Sky News Richo

SUBJECTS: Emission trading schemes; Education E&OE............................... Graham Richardson: Shadow Minister for Education, and Manger of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives, welcome to the program. Christopher Pyne MP: Good evening Graham. Richardson: Now I think you have probably heard my rant to begin with, now I have to give you I suppose some time to rebut what I have said. Pyne: Well for the first time in a long time it sounded like a paid political advertisement for the Labor Party, Graham. I am shocked that you think that Kevin Rudd’s move in putting the carbon tax front and centre back on the political agenda is smart politics because what Kevin Rudd is offering is $380 to punters in one year of relief from his carbon tax. What the Coalition is offering is $3,000 of compensation because there is no carbon tax under the Coalition. Richardson: Oh, where do you get 3,000 from, where do you get that from? Pyne: Because that, because over the course of the period between now and 2019, that at least how much households will save by not having a carbon tax on electricity bills and their gas bills. Richardson: I don’t need to be lectured by you, the (inaudible) will be huge. They are very rubbery figures, very rubbery figures. Pyne: What Kevin Rudd is offering is a $58 billion carbon tax, Julia Gillard was offering a $64 billion carbon tax. So he has reduced the carbon tax by $6 million. Richardson: Neither you nor I know what they are going to be. Pyne: Well Kate Ellis said today on ABC Radio, she said that in answer to the question will carbon prices go up in 2015, she said absolutely. And in answer to the question will electricity prices go up, she said absolutely. So whatever memo Head Office or Labor have been sending out they did not send it to Kate Ellis because Kate Ellis has admitted what everybody knows which is that there is one year relief and the carbon tax goes up potentially to $38 and carbon tax… Richardson: Well it may go up $1, you have no idea how much it will. And by the way, this idea that the carbon tax is back on the agenda… Pyne: He has. Richardson: The reality is, what would you rather, the Labor government do, have a carbon tax at $25 or have carbon, ETS price at $6. Now that’s what this is about, whether you go 25 or 6. I think they would be much better off with 6, don’t you? Pyne: No I think we would be much better off with 0. What the Tony Abbott-led Coalition will offer them is stopping the boats, getting rid of the carbon tax and not destroying the car industry with a $1.8 billion hit on Fringe Benefits Tax. Kevin Rudd in two weeks has managed to step on three land mines. He has put the carbon tax front and centre on the agenda, so that’s cost of living. He has gone to Jakarta and the best he has come up with is another summit, another all talk and no action Kevin Rudd extravaganza. And at a time where the Labor Party were saying they are supporting manufacturing he is hitting the car industry with a $1.8 billion tax without any consultation just like the old Kevin Rudd we became so used to. Richardson: He must be terribly hopeless – he just got a 7% bounce in the polls. Pyne: Well let’s see – I mean, let’s have an election. We’ll find out. Richardson: We’re going to! Pyne: Well I think Graham, alright - the sooner the better. Because I think what will happen is that as soon as an election is called the whole Kevin Kardashian celebrity effect will disappear when Australians actually have to decide who they want to govern Australia. The stable, secure Coalition team that hasn’t changed in 4 years, or the chaos and disarray and dysfunction of the Labor Party for the last 6 years. Richardson: Well you are stable I’ll grant you but it is a stable team that will now need to have policies because there is actually now focus going back on you and there has been none in the last two years, none. And you have been able to coast towards the line, and you are not coasting downhill now, there is an uphill road. Pyne: And that’s the way we like it, Graham. Nobody wants to win an election because the other party is so hopeless that they simply throw it away. We want people to choose a positive plan for the future which is the Coalition, so abolish the carbon tax, stop the boats, abolish the mining tax, bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission, abolish some of the red tape and have one stop shops for environmental approvals. We have got a list of policies as long as your arm and we welcome the focus back on the Coalition’s policies as well as the focus on Kevin Rudd’s record of carbon tax, mining tax, pushing up the cost of living, debt and deficit, $254 billion of debt because of Kevin Rudd. Richardson: What about one of eight countries that has got ratings from all of the three rating agencies that say stable outlook and Triple A stay. I mean as far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Australia is doing okay. Pyne: And six years ago, we had zero debt, we had no deficit, we had stopped the boats, we didn’t have a carbon tax… Richardson: But there has been a GFC since then, Christopher. There has been a GFC. You can’t pretend there wasn’t. Pyne: Labor can’t keep relying on this GFC. That has been, come and gone, four, five years ago. Richardson: But you can’t pretend… Pyne: Four five years ago. The GFC is well and truly over and everybody knows it and Labor kept spending money… Richardson: Well and truly over? You’ve got the US bordering on recession for five years and Europe is in deep recession. So when you say it’s gone away, it mightn’t be on actually now but the after effects are felt all over the world, not just here. Pyne: Well what the public want to know for the next election is who is going to reduce our cost of living and the Liberal Party is going to abolish the carbon tax. They want to know who is going to secure our jobs, the Liberal Party is going to abolish the mining tax and abolish a lot of the red tape that is holding up investment in Australia. We are going to have stable government… Richardson: The mining tax can’t be holding up much – it didn’t raise any money. It was a total fizzer. Pyne: But it is one of the reasons why overseas investment stayed away from Australia, and has removed investments from Australia because we have been a sovereign risk under this Labor government for the last four or five years. We are also going to say to people – yes, we are going to stop the boats and stop this $10 billion blowout on boat people that occurred under Kevin Rudd’s government. 