ensure that we’re putting more obligations on banks, on phone companies and on social media platforms to keep their customers safe and their platforms clean. But I think everyday Australians have got a job to do as well, to do some basic stuff to keep themselves safe. I never do an interview with somebody like yourself Graeme without telling people, don’t press those bloody blue links that they get in their SMS’ and their email messages. That’s as dangerous as it is driving without a seat belt. Don’t give your information out to strangers over the phone and don’t let somebody remote access into your computer. If we did those 3 things, we’d probably halve the losses overnight.
DAY:
The unfortunate thing is, many of the vulnerable, they’re not savvy as far as computers are concerned, and they get sucked in very, very quickly, don’t they? Particularly the elderly.
JONES:
Yeah. There’s no doubt that older Australians are losing more and they are a target of the scammers. One of the reasons for that is that older Australians have generally got more savings. These criminals know that, they’re not mugs. If they’re going to target somebody, they won’t go for somebody with the backside out of their pants. They’ll go to somebody who’s got a bit of superannuation or a bit of savings put aside and they’re their targets. So, yes, older Australians have got to be more savvy. Don’t rush to – if something looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is and don’t be rushed into making those important financial decisions. Always seek advice.
DAY:
Okay, mate. I’ve just received an email from one of our listeners and this is topical, and I know it’s a question without notice, but you might be able to give me just a simple answer. Of course, your government has been pushing solar and wind and renewable energy. There’s been a bit of a glitch as far as hydrogen, and talk about hydrogen this week. How’s the government feeling about that, as far as their investment in that, or what have you, and is there any chance of getting it back on track or not?
JONES:
Look, it is on track. I know Twiggy Forrest went out hard on this a few years ago and, you know, in his own admission, has probably overextended himself in terms of his own company. But that hasn’t detracted either the government or the move that’s on internationally. Hydrogen is probably the most favoured replacement renewable fuel for transport. So, it’s not going to be the thing that we use for everything, but it is a replacement fuel, particularly for long distance transport and heavy transport. So, we know there’s going to be a heavy international demand for it. We’ve got to gear up so that we can – as the rest of the world starts to replace gas and coal, not immediately, but they will over the next few decades, that Australia continues to be an energy exporting nation. So, hydrogen will still be a key part of our Future Made in Australia plan whether it’s Twiggy Forrest or somebody else. There’s plenty of other people lining up to want to be a part of that industry.
DAY:
Ok, there you go, Tony, there’s your answer. Mate, thanks so much for that. If you could tap the shoulder of the local government Minister and the Planning Minister, because it is dire straits and I don’t want to point the finger at anybody, but we’ve just got to get it done because there’s people that aren’t living in the Australian dream because of bureaucracy.
JONES:
Yeah,100 per cent agree with you totally.
DAY:
Good on you, mate. Thanks very much.
JONES:
Cheers Mate
DAY:
Good to talk, thank you. And there’s the Member for Whitlam and the Assistant Treasurer. Deputy Treasurer of of this nation and country that is, Stephen Jones.