Today Show

LISA WILKINSON: …Arriving by boat from ever obtaining a visa, calling it a bad policy and bad politics. For more we’re joined now by Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne in Adelaide and Shadow Transport and Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese here in the studio, good morning to you gentleman.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Lisa.

LISA WILKINSON: Christopher I’ll start with you, you’d have to admit that the policy is very hardline.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well the policy confirms what has been the practise for a long time, in fact it was the stated policy of Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party before the 2013 election so what Kevin Rudd has done this week is exposed the fact that Labor never really believed in strong border protection, which is what they did in government of course. They let 50,000 unauthorised arrivals into the country on 800 boats and Kevin Rudd has unfortunately confirmed what many of us suspected that what they were saying in 2013 they didn’t really mean. The policy that we are taking to the people, to the Parliament is that we want to ensure that those people who tried to get to Australia in an unauthorised way will never be able to get a visa through a backdoor method.

LISA WILKINSON: You’d have to say Anthony there is a touch of the pot calling the kettle black on this one.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well this was all about politics as Christopher just exposed then, the fact is that this will make it more difficult according to John Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister to settle the people from Manus and Nauru because countries like New Zealand for example will say they won’t create two tiers of citizenship. Now the key task for the government is to do something to settle those people who are on Manus and Nauru in third countries, they haven’t been capable of doing that and now this will make it even worse. And we’ve just been through an election campaign where they said they’d solved the issue, they said they had the policy right, it appears now – what’s changed? Just another pathetic attempt at playing politics, it’s about time that this mob actually governed the country rather than just platy politics.

LISA WILKINSON: Where does Labor sit on this issue, have you worked out what your policy’s going to be on this yet?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well haven’t seen the legislation and there’s no sense of purpose, they haven’t given…

LISA WILKINSON: But you must have an idea of where you stand on it.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well what we won’t do Lisa is just play politics with it. The government have not put forward any reason for any rationale for this policy, the idea that if someone is a citizen of the United States for example for 40 years and they’re not allowed to visit Australia is quite bizarre.

LISA WILKINSON: Christopher this policy does have all the hallmarks of manipulating a highly charged issue for political gain by the PM.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Lisa Labor is slip sliding around over this issue because obviously they don’t have a strong border protection policy, which is why they’re not fit to be back in government. What we found with the people who are in Nauru and Manus Island is that Labor and their fellow travellers are holding out hope for them that they will get to come to Australia if they wait out the government. What we want to make very clear to them is there are very generous repatriation packages for them, there’s third party resettlement options…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Where?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That the government is prepared to fund…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Where?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And they should take…

LISA WILKINSON: Where will they go Christopher?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well there’s options for them to stay in Papua New Guinea, go to Cambodia, to return to the countries from where they’ve come now that they are safe again and they are refusing to do so because Labor and their fellow travellers are telling them nudge, nudge, wink, wink you don’t have to take those packages, you don’t have to return home because we will find a way for you to come into the country. Now what unfortunately Anthony’s proven this morning is that they’re continuing to have those soft border protection policies from the Labor Party that got us into this position in the first place when there were 50,000 unauthorised arrivals on 800 vessels.

LISA WILKINSON: Alright well when you do have a policy Anthony we’ll have to get....

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well when they have some legislation.

LISA WILKINSON: Alright.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: When we actually see the legislation, why is if this isn’t just about playing politics they haven’t released the legislation for all to see, Parliament’s sitting next week.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Labor are divided on the issue obviously.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Not at all.

LISA WILKINSON: Alright, when will we see that legislation Christopher?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: As soon as it’s ready to be introduced.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: So you haven’t got it ready yet?

LISA WILKINSON: How long will that take?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s pretty straightforward.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: So you haven’t got it ready?

LISA WILKINSON: So if it’s straightforward

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: (inaudible)

ANTHONY ALBANESE: You haven’t got it ready?

LISA WILKINSON: Alright, let’s…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’m not going to tell you when the legislation will be introduced but it’s pretty straightforward…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: So what we’ve had confirmed today is they don’t even have this legislation ready.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It simply takes away the opportunity for people to come to Australia in any means into the future. It’s not a very hard piece of legislation to get your head around.

LISA WILKINSON: Alright, I know, so we should see it vey shortly, let’s move on. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott let it be known this week he was up for a Cabinet position via one of his long time confidants, Catherine McGregor who wrote a column urging the PM to give him the Indigenous Affairs portfolio. Christopher this was an ultimatum, if the PM wants peace he needs to bring Tony Abbott in from the cold.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Nigel Scullion is the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and he’s been doing that job for three years and he’s doing a very good job, and the Cabinet doesn’t have a vacancy in it. Malcolm Turnbull took this Cabinet to the election, it was endorsed by the Australian people, we are all getting on with the job, we’re not jockeying for other people’s positions, and we are just doing the thing that…

LISA WILKINSON: But Tony Abbott is clearly jockeying and it’s clear if the Prime Minister wants peace he needs Tony Abbott on that front bench otherwise this is just going to continue.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well what the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and the rest of the Parliament want is for the Australian government to have the opportunity to implement their policies and to get on with creating jobs and investment in our economy and that’s exactly what we are doing.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well this is not the Cabinet that Malcolm Turnbull took to the election, on the last sitting day…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well who’s different?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Of Parliament we saw a cage fight on the floor of the House of Representatives between Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott and now a week later he’s applying for a job on the front bench. What we see is that Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott are locked in a downward spiral and they’re taking the government with them.

LISA WILKINSON: Okay we’re going to have to leave it there gentleman, five days to go until the big presidential race comes to a close, Trump or Clinton?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Oh, Clinton.

LISA WILKINSON: Trump or Clinton?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I thing Clinton will win easily.

LISA WILKINSON: Alright, okay we will wait and see.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: A unity ticket on something.

LISA WILKINSON: Yes that’s a nice change, Christopher and Anthony good to see you.