Interview with Raf Epstein, ABC Melbourne
28 April 2025
RAF EPSTEIN: One of those in the audience was Jane Hume, who is the Shadow Finance Minister. She's also one of the Liberal Senators for Victoria, good morning.
JANE HUME: Good morning Raf.
RAF EPSTEIN: What is hate media?
JANE HUME: Well, that's a question you probably should ask Peter Dutton. Quite frankly, that was a very rousing speech that he gave yesterday to the party faithful who had been out on pre-poll for the last week and had been hearing directly from voters who were telling us that they wanted to.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): Do you not know? Do you not know or you don't want to say?
JANE HUME: But it's entirely irrelevant, isn't it? I mean, the most important thing right now, in a week before the election, is that we're speaking to voters about what's important to them and they are telling us that they've been poorer under Labor, that their standard of living and quality of life has gone backwards. They were the people that we were speaking to...
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): So can I ask you a question about that then?
JANE HUME: They're the people that we'll be speaking to this week. That's right.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): If it's entirely irrelevant, why did he say it?
JANE HUME: I honestly think it was a tongue-in-cheek throwaway line and I think that the fact that people have started clutching their pearls over it speaks volumes of the fact that this is an election campaign that has been easily distracted by things that aren't important. Whereas what is important is the fact that Australians are feeling worse off than they were three years ago, that they're feeling less safe than they were three years ago. That's what's coming across at the polls when we are standing there at early voting.
RAF EPSTEIN: So is it tongue-in-cheek when he calls the ABC hate media but serious when he calls for efficiency? I'm just trying to work out when I need to take Peter Dutton seriously when he's talking about the media and when I don't. How do I know?
JANE HUME: Oh, I think now you're going tongue-in-cheek, Raf. You know full well that I've been on your program many times.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): And I'm grateful for that.
JANE HUME: I’m on the ABC two or three times a week.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): And Peter Dutton was on the show at the start of the campaign.
JANE HUME: Exactly right and it's very important that we speak to Australians wherever they are and it might be on the ABC. It might be on commercial television. It could be on radio. It possibly is on social media. But when I'm speaking to voters at the polling booths, when they're actually there at the pointy end, making a decision, they're telling us that the last three years have been really tough and that they're looking for something different.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): Do you think we have too many Welcomes to Country?
JANE HUME: I do think that some of the Welcomes to Country that I have attended have been incredibly moving and really important. They are important ceremonies, but it does get to a stage where you feel that if they are becoming performative and unnecessary, or if there's an acknowledgement of country from every single person sitting around a table at every meeting you go to, that it loses its value, it loses its meaning, and that's a concern. But can I tell you, when a Welcome to Country is done well at the appropriate time, at the appropriate place, they are really profound and moving.
RAF EPSTEIN: Latika Bourke's one of those who was on Peter Dutton's bus. I know she was yesterday. I'm not sure if she's been there the whole time. But just she was someone who was tweeting yesterday saying that Peter Dutton's finally found his form, that he's speaking unscripted and off the cuff. Do you agree with that? Is this sort of the real Peter Dutton?
JANE HUME: It was a great performance yesterday. He was highly energised and very enthusiastic and, you know, of course, that is the point of a campaign rally, particularly in a seat like Hawke, you know, that was in Melton, a place that has been ignored by Labor for so many years. Their infrastructure is crumbling. Their services are not existent.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): You're cutting back their infrastructure.
JANE HUME: Well, no, we're not, actually. That's not true. Their infrastructure is crumbling and their services are non-existent.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): You're going to slow down the electrification to Melton. You spend less at Sunshine Station, it takes longer to send electric trains to Melton. You're cutting back on their infrastructure.
JANE HUME: Well, in fact, the gold plating of the Sunshine Station was part of the suburban rail loop, which is a disastrous program going to cost Victorians billions of dollars.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): I didn't ask you about the suburban rail loop. I was just making the point it's got nothing to do with the suburban rail loop.
JANE HUME: It does. Absolutely it does because the Sunshine Station, that gold plating, they're making it the most expensive railway station built in the world, is part of the suburban rail loop. That's why we have wound back on that spending because we've said no more funding for the suburban rail loop. It's a boondoggle. It's a Jacinta Allen wish list pipe dream. It's a crazy vanity project. We will not be going ahead with that.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): Well, the funding for Sunshine Station doesn't have anything to do with it. But if I can just remind everyone who we're listening to, Jane Hume is the Shadow Finance Minister. You're listening to 774. It's 18 minutes to nine. You did say that when Peter Dutton calls the national broadcaster hate media, you say that's tongue-in-cheek. But you also said it was sort of the unscripted Peter Dutton is the real thing. I just, again, I'm not asking this tongue-in-cheek. I'm trying to work out what I take seriously and what I don't.
JANE HUME: Well, I think you can take our policy platform seriously. Our commitment to cutting fuel excise by 25 cents a litre, to alleviate cost of living pressures right now. You can take seriously our commitment for $1,200 tax back of your own money for 85% of workers in a year's time when they put in their tax returns. You can take it very seriously that we are going to reduce the cost of energy by increasing supply.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): That's a good delivery of the platform. I'm not sure it's an answer.
JANE HUME: I know that the ABC would like to talk more about the ABC but unfortunately voters don't really give two hoots about what the ABC think about the ABC. What we want to talk to voters about is what's important to them.
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): Okay, if I can ask maybe the same question in a different way. People like Tim Wilson and Amelia Hamer, they are fighting to regain seats that for a long time were Liberal. They are not at the moment. Yesterday, your campaign was talking about taxes on EVs, Welcomes to Country. You're not really giving those two candidates much to work with, are you?
JANE HUME: Can I tell you that the campaigns run by Amelia Hamer and Tim Wilson have been exceptional because, let's face it, the people of Goldstein and Kooyong have realised that they were sold a pup on the Teals. The Teals do an awful lot of talking, but they can't...
RAF EPSTEIN (TALKS OVER): I'm not questioning their hard work and commitment, Jane Hume. I'm just asking if the national campaign, by highlighting those sorts of issues, is making life harder for Amelia Hamer and Tim Wilson?
JANE HUME: But their campaigns have been so good. I don't think that you would question the quality of the campaign that they've delivered. Not only have they delivered for their own communities, but they've highlighted the fact that the people that are representing those communities right now are incapable of delivering anything, anything at all and in fact, they've gone back on so many of the commitments they already had, whether it be on climate, whether it be on integrity. The Teal Members of Parliament are great at talk fests, but are incapable of delivering. The people of Goldstein and Kooyong want people representing them in Canberra that can actually deliver on their promises.
RAF EPSTEIN: It is worth pointing out, Jane Hume is someone who always tries to meet a commitment whenever we call. So I appreciate your time once again, Jane Hume. Good luck for the last six days.
JANE HUME: Thanks very much, Raf. See you soon.