Doorstop - Canberra

SUBJECTS: Labor’s litany of lies about education; Peter Slipper; Alan Jones E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………… Christopher Pyne: Well Labor is running a campaign of lies in so many aspects of Australian politics today and one of them is education. In my portfolio, Labor has been telling a litany of lies about the Coalition’s position on education. They’re circulating pamphlets in marginal seats, filling their press releases and their statements and their speeches with lies about what the Coalition will do and refusing to tell the Australian public what they will do about school funding and other aspects of education. Let me just give you three very quick examples; Labor says that the Coalition will abolish the Trade Training Centre Programme. The truth is that Labor promised in 2007 to deliver 2,650 trade training centres. Five years later they have delivered 160. Six per cent of their promise has been kept, 94 per cent of their promise has been junked. Labor says the Coalition plans to sack teachers, well let me tell you something the Commonwealth Government doesn’t employ any teachers, State Governments and non-government schools employ teachers. The Coalition couldn’t possibly sack any teachers because the Commonwealth doesn’t employ any teachers, just a  little fact that Mr Garrett and the Labor Party would like people to forget. And finally they say that the Coalition will cut funding to schools, the truth is the Coalition is the only political party with a commitment to increase funding to schools. The current quantum plus 6 per cent indexation which is the average under the AGSRC, which will deliver $6.5 billion of funds to schools, both government and non-government over the next four years of the funding quadrennium. That is a commitment from the Coalition. Labor has made no such commitment. The only facts about the Labor Party’s position on school funding is that there are 3254 schools that would lose money under the Gonski School Funding reforms. Under the Coalition, we will deliver $6.5 billion of funds to schools which is the indexation, both government and non-government. So there are 6 Labor lies I’ve outlined in the press release, but there are 3 examples of where Labor is simply telling lies, rather than telling the truth about their own position because they can’t talk about their stance on education because they haven’t got any facts. Their position on education is all feathers and no meat. Journalist: Mr Pyne, has the Coalition’s policy on indexation changed so that it’s definitely 6 per cent, or is it still to index according to AGSRC? Pyne: Well the AGSRC, which is the average Government Student Recurrent Cost averages out at about 6 per cent over the last 10 years so when people talk about 6 per cent indexation, they are talking about the AGSRC, of course nobody knows what the AGSRC is. So the 6 per cent indexation is the shorthand version of talking about the AGSRC and everyone in the sector knows that means about 6 per cent averaged over the period of last 10 years. In the budget forward estimates that equates to about $6.5 billion for both government and non-government schools. Journalist: That’s despite predictions that the AGSRC is likely to keep dropping, its down to 3.9 per cent this year with State Governments making cuts to education? Pyne: Well the AGSRC goes up and down as we know, that’s why it’s an average. Journalist: Hasn’t the government announced that no school is going to lose a single dollar under its Gonski Education Reforms? Pyne: But that is one of the great acts of sophistry that Julia Gillard is trying to get away with, and she should come out of her witness protection program and actually do a proper press conference that is not at a primary school, or a set piece speech, or a community cabinet which they fill with Labor Party branch members and answer the question about what that actually means. Because the truth is, when the Prime Minister says “no school will lose a dollar of funding”, that’s not in real terms. So in fact over four yeas that is a real cut to schools and of course, if its 6 per cent indexation over four years, that is a six and a half billion dollar cut if indexation is zero and in between zero and six and a half billion dollars depending on what the indexation actually ends up being. And the government’s only public comments about indexation have been supportive of plans to reduce it to CPI, which is the Greens policy or even 5% which was mooted recently. So the coalition is committed to funding in real terms increasing, the Labor Party is only committed to the current quantum of funding which is a dramatic six and a half billion dollar difference. Journalist: Christopher on Peter Slipper, if he is cleared or if he can reach an agreement with James Ashby and he is cleared of his misuse of cab charges, will the Coalition support his return to the speakers chair? Pyne: Well that really is a matter for Julia Gillard, Julia Gillard hand picked Peter Slipper to be the speaker over Harry Jenkins who was a very fair and reasonable and balanced speaker. She preferred to have Peter Slipper as the speaker as part of a grubby deal to get another vote on the floor of the House of Representatives and her chickens have definitely come home to roost. If Mr Slipper can settle with James Ashby, you would assume that he would therefore admit the truthfulness of James Ashby’s statement, if indeed it is true; and if the speaker admits to sexually harassing his staff in his office, you would think that that would make his position as Speaker untenable. But that is a matter for Julia Gillard because Peter Slipper is Julia Gillard’s man not the Coalition’s. Journalist: But if he is cleared you can see no obstacle for him returning