PETER FEGAN, 4BC: Anika Wells is the Federal Member for Lilley, as well as serving as the Minister for Aged Care and Sport, and she joins me on the line. Minister, always great to have your time.
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Good morning, Feegs. And how delighted am I that I get to listen to you at Breakfast now.
FEGAN: Yes. Thank you. No, it is great to have you on. I want to kick off with Scott Steele, and look, I've got to- before we go any further, I know that this is probably not in your brief, but as the Federal Sports Minister and a person that has stuck up for women throughout your entire career, this must make you as sick as it makes me.
WELLS: Well, look, it's certainly not a workplace that I'll be applying to work at, if and when I next need a new position. And I agree with you. I think Albion Park's got questions to answer about why this is a good idea. And like you say, it's not in my remit as Federal Sports Minister. It's the state area. But in federal sport, I've been really tough on this. We've got to be better at safeguarding people in sport.
FEGAN: Is there anything you can do, Minister, though? Look, I know Grace Grace is in charge of racing here in Queensland, and I'm not quite sure what impact you have over the industry, but as Federal Sports Minister, surely you can intervene here with whether it be a strongly worded letter, whether you say something publicly, I don't know.
WELLS: Well, no formal powers when it comes to this. And we're having this chat right now. I think they've got questions to answer. I want to hear from Albion Park today, particularly like you say… if he's back at work today, let's hear from them today. Why is this a good idea? Why is this defensible? Because we've got to keep sport- we've got to not keep sport safe, we've got to make sport safer. We've put in $36 million at the federal level, a hotline, an anonymous hotline, so that people can call at any level of sport, whether that's a volunteer or an elite sports person, because we have instances where people are not safe in sport and they deserve to be. So, I absolutely agree with you. Looking forward to hearing more from them.
FEGAN: Yeah, now that's a good call. We do need to hear from them today. They need to be front and centre explaining themselves. Look, let's switch gears now. The latest Queensland Newspoll is out this morning courtesy of The Australian. Look. It's quite interesting reading I've got to say, Minister, because yes, it's going to be a tight race, but it actually has Steven Miles sitting as the more popular Premier. Your take on it all.
WELLS: Look, I've been out doorknocking with people. I've been at pre-poll. My sense is that- I mean, Steven's only had since December as Premier but the more people see of him, the more they seem to like him and think that he's actually got a vision for Queensland. He actually came to, you know, do some work. And the more that people see of David Crisafulli, the less they trust him. He's been a bit- he's walked two sides of the street on a couple of issues. On abortion, on Olympic and Paralympic venues. And Queenslanders are pretty smart. They see that and they want better.
FEGAN: And Steven Miles was in power for 10 years though, Minister, and- I mean, you know, he's supported Annastacia Palaszczuk, who's made some clangers. I mean, if you're going on reputation, I would say that David Crisafulli’s is more intact than Steven Miles, wouldn't you?
WELLS: I'd say Steven's been Premier since December. He's had a 10-month run up to offer what his vision as a Miles government. And I think, like you say, this was looking pretty dim for us as the Labor Party for a long time, and now, it's so tight that, like you say, there's polls today saying it's going to come down to the wire. It's going to come down to a few key seats in different places. And I think that's testimony to the fact that the Liberals- I’m sorry, the LNP has run a really small target campaign. They've basically been measuring up the curtains for months now and they forgot the bit where they've actually got to seek and secure the mandate of Queenslanders first. And Queenslanders expect an actual vision for Queensland. What's your- what are you going to do for us? What's your plan? How do you want us to be seen in the eyes of the world in 2032, when the world comes to us for Brisbane 2032? And I think Steven has been methodically setting that out. Clearly, you know, a deep thinker who thought about that for a long time. Like you say, he’s thought about this for a long time. And Crisafulli and the LNP have tried to run a grievance-based campaign where they- you know, their 100-day plan is entirely set around trying to make you angry about different things, not about what they're going to do for Queensland and -
FEGAN: But do you think 100 days is fair though, don't you, Minister? 100 days for David Crisafulli is fair. I mean, you guys came in off the back of nearly three terms. I mean, 100 days isn't such a bad idea, is it, to sort of, I mean, sit down with your frontbench and sort of decide what you're going to do?
