Transcript - Sky News PM Agenda - 3 June 2009
14 Jun 2009
Transcipt SUBJECTS: Quarterly growth figures; Question Time
David Speers:
Christopher Pyne do you give the Government any credit for avoiding a recession?
Christopher Pyne MP:
Well it's not a question of who should get the credit or not for the fact that we're not in a technical recession according to these ABS statistics. The Prime Minister wants to be like a returning Caesar from Gaul and be given tribute and a parade down the streets of Rome for his greatness. The reality is credit should go where credit's due, and the credit should go to the business community and the employers of Australia and their employees who have so lifted net exports who actually made the huge change to the last quarter.
Speers:
When you guys were last in Government, the economy was going well. How often would you have sat there and said the credit doesn't go to the Government - it goes to the business community?
Pyne:
We always used to say, John Howard always used to say that the real people who made the economy work in Australia were the small businesses, the mums and dads who employed other Australians and created wealth, now the truth of these figures...
Speers:
But the Government isn't inconsequential when it comes to economic management and the performance of the economy?
Pyne:
Well I'm sure Dear Leader wants us to give him all the credit but the truth is if the business community hadn't been growing their capacity for exports and having this huge increase in net exports we would not be in this position we're in today. It's great news that we have a quarter of growth, terrific news for Australia, but of course it's just one measure of recession. Unemployment is still predicted to go up, and the Prime Minister himself in Question Time said unemployment would go up. So on one hand he is wanting tribute for staving off a recession and on the other hand he is saying unemployment is going up. I think it's a bit early for saying mission accomplished.
Speers:
The rest of the world is going down the tubes, the US, the UK, Japan and Germany. Why do you think Australia has had a positive quarter?
Pyne:
We're very lucky in Australia for the new government to take over a position where there was no net Government debt, a budget surplus and at least $45 billion in the kit, in the Future Fund.
Speers:
Why didn't we drag down in our growth figure? Is it because of the spending of that surplus?
Pyne:
The reason why we had a quarter of growth was because net exports increased, imports dropped, exports increased adding 2.2% to GDP.
Speers:
Nothing to do with consumer spending?
Pyne:
Consumer spending went up a little bit, and the stimulus package might have had something to do with that small increase in consumer spending, but I think for the Prime Minister to be triumphant about it, and the Small Business Minister Craig Emerson went to essentially carry him on his shoulders out of the chamber today as the dear and great leader is rather overstepping the mark.
Speers:
But the Prime Minister says the advice of Treasury is without that small increase in consumer spending we would be in recession today. You don't believe that?
Pyne:
The Treasury gave them that advice? Well the Treasury has been given the Government a lot of advice in recent months some of which the Government wants to publicise. Some of it, it doesn't wish to publicise, so I'd be happy to see the modeling of the Treasury figues if they wanted to publish it, but the reality is we would not be in the position we are in today if it weren't for the hard work and enterprise of our small businesses and business community in the work that they've done. It is good that we're in a quarter of growth. The stimulus package has obviously had a minute aspect of that in terms of household spending, but it's far too early to be saying we're out of the woods. It is far too early to be triumphant of this outcome, and for those people who are going to lose their jobs in the next eight to twelve months, I'm sure they don't feel that there is no recession.
Speers:
A minute impact you said that the stimulus payments have had on consumer spending. Can you quantify that any more than saying minute?
Pyne:
Well the Leader himself in his press conference said that obviously the stimulus package had something to do with the increase in consumer spending, but it's not the greatest part of what's happened in the last quarter, and of course we're in the Opposition. We don't have the resources available to us to quantify spending and so forth the way the Government has.
Speers:
But do you regret at all opposing those stimulus payments, if they have as you now agree had some impact in helping us avoid a recession?
Pyne:
No I think the stimulus packages, the $23 billion cash splash, I'm glad that we opposed it in February. I think we did the right thing. Of course everything we're talking about is a short term solution for the Government's reelection in 12-18 months time. No one in Question Time today, Wayne Swan didn't talk about how there is $315 billion of debt that future generations are going to have to repay. This might well get the Government through the next election cycle. It will get them through the next news cycle. But the future generations are going to have to repay this debt. They're the ones who are going to have to bear the burden of the decisions the Government is making right now.
Speers:
You were kicked out of Parliament this afternoon. How do you think Harry Jenkins is performing? You're limited in what you can say in the House - outside the House, how do you think he's going?
Pyne:
Well I think Harry made a few very bad calls over the peculiar behavior of the Prime Minister in waving these photographs around and having a different standard for the Opposition. I'm glad to see the photographs have been sheathed by the Government, and of course the Opposition would rather see the Parliament act in a mature and meaningful way, which is hard when they won't answer our questions but I think the Speaker's had a bad couple of weeks in terms of being able to have rulings that are fair on both sides. Today he threw out, for example, Andrew Laming, the Member for Bowman. He didn't throw out the Member for Solomon who he gave a warning to on their side for seemingly in my view, the same offence, but being Speaker is a tough job. I think he does a pretty good job, but I think he could be a little fairer to us on the Opposition side.
ENDS