to the Speaker’s chair? Pyne: Well being cleared is an entirely different matter, if he is cleared by the Federal Court of sexually harassing James Ashby, well that would certainly deal with that matter. But of course the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is yet to clear him of the cab charge allegations that have been made against him and we still await further and better particulars from the CDPP as to what is happening with that matter. Journalist: Just quickly on the Jones matter, Tony Abbott has faced a fair bit of criticism for not coming out a lot earlier in condemning Alan Jones’s comments, and the story still seems to be going on, so what are your thoughts on the matter? Pyne: Well Tony Abbott condemned Alan Jones’s comments the same day they appeared in the newspaper. The only criticism he has been copping has been from the handbag hit squad whose job is to damage Tony Abbott’s character and from the usual suspects in the Labor Party: Albanese, Emerson, Combet who are all sent out as Julia Gillard’s praetorian guard to bag and slag Tony Abbott. Truth is, he did deal with this issue instantaneously on the Sunday but Labor won’t give him any credit for that because Labor blames Tony Abbott for everything that ever happens. I think Alan Jones’s comments were crass and I’ve said that this morning on television, I think he apologised and appropriately so. But I’m not going to be lectured by the hypocrites of the Labor party who have beaten a path to Alan Jones’s door when they were seeking his support. I mean Kevin Rudd… the grotesque sucking up to Alan Jones by Kevin Rudd on his programme was slightly vomitous when he was Leader of the Opposition. I mean Alan Jones was one of Kevin Rudd’s quarries to try and get on his side when he was Leader of the Opposition. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Alan Jones, when he was Leader of the Opposition, and now he has the gall to lecture the Liberal Party about Alan Jones. Well no one is really interested in Kevin Rudd’s view, that’s clear, the Labor Party caucus has rejected him as leader, he is obviously suffering lime light deprivation syndrome and he is coming out with quite bizarre statements. Journalist: What did you think of John Laws last night? Pyne: I didn’t see John Laws last night. Journalist: You didn’t? Pyne: No. I understand it was quite a show, but I didn’t see it. Journalist: So are you saying that Labor should be coming out and I suppose being a lot more critical of people like Bob Ellis who have also made some disingenuous comments about the Prime Minister as well. Pyne: Well, Labor are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to the rough and tumble of Australian Politics. I mean I have been in the Parliament when they have accused Alexander Downer’s father of being a coward. He was in Changi for three and a half years, he was a war hero. That didn’t stop Labor from slagging his memory. They are a disgrace, but they are selectively disgraceful. If Labor had any character at all, they would remain silent on this issue and let it stand for what it is. Crass remarks, apologised for, they should never have been made. The fact that they are trying to make political mileage out of it only emphasises how low the Labor Party have sunk. They would rather talk about any other subject than cost of living or the carbon tax or the mining tax or the flat economy or unemployment rising or people not being able to pay their bills. People in main street Australia couldn’t care less about these inside the beltway issues. They are much more interested in how they’re going to pay their bills, how they’re going to pay their school fees if they have children in non government schools and even in government schools, how they are going to pay their grocery bills, and it’s time Labor started governing rather than this perpetual state of campaigning that we see from this really rancid Government. Journalist: Just on a bit of a more broader issue, what do you make of the social media backlash against Jones given that all these advertisers have been pulling their ads, and today we hear that Harvey Norman has also pulled their ads from the station and his show, so what do you think the role of social media is in all of this? Pyne: I do think people place far too much store in the significance and importance of social media. I am not even on Twitter for example because I think it’s just a forum for legalised slander and in terms of Facebook, well it’s not very hard to get 100,000 people to like a particular Facebook site. I even have 5,200 friends on Facebook which comes as a surprise to my friends and family. So I don’t put too much store by social media and I think that it is a useful and interesting medium. I am sure there are 100,000 people out there who don’t like Alan Jones, there’s probably a great deal more who don’t like Christopher Pyne, but I don’t think we should place too much store by social media. It does have very important uses, for example in the Jill Meagher case, which has been a horrible tragedy because of its randomness I think more than anything else. Social media played a very important role in bringing to the attention to anyone who was out that night who might have seen something useful to the police; I think that’s an important use of social media. I get tens of thousands of emails about issues, and some people are very angry about particular things, but I don’t think politicians should base their policies on getting ten thousand emails about a particular issue that happens to be floating by at any particular point. Journalist: So do you think that these advertisers have over reacted? Pyne: Well, I am not an advertising executive, what advertisers decide to do is purely a matter for them, not for me. ENDS