Transcript - Two Chrisses ABC 891 24 Nov 08

ABC 891 SA Radio

Excerpts of ""Two Chrisses""

24 November 2008, 10am (CST)

Chris Schact:

(Aren't you having a birthday cake to celebrate first year of the Rudd Government…)

Christopher Pyne MP:

The only thing we're celebrating C1 (Schacht) is that now it is only two years until we can get rid of this dreadful Government, rather than three years as it was a year ago.

David Bevan:

One of your staff, Christopher Pyne, has sent us a transcript of an interview I think you did with SkyNews and you were asked about the education revolution and you described it as more of a 24 hour uprising. I'm not saying you're right or wrong but I thought it was a funny line.

Pyne:

Well, the so-called education revolution which brings up in people's minds the overthrow all of the current system and the replacement by something new and more radical essentially has been a damp squib. It's nothing more than a brief uprising put down by the Government forces. And sadly for parents and children who were expecting huge changes they've ended up with very little. I'll just give you one example; the computer in schools program which was promised to deliver a laptop to every student between year nine and year 12 has benefitted after 12 months of the Rudd Government less than 10% of students in government schools. It's far from an education revolution. NSW has pulled out of it all together, the ACT and Western Australia are saying they haven't got the funds for the services and infrastructure, South Australia and the ACT are saying they're only replacing old computers with these new ones, there's not going to be any net gain. So it's hardly an education revolution.

Matthew Abraham:

You may fire out clever lines but two major opinion polls out at the end of the first year of the Rudd Government when the wheels are falling off the world's financial system and brand Kevin, according to Tony Wright, people love it

Pyne:

I don't agree with that. I think that in the global financial crisis that we've been in for the last couple of months it would be very surprising if the public weren't rallying around the national government. Crises are when governments are supposed to do well because it's when the public rallies around them hoping that they'll have the solutions …

Schacht:

Chris has raised the issue about the computers. When he raised it two months ago you had phone calls live on air from teachers who were saying 'He's wrong. We're at our school and we're getting the computers coming in. The program is working here in South Australia.'

Pyne:

Well Jane Lomax-Smith has not refuted what I said... I said on radio two months ago that the South Australian State Government Minister for Education, Jane Lomax-Smith, had said in the Hansard of the State Parliament that the computers in schools program in South Australia was being used to replace old computers with new ones and that's why the costs for services and infrastructure would not be high in South Australia. She has not in response to what I said put out any statement refuting what I said.

Schacht:

No, but the teacher who rang in from the schools said not only are the old computers being replaced but they're getting extra computers.

Pyne:

Well the Minister for Education's been silent on the subject…

Caller Samantha:

(Asks about the introduction of six years terms in Australia and whether Prime Ministers should only serve two consecutive terms.)

Pyne:

I have to say when I was in Government I always thought three years was too short but now I'm in Opposition I think three years is about right… Well I do actually believe that three year terms is a bit too short to be serious, I think four years is a better period of time. I don't agree with fixed terms, I agree with Christine Wallace about that, but I do think three years is a bit short, but I don't think it's going to change so it's a bit of a moot point. Can I say in respect to term limits for the Prime Minister or the President in the case of Russia, I do agree with term limits. I think that it is very hard for a Prime Minister to pull the pin. I think if the Liberal Party decided that they would introduce a change where the Leader of the Party or the Prime Minister could serve for nine years, three terms, I think that would be a good change and allow the party an opportunity to refresh on a regular basis.

Caller Chris:

(Suggests John Howard is to blame for the global recession.)

Pyne:

I think that Chris has rather inverted the situation, a lot of people would say what usually happens is that the Labor Party makes a mess of the economy and then the Liberal Party is elected to try and fix it. I mean what Labor inherited from the Howard Government was a $22 billion surplus which we're now discovering is disappearing. No debt, we'd paid back $96 billion in debt, and extraordinary reserves in the future fund and higher education endowment fund and so on, for the future of Australia.

Bevan:

(So you'd stay in surplus at all costs?...)

Pyne:

Well the Leader is giving a speech to the National Press Club today in which he will outline the Coalition's response to the current situation, but I can say, if properly managed the economy and the Federal Government should be able to deliver 'living within their means' budgets as opposed to deficit budgets. That's a matter that Malcolm will explore more fully today, but there is no reason in a properly managed economy and a properly managed Commonwealth budgetary situation for us to have to go into deficit.

Caller Fred:

In regards to mental health, Kevin Rudd made a promise that if the states can't do their job properly the buck will stop with him why is it that the supported residential facilities about 23 of them in this state plus other states only get $6 a day per patient to look after them? In NSW it's between $15 and $20, Queensland is $15, Western Australia is $12. Now, nobody likes the mental health, nobody gives them a damn. I worked with them for 50 years so I know what I'm talking about.

Bevan:

This is the sort of thing that we were talking about with Michael Pengilly down at Port Elliot…

Caller Fred:

Where are they spending all the budget money? In the first year of operation when they got 600 patients out of Hillcrest they saved $12m this year they give a budget of about $14m, they spend $10m what happens to the rest of it? Do the politicians get their holidays on the mental health budget? These things are absolutely disgusting why the subsidies are different in each state and South Australia gets $6?

Schacht:

I'm not an expert in this area mental policy, mental expenditure is a state matter, has been for over 100 years now. But what Fred has showed is that different states put different amounts of money in, have different priorities this goes back to my old argument that the whole area of health should be taken over by the Federal Government, funded equitably across all of Australia not just what different states wish to do with it. And until we get that basis we're going to have this endless argument of one state against another and the under-funding I do acknowledge that the Howard Government about three years ago offered over a period of years $2b … input into mental health. As I understand it the problem was many states if not all had a difficulty of how to spend it appropriately because they didn't have the structures in place and I don't know how much of that $2b actually got to what you say the sharp end of mental health.

Pyne:

C1 is right. When I was responsible for mental health in the previous government we had a $1.9 billion – almost $2 billion package – which we delivered for mental health. Much of that was to be spent and has been spent on making psychologists' services available on Medicare. Fred's point about South Australia is very important. Unfortunately South Australia has under-spent and is an underperformer when it comes to mental health. Queensland is the same. It's a great shame and they've had enormous resources into the state budgets over the last 10 years because of the growing economy, the GST revenue has been an enormous growth tax. And unfortunately even after all the increasing revenue the South Australian Labor Government has not been able to deliver the services that need to be delivered on the ground to people with a mental illness and I think it's a great shame and I don't think that the Rudd Government should get off the hook. They did say that they would fix the problems and they should be held to accoun for their promises.     

Abraham:

So they should fix the problems that have occurred during your long time in office?)

Pyne:

No, that's not fair. Actually mental health's always been a state government responsibility. When I was responsible for it I put together a $1.9 billion package. Mr Rudd promised before the election that the buck would stop with him. We did acknowledge always that it was a state government responsibility, Mr Rudd took it upon his shoulders and said he would fix the problems. That's why there's a difference …

Caller Barb:

(Caller rang Canberra and found out the $10.4 billion will not be paid until late December and the utilities allowance won't be paid until January. Not happy that Kevin Rudd is celebrating his year.)

Pyne:

Barb (caller) highlights an important point, the difference between the rhetoric or spin of the Rudd Government and the delivery of services and what actually happens on the ground. After a year we still have the 161 committees summits and conferences meeting and discussing but not making any decisions. After twelve months we still have computers in schools in freefall as a program, the national curriculum is not nearly close to being up and running. There's a huge gap between the announcements the Rudd Government makes and the actual delivery of services on the ground.

Media Contact:

Adam Howard

0400 414 833