5AA Adelaide

JOURNALIST: Minister Pyne good morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: good morning Will.

JOURNALIST: And Anthony Albanese good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: G’day.

JOURNALIST: and happy New Year to you guys too.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Happy new year to both of you, although it is a bit past New Year.

JOURNALIST: A sluggish start, a sluggish start but we have to make up for lost time.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I say happy New Year right through into February.

JOURNALIST: Yeah I figured that. Is there some kind of statute of limitations?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: You’ve always been strange Christopher.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’ve always been a bit slow yeah.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Bit strange is the term that I’d use.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well happy new year to you Anthony.

JOURNALIST: Start the year with a sledge.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Got to, got to, got to keep in form. Bit out of form.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You were a bit out of form by the end of last year.

JOURNALIST: The world is a very different place from the last time we did chat. Donald Trump is now the President of the United States, one of the first bits of business he got down to was withdrawing the United States from the Trans Pacific Partnership. Interested to hear from you both, you first Christopher Pyne, whether it was the right or wrong move?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I think it is the wrong move for the United States because open markets are exactly what the world needs in terms of growing jobs and investment and growth in our economy. There are 12 countries in the TPP, without the United States there is still 11. Those 11 want to go ahead with the TPP. It will mean more open markets for Australia. We are a trading nation because we are only 23 million people we need to get our goods and services out of Australia and around the world. [Inaudible] like Japan of course and Korea and we intend to press ahead, and other countries like Indonesia, even China, are talking about joining in. So it still remains a very live option for Australia.

JOURNALIST: What do you think Albo?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: It is a bit like the Monty Python parrot sketch, you know with the parrot nailed to the perch and the Government saying no it’s not dead it’s just resting. You can’t have the TPP without the world’s most largest and most powerful economy, the United States. That was the whole point of the TPP was the US at its centre. The US has withdrawn, that is a decision for them. I don’t think it’s a good decision and a lot of Donald Trump’s rhetoric will be seen I think perhaps how that all plays out. The US has grown to be the world’s largest economy by being engaged with the world.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: What we are seeing here of course, is the Labor Party completely retreating from any kind of credible economic policy and joining One Nation and the Greens as economic populists.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Its dead, Christopher.

JOURNALIST: You almost sound like you are celebrating its death.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: It’s just a fact, it’s just a fact.

JOURNALIST: Why not take a more creative approach, a more umm sort of positive approach as advocated by your former Leader and Prime Minister Paul Keating, who has who has said prior to Trump’s election victory the prospect of a Trump Presidency means that Australia should go well actually we are going to put more effort and energy into our region.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: And we certainly should do that. Labor, you know we won’t take lectures from anyone about engagement with the region. Its Labor that going all the way back to the recognition of China by the Whitlam Government has been engaged with our region. We will continue to do so.

JOURNALIST: So why cant the TPP survive without America?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Because the US is at its centre. The US is the focal point.

JOURNALIST: Does the TPP only make sense if the US is involved then?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: No not at all. The TPP itself is dead because the TPP is an agreement with the US as the key negotiator.

JOURNALIST: Is it dead Chris?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Absolutely not. And Prime Minister who was here with Malcolm Turnbull a couple of weeks ago, they were talking about how to expand the TPP to make sure it continues. There are 11 countries besides the United States in the Trans Pacific Partnership right across to South America. I mean the idea that without the United States there is no TPP is false and what we are seeing is Labor wanting to wreck everything. Rather than saying as you did David, being creating and working to save what is still left, Labor is joyfully rejoicing in trying to wreck jobs and growth in our economy. What Bill Shorten wants to do is drive our economy into the ground so he can win the next election. He is not interested in jobs. Labor has no jobs policy, it has no growth policy and when the Government puts one up like the Trans Pacific Partnership they try and knock it down. They voted for the China Free Trade Agreement one minute to midnight and everyone in South Australia who is involved with the wine industry knows the China Free Trade Agreement has made the wine industry blossom again in South Australia. What we need is more open markets, more trade, more growth, more jobs and Labor is in fact trying to knock that down while we build it up. They are joining One Nation in their economic populism and the Greens in their economic vandalism.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well of course it is Labor that established APEC. It is under Paul Keating.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You are talking about things that happened in the 80’s and 90’s.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: And laid the foundation for 25 years of economic growth. Labor began the negotiations over the China Free Trade Agreement, under Craig Emerson as the Trade Minister…

JOURNALIST: Hey guys, just on the rise of Donald Trump. One of the things that galvanised his victory is the sense that he was a political outsider. That he was outside of the political establishment. Over the summer here in Australia we saw a Turnbull Government Minister Sussan Ley fall on her own sword on account of an entitlements scandal. Do you think, I’ll start with you Chris but I’ll get Albo’s thoughts on this as well, do you think that the major parties have in a way contributed to this anti-politician sentiment through episodes such as the Sussan Ley business?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look I’m glad that Malcolm Turnbull acted very quickly in January to cauterise this issue by announcing that we would continue to implement the 31 recommendations of the review, the remuneration tribunal’s review into MP’s work expenses and also to announce a new arbiter group committee to look over questions that MPs might ask about whether such and such travel or work expense was within the rules. I think that was a good outcome from Malcolm Turnbull and the Government’s point of view. These issues happen every now and then. It is very unfortunate when they do. Some of the debate about these issues is rational; some of the debate is not rational. For example George Brandis, who was doing his job travelling around Western Queensland as a Queensland Senator, I thought that was quite absurd that he was attacked for doing that and just recently in the debate about Malcolm Turnbull’s diary some journalist was saying that was because he didn’t want to release his official diary because of entitlements issues which is completely absurd. So there is times when I think these debates are fair and there are times when they are unfair but we have moved to deal with it.

JOURNALIST: What do you think Albo? Have you all ended up with a collective black eye from instances like this one?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: There is no doubt there are some people in the community that think that every time we make a phone call that that is, that is too much, that we shouldn’t be paid that we shouldn’t travel anywhere but then again if it was the case for example I didn’t go to Adelaide throughout 2017 I’m sure at the end of the year you would be saying to me “why haven’t you been to Adelaide? Don’t you care about South Australians as a national representative?”

JOURNALIST: Would have been stuck with just Sam Dastyari just making his visit too. Hey look just before we let you both go I just want to get a quick comment from you Chris Pyne because there is a big announcement involving DCNS and Subs today. Christopher Pyne are you there?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: If there is a big announcement about DCNS and Subs that you are referring to the collaboration between the universities and the State Government, $150,000.00 of defence science and technology groups are involved with that I wouldn’t say that was a big announcement. If there is a big announcement I am not aware of it.

JOURNALIST: I was under the impression you have a big announcement to make. Maybe you are saving it up for next time we chat.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: I think that is an exclusive to a rival…

JOURNALIST: Yeah hang on, what’s going on here?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: He’s done a drop…

JOURNALIST: Yeah it sounds a bit like that. We’ve smoked him out. Anyway we’ll leave it for this morning. Welcome back for 2017. We’ll do it all again next week. Chris and Albo thank you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Thanks. Chat to you next week.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you.