Transcript - Television Transcript - Sky News with Tom Connell - Monday, 7 March 2022

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Let's bring in our political panel, Liberal MP Jason Falinski and from the Labor Party, Patrick Gorman. Thanks both for your time. I'm just going to start on Shane Warne, I must admit it shocked me over the weekend. Pat Gorman, so many Australians with fond memories of Shane Warne, on and off the field as well. What are some of your reflections?

PATRICK GORMAN, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Well, it is shocking that someone at 52 years old, Shane Warne, a great Australian, is no longer with us, and many have been reflecting over the weekend of their various memories of him, both on and off the field. An amazing cricket career matched by a very impressive business career, as many have reflected on as well. And what has, I guess, warmed the hearts of many today is that news that his family has accepted the offer of a state funeral, which I know is welcome news for many Australians who want to be able to be a part of, through broadcasters like yourself, Tom, part of those commemorations of his amazing life.

CONNELL: It'll be a huge event. The tragedy here is, in particular, being survived by his children. He said before, Jason, that he didn't put his kids first often during his career. It's how he got to the top. But this was his time to really spend that time with these kids, and 52 is just so young.

JASON FALINSKI, MEMBER FOR MACKELLAR: He was very young, and I say that as a 51 year old, Tom, so I'll keep that in mind. But yeah look, as Pat was reflecting and as you've been reflecting today, he was an extraordinary sportsperson. He had done some extraordinary stuff in his life, and I think what we loved about him most was that he didn't have any airs and graces. He was one of us. There's that famous story of the Prime Minister walking in to the commentary box where Shane Warne was, and and he was having a lasagna sandwich as as his Christmas lunch. You know, he saved, or he won so many test matches for us. But you're right, that came at a cost, which I think as all of us are fathers here, know that you can have, and he felt very plainly the fact that he hadn't been there for his kids and he definitely wanted to set that right. And now he won't have that chance.

CONNELL: Yeah, that's the saddest part about all of this. Let's go to the PM's speech, Jason. Arc of autocracy that Scott Morrison says is essentially growing in the world, I suppose, and within our region, is it important not to be alarmist, though, about this? We're a long way from Ukraine, that Australians should still feel safe in their lives.

FALINSKI: Yeah, it's a really good question. I'm just going to answer it as straight as I possibly can, which is to say I don't want, you know, I'm not about trying to scare people about this, but I'd make the point that, you know, Barack Obama said in 2012 or 2014, if the Assad regime in Syria uses chemical weapons, that would be a red line. One year to the day, and that wasn't a coincidence, the Assad regime used chemical weapons on its own civilians, and the Obama administration did nothing. When Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, equally again, the Obama administration's did nothing. What we do know is, if we continue to do very little we encourage authoritarian regimes to believe that they can get away with aggression. What is going on in Ukraine at the moment, I think is, Dennis Richardson calls it watershed, I think it's a huge moment in history. If the West does not assertively push back on this aggression, then it is not going to lead to anything good. And there are authoritarian regimes right across the world that are watching this. Many of them, some of them in our own region, and we need to be very clear that this will not be allowed to play.

CONNELL: Pat, interested in your thoughts on comments that came last week, late last week from Scott Morrison. He was asked about weapons we're sending to Ukraine, so lethal weapons, if you like, and he said, amongst other things, to Russia, when he was asked about what was going there, he said, "It's coming your way." Is that a fair enough comment or does that feel like we're putting a target on our backs?

GORMAN: I'm not going to criticise the Prime Minister for a particular item of language. I think it's good news that that lethal aid has arrived, available to those fighting in Ukraine to defend their country. I commend the government for that. You're not going to see, as we've said, product differentiation from the Labor Party on these important questions of national security. And I was at a vigil at St Mary's Cathedral last night with members of the Ukrainian community here in Western Australia, consul generals, members of Parliament from all sides. I think it's important that we, wherever possible, stand together in the face of these completely unacceptable actions from Russia. And so again, I'm just happy that that lethal aid has arrived where it is needed right now.

CONNELL: So Jason, do you take that at face value? Because I know the government's pointed out Labor cut defence spending, we know that it happened quite a while ago. Do you take it at face value when Labor says it supports this spending, it's going to keep spending higher within defence, and it supports the moves you're making on on defence and on security?

FALINSKI: Yeah, I take that at face value, especially when Patrick says it. Labor will be, I mean, I think the real issue is that we all need to be held accountable for the things that we are going to do and the things that have happened in the past. We need to explain to people why, if we've made mistakes in the past, we won't make them again. That's really a job for, I think Anthony Albanese, not Patrick to do. But I, you know, Pat and I know each other pretty well. I have no doubt that he understands the threats that face Australia. And also, one of the big threats is if we're not in a position to adequately project strength in our region, then what we say to other regional players is that they should fall into the sphere of influence of actors that are not benevolent actors on the world stage. So it's incredibly important that Western democracies continue to invest in national defence, not just for our own, but for the sake of nations around us.

CONNELL: It sounds like, perhaps peace in our time on the Labor-Liberal side on that. I'm not going to risk shattering that. I'll leave it there, I know it's a bit short, gentlemen, but we'll speak next week. Patrick Jason, thank you.

FALINSKI: Thank you, Tom.

GORMAN: Thank you, Tom.

ENDS