ABC 891

SUBJECTS: School hall rip-off; Swan’s Treasury leak; US Election

E&OE……………

(Greetings omitted)

Mark Butler: Good morning. Wonderful to be down in the western suburbs.

Journalist: It is, it is, it is. Now Christopher Pyne, you are not in the western suburbs, where are you?

Christopher Pyne: I am on the corner of Portrush road and Payneham road on my way to Gawler to visit Trinity College with Tom Zorich who is our Liberal Candidate for Wakefield.

Butler: Well are you worried about getting your nose bleed if you came down to the western suburbs, Christopher?

Pyne: No I love the western suburbs, love them. In fact they are going to be a lovely blue colour after the next election, down Hindmarsh way, probably not in your electorate though, Mark. Port Adelaide is a bit hard to get across the line, but I am very much looking forward to that change.

Journalist: Now Mark Butler I think it is worth mentioning that the Building Education Revolution came in for a lot of stick, perhaps justifiably so; some of the money that was spent. But we are sitting in a BER facility.

Butler: Well I don’t think it came into much stick in South Australia. I think generally the view is that it was managed very well here. The State Government gave projects to the Department of Infrastructure on things to run instead of the Education Department which happened in some other states. I think that the Infrastructure Department brought their expertise and their experience in dealing with the building industry. And schools in my electorate, and I imagine Christopher’s as well, have capital projects introduced into those schools that they were dreaming of, they were wishing of, they were saving up for, for many, many years and that has happened here at Kilkenny. But as well we have got this wonderful kitchen garden here the Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden which really is an extraordinary programme not only lifting the infrastructure of schools but most importantly building the understanding and the awareness among primary school age children about nutrition and healthy eating.

Journalist: Chris Pyne, you may have a different view of the BER money and how it was spent?

Pyne: Well the Coalition’s concern about the $16.5 billion spend on school halls was not that we were against school infrastructure spending, as in fact we are the only party with a policy that wants to increase spending on school infrastructure after the next election, it was that much of it in the eastern states in particular in New South Wales, in Queensland and in Victoria was wasted. And the value of the money was not present and in the independent and the Catholic system I think they got better value for money because they managed their own projects. But in the government system in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, they didn’t managed their own projects and the schools in many cases were ripped off or received buildings that they didn’t actually want or need. That was our real problem with the BER spending.

Journalist: Now Chris Pyne, this morning the question of the Coalition’s costings and what impact they are going to have on business courtesy of the Treasury leak are out, does that severely embarrass the opposition?

Pyne: Well it doesn’t and it is obviously a leak from the Treasurer’s office designed to cover the story on Tuesday which was that Access Economics said that the government would deliver a $4.2 billion deficit at least this year rather than the $1 billion wafer-thin surplus that they claimed. So the Treasurer has tried to cover for that by releasing Treasury costing of opposition policies but as every economist and serious political commentator has said, if they don’t release all the Coalition policies you can’t exactly compare them and they didn’t cost the abolition of the carbon tax and the mining tax both of which are part of the Coalition policy; they didn’t even bother to cost those so the government is really engaging its usual lower grade political behaviour.

Journalist: Mark Butler, do you accept that?

Butler: No I don’t of course.

Journalist: Well it is convenient that it got leaked, isn’t it?

Butler: Well it is the latest chapter in a series of chapters where Joe Hockey just continues to resist the costing of Liberal Party policies and as we lead into the final twelve of months of the parliamentary term, I think Australians are entitled to know what the impact of the panoply of big spending policies that Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have released is going to be on a budget, a budget that is under strain because what has happened with commodity prices and the like.

Journalist: Well it is difficult to come up with any sort of budget projections from a Coalition when you see the federal budget going down the toilet?

Butler: Well it is not going down the toilet. We have got one of the best budgetary positions you can imagine in the world. We have a fantastic budgetary position. It is under significant financial pressure since the global financial crisis, revenues have been written down by over $150 billion because of the impact of the global financial crisis and the ongoing uncertainty around commodity prices but we have been able to deal with that through very significant and targeted savings programs and the challenge…

Journalist: By racking up a deficit!

Butler: Well the challenge … we did go into deficit for a while as economic orthodoxy would dictate as demand came out.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Butler: Well we only released our mid year budget review two weeks ago which shows we are still on track to deliver a surplus in May in the course of 2012/2013.

Journalist: Now we are only three minutes away from the 9 o clock news, you are both political junkies, can I take your focus away from Kilkenny, away from Canberra and off to Washington. Mark Butler, what do you think is going to happen?

Butler: Well I think we are all political junkies; this is the most significant election that happens on the face of the earth as much as Christopher and I might like to think otherwise. I mean this is the most important election every four years, and we all love watching it. We have our party relationships between Labor Party and the Democrats and I imagine the Liberal Party and the Republicans but genuinely we want to see what the result is, I think it is going to be hard to beat Obama. I think Romney will have to put together a significant number of results in swing states particularly Ohio will be very hard for Romney to win I think, 1 in 8 jobs there are connected to the car industry and I think that one of the really significant achievements of Obama’s first term is around the car industry. So I think that Obama will win but not by much.

Journalist: Ok now Chris Pyne and I know you are going for Obama as well Chris Pyne but Chris Pyne because you are not here you won’t be able to have one of these pavlovas but I think you won’t mind Mark Butler having one because he has gone to the trouble of coming down here courtesy of Mel Gusch.

Pyne: Well I know that Mark Butler loves to get his teeth into a pavlova and it is starting to show of course, it is starting to show. But my tip for the election or course is that I think Obama will get across the line reasonably well given that most of the swing states have fallen his way, but it’s been a fascinating election obviously.

Journalist: It has been, and thank you to Christopher Pyne he is on the road and Mark Butler thank you. Enjoy please the pastie courtesy of Mel Gusch and the students of Kilkenny Primary School.

ENDS