3AW Neil Mitchell

SUBJECTS: AFP inquiry into Australia day riot

E&OE…….. 

Neil Mitchell:  On the line is the Manager of Opposition Business in the Parliament.  He’s been calling for an AFP enquiry.  Christopher Pyne, good morning.

Christopher Pyne: Good morning Neil.

Mitchell:  It seems you’re not getting one?

Pyne: Well at the moment that seems to be the case and one of the reasons for that is because the Prime Minister has refused to refer an enquiry to the AFP.  There’s a lot of aspects of this that need to be enquired about not least of which is the activity of the Prime Minister’s office.  But also the processes and procedures of the AFP in protecting the Prime Minister.  Also whether the Prime Minister has enough security, enough support or the Leader of the Opposition given this most serious breach of a Prime Minister’s security essentially since the Fraser Government.  And of course the issue isn’t going away.

Mitchell:  So you’re asking the AFP to reconsider that decision are you?

Pyne:  Well we’re asking the Prime Minister to make a referral to the AFP of the entire incident.  Not only the role of her office but who else in her office may have been aware of what Tony Hodges was doing that day.  As you made the point, I mean the email you just exposed on 3AW is fascinating because it fits precisely with the statements Kim Sattler made on Facebook that day where she’d said how she responded and people were so angry down at the tent embassy about the statements from the Leader of the Opposition that the tent embassy be dismantled and be cleared away.  That fits precisely with her being told a bastardised version by the Prime Minister’s office of Tony Abbott’s statements.

Mitchell:  Something she now denies?

Pyne:  It doesn’t fit at all, exactly.  It doesn’t fit at all with the benign statements of Tony Abbott being passed on to that group.  I mean lets just sort of think about common sense for a moment.  If Tony Hodges had passed on precisely what Tony Abbott had said why on earth was there a riot?  Because his statements were completely respectful and benign.

Mitchell:  Well even the protesters have said that to me now.  I was talking to Michael Anderson on Friday and he said oh yeah there’s nothing wrong with what he said.

Pyne:  That’s right.

Mitchell:  We misinterpreted it.

Pyne:  That’s because they weren’t told the truth in the first place.  Kim Sattler’s changed her story on several occasions.

Mitchell:  Yeah well if the AFP won’t enquire into it and the Prime Minister won’t ask for an enquiry can the Parliament do anything?  You’ve got no power over Kim Sattler have you?

Pyne:  No, but there are other ways to refer matters to the AFP and we’ll consider our own options if the Prime Minister doesn’t this morning take the action which we think a Prime Minister of integrity would take which is to refer  the entire matter to the federal police.

Mitchell:  Hang on are you saying the Prime Minister has no integrity?  Is that what you’re saying?

Pyne:  If the Prime Minister was worth her salt she would want to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on Australia Day, what role her office played, who else in her office may have been involved.  Why was it, for example Neil, that her staff from her media unit were in the press gallery on Thursday afternoon telling journalists that Tony Abbott had been responsible for a riot at the Lobby Restaurant.  Clearly, they were deliberately trying to disrupt the Leader of the Opposition’s speech that day and the subsequent media cycle.  It backfired very badly like an exploding cigar and now, of course, the Prime Minister is hoping that a couple of press conferences will sweep it all aside.  Well it won’t.

Mitchell:  The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says that you are smearing the Prime Minister.  Are you saying that she has, well that’s why I asked the question about integrity, are you saying that she’s done anything wrong here?

Pyne:  We don’t think for a moment that the Prime Minister was party to the actions of her office on Australia Day but subsequently the Prime Minister cannot get away with simply doing a number of press conferences leaving more questions unanswered than she answers while this matter continues to dog her and her office.

Mitchell:  Were you surprised that she wasn’t told for 24 hours after her senior staff became aware of what happened?

Pyne:  Well surprised is one word Neil.  I think most people would be utterly bewildered that her office could be operating in such a way that senior staff on Thursday afternoon would know about the role of Tony Hodges, that her media unit would be briefing the press gallery that Tony Abbott had started a riot which we now know her office was involved in in the first place and then she wasn’t told about it until some time on Friday.  But worse than that she took until after six o’clock on Friday night to release that information clearly trying to avoid media scrutiny.  Well that has also blown up in her face.  I mean the political management of the Prime Minister and her office has seriously got to be called into question by Labor members of Parliament.

Mitchell:  Would you look at any type of Parliamentary enquiry if the federal police continue to resist an enquiry?

Pyne:  Well I don’t think the federal police are resisting an enquiry.

Mitchell:  Well they said they won’t do it.

Pyne:  Well they haven’t had a referral from either the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition or people who were involved in the affray so that still has away to go before its resolved.

Mitchell:  OK so would you look at some sort of Parliamentary of Senate enquiry?

Pyne:  Well potentially but I don’t think we’re at that point yet.

Mitchell:  Thank you very much for your time Christopher Pyne, Manager of Opposition Business.

ENDS