WELLS: Well, what about day 101? My prediction is they're going to sit down for their 100 days. They're going to say: oh goodness me, it turns out this is a lot more difficult than we were expecting. And it's all going to blow out of the water. And I think it's been a really interesting campaign. Twenty-six days – it’s hot, it's fast, it's always interesting in Queensland. And I look forward to spending more time, today and tomorrow, listening to people and seeing how we go.
FEGAN: Let's move on. Aged care legislation – 5.6 billion will be invested into a reform package, which represents the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years. It includes major changes – 4.3 investment into support at home. It will come into effect on 1 July 2025. The aged care sector, and I know that you have taken over the brief only when Anthony Albanese was successful. It's a difficult brief, but this 5.6 billion could be the biggest investment. Do you see that it is going to turn things around? Because the aged care, I've got to say, Minister, in the last decade has been a bit of a mess.
WELLS: Oh, and you haven't said the half of it. It's been in crisis. It's been a sector in crisis – so bad that there was a Royal Commission. So bad that the report of the Royal Commission was just titled Neglect. It's been awful. And everybody knows a story about how aged care hasn't lived up to expectations for someone they love. And you're right, that's the sector that I inherited. We have boosted aged care funding by 58 per cent since we came to government just over two years ago. That's enormous. And like you say, we've been working on the really difficult and complex reforms that were recommended by the Royal Commission. Some of those structural reforms turning the whole sector around from being one that's sort of designed around how taxpayers’ money goes to providers and people going to nursing homes once they have a fall and just staying there, to a system where people can actually stay at home and get the services that they need at home. So yeah, like you say, it takes a while to turn the Queen Mary around.
FEGAN: So you admit there's a lot of work to be done?
WELLS: Yeah. Like, I've been very clear-eyed about that. It's a sector that has been in crisis. I believe that we've brought it back from the brink. But back from the brink does not mean that it is perfect, that it is doing what people need it to do. And like you say, that's why we've just put billions and billions of dollars more into these huge structural changes to actually gear the sector up. But when you're rebuilding the plane while you're in the air, you know, you're never going to be able to do it perfectly. And I promise you, I am trying my best.
FEGAN: It's 7.23. My guest this morning is the Federal Sports Minister, Anika Wells. Minister, I want to talk to you about the Commonwealth Games very quickly.
WELLS: Sure.
FEGAN: Have we seen the last of it? Do you think there is a future for the Commonwealth Games?
WELLS: Well, we just had that news overnight that it has been locked in for Glasgow now, and that it will have a reduced format, a sustainable format. It's important that these mega events are sustainable. You sort of see that across the globe that it's- for taxpayers in a global inflationary environment, they want to see value for their taxpayer money when there's such a cost of living crisis going on. So I congratulate the Commonwealth Games Federation and the City of Glasgow in coming to a solution…
FEGAN: Well, let me ask you this just quickly, would you advocate it to return to Australia?
WELLS: I haven't been, as you could sort of see across- since the past 18 months or however long it's been, because firstly, it actually doesn't matter what I think as the Federal Sports Minister because a state has to host it. As you’ll remember …
FEGAN: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, of course.
WELLS: As you'll remember when Victoria renounced the rights, lots of people prevailed upon all the other states and territories to take up the keys, and no one would. So what I am in charge of as Federal Sports Minister is the events that we have committed to on our green and gold runway. We've got a couple of dozen of those. It's a stacked calendar. Any kind of sport that you like, we're doing our best to support it up to, of course, the big one, Brisbane 2032.
FEGAN: Brisbane 2032, exactly. Very, very quickly, Minister Anika Wells, Allan Langer will no longer be running water for the Brisbane Broncos. I know you're a big fan.
WELLS: What do you mean, very, very quickly? I could talk about this for the next eight hours.
FEGAN: I don't have enough time. I could as well. I could do a podcast with you all day. It's such a sad day to see Alfie finishing up on field.
WELLS: Well, as you and I know, Alfie is- has a huge contribution and is a vital person off the field just as much as he was on the field, and that really says something.
FEGAN: Yeah, it does.
WELLS: So I'm glad that he will continue to have a presence for the Broncos. He’s iconic for us, and he always will be.
FEGAN: Yeah he will. Good on you, Minister. Always appreciate your time. Great to chat and we'll catch up to you in the future, no doubt.
WELLS: Not at all. Take care.
FEGAN: There she is, the Federal Sports Minister, Anika Wells.
ENDS