Australian Agenda

SUBJECTS: Labor leadership

E&OE………… 

Journalist:  Mr Pyne thanks for your company.

Christopher Pyne:  Good morning Peter.

Journalist:  It must be very hard to keep the smirk off your face as a member of the Opposition about what’s going on surely.

Pyne:  Look we don’t take any joy at all from what’s going on on the Government side of politics at the moment because it really is very depressing for Australia.  It’s bad for our international reputation, it’s very bad domestically.  I think the Australian public are thoroughly fed up and just regard the Government as a farce and as a joke.  And tragically the more the Labor Party tear into each other the more it becomes apparent they’ve been a farce for a very long time.  For example, if Kevin Rudd is the narcissistic, dysfunctional character he is why did the Prime Minister make him the Foreign Minister for the last eighteen months and why is Wayne Swan saying all these terrific things about him over the last few months when apparently he didn’t mean one word of it?  So I think the tragedy for Australia is that we have a dysfunctional government and the only way of ending that is to give the people the chance to cast a verdict.

Journalist:  Who would you like to see win on Monday?  I mean lets get an honest straight answer here.  Who would the Coalition rather face off against at an election?  Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard?

Pyne:  Well Peter unfortunately whoever emerges as leader tomorrow this won’t be the end of it.  Whoever emerges as leader the policies will remain the same, Bill Shorten will begin his campaign to replace Julia Gillard in six months, that’s the word coming out of the Labor caucus.  The boats will keep arriving, the carbon tax will stay in place, Australian families will still be feel the pressure of cost of living rises, jobs will keep being lost in the manufacturing sector and unfortunately this government has presided over a manifest failure of public policy as well as being unable to work together.  The only way of resolving that is to clear the whole bang lot out and start again at an election.

Journalist:  Mr Pyne, with the greatest of respect, you would say that.  Why do we actually need an election in terms of the function of the government?  Sure, they’re at each others throats but won’t this be resolved on Monday and can’t they get on and govern and can’t you guys then go out and produce more policy and then have an election in the normal period?

Pyne: Well, because it won’t be resolved tomorrow. The leadership of the Labor party will be chosen tomorrow, and it will either be Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd, but nobody believes that this is the end of the matter. The national right of the Labor party are already planning Bill Shorten to be leader in a short space of time, the right wing are only backing Julia Gillard in order to keep Kevin Rudd out, they will then move to bill shorten in a short space of time so the instability will continue, the poisonous, (inaudible) attacks on each other will continue, and the losers from all of this are not the political classes for whom this is a parlour game, but the Australian people who are seeing bad public policy as a consequence, the carbon tax is bad policy, open borders is bad policy, high spending which is keeping interest rates high, is bad policy and the cost of living pressures that people are feeling are a direct consequence of a government who is not worried about where the bus is going, but who is driving the bus.

Journalist: Mr Pyne with all the chaos that is surrounding the Labor Party at the moment, when its one of the greatest crisis they have faced in a long time, how can you explain why Tony Abbott is less popular than both leaders.

Pyne: Well, I don’t believe that he is.

Journalist: With respect Mr Pyne, you have seen the polls over last few days and would have been rejoicing in them, all of them show that Kevin Rudd would beat Tony Abbott by a large margin, and depending on which one you look at, they are either even - stevens for Mrs Gillard and Tony Abbott, or she is slightly in front. So how do you explain that if these are two of the most unpopular leaders, Prime Ministers Australia has had, Tony Abbott is less popular.

Pyne:  Being the Leader of the Opposition is not a popularity contest, the Leader of the Opposition needs to be respected as being capable of making the difficult decisions to meet the challenges Australians face on a daily basis.  Tony Abbott would be focussed on one thing and that is the Australian people, he wouldn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulder as Bill Shorten, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd either had to do or will have to do in the future. The Liberal Party is united team and we are being led by adults and if we were to be elected, we can form a Government that would be focussed on building stronger communities, stronger economy and restoring hope, reward and opportunity to a country that deserves better than this dysfunctional, chaotic and divided government.

Journalist: Alright Christopher, Pyne, Manager of opposition Business, a shorter interview than we normally do than we do (inaudible) But I’m sure you’ll appreciate it s all about the Labor Party at the moment, we appreciate you giving us your thoughts on their crisis at the moment. Thank you.

Pyne: Pleasure, thank you.

ENDS