DR ANNE ALY MP

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR COWAN

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

882 6PR – PERTH LIVE WITH OLIVER PETERSON

WEDNESDAY 25 OCTOBER 2017

SUBJECT: AWU raids.

OLIVER PETERSON, INTERVIEWER: Joining me now is Anne Aly, Labor Member for Cowan here in WA. Anne Aly good afternoon.

ANNE ALY, MEMBER FOR COWAN: G’day Ollie.

INTERVIEWER: Alright, do you believe Michaelia Cash there that the first she knew about it was when it was on TV. How is her media adviser telling the media if Michaelia Cash is herself didn’t know?

ALY: Exactly, and how is it that she denied it five times in Senate Estimates that her or her office knew anything about it, and then it takes the media to reveal that it was actually her office that made the call one hour before the raids. I think it’s absolutely disgraceful. She’s admitted that her office is responsible for this. The buck stops with her. She needs to own up, she needs to fess up and she needs to say exactly what happened.

INTERVIEWER: Alright, do you think Michaelia Cash should resign?

ALY: Absolutely I think she should resign. This is – this is a misuse of her public office. You can’t just say that she knew -- that she didn’t know what her media adviser was doing. She can’t use that as an excuse. She needs to take responsibility for this. And she needs to resign.

INTERVIEWER: Alright well she admits – the senior media adviser has resigned, the Sydney Morning Herald is now reporting that it’s David De Garis as resigned as a result of this. But surely media advisers knowing what’s going on in the office and the other staff I mean -- It’s bizarre to find out that Michaelia Cash as a Minister did not know what was going on and everybody else in her office did.

ALY: It’s a big ask to ask us to believe that she didn’t know what was going on in her own office. I know what goes on in my office. My staff pass everything by me, because I understand that the buck stops with me. Why doesn’t Michaelia Cash understand that?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah well, you and the Labor Party have been making the claim over the last 48 hours -- 24 hours that the raids were politically motivated. Now that this information has come out, it certainly feels like it came from Government.

ALY: Certainly. And it certainly is politically motived. This is a political witch hunt. Let’s not forget Ollie that this is the government that spent $80 million of taxpayer money in to a Royal Commission in the unions that found nothing. So why now is to get another investigation, using AFP – precious AFP resources – that should be used, diverted to real issues of serious crime, why now instigate this kind of investigation over a donation that was made ten years ago?

INTERVIEWER: Anne Aly, appreciate your time here this afternoon.

ALY: Thank you Ollie.

ENDS