Today Show

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Channel 9 Sydney, Today Show 14 February 2014 Subjects: SPC Ardmona, Qantas, this week in Parliament LISA WILKINSON: Joining us now is Education Minister Christopher Pyne and Shadow Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. Good morning to both of you and happy new year. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good morning …(inaudible) CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Nice to be with you in the new year. LISA WILKINSON: Well it’s lovely to have you here, Mr Pyne. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you. LISA WILKINSON: And I will start with you. No federal help for cars or fruit, but possibly for airlines. Isn’t that a bit of favouritism there for Qantas? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well there’s been no announcement of any kind of financial help for Qantas and I think that’s jumping the gun. Obviously, SPC Ardmona, Coca Cola Amatil asked for $25 million. They’ve announced yesterday that they are going to keep the cannery open and put the money in themselves. So they didn’t need the federal tax-payer’s money in the end after all. Labor would have given it to them. LISA WILKINSON: Well that was only because Denis Napthine said that he would put the money in because he recognises how… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, they asked for 50 million, 25 from us, 25 from Victoria. Victoria’s giving them 22. We are not giving it to them and they’re still going ahead. So, the truth is they didn’t need federal tax-payer’s money and Labor would have given it to them. We’ve saved the tax-payers 25 million but also the jobs were saved. In terms of Qantas, where we should be going with Qantas is thinking about giving them the opportunity to get the foreign investment into that airline that they need by looking at the Act that currently governs them. Their competitor, Virgin of course, doesn’t have those restrictions. That’s a far cry from putting money into Qantas but we want Qantas to be able to compete with Virgin on the same playing field. LISA WILKINSON: Well, I mean there was talk yesterday that Qantas has special circumstances. Qantas qualifies because its operations were fundamental to the economy. And certainly in the case of SPC, it was fundamental to the Shepparton economy. Overseas governments are assisting competitors in the car industry. That happens to a much greater degree in US. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yes well in the car industry, we gave them $30 billion since 1995. So $30 billion is a lot of money and the head of General Motors in Detroit said no amount of money from the federal government would have caused them to keep Holden open. So, the problem with Holden and Toyota or Ford or Mitsubishi which closed on Labor’s watch, was not that they are, didn’t get enough money from the federal tax-payer – on anybody’s watch $30 billion is a lot of money, the problem is that they had a whole lot of other perfect storm issues that made it impossible for them to make cars economically in this country, that could compete on price. LISA WILKINSON: Would you have done anything differently, Anthony? ANTHONY ALBANESE: We certainly would. I’m glad it appears as though the government is listening to what Labor has been saying about Qantas and the need to take some action there. But they should just get on with it. This has been around for months. This is a government that said they’d create a million jobs in five years. They’ve lost 63,000 on their watch in just five months. It’s been a shocker of a start from a government that’s been elected. They’d had an agenda to get into government, but when they’re there it’s as if they don’t actually have an agenda to govern. LISA WILKINSON: It’s not a good start is it? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look, it’s a very good start actually. I mean job losses are always a bad tragic thing, but let’s face it, in Labor’s last budget, Lisa, they forecast that unemployment would rise, in their budget last year. So they, if they’d been reelected (inaudible).. that’s the only forecast they got right. ANTHONY ALBANESE: We certainly did not forecast 63,000 job losses (inaudible) CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s the only forecast they got right, they said unemployment would rise, and if they’d been re-elected, unemployment would have risen. And what they have to do is get out of the way of the government’s program. They’ve got to abolish the carbon tax which they’re currently blocking in the Senate. Abolish the mining tax which they’re blocking in the Senate. Bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission which they’re blocking in the Senate. Help re-establish the Registered Organisations Commission which they’re blocking in the Senate. Labor wants to have their cake and eat it too, and don’t we all. Especially on Valentine’s Day, but unfortunately Labor wants to stop us being able to repair the economy, the economy that they damaged, and then blame us for job losses. Now they can’t have it both ways. ANTHONY ALBANESE: See if we do a rewind for last year, you’ll see Christopher saying exactly the same thing. The difference is he’s now part of the government. They need to start acting like the government and stop the three word slogans. LISA WILKINSON: Okay, let’s move on. Behaviour in Parliament this week… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Shocking. LISA WILKINSON: …has been a little bit ordinary, and you were sin binned, Anthony. ANTHONY ALBANESE: I was. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Again. ANTHONY ALBANESE: I’m nowhere near his figure though. LISA WILKINSON: Well that’s true. ANTHONY ALBANESE: He’s the champion of all time. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That was a hung parliament… LISA WILKINSON: You are the most sin binned of all time Christopher CHRISTOPHER PYNE: …Let’s be fair (inaudible) LISA WILKINSON: Well does that excuse the behaviour we’ve been seeing in recent times? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Lisa, Labor was really rude this week. Ill-mannered and very rude. ANTHONY ALBANESE: You say that with a straight face. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The Governor‑General address-in-reply speech is the response to the Governor‑General’s opening of the Parliament and it is a serious part of the agenda, and Labor should not have interrupted our members. They called three suspension motions, quorums, tried to close down our members. And no-one ever accused me of being rude when I was the manager of opposition business in the House. LISA WILKINSON: I’ll think we’ll have to go to Anthony Albonese on that one. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, people can make their own decisions I think Christopher very much says that tongue in cheek. The fact is that the address-in-reply is normally up in the main committee. It’s normally where you don’t even see it because the government has legislation. This government didn’t have any legislation to discuss this week and they shut down debate. The member who represents Gove, Nhulunbuy in Indigenous language, Warren Snowden, has had there’s 1200 jobs going from this local community. He wasn’t even allowed to speak to a motion about it, there was a matter of public importance. They just shut it down, they shut down any debate whatsoever about jobs. LISA WILKINSON: So are we going to start seeing some better behaviour from our politicians? ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well once they start acting like a government. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I hope that Labor will realise that ill‑mannered and rude, ill‑gentlemanly behaviour doesn’t put the Parliament in a good light. LISA WILKINSON: You say that with a straight face, which is extremely impressive, Christopher Pyne. Now just to finish, it is February the 14th, do you have a Valentine for Anthony? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I’m doing the Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout in June, the night before one of our shows on the Today Show, so I’d like to ask Anthony on a date with me. He can come to the Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well as much as Christopher’s offer of a sleepover with his… it’s an interesting offer on Valentine’s Day, I actually only have one Valentine’s, who is of course my wife, Carmel. But I do have a poem for Christopher. LISA WILKINSON: Okay. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: This could be bad. ANTHONY ALBANESE: This could be. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: This could be very bad. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Roses are red, daffodils are yellow. When he’s not in Parliament, Christopher’s not such a bad fellow. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That’s not a bad poem! LISA WILKINSON: (inaudible) … so there’s some love going on here. Should I throw over to Carl now and just let you two to wander off in the sunset. You are blushing, Christopher Pyne! ANTHONY ALBANESE: It’s not quite the same as an offer of a sleepover. LISA WILKINSON: That’s true. I’m not quite sure how… (inaudible) CHRISTOPHER PYNE: (inaudible) …it is on a concrete floor with a cardboard box underneath you. LISA WILKINSON: (inaudible) …not sure who the loser is here. But I hope you’re both winners. Happy Valentine’s Day both of you. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Thank you. [ends]