The Project

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview — Channel 10, The Project, Tom Ballard, Pete Helliar, Gorgi Coghlan, Steve Price 19 May 2014 SUBJECTS: Budget 2014, the economy. GORGI COGHLAN: To answer that question and more is Education Minister, Christopher Pyne. Minister, firstly thanks for coming on to chat to us because it's not easy... CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Pleasure Gorgi. GORGI COGHLAN: … to get someone from the Government to front up on The Project, so we do appreciate it. Now, you've seen and heard how people have reacted to your budget. Have you underestimated, Minister, the anger out there? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I don't think anybody in the Government, Gorgi, thought that the public would be hanging garlands around our neck or giving us bunches of flowers or Roses Chocolates because of a tough budget. We always knew that the people, particularly those whom might feel the pain in this budget, would be unhappy and we made the tough decisions because they're the right decisions for the country. There was no easy way out from the debt and deficit disaster left to us by Labor, and the test of this budget is whether it's fair for everyone and whether it is the right thing for the country. And I think the test of time will prove that the answer to that is yes it is. TOM BALLARD: Minister, don't they have a right to feel a little bit betrayed? You've got people marching the streets, even some Liberal premiers are coming out against this. Don't you think people have a right to feel a little bit let down? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think the public when they voted last year in September knew that they weren't just putting back in a government that would continue spending, continue borrowing, continue to feed the culture of complaint that Bill Shorten wants to be the champion of. I think they knew that we would stop the boats, build the roads of the 21st century, end the carbon tax and fix the budget and that's exactly what we're setting about doing. I don't expect us to be popular in the short-term. But in the longer term I think the public will look back and realise that these decisions are the right ones if we're going to stop the debt and deficit from rising uncontrollably into the future. STEVE PRICE: Minister, do you think you've got a problem with your messaging? Because I mean obviously people in Australia today don't feel like we're stuck in the middle of a recession. I mean we don't have interest rates up around 18, 19 per cent. We don't have unemployment, thank goodness going through the roof. So a lot of Australians say well how come you're whacking us so hard when we don't really feel like there's a problem. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Steve that sounds like you, so I hope it's right when I say Steve? STEVE PRICE: Yes. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The truth is that we have debt rising faster than any other country in the OECD. Now, other countries like Ireland and Greece and others are getting their debt slowly under control. In Australia, because of our great riches, like our mining industry and agriculture and higher education, we can live in this complacency that everything will be alright. Now, Labor wants to feed that. They want people to believe that's the case. But the people changed the Government because they knew in their heart of hearts that that can't go on forever. So over the next three years, I hope the public will start to see that these difficult decisions we make now will benefit the economy into the future, benefit their children and grandchildren, because what Bill Shorten is proposing is intergenerational theft and we can't support as a government. PETE HELLIAR: Minister, excuse me, this seems to be the problem. Politicians don't seem to be able to answer questions. When I go to the pub and I ask a mate a question, he answers. He answers clearly. He doesn't skirt around the question, he doesn't blame anybody. Why can't politicians just tell it like it is? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Tom [sic], I'm telling you like it is. I'm telling you that the country can't keep on going the way that it was under Labor. That's why the public changed the Government, otherwise they wouldn't have. There was a landslide to the Liberals last September. We've got to make the tough decisions - we've made them, and I think we'll get credit for that, but it will take time for the public to see the benefit of this budget. PETE HELLIAR: And ah, it's actually Pete here... [Laughter] CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Oh, sorry, Pete. I can't see anybody, so... I can't see anyone, I'm just... PETE HELLIAR: More lies, more lies. [Laughter] CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I'm guessing. GORGI COGHLAN: But Minister, at the moment the polls are as low as the worst point for Julia Gillard. Doesn't that reflect the fact that people feel lied to and feel betrayed. We want to be able to believe our pollies. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think it reflects the fact that the public have seen a tough budget handed down last Tuesday and it's going to take a while for them to digest the benefits of reducing spending. We are of course reducing taxes. We are spending more in my portfolio of education over the next four years. But there are a lot of people, particularly state premiers, who want to blame the federal government for their own decisions that they have to make down the track. And so there's going to be this kind of reaction. The test of the Government is whether we have the resolve to see it through or whether we'll give in to Bill Shorten's culture of complaint. And I for one believe we've made the right decisions and eventually we'll be seen to have made the right decision. PETE HELLIAR: Sophie Mirabella and Julie Bishop head the university tour. Are you next? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Probably. The students tried to shut me down on Friday at the Adelaide University by singing Solidarity Forever. The only sadness was that they needed sheets of paper to tell them the words to Solidarity Forever. So I'm not sure that the socialist alternative are quite as good as their predecessors. GORGI COGHLAN: Well, minister, you've got your work cut out for you. That's a big ship to turnaround. And we trust that you'll do the right thing. Thank you so much for speaking with us. [Applause] CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you. [ends]