E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
CHANNEL 7
MONDAY, 17 AUGUST 2026
Topics: MARDI GRAS; SUPERANNUATION.
MONIQUE WRIGHT: Let's bring in Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. Good morning to you both, happy Monday to you.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Happy Monday.
WRIGHT: Okay, Barnaby, let's start with you. Do you support Pauline's stance that sexuality should be kept, quote, behind closed doors?
BARNABY JOYCE: Well, I support the LGBTQI +H for heterosexual community. That covers all bases. And I just think it's, you know, it's not to be your sexuality, no matter what it is, it’s not to be glorified, not to be, you know, diminished by it, vilified. It's just your private life. And, you know, I think that's where we are. So, I think that people basically in Australia, they like the sense of, keep your private life to yourself. That's your private life.
WRIGHT: So, do you support Mardi Gras? Would you go? Because just this week you said that One Nation is one of the gayest parties in Australia.
JOYCE: Because everybody's trying to make us out as a pack of homophobes, which we're not. It's just ridiculous. And we're not racist, we’re not homophobes. But we always get these tropes thrown at us because people don't want to meet us on even ground. They think that if they just create a sort of a vindictive trope, that that's going to stand in place for an argument. We don't care what your sexuality is, it's your business. And that's basically what we're saying. And you asked me whether I'd go to the Mardi Gras. Probably not. Probably not. In fact, you can absolutely bet I will not go to the Mardi Gras. But that's my business. And we just want you to live your own life, but it's your life. It's not so much something that other people have to stop the traffic for. They live in their lives as well.
WRIGHT: But do you support Mardi Gras? Just to be clear, you said that you support everyone in their sexuality, but do you support the event?
JOYCE: I think that, you know, I have, it's just something I'm not involved with. Right. So, I really don't have an opinion on it.
WRIGHT: Okay. Tanya, you've attended almost every Mardi Gras from what we can tell from the last 35 years. What do you think of Pauline Hanson's comments and Barnaby's this morning?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I love Mardi Gras. I think it's a really great opportunity to celebrate what's fantastic about Sydney, and that's our diversity. It brings about $40 million into our local economy every year. I love the fact that it's both a protest and a party. I mean, in 1978, the first Mardi Gras was met with police brutality and people being outed on the front page of newspapers just for asking for what we all deserve, which is to be fully ourselves and love who we love. I love the fact that we've now listed the Mardi Gras route on the National Heritage List because it is a really important part of Australia. It's a really important thing to say that we've come so far, but we've still got so far to go. So, last year, I think we were thinking a lot about during the Mardi Gras parade, like, having a good time, great party, but there'd just been a spate of terrible homophobic bashings on the streets of Sydney not long before. And those two elements of Mardi Gras are really important. It is a party, it's a lot of fun, brings a lot of tourists to Sydney, but it's also a reminder that you can't take rights for granted. We've come a long way, but we need to keep fighting for everybody's right to be who they are and love who they love.
WRIGHT: Yep, okay, let's move on. Now, One Nation has proposed letting Aussies have earlier access to the superannuation so that they can tap into their savings in times of crisis. Pauline Hanson says the current rules are too rigid and feels we should give workers their money now to let them help with the cost of living. Barnaby, I know you're still finalising the details of this policy, but if people have to access, well, do access, their superannuation early and then have to rely on government help later in their retirement, that's taxpayers footing that bill, right?
JOYCE: Well, I'll tell you where they didn't foot the bill. The $1.2 billion that was stolen. I'm reading today about Mr. Islam Khan of Auditeo. They're stolen from First Guardian and Shield. These people, they access their super all right, they stole it, the whole lot. And the government's not doing anything, not lifting a finger to reimburse those people who were stolen, even though had oversight by ASIC. People said live their own life. How do, how do people live their own life when you stole all their money? And I'm going to pursue that to the nth degree because what were the auditors, what was ASIC doing? What were the order partners in the companies doing who received fees? Show us. So, we had one person who supplied an audit report, never did the audit, but charged for it.
WRIGHT: Okay all good questions, Barnaby--
JOYCE: I don't want to hear homework about how the government is so protective of superannuation. And you can get, you can get access to your super. 26 weeks on social security get access. A whole range of areas, you get access.
WRIGHT: Yes, you can. But only 0.5 per cent of Australians are actually given access to access to their super early. Just back to my question. So, we know you're still working this out, but how far reaching would it go? How many people would you let access their super early?
JOYCE: Well, you already have people who can access their super. You're on hardships. You can. And I think one of the hardships people have is if they can't feed themselves because of the cost of living and another hardship is if they don't have a house and they put out the street and, and they're living in a car. Surely it's their money and we should give a little bit more respect about what they can do with their own money. We've got so many people, so many lobby groups out there today screaming. I didn't hear them screaming when people in First Guardian and Shield lost their money. Oh no, they're dead silent then, that was somebody else's problem. So, if you're feeling so bad about it, how about the first thing to do? Get the $1.2 billion back to those people who are destitute because their money was stolen. They didn't get access to it. Someone else got access to it, they stole it. And that concerns people. And we know that as the governments now put their fingers on the, the labours of someone's life with new capital gains tax changes, basically taking that money off them, we know where they'll go next because they're going broke. They'll go to your super.
WRIGHT: Okay, Tanya, in the 23-24 year, about 50,000 Australians were able to access their super early. Barnaby's got a point, hasn't he? If people are really struggling now and need it to get through the day to day and yet are rejected to get it, does that seem unfair?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, people are able to access the superannuation if they've got particular hardship, if they--
WRIGHT: Not many, though, not many.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: If they need to hang onto it, if they need to get their super to hang on to their house, if they get sick, if they're dying. It's a whole range of issues where you can get it. But super is there so that you don't retire into poverty. It makes the hugest difference to people as they age so that they're not relying on the Age Pension. We spend about $70 billion a year on the Age Pension as a nation. That would be much higher if people didn't have superannuation accounts. And the good news, Monique, is that we're actually helping people more with their superannuation right now. Today we announced that 200,000 people have benefited from superannuation paid on top of paid parental leave. That's an extra $285 million in super accounts. That means that a woman on the median income will be $5,400 better off in retirement because we've paid super on top of her paid parental leave. That's a life changing difference. When we keep investing in people throughout their working lives so that they retire in comfort. That's a great thing. And right now, we're helping people with the cost of living with five tax cuts, with higher wages, with cheaper health care, with cheaper education. Barnaby, I'm proud of what we do. You keep saying talking points. I'm proud of what we do.
JOYCE: Talking points Tanya. Talking points Tanya.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Why aren't you proud of what you do?
WRIGHT: Actually, Tanya and Barnaby.
JOYCE: [inaudible]
WRIGHT: We are out of time, but it'd be interesting to hear from our viewers about what you think should you be able to access your super early. Tanya and Barnaby, thank you both. Happy Monday to you.
