In this interview, Mia Schlicht appeared on Power Hour Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research into the economic and societal decline of Victoria since 2014.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Gabriella Power:
Well, there’s fresh anger over the UK’s border controls after it’s been revealed, a single people smuggling gang has sent more migrants back to France than the Labour government has managed through its official return scheme. Joining us now is IPA Research Fellow, Mia Schlicht. Mia, great to see you again. Talk to us about these revelations and reports that a smuggling gang has returned more migrants to France than Keir Starmer.
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, it’s great to be back with you, but the reality is, and here in Australia we know this very well, that when it comes to people smugglers, if there’s any kind of weakness in the border, they will find that weakness and they’ll start running an operation out of that. And that’s why it was so important here in Australia that under John Howard’s leadership and Tony Abbott’s leadership, they got that under control. But the problem in the UK is it basically has an open borders policy. Everywhere around, there is a weak point, and Starmer has been completely unable to get this under control. I’m in no way here supporting people smugglers at all, but it does just show that where there is a will, there is a way. And I think when it comes down to Starmer, he doesn’t have the will, whether that’s because he’s unable to crack down on illegal immigration or it’s because he’s ideologically opposed to doing so.
I’m not sure. I think it might be a case of a bit of both going on here. He’s just completely unable to get that under control, and that’s causing a world of pain for those in the UK. And it’s why we’re seeing so many leave because they are just sick and tired of not having their own interest put first. And instead, you’ve got Starmer, who is obsessed with playing with globalist games and is unable to crack down on both illegal migration and legal migration.
Gabriella Power:
Yeah, absolutely. Now, let’s talk about the controversy of tax rises. Ministers say that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves misled the cabinet by justifying tax rises. Talk to us about what they said. We know that Reeves repeatedly cited weaker productivity forecasts, including at a meeting she held where she hinted the basic rate of income tax would be going up. And she told ministers that Britain faced challenges in the forms of tariffs, unstable borrowing costs, inflation, and long-term productivity, and she said she had to respond to the world as it is now. That’s one way to justify putting taxes up.
Mia Schlicht:
Well, yeah, I have no doubt here that they absolutely misled the cabinet, but I think worse than that is they misled the public. This was a fundamentally socialist budget that the UK public never voted for, they never wanted to, and now they’re the ones paying the ultimate price for that. It’s pretty clear the reason why they raise taxes and it’s because unfortunately the UK seems to be following the path of Latin America whereby they’re raising taxes so that investors don’t flee because investors aren’t going to invest if they don’t have faith the country’s going to be able to repay the debt, so that’s the reason why they’ve done it. But if you take one look at Latin America, that is a terrible decision to make. It just leads to absolutely terrible outcomes. Now, unfortunately, that’s where the UK is at. They will be paying for this.
What the Western world doesn’t seem to understand is the only way to raise living standards is by growing the economy. And that’s something that Trump does understand, but is the only one in the Western economy who’s actually doing something about it because he understands that if with a bigger economy comes a larger tax revenue, that’s the only way to raise living standards. And what this budget just shows is that both Reeves and Starmer they don’t get it. They don’t understand it, and until there is a drastic course correction and they get back on track here, I think speculation over leadership spills that will continue to rise because I don’t see how they can continue down this path.
Gabriella Power:
And let’s look at Reform UK leader, I should say, Nigel Farage. He’s denying claims that he’s planning some kind of election pact with the Conservatives, despite some donors saying that he’s told them a deal with the Tories is inevitable. So reports suggest that he’s floated everything from cooperation to a full mega party merger, but Farage insists he’d only ever consider a reverse takeover, saying he won’t do a deal with a party he does not trust. Mia, what do you make of this? Do you think that there will be a deal to come?
Mia Schlicht:
Yeah, look, I’ve said this before. Farage is an incredible leader. He’s a once-in-a-generation talent. He’s incredibly unique, and he has achieved something that I don’t think anyone expected him to achieve in the first place, but there is a problem here about continuing the momentum. And there are some administrative challenges that Farage, realistically, he does have to face, and that is such as running good, solid candidates in all the seats that he needs to put candidates in. I think that’s going to be a real challenge for him. And that’s why I think he has made these statements about absorbing people who want to defect from the Tory party. He’s willing to take them on. And I can understand why he’s saying that because he does need to address those administrative challenges.
