Transcript: Interview with Chris Smith on Sky News

**TRANSCRIPT** **Interview with Chris Smith on Sky News - 23 October 2022 ** **Subjects:** The Voice Referendum Process ‍ **E &OE…** ‍ **Chris Smith** One Liberal who has been a strong advocate for The Voice is New South Wales Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, and he joins me now. Senator Bragg, thank you very much for your time. **Senator Bragg** G'day Chris. **Chris Smith** Good to have you with us. Now, you've been a strong supporter of The Voice. How can you be a strong supporter of something we know very little about? **Senator Bragg** Well Chris, the idea that we will consult people on special laws, which we make for Indigenous people, I think is a sound principle and a very liberal principle, and that's why I've always had a very open mind about how we could do this, particularly when you consider that it was John Howard who started the conversation about constitutional recognition back in 2007. **Chris Smith** But you know very little about this though. You've got an idea, you've got a concept, you're behind the concept and you're entitled to your opinion, but you don't know who's sitting on The Voice, how they'll be appointed, how long they'll have to decide on issues, whether their decision making will delay parliamentary approval of various bills. There are so many questions left unanswered so far. **Senator Bragg** Well, I agree with that Chris, and that's why I think the government needs to get on with setting up an inquiry which could look at the question, the words in The Constitution, but also, importantly, the scope of the body and its powers and all the other matters you have referred to. Now, the fact that we're almost six months into this term and they want to have a referendum next year, I'm very concerned that this is quickly coming off the rails. **Chris Smith** Yeah, I would have thought those who are in Parliament now and we've got eleven Indigenous MPs, they'd be the perfect candidates to be on a committee called The Voice, where when policy is submitted, they could get together, and even if they differ in their opinion, they could present their recommendations or advice to the Parliament. **Senator Bragg** Well, I think one of the key points about representative democracy is that the Indigenous members are there to represent all the people in their district. So, I mean, obviously there are a mix of views amongst the Indigenous and non- Indigenous members of Parliament and the Senators, that's appropriate. But I think the fundamental point here Chris, is that if you want to make special laws for people, then I think you ought to give them a say on how those special laws are deployed. At the moment we have eighteen different laws on the books in Canberra, which are laws made only for Aboriginal people, and I think there should be a better system for managing that. **Chris Smith** Do you think the community has been sold on the idea? **Senator Bragg** No I don't, and I think a lot of the polling that's out there, that is very optimistic. I think that there are legitimate issues that have been raised in the media that have not been addressed, and that's why I think we should have a serious Parliamentary Inquiry into these matters so that the public can actually get a sense of what this is all about, because until there is an exposure draft bill which sets out what The Voice will be and there is a clear constitutional amendment on the table, then this is going to get away from us. **Chris Smith** Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Andrew Bragg, the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will release his first Budget next Tuesday. We've had leaks left, right and centre. He's been quite open about keeping it tough, but fair. What are your thoughts about what you're hearing from the government on economics? **Senator Bragg** Well, I think the government is wanting to bank the bracket creep they're going to receive, and I think in the long term they will try and walk away from the tax cuts which we've legislated. Now, Labor have a philosophical view on the economy and on taxation, which is very different to ours, and I think this may be a Budget of minimal consequence where the government try and lay the groundwork to break their election commitments later in this term, on tax relief. **Chris Smith** What about trying to reduce inflation, recover from cost of living, do you think they're on the track to making a difference there? **Senator Bragg** Well, the only real thing the government can do over the long term is try and improve the employment prospects of Australians and their wages growth prospects, and that can happen by the government incentivizing private investment. So, the test in this Budget will be what is the government doing to promote the private economy and private investment. Small business, medium business, big business, that's the test, because ultimately, in the day-to-day sense, there are not a lot of things that the national government can do on cost of living. In a day-to-day sense, it's got to focus on the long term fundamentals. **Chris Smith** Finally, Lidia Thorpe, the Senator, she's been forced to resign as the deputy leader in the Senate after she was asked by Adam Bandt. I've got to say, how you would think that you don't have a conflict of interest when you're dating an ex-bikie and getting briefings from the AFP about how they handle bikie’s is beyond me. **Senator Bragg** Well, I think that's right. That is clearly a conflict of interest. The Senator has already made some statements. There may be some more to come here, as you know, and there may be a censure motion next week which the Coalition has indicated that we will be supporting. **Chris Smith** Yes. Senator Andrew Bragg, thank you very much for your time. **Senator Bragg** Thanks Chris. **[ENDS]** **Media Contact:** **David Nouri 0401 392 624**