Media
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November 6, 2025
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Good morning. Australians are still reeling from the devastating news earlier this week that there'll be no interest rate reductions before Christmas, that the interest rate reduction cycle may, in fact, be over, and that there's even a possibility of higher interest rates on Labor's watch. Now, Jim Chalmers likes to take credit when inflation was falling, even though it was falling everywhere in the world and the limited interest rate reductions we've had so far. But he's also got to take responsibility now for rising inflation and the spectre of higher interest rates, because Australian families with an average mortgage are paying about $20,000 more per year on repayments under Labor's watch, when compared to what they were paying when they came to office. This is a direct result of Labor's economic policies, as economists are increasingly, loudly, saying whether it's Professor Richard Holden or Warren Hogan who pointed out that it's Labor's reckless spending which is at 40 year high outside the pandemic, which is driving up inflation, or whether it's their failure on productivity which has gone backwards on their watch, which means Australian families are worse off. The Treasurer has to take responsibility for what's happening on his watch, and he has to turn the ship around so Australian families can get the interest rate relief that they deserve.
JOURNALIST: We also saw data this week that house prices are continuing to rise. Do you think that they need to fall?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Look, I think most Australians are happy for house prices to rise reasonably in line with growing wages and a growing economy. But they don't want to see big spikes in house prices that make them unaffordable, particularly for first time buyers who are trying to get into the housing market for the first time. And the perverse thing about the changes that Labor has made to their 5% deposit scheme is that they have made it available to everybody. You could be a son or daughter of a billionaire, and you could be eligible for this scheme, and that has had a spike in the price of the most affordable homes, and that's obviously a perverse outcome.
JOURNALIST: You were on Sky News arguing about the problems with the energy rebate, but then at the same time saying that, you know, you aren't going to stand in the way of them. So if it's such a bad idea to keep extending them, why wouldn't you oppose them?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think you are slightly overstating my argument there. I've just said the reality, which is that the Liberal and National Parties are in opposition. It's not up to us whether or not the government extends energy rebates, but energy rebates are a band-aid on a broken policy, as Ken Henry pointed out last week. If you have to keep bailing out industrial users like smelters, if you have to keep paying household electricity bills, then something is fundamentally broken about your electricity policy and your energy policy. No wonder there was a 23.6% increase of energy prices over the last year, on Labor's watch. Jim Chalmers has stated that this is not sustainable, that it can't continue forever. So he's got to stand up for an energy policy that actually works and drives down costs, as Luke Gosling was promising would happen under Labor just the other day.
JOURNALIST: You have admitted that because you haven't reached a position on energy policy, that you haven't been able to scrutinise the government. Do you therefore think you've let down the Australian public since May in being an effective opposition?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think a bad government is getting away with bad policies that are hurting our country, because we have not yet answer those questions, and we have not yet resolved those differences, and we do need to resolve them in a timely way so that we can focus our fire on a government whose policies won't stand up to scrutiny when they're faced with tha - when we're united and disciplined and focused on holding them to account.
JOURNALIST: Do you think, therefore, you've let the public down in your role as opposition?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think we've got two and a half years to go before the next election, and we have the opportunity to be the opposition that the country deserves. That will make our country better, because we'll hold this government to account. And I'm determined that we do that.
JOURNALIST: Environmental laws are going through the House today. Where are you at with negotiations with the government in the Senate about what you'll do there?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Labor is ramming through the EPBC reforms with unseemly haste. I mean, this is an extraordinarily complex and large bill which deserves proper scrutiny, a parliamentary inquiry and consideration in the Parliament, both in the House and the Senate. And they're ramming it through using their numbers, because I think they worried that if left out to scrutiny over a long period of time, that real problems and real issues will be identified. We've got real concerns about where the government has landed, but we are willing to negotiate constructively in the national interest to land this in a bipartisan place that actually achieves the objectives of the Samuel review, and actually both protects the environment and improves our planning processes so that we can get the investment this country needs to grow.
JOURNALIST: You need to win back young and female voters? Do you have any surveys or anything to suggest that young and female voters want to move away from this net zero?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: We need to win voters of every shape, every type, every belief, all around the country. After a disappointing result that we have, we'll take more voters of any category at any time. And I think the most critical thing to earning to support the Australian people is demonstrating that we are united, that we are focused, that we hold the government to account, and that we're doing the policy work to take to the next election an agenda that demonstrates we're ready to govern and that our country will be stronger and people will be better off if we win the next election. That is our task for every voter in the community.
JOURNALIST: Yeah. So, being united over having a net zero commitment?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: We need to be united over our energy policy, that is very clear. It's such a critical issue facing our country, and it's hard to prosecute that argument unless we're united behind it. And that's what I'm working on with my colleagues right now.
Thank you.
ENDS