Transcript - Doorshop - 11 February 2011
15 Feb 2011
Transcipt SUBJECTS: Youth Allowance; Liberal Party; Parliamentary Week
Christopher Pyne:
Yesterday the Government was defeated in the Senate when they tried to stop the youth allowance bill of Fiona Nash from passing the Senate. Fiona Nash's bill had the support of both Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding, so it passed through the Senate. It is a bill that expands the eligibility criteria for the youth allowance so that regional students are able to access it and get to university.
What people might not realise is that while 55 per cent of high school students go onto tertiary in the cities, only 33 per cent of rural students do. So finding pathways to university is very important for rural students. The bill expands the eligibility criteria to between anything from five and a half to 20 thousand students are estimated to be better off by this change. It will cost about $317 million over the next four years and the Coalition has paid for that in the education investment fund.
This was part of the Coalition's policy and is a long standing policy. The reason we didn't pass it last year is because Senator Xenophon has changed his mind after a Senate inquiry. So after all that history occurred, the Senate has now passed the bill. The bill, in normal circumstances, is due to be transmitted to the House of Representatives. The President of the Senate, who is a Labor Senator, has indicated to the Government on the advice of the Clerk of the Senate that he doesn't believe it infringes any access to the constitution; that it's not an appropriations bill because it's already an appropriation in the budget and therefore it's now the turn of the House of Representatives to consider this bill.
The Government has said that they won't even present the bill to the House of Representatives. Julia Gillard has made it clear today that they will circumvent the role of the Parliament and insist that the House of Representatives not even consider the bill. The Opposition obviously takes a very dim view of that approach. In my view it is setting up a potential constitutional crisis not seen since 1975. Of course if the Senate has passed the bill it should be transmitted to the House of Representatives. Of course the House of Representatives should consider it. It's up to the House then whether it passes it or not. If it passes the bill, it is then up to the Government. We have no argument with this. It is then up to the Government whether it presents the bill to the Governor General. That is fully in accordance with section 66 of the Constitution. But it's not up to the Government to decide it won't even allow a bill to be presented to the House. And I'm not even sure the Government has the power to stop the House considering a bill. That will happen when we return to Parliament.
Just one other thing before you ask me questions. This has happened before. In 2008 there was a bill passed through the Senate to increase the pension; a one off increase of the pension passed by the Opposition and the cross bench Senators. That bill was transmitted to the House of Representatives in exactly the same circumstances as this one should be. The Government presented the bill. The Government had the numbers to decline to consider the bill. The only difference between 2008 and 2011 is the Government is unsure it has the numbers in the House of Representatives so it is coming up with every concocted reason why it will not discuss this bill in the House of Representatives.
For democracy to rule in this country; the House of Representatives, which is people's house, must consider a bill that's been transmitted from the Senate. If we pass it, it is then up to Government what happens to that bill. The consideration of it is a democratic right of the House of Representatives and it would be unprecedented and outrageous for the Government to use the Governor General as a Human Shield to protect themselves from the scrutiny of the House and also it would be appalling for them to use the Governor General in the day to day political combat that obviously is the House of Representatives.
Journalist:
Are there any internal rows going on within the Liberal Party at the moment?
Pyne:
Well I'm here to talk about the Youth Allowance Bill but I think its been made perfectly clear by Tony Abbott today that he has absolute confidence in his entire team. He thinks it's the best team on the park at the moment that he has available to him. I'm obviously a member of that team as the Manager of Opposition Business and Shadow Minister for Education, I'm obviously grateful for his continuing confidence. And we are all united in one thing and that is that this is a very bad Government which we should remove as quickly as possible whether that's by election or whether that's by the cross-benchers changing their minds in the House.
Journalist:
Will you challenge Julie Bishop for the Deputy's job, is that something you'd be looking at?
Pyne:
Well, you know, that's an absurd question, there isn't a vacancy. I fully expect Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop to lead the Liberal Party to the next election and I am supporting both of them in their roles.
Journalist:
Do you support Julie Bishop's decision to quarantine aid to Indonesia from the levy?
