Q: Just quickly on China, the Greens have had issues with China in the past on human rights. Do you think those should now be secondary when we’ve got more in common with China against Donald Trump?

Bandt:

We were the first people, I think, in this parliament – including during the mining boom, when no-one else wanted to raise these issues – we were the ones raising human rights issues.

And we’ve continued to do so. And we’ve continued to do so and continue to say that they’re important. Of course they’re important. And so I don’t agree with the suggestion about downgrading that you’ve said – they’re important, and we should continue to raise them.

But again, I make the point – we were in quite a good position of having strong relationships with both of them, and we should be using that to de-escalate. It’s not about sweeping anything under the corp It’s about saying, in this situation where Trump is a danger to everyone, government needs to – one of the other questions you asked was what the government should do.

The government needs to put up that umbrella across the country to ensure that we are protected from the Trump fallout. I mentioned with housing that there’s a real risk that we could see a spike in house prices unless the government gets in and acts quickly.

So, protect our people – like, now is precisely the right time to be investing in things that make our society more equal and that hold us together, because a more equal society is a more cohesive society, is a more secure society. That is how we avoid going down that US road.