Sky News Agenda

SUBJECTS: Craig Thomson; Mining tax; Education funding

E&OE…………

Christopher Pyne: Well Craig Thomson was in hospital in Canberra last week with what he said was appendicitis, he also had appendicitis last August, and the hospital released him on Thursday and he went back to the central coast and immediately got another doctors certificate to say that he had abdominal pains.  We believe the hospital wouldn’t have released him on Thursday if they didn’t believe he had recovered, and we expect them to examine him and let us know that he is still under the weather before we simply give out pairs to people willy-nilly.  The parliament only sits seventeen weeks, the Labor party has cut our parliament down the lowest level of sittings in certainly my experience of politics, and we are expected to be in parliament when parliament is sitting, you have to have an exceptional reason why you wouldn’t be here.  If he can get the hospital that treated him last week to indicate that he has still not recovered well that is a whole new ball game.

Kieran Gilbert: This is normally done on a gentleman’s agreement isn’t it?  It’s done on the member’s word traditionally.

Pyne: Well there is no science to pairing.  But obviously if a woman is pregnant and about to give birth then a pair would be provided, if a person is very ill a pair would be provided, but pairs aren’t given out simply so people can avoid coming to parliament and we want to know that Craig Thomson has an ongoing medical condition given the hospital in Canberra last week released him on Thursday and gave him a clean bill of health.

Gilbert: But where does this sort of approach end?  Will it come back to haunt you when a Coalition member is sick?

Pyne: Look I’m not going to get into the whys and wherefores of pairing, the Press Gallery loves talking about pairs, the public haven’t the faintest clue what this is all about.  The simple matter is the chief whip will decide tomorrow whether he should be given a pair, he’s been given a pair for today.  If he can prove that he has an ongoing medical condition he will be granted a pair, if he cant he wont. 

Gilbert: Okay lets look at some other element of news around today, minority government, but the government is delivering, today the Mining Tax, its delivering on its agenda at least isn’t it?

Pyne: Well the government is delivering broken promises which they lied about before the last election so lets not get carried away, I mean I don’t think the public are sitting out popping champagne corks because the government has imposed yet another tax.  The Carbon Tax, the Mining Tax, the Alcopops Tax, Cigarette Tax is up. This government is about more taxes to feed its spending addition.  If we didn’t have a spending addiction we wouldn’t need to have all these new taxes.  The Coalition will oppose and repeal the Mining Tax and the Carbon Tax, delivering a tax cut to every Australian as soon as the next election.

Gilbert: This Mining Tax as you know is going to fund tax cuts for small business, for big business.  Are you worried the Coalition is going to have a difficult argument to what is essentially your political base, small business, that’s saying, were not going to back a tax cut for you, were going to support the miners?

Pyne:  Well there’s two points to make about that.  Firstly, Kieran, abolishing the carbon tax is a tax cut for everyone immediately.  For consumers, for small business, for big business, for everybody.  Abolishing the carbon tax, which is the Coalition’s policy, is a tax cut for the entire nation.  Secondly, a tax cut built out of a tax rise is nothing but a tax con.  Small businesses aren’t stupid.  They know they’re getting a carbon tax, they know they’re getting a mining tax that will feed right through the economy, they’ve been given some crumbs off the table by the Government in a one per cent cut to the company tax and they know that is a fraudulent tax.  They’ll end up paying more.  The Government is introducing these taxes to raise more revenue.  Somebody has to provide that revenue to feed their spending addiction.  The smartest thing to do would be to stop the massive spending, to stop the waste that’s endemic in this budget and then they wouldn’t have the need for all these new taxes.

Gilbert:  You’re also the Shadow Minister for Education.  I want to ask you about this announcement today by the Prime Minister expected to announce $1.75 billion additional to vocational education and training.  You’d welcome that wouldn’t you?

Pyne:  Well I’m not sure that it’s additional Kieran, that’s the first thing.

Gilbert:  The Government is saying it’s additional.

Pyne:  Well I’d be very surprised because the Government announced the same amount of money in the budget last year.  I heard Penny Wong this morning on Fran Kelly and she seemed to be ducking and weaving and spinning her wheels in the mud on the question of whether this was a new spending announcement.  My suspicion is this is a reheated meal.  The Government is simply trying to look around to find new things to pretend they’re announcing good news.  They are relentlessly negative about Tony Abbott, they’re utterly focused on Tony Abbott and the Coalition, they have no vision and no plans for the future and the public are thoroughly   sick of these constant, negative, relentless attacks on the Coalition.

Gilbert:  Well what about the notion of harmonising vocational training around the country and tying it more closely to industry needs for skills?  They’re good ideas aren’t they?

Pyne:  That’s hardly a new idea.  I mean the idea that you would have skills that industry wants is hardly splitting the atom.  They’re not going to win a Nobel Prize for Economics because they thought it might be a good idea to have skills that industry needs.  I mean that’s what people have been doing for decades and decades and decades.  This is probably going to be another new bureaucracy, that’s what Labor usually comes up with, they might even announce an Ombudsman for skills, who knows.   They always have more jobs in the public service and we’ve been providing the kind of skills industry wants through the Australian Technical Colleges and other measures.  We massively increased apprenticeships when we were in government, Labor had them on their knees.  So when Labor actually starts producing some real policy and some new policy rather than reheated old meals then we’ll take them seriously.

Gilbert:  Mr Pyne, appreciate your time.  Thanks.

Pyne:  It’s a pleasure.  Thank you.

ENDS