SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
ABC TV INTERVIEW
AFTERNOON BREIFING
WEDNESDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2025
PATRICIA KARVELAS: To talk through some of the news of the day, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher joins me now. Welcome to the program.
KATY GALLAGHER: Thank you.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: The big story that's broken in the last couple of hours is Jacinta Nampijinpa Price saying she has received overwhelming support from the Australian community as she's been battling these calls for her to apologise. She hasn't apologised. She described her language as clumsy, but what struck me was that she says she's getting overwhelming support for these, these broader views against mass immigration, does that tally with your observation of where the community is at?
KATY GALLAGHER: Well, PK, I mean, I saw the interview where this whole thing started. It was an interview with you over a week ago now, and the comments that Jacinta made on your show, I thought were wrong. I was surprised and continue to be surprised that she hasn't apologised. There's no doubt they have caused unrest and concern in the community, and certainly for me, myself and my parliamentary colleagues here in the ACT are meeting with leaders of the Indian community here locally to talk with them, about some of the response to those comments and what it's done to them as Australian citizens. So there's no doubt that the fallout continues and has impacts on individuals. Most of the feedback I've had around those comments have been concerns or responses that seek to distance themselves from the comments that Jacinta made.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Yeah, I think that's been a lot of the response, particularly from the Indian-Australian community. But there is a statement that Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister, has made that people who want to raise questions around ever more diverse immigration “mass immigration” a right to raise it so is it also about diversity coming into the country? Is that the grievance that's been raised, and does that concern you?
KATY GALLAGHER: Well I haven't seen those comments from Tony Abbott, but I would say that we are a proud multicultural country. We have not only been incredibly lucky that we have a country that has the oldest continuing culture on earth as the First Nations people of this country, but also that we have welcomed Australians from all parts of the globe, and that has benefited our country, our economy and our standard of living.
We're an island nation, and we rely on immigration to help us keep people in jobs, the appropriate skills. It's an important part of our economy. But more importantly, multicultural Australia strengthens the communities that we live in, and we've been very proud of that, and should be very proud of that. And I think some of the commentary that's been made by Jacinta and others seeks to undermine that and doesn't accept the strength of our country comes from the build up of representatives from all different countries, including our proud history with First Nations cultures.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, that term she's using that I just want to interrogate with you, because of its loaded meaning, in many ways, that we are going through a period of mass immigration. Do you contest that?
KATY GALLAGHER: Well, yes, I do. It's not language that I would use, and I think you're right to draw attention to the deliberate use of that term. We have a migration program in this country. It's long had bipartisanship at its core, and that has allowed people to come here, to move here, to live here, to work here, and to supplement the skills base that we need. And that what we saw, and I think what people can conflate some of the responses to the covid pandemic, where our borders were shut, and we did see both people staying here longer, but also the return of people to Australia that saw us have higher numbers than we would normally have over those couple of years, but it is returning to, you know, the pre-covid levels. And I think Tony Burke announced last week that the numbers that we would have for the following year, which are in line with pre-covid levels. So I think it's up to Jacinta to use the words that she wants to use, but I would agree with you that there is some deliberateness into the terms that she is using.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: And as an economic Minister, what's the responsibility, I suppose, for the government to be leading this discussion around what you've described as the economic benefits of immigration, whatever level, because it seems to have been. And, you know, I'm trying to be respectful here, but perhaps the government has languished in making that point, and there is perhaps concern in the community about immigration laws as a consequence.
KATY GALLAGHER: Yes, there is definitely an economic benefit and an economic reason why we have a particularly skilled migration program. I was at a dinner last night where a lot of the business leaders were saying, you know, skills and making sure that we're bringing in appropriate skills is still fundamental to their business being able to operate. So that is definitely part of it, but we've also, traditionally, the parliament has stood as one on these matters, and has, you know, has celebrated the fact that we are a multicultural nation, that we have welcomed people from around the world, and that we've built on our history with First Nations cultures across this country as something to be proud of and something to defend and something to stand up for. And I think in the last week or so, we've seen a bit of fraying of that, particularly from members of the opposition, but also other senators in this Parliament, and it is government's responsibility, I think, to ensure that we are, I don't know, explaining why we have the migration settings that we have, why they're important, but also standing up for social cohesion and tolerance and decency and respect in this country.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Look this week and coming there will be protests against [audio cuts out] again, and then who want to in conflict. A lot of extra policing. In Melbourne, the police have announced it, given what we saw a couple of weeks ago, how concerned is the government about the escalation of this unrest we're seeing around these movements?
