2GB with Steve Price

STEVE PRICE: …particularly why Senator Sam Dastyari is still on the federal government payroll and why David Feeney, and to a lesser degree Senator Katy Gallagher, are not before the High Court and not before the people having a bi-election. Christopher Pyne is on the line, thanks for your time.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Steve.

STEVE PRICE: Why are we not having a bi-election in Batman given what John Alexander and Barnaby Joyce did?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That’s a very good question. Bill Shorten is running a protection racket, effectively, for his MPs, holding them to a different standard than Malcolm Turnbull did for our Liberal MPs and National MPs in the case of Barnaby Joyce. When John Alexander found out that he could be UK citizen he did the right thing and he resigned and had a bi-election, went back to the people and got elected, and I think he got a lot of credit for doing so quite frankly, whereas Bill Shorten’s people are hanging on and refusing to budge and costing taxpayers, potentially millions of dollars in legal fees because they are trying to test their position in the High Court. Now David Feeney has had seven weeks to find these documents that he says prove that he is not a UK citizen, he can’t find them, the UK government can’t find them, that’s because they don’t exist, and he should resign, cause a bi-election and face the people.

STEVE PRICE: Feeney is using the dog ate my homework argument that I did relinquish my citizenship but somebody somewhere in the world doesn’t have the records I mean does he seriously think we’re dumb enough to believe that?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: These days Steve it’s very hard to believe because as we all know there are so many different ways to keep records electronically, even the old fashioned way, but there definitely must be a trail of David Feeney…

STEVE PRICE: Of course there is.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Relinquishing his citizenship, and the fact they can’t find one indicates that there isn’t and he should just bite the bullet, call a bi-election, face the people and see if they want to re-elect him. If they don’t that’s bad luck for him but the truth is he is dragging it out and so is Susan Lamb in Longman where she also hasn’t been able to relinquish her UK citizenship. But it really goes to Bill Shorten’s leadership, this is a guy who said he’d run the country like a union and he meant it and that’s exactly what he is doing with these Labor MPs, David Feeney in particular. Everyone knows David Feeney needs to resign and cause a bi-election, Bill Shorten’s just trying to drag it out, waiting for something to turn up that saves him from a bi-election.

STEVE PRICE: You can’t force it?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No we can’t. So if David Feeney’s been referred to the High Court the High Court are considering him, they’ve asked him to produce his documents by the 1st of February so he’s got about another week to produce the documents…

STEVE PRICE: He won’t be able to, so what happens then?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well then the High Court will rule if they decide that he is still a UK citizen then they’ll automatically disqualify him and when he’s disqualified there’ll be a bi-election so he and Bill Shorten are just buying time, costing taxpayers unnecessary money because Bill Shorten isn’t the leader that Malcolm Turnbull is.

STEVE PRICE: Feeney is a vocal supporter of Shorten’s, he’s a factional supporter of Shorten’s and we all know that what will happen in that inner trendy urban seat of Northcote the Greens will bowl him over and he will lose his seat.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: There’s every prospect of that if that’s what the people of Batman choose to do. He only just beat the Greens in the last election…

STEVE PRICE: Probably a lesser of two evils for you, do you want another Greens in the House of Reps?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: (laughs) No, we want more Liberals in the House of Reps.

STEVE PRICE: Exactly.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: But we will see what happens with Batman. The likely winner of Batman is a Green or Labor. But the truth is this could have all been resolved at the same time as John Alexander’s bi-election was resolved, we could have had a bi-election in Batman last December. John Alexander did the right thing, Bill Shorten is doing the wrong thing, it’s a pattern of behaviour throughout his career, it’s why the CFMEU are still at the table in the ALP, still calling the shots and it’s why he’s not suitable to be the Prime Minister of Australia.

STEVE PRICE: Why are we, the taxpayer mugs of Australia, still paying the salary of Sam Dastyari?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well that’s another good question. Sam Dastyari has not resigned, so we had the great kerfuffle about him leaving and pulling the pin, but he didn’t really pull the pin, like Dame Nelly Melba he’s still going.

STEVE PRICE: But that’s a disgrace, I mean he’s got the Senate perks of office that he’s still drawing on, he’s not been working as a Senator, presumably because he’s going to quit for months now and yet we’re writing out his salary cheque. Isn’t there something wrong with the system?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Unfortunately the other parties can’t force people out of the Parliament, so it becomes a question of them making an honourable decision, and Sam Dastyari’s decided to stay in the Senate until, I think the end of this month. They’ve now chosen a replacement for him in Kristina Keneally, which was always going to happen. And as you say he is still drawing a salary as a Senator, but there is no mechanism to force anybody out of the Parliament other than the High Court disqualifying them for a breach of that section of the constitution that deals with citizenship and bankruptcy.

STEVE PRICE: I hope he hasn’t been spending his annual leave time on our salary in China having holidays with his mates over there. You’ve got a major announcements have you in Brisbane today?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yes, we’re making great progress…

STEVE PRICE: You can make it here if you’d like, what are you doing?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We’re making great progress with this Defence Industry job that I’ve got at the moment and today we’re announcing that we’re going to source $100 million worth of ammunition from NIOA, which is a Brisbane-based business as a test to see if we can proof that ammunition then we’ll be able to source these large munitions for Howitzers, they’re 155 millimetres, from NIOA in the future. So if this succeeds, this contract which is worth $100 million and it can be proved that NIOA can do they job which I’m sure they will be able to, this will lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of ammunition being sourced here in Australia by an Australian owned business rather than being imported from overseas, which is really good news.

STEVE PRICE: New jobs, which is a good thing, does it matter that it’s run by Bob Katter’s son in law as has been reported today?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I don’t know if that’s an advantage or a disadvantage, I’ve always liked Bob Katter and his son Robert is a great fellow but I don’t think it has any impact on whether Robert is a good businessman or not.

STEVE PRICE: Just before you go, the Australian is reporting this morning, Simon Benson, that there is chatter among people smugglers that you should get back on the boats because the Kiwis will take you in. Jacinda Ardern, of course, made some very inflammatory comments about Manus Island and suggested that the New Zealanders would take some people from Manus. What’s your understanding of whether the boats are back and active again?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s obviously critically important, Steve, that we don’t give the people smugglers even a chink of light to see through, to try and re-start this horrendous trade. A lot of people have probably started to forget what it was like to have 800 boats and 50,000 unauthorised arrivals under the Labor Party. John Howard stopped it and then Tony Abbott stopped it, and the new government, and the last thing we want to do is to re-open that trade. New Zealand, I’m sure out of an abundance of good will, made an offer for these people smugglers, some of the people in Manus Island, but the danger of accepting such an offer, of course, is it sends a very clear signal to people smugglers that they can get people to Australia or to be interdicted and then be taken to a detention centre, get them to New Zealand, then as far as they’re concerned there’s a chance that they’ll get to Australia and that’s what we have to stop. A lot of people smugglers and a lot of the people who would be wanting to come here see New Zealand as very much part of Australia and the last thing we want to do is re-open that trade, so it’s critical we don’t do that.

STEVE PRICE: Thanks for your time this morning, good on you.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s a pleasure Steve, thank you.