Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday we spoke about the Federal member for Solomon, Luke Gosling,
reportedly in talks to Lua Aldi to the Northern Territory.
According to the paper, it'd been spurred on by that
data that proves that Aldi is the cheapest grocery retailer,
so he's trying to get the branch opened in either
Darwin or Palmerston. And Luke Gosling, the Labor Member for Solomon,
(00:21):
joins me on the line right now. Good morning to you, Luke.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning Katie. Luke.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Have you had a meeting with ald.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
They're not here in Canberra, but you know we've had
several conversations and email exchanges and they're doing the old
no plans to open in the Northern Territory, which is
their holding line. But that's what they said about Mackay,
(00:51):
which opened six weeks ago. So yeah, we're making the
case they understand the people in Darwin and Palmerston. And
I know what feedback you're getting, Katie, but I've received
a lot of positive feedback about people to be really
happy to have that increased competition. They'd be obviously when
(01:12):
you've got twenty five percent decrease in the price of
exactly the same basket groceries as you would get in
one of the majors. Then that's pretty compelling, particularly you
know as territories.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Battle with the cost of high grocery process.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Look, I totally agree. I think to myself, if we
can get another retailer into the market and have that competition,
it could only be a good thing. Problem is it's
got to stack up feasibly for a commercial entity, and
from what I can gather, it doesn't. You know, when
you bring in those transit costs, and I know that
with that model that Aldi have from what we can gather,
(01:49):
they say that they do need to keep those transport
costs down. So I just don't know how it would
be feasible for us in the territory.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Well, everything can be feasible withiciencies are there. I heard
an expert from Sydney UNI who's an expert on supermarkets
talking yesterday and essentially it comes down to distribution centers. Now,
Aldi stuff gets sent across a null bar to Perth,
it gets sent right up into northern Queensland and they're
(02:22):
progressively opening. Right, It's not just Mackay Townsville, Kansas pushing
and I'm sure cans will get there. So what we
need to do is they're heaps cheaper. The same basket
of goods is fifty bucks at Aldi, compared to just
under seventy bucks at the other majors.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Right for Perth, they.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Pay only a little bit more for going across the nullbar,
like seriously, like a dollar or whatever more for a basket,
So it will add up for shoppers Aldi.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Crunching their numbers and what we've put to them as
a list of questions about you know, what are the
criteria you're looking at. We know that one of them
is a population of twenty thousand, Well how about one hundred.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And fifty thousand?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, in the top we've got the population. They'll need
a distribution center. I'm already getting heaps.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Of good ideas about where it could go.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And why that makes sense, Why that would be cheaper
for LD if they use a certain distribution pathway, if
they use.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
A certain site.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, so, LOK, what I guess, what are you doing
as a federal member for Solomon So for the area
that obviously we're wanting them to start operating in, what
are you doing to try to help them to do
that or potentially try to lure them here. Are there
different incentives? Are there different things that the federal government
could be doing in terms of, you know, sort of
incentivizing them to enter the market in places like not
(03:48):
only the Northern Territory but as you've touched on their
regional parts of Australia so that it does force those
prices down.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
That's why I'm talking with my clue legs down here.
But also and that's where this pushes come from. Right,
this is not this is about Darwin, will greater Darwin and.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
The territory more broadly.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Who knows, you know, whether other stores could be opened.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're focused on Darwin.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
We've also cracked down on any competitive behavior in the soupermarket,
making them join a mandatory code of conduct. We've got
the Choice mob, the Choice magazine mob every quarter reporting
on those grocery prices. And we've also massively cranked up
the fines that as well as the Natrical the Inquiry
(04:39):
massively cranked up the fines that they will get if
they are showing signs of collusion, if they if they
are that we're gouging, if they're gouging us. And look,
we've seen that our prices with the majors are pretty
on par with around the country. But it's just that
(05:02):
Eldie is so much cheaper. So that's why I'm talking
AUTI I'm talking to my colleagues and we'll keep doing
that until we get Eldie up here.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I mean they did say, or my understanding is that
they have said, like you've touched on as well, that
they've got no plans to enter the market here. I mean,
is this dead in the water before it's even started.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Katie, You've been around this game for long enough to
know that when someone says we've got no currently got
no plans. Political organizations and parties are pretty known for
saying this. If someone says they've got no plans to
do something, it means that right now, we are not
going to announce that we're moving to Darwin. But as
I said in Mackay, they said that. So they opened
(05:44):
their six weeks ago. So we've got to mount in
the argument. We've got to give them the different ideas
about how we can make it as efficient as possible
for them to load up those trucks thend them.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Up to Stuart Highway, use a distribution.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Center that plugs into a local shop and people territoriins
have given me quite a few ideas about how this
can work for ALDI, like what locations, what infrastructure, empty
distribution centers. There's so much positivity around this. I think
if we can show ALDI that they are going to
(06:17):
have a great market here, the economics will just take
over because they'll be missing money if they don't come today.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
On look, someone's just messaged through and said, could the
local member campaign to reduce the fuel excise? Would that help?
It would not only potentially help to get ALDI here
in terms of in terms of the reduced field, but
also help all territories in terms of cost of living.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, we've seen fuel prices go up and down. It
was good to see them come down recently. But this
is part of a broader conversation around financial sustainability of
regional communities and I think I'm not sure if we've
talked about it in terms of local government at the moment.
