5AA Adelaide Radio

JOURNALIST: It’s that time on a Wednesday morning where two tribes do go to war, Anthony Albanese is off so we’ve got an all South Australian two tribes this morning. Christopher Pyne joins us as does Amanda Rishworth for the first time, Amanda good morning to you.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Good morning.

JOURNALIST: And Christopher Pyne good morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Will and David and welcome Amanda who I understand are calling new Risho.

JOURNALIST: Risho.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: (inaudible) I have been called that before.

JOURNALIST: Yes, Risho.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Much better than Rizzo from Grease.

JOURNALIST: That was on the other night.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yeah I love Rizzo.

JOURNALIST: Great movie, hey…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Stockhard Channing.

JOURNALIST: He’s right.

JOURNALIST: Fortuitous having you both on with weather being such a big topic in both your seats there are in fact, they’re really weather hot spots and areas where there would be a great deal of concern that SES would have. Chris Pyne in Sturt Gorge Road we know is already closed, are there any other areas that you’re concerned about ahead of the weather?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well I’m always concerned about Waterfall Gully Road and unfortunately for years we have been wrestling with the state government about flood mitigation works at the top of Waterfall Gully Road and it’s a great shame that the work that needs to be done hasn’t been done and there are of course other roads through Skye, Aldana, Stonyfell which can be problematic on a particularly bad weather pattern but the one that I’m most concerned about is Waterfall Gully Road which has of course been damaged already.

JOURNALIST: And Amanda Rishworth the last time I think almost exactly two weeks ago when there was localised flooding around Adelaide it was an area around the Onkaparinga where people had been doorknocked that I imagine is in your seat that had a great deal of concern.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Absolutely, Old Noarlunga and along the Onkaparinga Rivers and as well as Port Noarlunga being at quite a low lying area was a particular concern and I have to say the SES is doing an amazing job of being pro-active out there talking with residents. And there was places for people to go at the Old Noarlunga Institute Hall and Aberfoyle Community Centre and I’m assuming that if there are circumstances where we see flooding like that again there will be places such as those for people to go to. I think also though with the winds there will be concerns from some residents along the coast about wave erosion and things like that because some of the areas along the coast are very prone to, around the Seaford area as well, are very prone to flooding when King Tides do happen as well.

JOURNALIST: Yesterday folks we spoke to the broadcaster Andrew Denton on our program who is heading up Go Gentle which is the pro-voluntary euthanasia organisation that’s been liaising with MPs around the country, particularly here in South Australia and also Victoria where there’s a real renewed push to bring in voluntary euthanasia laws. Start with you Chris, what’s your position on the question of euthanasia and we’ve seen in the past that the federal government intervened when territories brought in euthanasia laws, my understanding is that constitutionally the Commonwealth couldn’t override state laws but what’s your assessment of the wisdom of these proposals.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well David I was in the Parliament when the Commonwealth overturned the Northern Territory’s euthanasia laws and I voted in favour of overturning those laws, that was an emotional bill moved by Kevin Andrews and I would do so again. I don’t support euthanasia or assisted suicide and if I was faced with a vote to stop it I would vote to stop it. If a state introduced euthanasia laws or assisted suicide laws I’d think constitutionally it would be very difficult for the Commonwealth to do anything about it, but I wouldn’t support and I think it’s a mark of a civilised society that actually respects human life and I don’t think that the principle can be overcome that will allow euthanasia.

JOURNALIST: What’s your view on it Amanda because it’s obviously something that would be decided by a conscience vote and there are people in the Labor Party who are passionately in favour of it yet there are others, some of them in your faction, the Labor right, who for religious reasons have qualms that are probably similar to those just outlined by Christopher.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look I do think it should be a conscience vote within our party, I think it is a very important ethical and moral dilemma to discuss. In terms of the principle that people shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily, I certainly support actually intervention that reduces people’s suffering and there’s been a lot of work done in the states and territories, in South Australia about the concept of passive euthanasia, that means withholding medical treatments and actually allowing people to exit I guess on their own terms, to actually not say no to the anti-biotics, say no to going to hospital.

I think we can do a lot better in the area of palliative care and if it then gets to the point where we’re looking at active euthanasia as the Human Rights Commission puts it then I think there needs to be a lot of legal protections put in place, things around is it voluntary, important questions around what is the mental health of the person at the time, areas around the doctors right to say they will do no harm and to be able for them to still maintain that so I think there’s a lot of questions. In terms of the state’s rights it is absolutely I think clear that it is the state’s right to introduce it and I think if the states were to introduce this legislation there Commonwealth should really support those states in the decision that they’ve made because really the end of life planning does fit with the states and territories.

JOURNALIST: Chris we’ve only just had an election but already there’s a bit of chatter around the latest Newspoll which shows that you guys are struggling a little bit or more specifically that Malcolm Turnbull’s struggling a little bit. What did you make yesterday of the declaration from Tony Abbott that he is a spent force in the leadership sense now, do you think that that is the case?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Look I don’t think there’s any serious speculation of any kind around the Coalition’s leadership, in fact the only speculation that I hear in Canberra is around Bill Shorten’s leadership given he lost the election…

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Oh Christopher.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And obviously there are people in the Labor Party like Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen, Tony Burke, all of whom who hanker after Bill Shorten’s job. The truth is the polls come and go, there are lots of them, lots of them and I’m certainly not going to live from one poll to the next, sometimes the polls are better, sometimes the polls are worse, the government is not worrying about the polls, the government is worrying about getting on with the job and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Passing savings measures, repairing the budget, dealing with things like the backpacker tax, superannuation reform, the national plebiscite on same sex marriage, defence industry being pushed further and further ahead in a very positive way, these are the kinds of things that we’re focused on, not the Newspoll.

JOURNALIST: Alright we’re going to have to leave it there, I would’ve like to have given Amanda another pot shot…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: She had a good run.

JOURNALIST: Back at that but we want to leave time to give the fullest wrap of the weather before 9 o’clock so to you Amanda and to you Christopher thanks very much for joining us this morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s a pleasure.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Thank you.