KATY GALLAGHER: Sorry, PK, I did miss a bit of your question. What you'll find from the government is people that will stand up and explain the importance of social cohesion, the importance of respect and decency across the community, and proudly stand up for multicultural Australia. That's what you'll see from us. And so yeah, there is a level of concern that we have around some elements of the debate that we've been seeing over the past week. I mean, for us, we're getting on with the job that we need to do, that we were elected to do, but we also need to respond where we should and where we have and a number of ministers have made comments about what we saw at the last rallies, but we will continue to stand up for the country that I think most Australians believe in, which is tolerance, respect and treating people fairly and equally, and not seeking to undermine and drive division across the community.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: There has been an incident. New South Wales Police have established a crime scene at the Punchbowl office of the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. Now I'm it's been vandalized. I'm sure you're not across all of the policing issues, but the some of the vandalizing on it is, you know, basically “Oz weapons kill Gaza's kids”. Is the language. I suppose the bit of the theme of this interview has been a lack of cohesion, or more radical incidents in our community. I imagine you're pretty concerned about what's happened at Tony Burke's office. As politicians have been increasingly concerned about their own safety.
KATY GALLAGHER: So I'm not fully across it PK. I saw it just coming into the studio some reports around that obviously we condemn these attacks. We condemn them on any organisation, any individual, and of course, we condemn them across my colleague but any member of parliament and Senator their electorate officers are important officers to be open and for to be safe for people to come and access the services and supports provided by Members of Parliament and Senators. So to have those officers under attack, you know, is concerning. We've seen it over the last couple of years. I'll let the police do their job, and so I don't really want to weigh into the individual nature of this particular one. But, you know, social cohesion, tolerance, disagreeing without acts of violence, has been fundamental to our success as a country, and we will continue to argue for that type that country. And these are, unfortunately, an exception. They're not in huge numbers, but when they do happen, they get coverage and they should be condemned and condemned by everybody who stands up for the rule of law and for a strong democracy in this country.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: There seems to be a lot of job losses Finance Minister, at the National Australia Bank has announced it will lay off 410 workers as part of a restructure in its technology and enterprises operation. Two days, two banks, also job cuts from the ANZ. Are you concerned about this trend you're seeing of a lot of people losing their jobs across the financial sector?
KATY GALLAGHER: Well, for a start, for those that are affected, of course, the government's thoughts are with them. These are incredibly difficult times for workers when they are faced with situations like redundancy, I think the job for the government as we go through some of the changes we're seeing across the economy is to make sure that we are investing in skills and training and new job opportunities that come with some of the changes we're seeing across workplaces. I mean, the banks should be explaining these decisions themselves. They are big organisations, and they should be accountable for the decisions they are taking.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Are you worried AI might have something to do with it? I mean, we're seeing a lot of job losses across the community, and AI has been sort of finger pointed, I suppose, for one of the motivations behind some of this.
KATY GALLAGHER: Well, again, I think the banks are the ones that need to make the answer those questions about why they are making these decisions about their organisation. I've seen some reference to technological changes and jobs in those areas. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty about AI and the impact of AI on traditional jobs, or jobs that we currently have, there's a pessimistic view. There's an optimistic view. There's clearly evidence that shows that AI will augment the vast majority of jobs rather than replace them. But I think there is a level of uncertainty across workplaces and for working people, and so making sure we get some of the big decisions right about that, including in my patch, which is within the APS, are going to be some of the big decisions we need to make, which really, how do we, how do we use the benefits of AI, the opportunities that come with it, but have that more as an augmentation to people's jobs, making jobs better, more interesting, being able to be done faster rather than discussions about significant job losses.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Minister, thanks for joining us this afternoon. Appreciate it.
KATY GALLAGHER: Thanks very much PK
ENDS
