5AA

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Interview – 5AA with Will Goodings & David Penberthy and Anthony Albanese
Wednesday 24^th February 2016

SUBJECTS: Party Leadership; The Budget; Senate Reforms; Rebekha Sharkie, NXT;

DAVID PENBERTHY: …That voters have their suspicions and their doubts about your leader, Bill Shorten. There’s been no real improvement in terms of his standing and equally the Newspoll this week showed that most voters trust the Liberals more than Labor in traditionally strong Labor policy areas.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, I think the real message from the polls this week is that the ‘honeymoon is over baby’ to quote the great Tex Perkins, I mean Tony Abbott had a plan to get in to government but no plan to govern, Malcolm Turnbull had a plan to get rid of Tony Abbott but no plan to govern. I think the lack of a narrative and a sense of purpose from the government is really coming through, people expected there to be a big change when Malcolm Turnbull rolled Tony Abbott but we’ve got the same policies, just overnight we’ve had Corey Bernardi seem to impose his views on the Government against Simon Birmingham the Education Minister, and now a review into the safe schools program. We’ve had no change on climate change, no change on the republic no change on marriage equality, and on the economy it’s a big thing, I mean I just find it extraordinary that the Government doesn’t seem to have a tax policy or a plan, going forward.

DAVID PENBERTHY: We do have Chris Pyne on the line now and I’ll jump over to you if I can Christopher and good morning and thanks for joining us as always. Chris as we were just saying, the parties are back on level pegging, do you think that the Coalition is being hurt by the vacuum that it has itself created over tax reform? I mean you do keep attacking Labor and certainly aspects of their policies are there to be questioned, but you guys haven’t shown your hand yet and until you do this sense of drift might sink in?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well with great respect David, you asked Anthony a question about Bill Shorten’s leadership and the fact that he was behind Malcolm Turnbull in every single measure bar one in the Newspoll and he completely avoided answering that question and talked about everything else other than the question you asked him, but putting that to one side-

ANTHONY ALBANESE: [Interrupting] you’re avoiding governing!

DAVID PENBERTHY: Just, we’ll keep it one at a time guys.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: There’s your zinger Anthony, there’s your zinger, chalk one up for a zinger for Anthony.

DAVID PENBERTHY: But my, point taken about what you said about Albo not addressing the Bill Shorten part of my question Christopher, but my question to you is have you created a vacuum?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yeah I’m happy to answer the question I’m just rather amazed you didn’t go back to Anthony and say well you know with great respect that’s all very interesting but what about the question I asked you?

DAVID PENBERTHY: I did that out of respect to you Chris I didn’t want to leave you on hold.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well aren’t you, aren’t you kind.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: If you’d been on time.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I’ve been sitting here waiting for them to call! So I don’t know what happened this morning but you know that’s a matter, that’s a technical difficulty as they say.

DAVID PENBERTHY: All right we’ll get it back on track.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The truth is why would any government, Labor or Liberal, be announcing their budget measures in February of the year of the budget? The budget is in May! And the budget will see the Government’s tax plan outlined to the Australian public well in advance of the election as is the normal practice. Now just because the media and the commentators are sort of demanding that the Government release tax measures, we’re not going to respond to that. Now-

DAVID PENBERTHY: But didn’t you set up the expectations and specifically Scott Morrison set up the expectations himself by really talking up the great tax adventure to use the old Keating-ism from the early 80’s, you know the GST was going to be looked at, negative gearing was on the table, CGT, and now it’s -

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The person who raised the GST David was Jay Weatherill and Mike Baird. They’re the people who talked about increasing the GST by 50% it was something that I never supported which I have made clear on this program several times over the last few weeks, and I’m glad we’re not increasing the GST because I think it’s a tax that falls hardest on those least able to pay, so I think we’ve landed on the right spot. But we’re not going to be railroaded into making announcements about the budget before the budget. I think what the public want is for us to continue to get on with the job of creating jobs, like for example the innovation statement that I’m responsible for, the Defence White Paper which will be released tomorrow which will be good news for South Australia in terms of our naval shipbuilding. I mean this, these insider games that Labor wants to play over here; they have to sort themselves out about their threat to house values in Australia because of their negative gearing and capital gains tax policies which will be a major focus of the election campaign.

DAVID PENBERTHY: Let’s change our attention then to the Defence White Paper. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning has confirmed that the Federal Government will lift Defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP Anthony Albanese, my question to you is whether the Federal opposition is in a position to match that commitment given the money that you’ve already committed to education for example?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well we’ll look at the Defence Paper but of course the 2 per cent target was something that was put in place under Labor, that was there in terms of previous Defence White Papers it’s important that, notwithstanding I mean if Christopher tries to make Defence a partisan issue then I would-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well you cut Defence spending to the lowest levels since 1938.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Yeah, yeah yep.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: 1938.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Get your talking points out

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s just the truth.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Get your talking points out.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You cut defence spending to the lowest level since 1938.

DAVID PENBERTHY: Well Anthony Albanese is he wrong?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: He’s wrong every time he opens his mouth. How do you Christopher Pyne is wrong cause he’s talking.

DAVID PENBERTHY: No but he is not wrong on the proportion of GDP that Labor spent on Defence is he?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: But it’s a matter of, we were putting in place things like the investment in the subs issue that’s so important for South Australia-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Rubbish you made no announcement for six years!

