Doorstop

SUBJECTS:  Media laws; Barnaby Joyce

E&OE................................

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Well ladies and gentlemen the spectre of the Government as a shambles is becoming more and more apparent. This morning the Government is introducing 18 new Bills into the Parliament, 18 new Bills are being introduced into debate which will take hours and hours of introductions by the Ministers of the Government. At a time when we’re told that the media laws need to be passed as a matter of great urgency. So yesterday we had the spectre of the Government listing the media laws for debate, pulling their speakers from the debate so that they could be rushed through, adding their speakers after eight o’clock after I spoke to delay the media laws, the Prime Minister requesting a pair so that she could go and do other things and then breaking the pair so she could vote on the media laws, then she requested a pair again. We had me being told that the Parliament would sit into the early hours of the morning for as long as it took, but then a gag motion would be required in order to make these laws get passed. And then of course we were told the adjournment would be negated so that the debate could go on into the night, then a division was called on the adjournment by the Government in order to get rid of the adjournment. And Anthony Albanese walked into the Chamber and asked Kelvin Thomson what the hell he thought he was doing calling a division on the adjournment and that was then abandoned. The place is a complete shambles and this is no way to run a country. It is well and truly time we had a stable government run by adults. The media laws have, had already been guillotined by the Senate at 9:30 this morning in spite of the fact they hadn’t arrived in the Senate because the Government were so sure that they would be passed last night and therefore arrive in the Senate and they wanted them to be pushed through the Parliament today. Now why is this happening? It is happening because the Government is completely focussed internally. I am, I suspect that they’ve given themselves hours this morning where they can introduce all these Bills in order to try and delay the media laws now. So from wanting last night to rush the media laws through we’re now delaying the media laws potentially I assume that in case there is a change of leadership in the Labor Party as early as today then they’ll never go ahead with these media laws because they don’t want to be at war with the press and have the press for the first time in history wanting a Liberal government to be elected at the, in September. So it is a complete shambles and I think that the Independents have a lot to answer for. The Independents who as part of this so called new paradigm who were going to introduce further scrutiny and accountability and transparency in to the Parliament, they are presiding over this shambles, they are keeping the Labor Party in Office.

They are doing their dance of a thousand veils constantly changing their minds from one moment to the next. They’re in favour of media reform they’re against media reform their meeting with the Government, they’re cancelling their meetings with the Government. Quite frankly this is no way to run a country and the Independents are just as responsible for it as the Government is. And I believe the Parliament should sit next week, I think the Government should announce that the Parliament should sit next week to properly consider these 18 pieces of legislation, to consider the media laws that have been now delayed by the Parliament and by the Government. If the Parliament sat next week it would give the Parliament the time that was necessary to properly scrutinise the media laws proposed by the Government and all the other changes that are being proposed by the Government at the last minute, at the death knock of a very bad Government and a very bad Prime Ministership.

Journalist: These are highly contentious pieces of legislation, how many are you guys going to vote against, the 18?

Pyne: The media laws?

Journalist: No the 18 was the question, how many are you opposing?

Pyne: Well Mark the process is that once a Bill has been introduced in to the Parliament that’s the first time that the Opposition has an opportunity to see the actual Bill. Then the Shadow Minister goes away and studies that Bill and the explanatory memorandum. It then appears in the Shadow Cabinet’s Agenda, Shadow Cabinet considers it, then it goes to the Party room and by that stage we’ve made a decision as to whether were going to support it or oppose it. So I can’t tell you which of these 18 we’ll support or oppose because it hasn’t been through our party processes. And unlike the Labor Party we believe in party processes. Unlike Minister Conroy, we believe that the Cabinet shouldn’t be shanghaied, that the Caucus shouldn’t be shanghaied that the Committee process shouldn’t be truncated and the Parliament shouldn’t be held in contempt.

Journalist: (inaudible)..an extra week of sitting though, which of those Bills is the most contentious and deserves long consideration by the Parliament?

Pyne: Well I haven’t looked at each of the Bills in details because they haven’t been introduced yet Mark. So you are asking me for an opinion about something that I couldn’t possibly know. But I’m happy for you to ask me a question about something I could know about.

Journalist: I’m trying to get why there is a need for a Parliamentary sitting week at extraordinary cost, for an extra week, what the urgency is..(inaudible)

Pyne: Well Mark, I think the Parliament should sit next week to debate the media laws. We’re currently having a debate about four Bills to introduce the Public Interest Media Advocate, and we have absolutely no idea what the Public Interest Media Advocate is going to look like. I mean the Government has proposed Bills which apparently will create a press tsar appointed by the Minister to oversee the public content that you can publish. But apparently the crossbenchers are going to establish a committee of public safety, which will be three in a triumvirate who will determine what can be published. We have no idea at the moment what the Parliament is debating, whether we’re debating a panel, a triumvirate of press tsars or whether we are debating a one Ministerial appointed press tsar. Now some people say that Mr Katter has proposed that there should be a panel, to appoint the panel. Now the Parliament should sit next week because we need to debate the media laws, as well as any of the other Bills that go through our internal Party processes, but the media laws are the primary focus of why the Parliament should sit next week.

Journalist: Mr Pyne, do you support a move for Barnaby Joyce to the lower house to take on Tony Windsor.

Pyne: Well I’m a big fan of Barnaby Joyce and I think if Barnaby Joyce came down to the lower house from the Senate it would be tremendously exciting both for the electors of New England, for the Parliament and for Barnaby. I think the electors of New England have been very poorly served by a so-called conservative Independent in a rural seat that’s never been held by the Labor Party who is currently propping up the worst Government in Australia’s history. I think that Tony Windsor has behaved disgracefully in the last two and a half years in supporting this Government and any candidate would be better than Tony Windsor, but Barnaby Joyce would be an excellent candidate but that’s a matter for the National Party preselection process to which I’m not part.

Journalist: He wouldn’t be a bit too hard to handle for Tony Abbott in the lower house?

Pyne: Look we’ve managed to handle Anthony Albanese and Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd and every other Member of this passing soap opera that passed along the way over the last few years and Barnaby Joyce would be an excellent addition to the lower house.

Journalist: Can I just back you up to your initial statement, I may not have heard it right, I thought you said something about the media for the first time supporting the election of a Liberal government, is that what you said?

Pyne: Well, I was speaking tongue in cheek Mark. I know it would come as an absolute shock to you and you’d never shift, but, and it’s nice to have you back in the press gallery may I say.

Journalist: Thank you very much.

Pyne: What I was really saying is that if the Labor Party backbench and many Members of the front bench are terrified by the prospect of an election in which the Liberal Party will make as a central part of our campaign support for freedom of speech, where the Labor party is trying to close down freedom of speech.

Journalist: The Government’s sort of walked away from the consolidation ant-discrimination laws, but they’re going to introduce a Bill just dealing with the sexuality aspect, do you support that aspect of the changes?

Pyne: Well that’s a question you should put to George Brandis who has responsibility for the anti-discrimination laws. Look I think it’s very sad that the Government has proposed a consolidation of the discrimination laws, faced a serious campaign from people who are in favour of less government intervention, buckled yet again because they are incapable of doing their homework before they do this kind of draconian legislation. Nicola Roxon lost her job over it; Mark Dreyfus has abandoned her magnum opus and it’s just another example of a government in deep decay and decline.

Journalist: You’d welcome a smaller sort of changes (inaudible)

Pyne: Well George Brandis will give a proper response on behalf of the Coalition to the actual detail of what the Government has announced or leaked out, whatever they’re doing, their latest thing.

Thank you very much.

ENDS.