(07:02):
That's exactly what we're inquiring into. How can these local
governments around the country. And we had Darwin, we had
seen of Pasco Bell down here. I spoke to twelve
hundred mayors and local government reps and issues like that
are being brought up by them as well. But also
we've got to balance that with direct direct the tax cuts,
for example, with every territory and is now getting where
(07:24):
to balance that. We're putting more money in people's pockets
directly and getting them also wage rises for low income workers.
All that is happening in the background, we've got to
balance the book. The last two budgets, we've seen a
budget surplus that we don't know how long that will
learn that will last for and really I think what
(07:45):
we've seen with fuel is that it does fluctuate and
then we continue to look at ways that we can.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Help look It sounds like like the federal government could
be gearing up for an election, and I know there's
been quite a bit of discussion happening at the moment
about the possibility of an early federal election. Sky News
yesterday reporting that rumors have been swirling in political circles
after the Prime Minister canceled a scheduled trip to the
NATO summit in Washington, DC next week. Any idea, what's
(08:16):
going on here? When is this election going to happen.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I think three years is too early anyway. I think
we should have four year terms because you just end
up in this cycle where it's just sort of continuous
campaigning and the public just like get on and govern,
which we are, and you and your listeners would have
seen the cost of living announcements with that recently. We
(08:41):
want people to do better and that's what we're focused on.
We're not focused on going to an early election. I
think it's Peter Dunnan and others just trying to create
a bit of stress for the Prime minister. He makes
his decisions on whether he goes to international events or
whether he sends a deputy prime minister. So I wouldn't
read too much into that. We've already got one election
(09:02):
coming up. I thinkty happy, I think should happen and
we go into next year, keep governing and keep doing
a great job for terrorying well.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Certainly us here in the Northern Territory are very focused
on the Northern Territory election, Luke, I do want to
ask you. We know that Labor Senator Fatima Payman is
expected to make a major announcement it's been reported today
about her political future as her caucus colleagues express concerns
it's reported about her claims that she was being guided
by God. On Monday, the West Australian senator said that
(09:35):
she'd been exiled by her colleagues and would reflect on
the best way to represent the people of Wa, opening
the door to a party exit. The political crisis well,
it was sparked after she moved across the floor and
vote with the Greens motion to recognize Palestine. What is
your take on this whole situation?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
So you know, I haven't got any particular insights. A
lot of talk around Parliament House this morning about you know,
when she's going to announce. I don't know how she
can say that she's representing the people of Wa. Seriously,
I mean all the people in Wa saying I leave
the government, you know, the government that you put your
(10:19):
name into. All the people of Wa saying that, and
is this their highest issue? The fact of the matter
is is that Senator Payman walked out the door, walked
out the door on the Labor Party. She can walk
back in the door of the Labor Party and be
part of the team. And we'll find out very shortly
whether she intends to do that or not that it's
(10:43):
a bit frustrating when you're here that someone hasn't got
the interests of the people that they're representing and the
people that voted for them top of mind.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I mean, can she walk back and can she walk
back into the party though if she's not going to
vote in line with the party?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
No?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I mean, look, how do you feel about the reason
that she crossed the floor?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well, we actually have the curious issue here right is
that we want a two state solution and we're working
with allies and partners from all around the world to
get to a peace process where there's two states living
in peace. That's what we want, and that is we
(11:31):
had emotion on they yesterday, some.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Very powerful speeches.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Obviously, the conflict over there, both of what happened on
the seventh of October and what has happened since were
tens of thousands of Palestinian lives lost, is incredibly sad,
but it has been going on for decades. We are
working constructively with international partners to get towards a long
(11:58):
lasting piece. The only that's going to happen is if
Mars has got nothing to do with it, and if
the Palestinian people have their own recognized state and agree
that Israel can continue to live in peace as well.
So a two state solutions. So I'm not sure what
(12:23):
Senator Payment wants to achieve. She could have continued to
make a constructive contribution with her and let's wait and
see in the short In the short term, Luke, just.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
A very quick one. I know that you'd spoken in
the House yesterday about the defacing of war memorials both
in Canberra and anywhere by pro Palestinian protesters. I mean,
those war memorials being defaced, in my eyes is horrendous.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Absolutely disgusting. Well I saw it with.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
My own eyes down at the Warmorial on Monday morning.
The the facing of the Vietnam and Korea war memorials
are the ones that I stopped, stopped by, and I
went straight up into Parliament and just called out the
idiotic and just discussing behavior. Now, when you have slogans
(13:20):
like River to the Sea, which is about having only
one state and therefore the other state can't exist, that's
not that's not appropriate. That the discussing it basically means
you want to wipe out the other side and for
that to be spray painted on a memorial for Australian soldiers,
sailors and them and that have given their lives for
(13:42):
our country.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Is absolutely disgraceful.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
And I'll put the speech I made yesterday up on.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Social media people can have a look at it.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
But I really it's so out of step with mainstream Australia.
We just owe everything to those that have served our country,
and I'm including the police, strength taking police and everyone
that's taken part in peacekeeping, taking part in making our
country safe. But also you know, this freedom that we
(14:15):
have in Australia, it's not free. It's been paid for
by the lives of the men and women of the
Australian Defense Force and.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Others over the decades.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And for that to be vandalized and brought into it,
just keep that crap out because we don't want it.
We're Australian and we're going to honor the people that
fought and died for our country. And that is something
that continues to frustrate me greatly, and I'm sure your
listeners as well.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I bet it does. I will bet that we get
messages about that. Luke Gosling, we are going to have
to leave it there. I know you've got to get
to a meeting. We've got another interview. Thank you so
much for your time. We'll chat with you again soon.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Good on you, Katie. We'll get ldip here.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Thank you. Good on you.