5AA Leon Byner

E&OE………… Leon Byner: (inaudible) foot the bill of a $30,000 portrait of disgraced former Speaker Peter Slipper. The parliamentary portrait of the former Speaker is set to be commissioned at that cost. The Committee heard that portraits of Mr Slipper and his predecessor Harry Jenkins would cost more than $60,000. It emerges that Mr Slipper went to The National Portrait Gallery with an officer from the art services branch to view portraits and to select a short list of possible candidates. So, I guess the question is given the recent goings on of Mr Slipper and his subsequent decision to stand down, why would we be doing this? Now the Manager of Oppositions Business is Christopher Pyne, Chris what’s your take on this? Christopher Pyne: Well Leon it’s a difficult question isn’t it because obviously it shocks people that there would be a portrait pained of Peter Slipper given the circumstances in which he took over and conducted his role, but on the other hand he is part of our history and therefore the historical record he did sit as Speaker for about eleven months and every other Speaker has had a portrait painted of themselves. And you know, we do have a history of rogues and great successes and characters in Australia and he is going to be up there with them, with all of those characters in the Parliament. Byner: Does this sit comfortably with the Opposition? Pyne: Well, we’re torn of course. Obviously we didn’t support Peter Slipper, the Labor Party did. It was Julia Gillard’s handpicked choice of Speaker over Harry Jenkins. We didn’t support him taking the job and it doesn’t sit comfortably with us, but if you are going to be a group that supports the history of the Parliament being recorded, then he is part of that history. Byner: Ok, we need to clarify this and Claire McIntyre will join us shortly. So what were really is that whilst this will not sit well with many people listening today, it is part of our heritage to record the Speaker and his presence in job and the way he did it in this manner. The Speaker of course being somebody who you’ve got to be able to approach. Pyne: Yes, that’s right. Every single Speaker has had a portrait painted of themselves. From the first Speaker who died in office right through to the last Speaker Mr Slipper who has led office in something of a cloud. And it is an important question in the digital age whether it’s important to have portraits of Speakers and Prime Ministers, but we have a rich tapestry of history and there are aspects of it we don’t like, but we still record it. We don’t like Queen Nefertiti and have it sponged from our record. Byner: Alright, now while I’ve got you there, there’s another issue and I’ll get Claire McIntyre’s take on this as well. But a Senate Committee has been told that the Federal Government engaged seventeen lawyers at a cost of $750,000 for its part in the case brought against Mr Slipper, now wasn’t that a civil case? Pyne: Yes it is a civil case. Byner: So why would we be engaging lawyers at taxpayer expense for this? Pyne: Well, the Australian Government Solicitor of course should do the work of the Government, and that is its purpose. I think it’s a very merky story and I think Nicola Roxon’s role as Attorney-General is becoming increasingly under a cloud when you think that at the same time as she was aware of the thousands of luged text messages that Mr Slipper had sent, she was attacking Mr Ashby accusing him of making a vexatious claim, while the advice from her solicitors was that the Government should settle, and three attempts were made to settle the case. So, I think the Attorney-Generals has got herself into a very deep pickle on this issue and she has a lot of explaining to do. Byner: Alright, Chris Pyne, thank you. ENDS