THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
FRIDAY, 18 JULY 2025

Topics: Tasmanian Election; New funding for people doing it tough; Mark Latham.

JAMES GLENDAY: Well, let's stay with federal politics for the moment and bring in Albanese government Minister Tanya Plibersek. Tanya, good morning. Welcome to News Breakfast.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Morning, James. Good to be with you.

GLENDAY: We are in Tasmania this morning. Tasmania did really well—Labor did really well at the federal election here in Tasmania. Tanya, are you expecting something similar to that on Saturday night here?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, of course I hope for a Labor win in Tasmania on Saturday and I'll be watching with a great deal of interest. It's a beautiful state, it's a beautiful part of the country. It'd be great to see a little bit more stability in their government down there.

GLENDAY: Yeah, I'm sure you'll be watching the ABC. We have all the coverage broadcast around the nation. One of the big issues here in Tasmania has been the stadium. The federal government's contributing a couple of hundred million dollars towards that. Do you have a personal view on whether or not that's a good decision? Because quite a few Tasmanians have told us we'd rather see that go to social services, things that you're responsible for.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, of course that's an issue for Tasmanians to sort out. We've made a contribution, we've offered a contribution and of course, we've also said we want to see extra housing and the redevelopment of that part of town, including in my previous portfolio, we're investing with the Tasmanian government in upgrading the Port facilities with Nuyina, the Antarctic icebreaker that does so much great science in the Southern Ocean. But of course, Tasmanians, I mean, they'll be making their own minds up over coming days and, you know, it'll be a matter for them.

GLENDAY: All right. One of the big issues in this campaign is, of course, the cost of living. It's a big issue around the country. It was a big issue in the federal campaign that was just fought as well. You've got an announcement in this space today. Tell us about it.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I'm really very pleased today to be announcing that the government will be increasing funding for emergency food relief, other types of emergency relief, financial counselling, gambling counselling. We'll see funding go up by about 25%, it means that around half a million Australians every year will get help when they need it most. It means things like food vouchers or meals, clothing, bedding. Also longer-term help, like support for gambling addiction or financial counselling when people get into debt and get into trouble. We know that around half a million Australians every year will benefit from this. We've been trying to support Australians in a whole range of different ways. So, we've seen the minimum wage, for example, go up by about $9,000 a year since we came to government. Pensions have gone up by around $4,000 a year. Commonwealth Rent Assistance has gone up, fee-free TAFE, cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines. University debt relief will be one of the first things we do when we go back to Parliament next week. But this emergency relief will be provided at a time really when Australians need that help the most. They'll be able to walk into around 300 organisations around Australia and get that help when they need it.

GLENDAY: Yeah, I think you're doubling food relief. We've heard that's a huge issue for a lot of families. Do you know how many families are struggling to put food on the table at the moment?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, what we hear from the people who are working at the frontline, great organisations like OzHarvest, is that they've never seen greater demand for their services. And that's why we're increasing support by around 25%. And it means why food relief in particular will see a doubling of funding. As you've said, organisations like OzHarvest do amazing work. They are helping people literally put food on the table, whether it's pre-cooked meals or whether it's groceries to take home. And that has an additional benefit as well. Like a lot of this food used to end up in landfill, not because there was anything wrong with the food, but because expiry dates were approaching, or even with vegetables, because they were the wrong shape, they weren't the standard shape. The fact that we are helping families at the same time as keeping perfectly good products out of landfill is a win for the families, it's a win for the environment, it's a win for cost of living and it's a great support for organisations like OzHarvest, like SecondBite, and for the first time ever, Good360, that are actually, you know, helping families at really the toughest times when they really need a helping hand.

GLENDAY: Minister, just before I let you go, you're about to head back to Canberra. In the caucus rooms of the major parties, there's usually photos of all the past leaders hanging there on the wall. One of the previous leaders of the Labor Party is, of course, Mark Latham. Given what we've been hearing in recent days, should his photo continue to hang in that room?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, well, thankfully, Mark Latham hasn't been a member of the Labor Party in 20 years. And I know that there's discussions going on right now about whether it's appropriate to have that photo in the caucus room. Mark Latham, you know, in any other workplace, he would have been sacked already. It's only the people of NSW that can effectively sack Mark Latham. But he's a guy with a very poor history, particularly when it comes to women. He said of Rosie Batty, who was Australian of the Year, who lost her son Luke in the most tragic domestic violence circumstances, that she was waging a war on men. He's the guy who said that men hit women as a coping mechanism. He's the guy who picked on a bunch of high school students when they made a social media post about International Women's Day. Like, you know, he's got a record that speaks for itself. And the people of NSW, I think, would be looking at the reports of his behaviour in the NSW Parliament and just scratching their heads about why anybody would think that taking a taxpayer's dollar to do a job would be behaving in the way that he is in his workplace. It's just a mystery that anyone would think it's appropriate.

GLENDAY: So, just before I let you go, and there's a bit of a delay, apologies for that. Would you get rid of the photo. Would you take it down?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Oh, that's not a decision for me alone. But I can tell you over the last couple of decades, looking at that photo on the wall, I scratched my head at times and thought, you know, this guy doesn't represent the Labor Party. He doesn't represent what we stand for. I don't think he represents mainstream Australia. And I think the people of NSW are getting a bit of buyer's remorse for the fact that he's actually in the NSW Parliament.

GLENDAY: Tanya Plibersek, we appreciate your time this morning. All the best for Parliament next week when it returns.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thanks so much.

ENDS