Radio Interview, ABC RN Breakfast

SUBJECTS: Helen Haines; Members of Parliament security SALLY SARA, HOST: Richard Marles is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. He joined me a little earlier from Papua New Guinea where a group of Australian Ministers is meeting with PNG counterparts. Minister, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Sally, how are you? Very well, thank you. A security briefing is being held for members of Parliament today.

Is the government looking at whether more needs to be done to keep parliamentarians safe in the current climate? Well, look, we are constantly monitoring this situation. As has been reported, the number of threats against MPs is increasing.

Certainly, you know, as I speak anecdotally to my colleagues, the work that people are doing is becoming more difficult. We actually, the AFP do monitor the security of politicians as a whole, but also individually and we respond to the advice that they provide. In fact, there was an increase in funding in the last budget in relation to this.

But we will keep listening to that advice and obviously providing the action that's necessary. Does it inevitably mean that parliamentarians will need to have less contact with the community to be safe? I hope not, I really hope not.

And I think one of the things that has characterised politics in Australia over a long period of time is that there has been a really accessible nature to our politicians for the public and a very deep engagement. You know, all of us over our journeys in public life have engaged in very one on one engagement with our constituents. And that's, I think, a really important part of the work that we've done.

And I think the reason for that is because again, if you take a step back and look at this over the journey, the public debate and discourse in Australia has been characterised by respect. There's been a robustness to it, but there has been respect, but I think it is getting tougher and that's why the Prime Minister has put out this call for us to all turn the temperature down.

I think we all do need to take a responsibility in that, to make sure that we are very mindful of the way in which we engage with our own public discourse. And it starts with the way in which politicians speak about each other. I think the media has a part to play here as well.

Clearly, social media is a challenge in terms of the way in which it amplifies negativity. But the starting point here, is all of us have to engage in this debate in a way which is robust, acknowledges difference, but does so with respect and with grace. You're listening to Radio National Breakfast.

My guest is Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister. Minister, One Nation is alleging that what it's describing as a dirt sheet on Helen Haines was circulating. This was following some allegations against the Prime Minister regarding grants for the Marrickville Golf Club in his electorate.

To your knowledge, has any such document been circulated by the Prime Minister's office? Well, look, I'm not aware of that, but nor do I think this is the moment to be pointing fingers. And that's not what any of us are saying in the sense that what we are saying is that all of us need to take a responsibility here.

If you need to take responsibility, should clarification be sought? Have you sought clarification on whether this is correct? I don't think this is the moment to be pointing fingers.

I think what we all need to be doing is taking a responsibility for the way in which we engage in the public debate that we pursue and the words that we use matter here. And actually, I think when you look at the Prime Minister, what has characterised the way in which he's engaged in his public discourse throughout his life has been as somebody who does so with grace, in my view, who does so with respect, and is concerned about it.

He's had to recently apologise for two incidents on a podcast, though, hasn't he? I really feel that we are talking about something quite different. The Prime Minister, when you look at the way in which he has engaged over the course of his life, I think what has characterised him is a person who engages in a deeply considered way and is respectful of everyone in politics, and that's what we need to be.

And I very much take heed of his call to try and turn the temperature down. And right now it is actually about all of us taking responsibility for that, not pointing fingers at anyone else, but looking at how we can all play our part in engaging in the public debate in a way which is not to say we can't argue our point and we can't argue it robustly, but that those who have a political difference still come to their work with a sincerity, with a desire to try and make this country better for their constituents.

And I do think that when I look at people, my colleagues across the political spectrum, not just Labor, but right across the political spectrum, people come to politics for the right reasons. They do so with a sincerity. And that needs to be at the heart of the way in which we think about how we prosecute our public discourse and prosecute the public debates.

Richard Marles, thank you very much for joining me this morning. Thanks, Sally.