ABC News Radio

SUBJECTS: The week in Parliament

E&OE… 

Marius Benson: Christopher Pyne, both sides of politics, Labor and the Coalition agree that offshore processing is the way to go in dealing with boat arrivals to Australia.  The political process yesterday produced an end to offshore processing.  Is that a failure of the political process and do you accept part of the blame yourself? 

Christopher Pyne: No, it’s an outcome driven by the Government’s failure to accept that they have to work with a hung parliament where they are reliant on the Greens and the cross benchers and they’ve produced a policy which is opposed by almost everybody across the political spectrum. 

Benson: Can I put to you an argument that is being put in some of the papers this morning in various terms?  This is Greg Sheriden writing in the Australian, the Foreign Affairs Editor for the Australian.  He says the boat people back down is a huge defeat for Australian sovereignty, a red letter day for people smugglers and a defeat which the Gillard Government and the Abbott Opposition have to share equally. 

Pyne: No, he’s not right about that.  I like Greg Sheriden very much.  It is a red letter day.  It’s a failure of Government policy.  The Rudd-Gillard Government undid the Howard Government’s border protection policies in August 2008, and there’s no getting away from that.  The Government should swallow hard, accept their failure and adopt the Opposition’s policy and we’ll support it. 

Benson: Do you agree with the Prime Minister at least to this extent, the result yesterday means the end of offshore detention and will mean more boat arrivals? 

Pyne: There’s no doubt that the Prime Minister’s failure to put the migration bill to the Parliament yesterday and to have a policy that works will lead to a green light for people smugglers.  The Government has failed dramatically and the Prime Minister really has no right to hold the office she does today. 

Benson: So, do you think there will be an increase in boat arrivals?

Pyne: I have no doubt about it. 

Benson: The Government is now saying it wants to use community detention more, to release people into the community after health checks and after identity checks.  Are you in favour of that? 

Pyne: We’ve been in favour of community detention all along.  We introduced it, Marius.  What the Government announced yesterday was that they were going to allow asylum seekers that were in the community to access welfare, access jobs, access public education, public health, the housing trust and so on.  This is going to be – if you talk about the sugar on the table, as the Indonesians describe permanent residency, this is sugar on the table with lashings of cream because the Government has now made this the most attractive destination in the world for boat arrivals. 

Benson: So are you saying the Opposition is opposed to that greater access to community detention or not? 

Pyne: No, we are in favour of community detention.  We created community detention.  There’s a vast difference between community detention and what the Government announced last night. 

Benson: Can I go back a day to the carbon tax legislation was passed.  The Prime Minister was shouted down by members of the public in the public gallery.  Anthony Albanese in Parliament accused the Opposition of signing in some of those people who did that chanting.  Is that the case?  Did Opposition members sign those people in? 

Pyne: No.  I made some investigations about that very matter yesterday Marius after Anthony Albanese’s claim and I can assure you that not one of the people ejected from the galleries were signed in by a Coalition MP.  It was just another false claim by Anthony Albanese in the heat of the moment. 

Benson: Christopher Pyne thanks very much. 

Pyne: It’s a pleasure, thank you. 

ENDS