2GB Ross Greenwood

SUBJECTS: Repeal of Carbon Tax; Standing Orders; 44th Parliament.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

Was it back to the bad old days, do you think?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Well I think that Labor did try and drag down Parliament today. I think they have missed the memo from the Australian public at the election which is that they lost the election and they spent quite a bit of the morning trying to delay a debate on the carbon tax and very rudely kept the Indonesian Vice-President waiting which was a shame. But unfortunately Labor is still acting as though they are the Government calling the shots but by the end of tonight we would have introduced the Carbon Tax Repeal Bill - introduced the Minerals Resources and Rent Tax Repeal Bill, changed the Standing Orders to remove some of the features from the 43rd Parliament and pass the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill, which is the debt limit bill, so that can go into the Senate so we are getting on with the job that the public gave us when they elected us on September 7th.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

Just one important part about of this, you have done a couple of things, you have reduced the time set aside for Private Members’ Business and also the other thing as well, is supplementary questions in Question Time, you have also set them aside. Why have you done that?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Well we put most of the Private Members’ Business into the Federation Chamber which is our second chamber into which debates like Committee Reports, Delegation Reports, Private Members’ Business, non-controversial legislation can go, so we haven’t reduced the time available for debate, we have just put it in the chamber where we think it is more appropriate so there is more time for Government Business in the main chamber so we can get through our program appropriately. Supplementary Questions in our view were a pilot program in the last Parliament which I don’t think really worked. I think it simply confused, confused the issue. And we have replaced it with the capacity for more spontaneous debates in legislation called interventions so that members would be able to stand up and seek a call during another member’s speech and ask them a question or make a point and so that there is more free flowing, more spontaneous, debates in the chamber.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

Are you trying to get Question Time a little bit more like the House of Commons where the Prime Minister really stands there and takes on all cometh? Would you prefer that our Parliament went to that style of Question Time?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Well I think that our style of Question Time can work very well if the Government asks the Ministers genuine constituency questions and the Opposition asks questions that are generally seeking information. Today Bill Shorten asked a number of very general, wide questions about issues rather than seeking information and as a consequence the Opposition didn’t get very much information because they asked the wrong questions

ROSS GREENWOOD:

The other point also is I mean clearly it is about trying to control information and the momentum of the Parliament. Do you believe that really some of the measures that you have taken are deliberately trying to make certain that the Opposition has less say and that really the Government has more control over the messages that come out of Question Time?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Well not really because I am a parliamentarian who believes in the Parliament and I am in my 21st year in this place and I think that a strong Opposition that holds the Government to account is good for our democracy. I think that is what the public expect the Opposition to do. So I don’t begrudge them for doing that. I think that university undergraduate style debating motions and procedures by the Opposition don’t really add to that. But I think that a strong Opposition that is developing its own policies and holding the Government to account is good for the Government.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

The thing that you spoke about early on, the business of what’s going through, the Carbon Tax repeal, the Mining Resources Rent Tax repeal, plus also clearly raising the debt ceiling, that is an important matter. The Greens and the Labor Party have said they will raise it to $400 billion but not beyond that. Your Government said that $500 billion and will enter the House tonight and presumably get stuck into the Senate as some of these other bills will. Are you now resigned to the fact that not terribly too much is going to happen because of the Senate until after July next year?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

I think there is a lot of water to go under the bridge in all of those matters. I would be surprised if Bill Shorten does end up opposing the abolition of the carbon tax because if he does that he will be very forever known as Electricity Bill…

ROSS GREENWOOD:

You called him that today and that that caused uproar in the Parliament, as you know. It was supposed to be the new pleasant Parliament.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

Yes, well Labor did take exception to that. We don’t want to call Bill Shorten ‘Electricity Bill’. We want him to listen to the mandate of the people who elected us to repeal the Carbon Tax and repeal it. And I assume that eventually wiser heads will prevail on the Opposition and will see the political danger of ignoring the election result and the will of the people. And I think that there is still some debate to go on the debt limit ceiling bill and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find that goes through, as the Government wishes it to, more easily than we expect.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

Christopher Pyne is the Leader in House of Representatives for Government Business. As always Christopher, we appreciate your time.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:

It’s a pleasure, thank you.

Ends