However, I think it would be a real, real shame if that deal was to go any further than that. I do not think our reform should do any kind of deal with the Tories because, realistically, the Tories are still lost at sea. They have no idea what they stand for. They have no idea what they’re doing. And it shows a real lesson, especially for the Liberal Party here in Australia, that when you’re a party who has a message for everyone, you have a message for no one. We saw the Tories triumph net zero. They refused to crack down on immigration. They did nothing to solve the cost-of-living crisis, and as a result, they completely lost their base. And I think we’re seeing the same problem here happen in Australia, where people want a leader who stands for something and stands for them, and that’s Farage. So I think Farage should continue what he’s doing. He’s to sort out those logistics, but I don’t think he should do a deal with the Tories.
Gabriella Power:
Finally, while we’re speaking about what’s happening in Europe, Vladimir Putin says that Russia doesn’t want a war with Europe, but claims it’s ready if European powers choose one. He’s accused EU leaders of blocking Trump’s attempts to end the war in Ukraine, saying they’ve pushed proposals they know Moscow would reject just so they can paint Russia as unwilling to talk. Putin also says Europe has locked itself out of peace talks by cutting off direct contact with the Kremlin. Let’s take a listen to him.
Vladimir Putin:
We’re not planning to go to war with Europe. I have already spoken about this a hundred times, but if Europe suddenly wants to go to war with us and starts, we’re ready right now.
Gabriella Power:
Mia, can I get your assessment?
Mia Schlicht:
Well, look, Putin says a lot of things all the time. I’m not sure. He’s a bit of a boy who cries wolf, wolf, so it’s hard to know what we can believe that comes out of his mouth there, but it does raise an important question. Russia’s ready. Is Europe ready to defend itself? Absolutely not. The UK is certainly not ready to defend itself. Australia is certainly not ready to defend itself if a war was to come across our shores. In fact, in Australia, we have never been less prepared for a conflict since World War II, and that’s extremely worrying. And we’re seeing with these peace talks that, well, Trump, first of all, should absolutely be congratulated for at least trying to achieve some kind of peace deal here. He’s the only one actually doing anything. Europe is full of these weak leaders who sit there criticising everyone else, but they refuse to sort out what’s happening in their own backyards.
They’re sitting back. They’re letting Trump carry the heavy load here. And I think there is some kind of presumption that if there was a conflict to break out, that Trump would once again carry the heavy load with everyone’s defence systems. Well, that’s just not true because Trump’s made it pretty clear that everyone needs to start pulling their weight when it comes to defence. And in Europe, that it seems a complete lack of motivation to do so, and that is very, very terrifying.
Gabriella Power:
Mia, we have to talk about this book on Daniel Andrews. This new book, out this week, takes aim at the social and economic fallout of Australia’s most controversial premier, the dark legacy of Daniel Andrews. It argues the former Victorian premier reshaped the state through centralised power, ideological decision-making, and sweeping policy overreach 100%. Also, weakening democratic norms, blowing out debt, and eroding basic freedoms. This really couldn’t be a more important book or important look at Daniel Andrews, and certainly a fair bit of damage that he caused Victoria, caused Australia, spent plenty of press conferences with Daniel Andrews back in 2020. Mia, can you give us a sense of this book and what it looks into?
Mia Schlicht:
Well, yeah, unfortunately, it’s a topic that I think very many Victorians want to leave behind them. We don’t like talking about Daniel Andrews. If it was up to us, we’d prefer to never mention his name again, but the unfortunate reality is that, whilst he’s not premier, Daniel Andrews still rules the lives of many Victorians, and that’s due to his legacy that he left from his time running this dictatorship across the state. And we launched this book at an IPA event last night. Peta Credlin did a fantastic job launching the book for us. And the unfortunate reality is that so many people still are affected by the decisions that were made by Daniel Andrews. He really did corrupt every single sector of the state, whether that was the public service, whether that was giving his mates jobs in the public service, whether that was the complete control he had over the media.
Daniel Andrews really did run this state like a dictator, and many people came to this realisation during the pandemic that that’s who he was, but the reality is that the pandemic didn’t create Daniel Andrews. It just revealed who he truly is. And the power that he set up behind the scenes and the years building up to the pandemic, that is an incredibly important story to tell because in order to unravel all the damage he’s done, we have to understand how we got there so we can just see the extent of how much of that system is rotten and how much of it needs to be reformed.
Gabriella Power:
Yeah. No, it’s so important. I speak to people in Melbourne all the time, whether it’s parents with young children, small business owners still really feeling the impact because of Daniel Andrews’ decision-making. Mia Schlicht, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much.
Mia Schlicht:
Thanks for having me.
This transcript with Mia Schlicht talking on Power Hour Sky News Australia from 4 December 2025 has been edited for clarity.
