SARAH ABO, CHANNEL 9: President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin have this morning wrapped up a 90-minute phone call discussing peace in Ukraine. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Minister for Sport and Aged Care, Anika Wells, and correspondent at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Paul Sakkal. Good to see you both. So, Anika, they've agreed to a 30-day pause on attacking energy sources, but this is still no ceasefire.
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Yeah, this is all breaking, and we welcome any meaningful step towards an enduring peace in Ukraine. And also, we would reiterate, we continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine against this illegal and immoral invasion. We've contributed $1.5 billion towards this cause so far. We welcome any further steps towards it.
ABO: Paul, given what we're seeing right now in Gaza with some more 400 deaths, do Trump broker deals even work?
PAUL SAKKAL, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Yeah, well, this one looks much harder to broker than Trump might have thought. They've had a 90-minute call. They've agreed to stop shelling oil and gas and other energy facilities, which have made the European winter devastating for Ukrainians to get through. But it's not the full ceasefire that many had hoped for and that the White House had signalled. So even though Trump has sopped to Putin in the last few weeks and really put the Western world into a tough position on the Ukraine issue by siding with Russia, it doesn't look as easy as he might have thought.
ABO: Yeah, he wanted world peace. He certainly hasn't achieved it just yet, has he? All right, well, back home and fresh polling has revealed more than half of voters blame the Albanese Government for their power bill pain. Anika, broken promises cost elections.
WELLS: Well, I appreciate the frustration, but I’m door knocking a lot at the moment and the relief people have for the energy bill rebate as up here, it's $1300 because the state Labor government put in the $1000 rebate in addition to our $300 rebate. The other thing I hear when we're talking about power, when people bring it up with me, is that nobody believes that Peter Dutton's nuclear plan is going to happen, but somehow he's got to find $600 billion to pay for it. So when people kind of look at the offering and which federal government they want looking after them, I think it's the people actually putting up rebates to actually help cost of living.
ABO: I guess, Anika, the problem is this rollout of renewables is going to be very costly as well, and it's also going to take a lot of time. And that's the issue we're seeing in Victoria. They're going to have to keep their coal powered station online for a lot longer, possibly four years longer, because renewables just won't make it.
Paul, the opposition are facing their own protest of sorts. We're hearing that there's an establishment of Liberals against nuclear. I mean, this is in direct contradiction to Peter Dutton's big plan coming into this election with nuclear.
SAKKAL: Totally. Well, ministers from the government have nothing to say when you grill them on the 275. There'll be probably another $300 rebate next week, which is effectively just a bribe to keep power prices low, because that's the only solution. But on the Liberal side, they've got a nuclear plan that comes in mid next decade, which does nothing to get prices down immediately. So both sides of politics are dealing with this really tough issue in awkward ways. No one has clean solutions. And you're right, the Liberals don't talk that much about their nuclear plan these days. It’s kind of a secondary issue ...
ABO: [Interrupts] He’s not going to ditch it though, is he?
SAKKAL: I don't know, he's definitely not going to ditch it because he's keeping his party room together. It allows him to say there's some pathway to net zero, but it's not a serious term- a serious plan for the short and medium term.
ABO: All right. Well, speaking of election pitches, migrants applying for Australian passports under a Coalition Government will be quizzed about their attitudes towards Jewish people. Paul, this is another front page story from you following your yarn about Dutton's referendum idea on deporting criminals with dual nationality. Is the Coalition trying to distract from their thin economic policy agenda? I mean, this kind of sounds like thought bubble stuff.
SAKKAL: Yeah, it had that vibe a little bit yesterday, didn't it? There were some shadow ministers sending different signals about how keen they actually were to do this. I think at the end of the day, the thought bubble messiness stuff is probably only paid attention to by people like us who follow news and are a bit nerdy on this stuff. At the end of the day, Dutton was talking about an issue in his ...
ABO: [Interrupts] Speak for yourself, Paul.
SAKKAL: I absolutely am speaking to myself.
SAKKAL: Dutton is in a comfort zone on that issue. But I do think it does have the risk of playing into that sense that he's a bit policy-free. He's only talking about security issues, has not much to say about the economy. So they do need to flick the switch to start talking about cost of living, I reckon.
ABO: Anika, I don't think he has completely ruled out this referendum idea of his. Is it even worth contemplating?
WELLS: Well, if this is still an idea that they're touting by lunchtime, maybe I'll give it some thought. But like Paul said, they've been all over the shop, even on the question of referendums, and he seems to like throwing things out, seeing what happens and moving on.
ABO: All right, Anika, this is your area of expertise, the Brisbane Olympics, right? Minister of Sport, we're off to a false start, it seems, according to The Courier Mail, Brisbane given an extra year because they haven't got their act together. Anika?
WELLS: Well, it's a bit of nuance- there's a bit of nuance to this. The IOC elections are in May. So whoever will become the new IOC president, the intention is for that person to be the president through to Brisbane 2032, they will carry the can on sports selection. And sport selection is a highly contested, highly enjoyable, topic to speculate about. I reckon it's the number one question I get when I move around Brisbane. What I ask school kids is what sport do you want to see showcased in Brisbane 2032? What sports do you want brought online? Usually I get told netball is the number one, surf lifesaving. The squash people just got squash back in for LA 2028, so they want to see that continued. Obviously, cricket is coming as well.
ABO: But hang on. More pressingly, Anika, is the pool situation. What's happening? Are we going to get the drop in pool? I mean, there was such a vibe around it in Paris. We have to match that.
WELLS: I completely agree. The Brisbane Arena will be brilliant. The Dolphins are some of the most exciting and fever-watched participants in our Olympic and Paralympic team. And they deserve a 17,000 seat arena to go for gold in Brisbane 2032. That's why the Federal Government are such ardent and proud backers of the Brisbane Arena. We're building it, $2.5 billion worth of generational infrastructure. There seems to be continued speculation about what the state government's contemplating in their 100-day review. I guess we're all going to find out on Federal Budget Day Tuesday, I'll be in Canberra with you two and hopefully that'll be the end of it.
SAKKAL: Minister, don't worry about what the schoolkids are telling you. What's your preferred sport? I'm a yes for squash.
ABO: [Laughs] Paul. Come on.
WELLS: You're a yes for squash. I see that in you, Paul. I see that in you. I think it’s actually…
ABO: [Talks over] Funnily enough, so do I.
WELLS: ... important to ask the school students.
ABO: [Laughs] [Talks over] All right.
WELLS: ... because the 13 and 14-year-olds now are the ones who will actually be our biggest medal contenders in Brisbane 2032. So it's super important what the 13-year-olds are doing.
SAKKAL: Are we doing breakdancing again?
ABO: All right, look, we've run out of time. I think breakdancing is safely out of the Olympics. Let's keep it where it belongs on the streets. Thank you guys. Really appreciate your time this morning.