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Was being put in place and it is the Government who been dragged kicking and screaming into actually doing something in South Australia. We know Tony Abbott went off and made commitments overseas-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I admire Anthony’s chutzpah, I admire Anthony’s chutzpah gentlemen but the idea that Labor had anything to do with, the reason there is the valley of death for shipbuilding in South Australia is because Labor did nothing for six years about submarines, kept putting off the decisions, cut spending in Defence to the lowest levels of GDP since 1938 and basically starved Defence of the funds that it needed-

ANTHONY ALBANESE: But you do know that you are in Government? And in your third year-

DAVID PENBERTHY: Of course

ANTHONY ALBANESE: And in your third year.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And that’s why we’re fixing the problem that you created

DAVID PENBERTHY: Well are you fixing the problems Christopher Pyne, because whilst in this Defence Paper we understand the commitment to twelve submarines will be restored, will be called for again by Defence are we going to get a decision on the competitive evaluation process before the budget?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No. Not before the Budget. It was never expected before the Budget.

DAVID PENBERTHY: When are we going to get the-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We always said that the competitive evaluation process would be finished by mid-year this year, and it will be.

DAVID PENBERTHY: So it won’t be until after the Budget?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well it was never supposed to be before the Budget. You’re the first person that’s has said it supposed to be before the Budget.

DAVID PENBERTHY: I didn’t say, I just asked whether it would be.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No it won’t be. It was supposed to be before mid-year and it will be by mid-year.

DAVID PENBERTHY: Will there be any provision within the Budget for expenditure then or has that already been made?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, you will see that in the Budget, obviously, when it’s announced in May. That’s the whole purpose of the Budget.

WILL GOODINGS: We’re going to shift across now to talk about the Senate reforms and the changes to voting for the Upper House. To you Christopher Pyne, do you think that Australia’s got to the point where Government can no longer implement their agenda because of Senate obstructionism and is that why the prospect of a double dissolution, possibly in July, is on the table?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, the Senate reforms that we are proposing are so that individual voter’s preferences will be what will be taken into account in the ballot rather than the decisions of preference whisperers. I think the last election was kind of the lowest point in the Senate voting system where a person with half a percent of the vote got elected, 497 votes when they are supposed to get fourteen per cent of the vote. Now I think the public recognise that that’s unacceptable and that the individual voter’s preferences should be, should determine the outcome and I think this is the right reform from that point of view. What impact that has on micro-parties is really neither here nor there. If they can get the fourteen per cent they need or the seven per cent in a double dissolution, good luck to them. No one’s going to begrudge them that but the idea that they should be allowed to ‘game’ the system is quite wrong.



WILL GOODINGS: Albo, why is Labor going in to bat over this issue on, it almost looks like on behalf of these independents, I mean if you guys win Government you could end up in the same position, that you know well Paul Keating was the one who coined the term unrepresentative swill to talk about these people of the tiniest mandate lording over the Government of the day, why don’t you just back it?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Look we’re up for reform but we’re not up for a fix between the Greens and the Coalition to advantage the Greens and the Coalition. That’s all this is, this is a dirty deal being rammed through both Houses of Parliament in record time. That’s the fix that’s in here.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: What two years?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: That’s the fix that’s in, the legislation was introduced this week and is being debated and rammed through the House of Representative today. Today.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: But Anthony, the joint standing committee on electoral matters which was unanimous and included the Labor party was decided in April 2014.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: These aren’t the JSCEM Reforms! And-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: They are!

ANTHONY ALBANESE: They aren’t.

DAVID PENBERTHY: Just finally-

ANTHONY ALBANESE: They are very different and this is being rammed through, they’ll then have a double dissolution election. Christopher Pyne will avoid questions-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You have to let the radio announcers run the show Anthony.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Between now and May, hectoring the radio announcers including David and Will-

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’m trying to get them to be able to ask their last question, I’m on their side!

DAVID PENBERTHY: The last question is to you Christopher and it does refer to someone who is very much a part of this Senate deal, Nick Xenophon, we spoke earlier to Senator Xenophon not about the Senate reforms but about his candidate Rebekha Sharkie for the federal seat of Mayo who has espoused some, what you could fairly describe as unorthodox views in line with this group Flag about the United Nations, about global warming, links to one nation leader Pauline Hanson. Nick Xenophon said she’s mainstream, she’s common sense, and she’s in the political centre. It interested us though that it was Nick Xenophon who was doing the talking, not his candidate.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well there are two issues here, there’s nothing mainstream about Rebekha Sharkie’s views. For example she says that she would support a $1 limit on foreign investment. Now that would make us poorer than North Korea! She’s totally opposed to the growing of cotton and rice in Australia, now when there’s plenty of water there’s no reason we wouldn’t grow cotton and rice its only when there isn’t any water and when there isn’t, we don’t grow it! She also said that she believes the free trade agreements are utterly insane, now she needs to come out today and front the media and explain these views. It’s not good enough for Nick Xenophon to say that as the convenor of the NXT that somehow he speaks for the entire party, I thought his party was going to be different.

DAVID PENBERTHY: We have given her that option and she’s failed to exercise it, if she does ring in we will certainly talk to her either today or any other day, Chris Pyne and Anthony Albanese thanks for that, jeez it’s always hard controlling that segment isn’t it Will?

WILL GOODINGS: Yeah you gotta wrangle.

DAVID PENBERTHY: It’s like being the relief teacher.

WILL GOODINGS: Yeah, let’s check on traffic.

[ends]