The Project
29 Jan 2012
Transcipt SUBJECTS: Australia day riot
E&OE…………
Carrie Bickmore: Chris, what is it you’re hoping an AFP investigation can uncover?
Christopher Pyne: Well, the affairs on Australia day were very serious ones. The security breaches around the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader were very serious breaches, probably the worst since the Fraser Government. Of course inciting a riot or an affray is an offence and if the Prime Ministers office were responsible for being involved in inciting a riot then we need to know that. The Australian Federal Police need to find out whether that’s the case.
Charlie Pickering: Talking about the people responsible; Tony Hodges has stood down, Kim Satler says she was acting on her own, no one was really injured and the shoe has been returned. Is this really worth the effort and concentration to keep the matter going?
Pyne: Well, Charlie, imagine if somebody had been hurt, imagine if somebody had been killed by the broken glass or the falls or been hit by a comcar or a police car you wouldn’t be asking that question. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, but it was a serious issue and the Prime Minister has questions that she still needs to answer.
Dave Hughes: Chris, is Tony Abbott still grateful that Julia Gillard saved him on the day?
Pyne: I don’t think she necessarily saved him, but I think the whole thing could have been handled a bit differently, that’s for sure.
Pickering: Christopher, you say imagine if. I’d prefer to play imagine if 40 years after setting up the tent embassy we didn’t have such a discrepancy in life expectancy between an aboriginal Australian and a white Australian. Maybe that’s somewhere where we could have an inquiry and not waste our time with this he said she said story pushed in the media.
Pyne: There’s no doubt that the most important thing we could do for indigenous Australians is ensure that the politics and the partisanship is put to one side and the only thing that matters is their housing, their welfare, their education, their job opportunities, their health and as you say their mortality outcomes. And while the Government is obsessing about Tony Abbott and their political survival day to day they’re not thinking about the issues that indigenous Australians care about. Whether it’s health issues, or job security, or cost of living or border security
ENDS