Pyne:
Look the Coalition has outlined its savings because we've said that the $5.6 billion reconstruction of Queensland can go ahead with savings from the federal budget, that we don't need a new flood tax to pay for it. The Labor Party says we need a flood tax to pay for the reconstruction, the Coalition says there are $5.6 billion of savings in the budget that can be identified to pay for that reconstruction. That is a fundamental difference. And of course the delaying of the Indonesia aid for Madras Schools is part of our cuts. But cuts are tough, you have to make difficult decisions, adults every day have to make difficult decisions about what they can and can't afford. The problem with the Labor Party is they never make that decision. They spend the money and they either borrow it or they tax the Australian tax payer.
Journalist:
So how do you explain Ms Bishop's position? Because she is obviously trying to defend the funding for Indonesian schools. Is she going against party policy?
Pyne:
Ms Bishop is 100 per cent behind the Opposition's decisions this week. She has made that absolutely clear.
Journalist:
Is there a push to replace Ms Bishop?
Pyne:
Not that I'm aware of. No.
Journalist:
Do you have any leadership ambitions yourself?
Pyne:
Well my ambition is to be the Leader of the House in an Abbott Government. I want Anthony Albanese's job. And I want to be the Minister for Education in an Abbott Government. That is my ambition, we almost got it in August last year and I am working every day to make sure that happens either through an election or because the Parliament changes its confidence.
Journalist:
Do you have any leadership ambitions though?
Pyne:
I plan to be the Leader of the House in an Abbott Government.
Journalist:
(inaudible)
Pyne:
I think what you can expect from the Liberal Party is a renewed commitment to holding a very bad Government to account.
Journalist:
More specifically though just between the Leader and his Deputy... (inaudible)
Pyne:
Look I think they have a fantastic relationship. We have been a very disciplined team at least since December 2009. I grant you that before that it was a little bit scrappy but since December 2009 we have focussed on one goal and that is to remove a very bad Government that is taxing and spending; that refuses to find the cuts that are needed in the budget; that doesn't live within its means and that this year will introduce not only a flood tax if it gets passed but also a mining tax and also a carbon tax.
Journalist:
Does Julie Bishop enjoy the support of the Party?
Pyne:
100 per cent support.
Journalist:
So how would you describe the Opposition's performance in the House this week are you satisfied with the way it's gone?
Pyne:
I think that our performance in Question Time was exemplary; we highlighted some of the lack of understanding of the Government's reconstruction package amongst the Government. Wayne Swan couldn't even tell us on Wednesday how many people he expected to pay the levy.
So they've introduced the levy, which hasn't passed yet, but they'd like it to, they say it's going to raise $1.8 billion and Wayne Swan couldn't tell us on Wednesday how many people would pay it. We probed yesterday, we discovered the Government didn't realise that if you were under 60 and retiring this year you will pay the tax on your lump sum superannuation and for an average taxpayer in this case a 59 year old policeman, his bill on July the 1st will be $6,500 dollars. The Government didn't know that was one of the impacts of their flood tax.
We found out that Julia Gillard is backing away from the promises that she made to Queenslanders about infrastructure in Brisbane to do with water and sewerage and ferries and so forth and Campbell Newman, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane was shocked to discover the commitments he thought he had from Julia Gillard were in fact not quite as firm as she made out. So I think the Government has a long way to go in selling its new tax and we will hold them to account. We defeated them twice yesterday in the parliament, once on a Bill to do with Flying Foxes in northern NSW, which I grant you is not exactly as important as other issues at the moment, but in the second time in 72 years the Opposition had a bill passed and of course in the Senate, the Youth Allowance Bill passed again standing up for students.
Journalist:
Back benchers are quoted as saying that Shadow Cabinet is insane and being run by One Nation, what is your response to this?
Pyne:
Well, anybody who knows my history will know that I was one of the very first people in the Coalition to distance myself, in fact publicly attack Pauline Hanson and One Nation. I was one of the very first members of the Coalition to say that I would never preference One Nation even ahead of the Labor Party, even ahead of the Green, so I think they are wild comments and not to be taken seriously.
ENDS