46,000 unauthorised arrivals since Kevin Rudd changed the rules around boat people, 200 deaths at sea this year. Now what Labor did, what Kevin Rudd did, was put the sugar back on the table…Kevin I was going to call you. Richardson: Don’t do that for God’s sake. Pyne: No, a fate worse than death…And that has attracted like a magnet, more and more of these asylum seekers and that has to stop and we are going to start economic management which is based on stable, sound numbers, not this constant change from one budget to the next, estimates which nobody can rely on. Richardson: Budget estimates have been hopeless. I have to say, my so called paid advertisement for the Labor Party, you’ll notice I did not mention boats. I don’t think it’s been Labor’s finest hour or Kevin Rudd’s. Pyne: Well there you go, we agree on something else. Richardson: There you go; you see I knew it would come. Now can we turn to education, which of after all is your job. Pyne: Sure. Richardson: What’s happening with the other states, do you think either Victoria or Queensland will weaken and sign up? Pyne: Well I think what the Government has done has abandoned any pretence of having a national school funding plan. They’ve got four bilateral agreements at the moment; with South Australia, with Tasmania, with the ACT and with New South Wales, each one is different. I understand that New South Wales wants to return to the negotiating table because they feel they have left behind in the Government’s auction, its Gonski auction, to get jurisdictions to sign on…. Richardson: It’s interesting … can I just interrupt, it seems that Gonski has disappeared, I don’t hear anybody using that term anymore. Pyne: Well because the Gonksi report requires $6.5 million a year of new funding to make the new school funding model work and Labor has accepted my argument, that over the forward estimates their plan is a $325 million cut to school funding so therefore they couldn’t keep pretending, they were actually introducing the Gonski model. They have in effect got bilateral arrangements with everyone, they’ve got an auction, a Dutch auction, occurring with each jurisdiction, they are bribing and involved in chicanery, and this is no way to run a school funding model. I don’t know what Victoria and Queensland, and the Northern Territory or Western Australia will do, but there are still a lot of hooks in this new school funding model, you’ve got to believe for example that Labor will deliver rivers of gold in five or six years from now and accept the cut over the next four years and you’ve got to believe that they will not try and interfere in the running of State schools, in spite of putting more money in, in five years’ time and you know people couldn’t trust Bill Shorten to not stab Julia Gillard in the back and Kevin Rudd in the back, so why would anybody trust him to deliver on something in five years from now? Richardson: Well I think one of the problems here is nobody really knows what’s going on with Victoria and Queensland, but certainly those other states have trusted them and I just wonder what happens if one of them does sign up. But then you say, if they get near this majority of States and if you recall the last time you were on this program, you would not honour these deals unless the majority of States signed up. Pyne: Well that’s true and that remains our position, Graham. If an overwhelming majority of States sign up, we won’t create more uncertainty by undoing it. What we will have to introduce is, essentially eight different bilateral arrangements…. Richardson: …It’s an overwhelming majority but it was just a majority before. Pyne: No, it’s always been an overwhelming majority. You can go back and look at all of my transcripts over the last few months. Unlike the Labor Party, I try and remain consistent from one interview to the next. I don’t say on Saturday the Carbon Tax….. Richardson: …I just don’t recall the words overwhelming majority being used on this program, I just don’t recall them being used, but I will go back and check. Pyne: Have a look. On Saturday the Labor Party was saying the Carbon Tax was doing no harm but on Sunday they said it was a cost of living issue and this is the other wonderful thing about Kevin Rudd, his message has changed from day to day. So on Saturday he is saying the Carbon Tax is doing you no harm, on Sunday he says the Carbon Tax is a cost of living issue, a few weeks ago he said he couldn’t see any circumstances where he could be Prime Minister again and he challenged and axed Julia Gillard about a week after he said that. So, the problem with Kevin Rudd, is that he has no credibility and his celebrity popularity, which is built on his Kevin Kardashian style, it will not last the distance in an election campaign, when on the other side of the coin you’ve got substance and security and experience in Tony Abbott and his team. Richardson: Well I think that’s a pretty good way to finish. I think you’ve given the paid Liberal Party ad and I think you’ve done it pretty well. But it’s always a pleasure talking to you Christopher Pyne, thank you very much for your time. Pyne: Thanks Graham. ENDS