Bolt Report

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview – Network Ten – Andrew Bolt on The Bolt Report Sunday 7 December 2014 SUBJECT: Week in review ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: This was a bad way for the Abbott Government to end the year. It's not just the terrible polls, but the disunity. Last week, the Prime Minister's office told journalists the planned Medicare co- payment was being scrapped. But the Treasurer said it wasn't. Then, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was reported to have gone, quote, “bananas”, when she was told the Trade Minister would chaperone her to the climate change talks in Lima, because she might go too green. Defence Minister David Johnston was undermined by leaks showing him lavishly wining and dining people at the same time our defence forces are getting an effective pay cut. And last, the Prime Minister was forced to defend his Treasurer after anonymous Liberal colleagues said he should be replaced. TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: I rate Joe very highly indeed, and the public should too. ANDREW BOLT: Joining me is the Education Minister, and Leader of the House, Christopher Pyne. Thanks for your time. CHRISTOPHER PYNE, EDUCATION MINISTER: Good morning, Andrew. ANDREW BOLT: Not a good look, is it? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, certainly the way you’ve just described the end of the year doesn't sound very good. But I'd also look at the positive side of the ledger, things like delivering three Free Trade Agreements, passing 75% of the 400 budget measures, abolishing the carbon tax, the mining tax, changes to legislation in many areas that are improving things like the tertiary education regulator in my own portfolio to deregulate and cut red tape. There are lots of positive signs. What my colleagues need to understand is that they are advocates for the Government's agenda, they’re not background commentators for the media. They also need to understand that, present company excepted of course, the media are not trying to help the government to be re-elected. They're trying to get a story and, therefore, disunity is always a story, and we finished this year certainly in a slightly ragged position, but we still have two years to go before an election is due. Many of the issues that are running now will be bedded down over the course of the next two years, and I think we'll have a very different end to next year than we’ve had to this year. ANDREW BOLT: Well, I'm not trying to get the Government re-elected, I'm trying to get a better performance. CHRISTOPHER PYNE; Sure. ANDREW BOLT: Joe Hockey, what does he need to do to get back the confidence of his colleagues? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, he definitely has my confidence, and I think he has the confidence of the team in general. He's had a difficult year because the budget contained a lot of measures that are necessary to rebalance the budget, to go back into surplus, to get the economy moving again. Labor left us with an absolute mess. They were wreckers in government, they're being vandals in opposition. Rather than being the Hawke-Keating model of Labor, they are the Whitlam-Cairns model of Labor. And, as a consequence, they tell everyone that they can have whatever they want. Now, at the next election, they'll have to show where the money is coming from. They're stopping $28 billion of savings, they have $15 billion of new spending measures. They're going to need to explain to the public which taxes are going to go up, or which other services will be cut, or whether they're going to go back to borrowing from overseas at high interest rates again, and I have great belief in the great common sense of the Australian public. They know that you actually have to live within your means. ANDREW BOLT: Well, that was the theme of the editorial that I’ve just done. But I go back to it - there are briefings again today written about in the papers by colleagues against Joe Hockey. What does he need to do to improve the confidence that the team has in him? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I think we just need to keep ploughing on with our measures, you know. Forward momentum is a great salve for any concerns that people have. Rather than wallowing, we need to get on with the job. That's why I'm back in the Parliament again in February with my higher education reforms on behalf of the Government, because they are vital to our universities and to our students. Whenever we take a setback, we have to bounce back, and I think Joe will bounce back in spite of a difficult budget year. We will continue to bounce back because confidence is rising in consumers, it’s rising in business, and I believe we'll have a very good year in 2015, economically and politically. ANDREW BOLT: Why did the Prime Minister send Andrew Robb, the Trade Minister, to ride shotgun over Julie Bishop at the climate change conference? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Andrew, he didn't - ANDREW BOLT: He did. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Andrew Robb was already in South America doing other work on behalf of the Government to do with the Transpacific Trade Partnership – ANDREW BOLT: Christopher, let me correct just you. He did send Andrew Robb to ride shotgun over Julie Bishop. I'm asking you why you think that was necessary. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, and I'm saying that he – that Andrew was already going to be in South America, and so the Prime Minister’s office felt that it would be good for both ministers to be at this important climate conference in Lima, in Peru. Julie Bishop is the senior member of that team. She is the Foreign Minister, so if anybody is riding shotgun, it is Julie Bishop. She's the Foreign Minister – ANDREW BOLT: So, you’re denying - you're denying what I know is a fact? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I certainly am. Julie Bishop doesn't need help from anyone. That's been proven in the last 15 months. Andrew Robb is a terrific Trade Minister, he and she together will be an even stronger partnership on behalf of Australia in Lima, on a whole range of issues, not just the climate issues, there’ll be other bilaterals with other countries, and Andrew will use that as an opportunity to talk to them about freer trade across our region. That's the reason why he's going to be there. And it made sense that, since he was in South America, he join Julie in Peru. ANDREW BOLT: There are complaints that there is too much centralisation of power in the Prime Minister's office, which is always code for Peta Credlin, the Chief of Staff. I think she's been a real motor in the government, to tell the truth, but she is a lightning rod, she’s a scapegoat, and maybe there is an argument, isn't there, for the - if not to replace Peta Credlin, I don't agree with that, but at least to put another Peta Credlin, so to speak, in there? Someone very strong in terms of the media, the communications, which is where you're really falling down. Would you agree with that? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Andrew, I wouldn't agree with that. Every new government, there are criticisms of central office, if you like, of the Prime Minister's office. Doesn't matter whether it was the Howard government, the Rudd, the Gillard, the Fraser, the Hawke, Keating, now our Government. The reality is, we are a strong Government with strong ministers who want to get on with their job, but we do need to be coordinated, the narrative and message needs to be coordinated. Naturally, that comes from the Prime Minister's office. But Peta Credlin is doing a superb job. People would not want to forget, she was one of the main reasons we won the election after two terms. She is a driving force, as you say, a motor in the Government, and I want her to stay and do even better into the future. I'm certainly 100% supportive of her, as I am of the Prime Minister, and my colleagues need to stop being background commentators, and instead recognise that they are as much players on the field as I am, or any other member of the leadership team. ANDREW BOLT: One change the government has just flagged today, the Prime Minister saying he'll - he's considering cutting the maximum payment under his paid parental leave scheme even more to under $50,000, and putting the savings into child care so that people can get a rebate on even nannies in the home. Do you think we can actually afford to be subsidising nannies, given where the economy is? CHRISTOPHER PYNE; Well, Andrew, I can tell you that child care, or early- learning, is a barbecue-stopper issue in the electorate. It is what everyone talks about. No matter what their demographic, from the lowest SES demographic to the highest SES demographic, because the participation rate of people in the workforce, I think women in workforce is now about 78%, but people also want to have families. They want to help with the population, they want to participate, and they want to be productive. So, child care and early-learning is a vital part of all of those three things working together. If we can tweak the paid parental leave scheme to get support for child care and early learning, I think that would not only be popular, I think it will be very economically and socially sensible. ANDREW BOLT: The Senate, the trend seems to be to have more independents and more minor parties getting elected, particularly with proportional representation in the Senate. It's a bit of a lucky dip, and some of the winners, as you well know, Christopher, don't seem to be up to the job emotionally or intellectually. Palmer United’s senator Glenn Lazarus wouldn't even meet you to discuss your bill, which I thought was extraordinary. Senator Lambie says she'll vote against everything and anything, and everyone’s in for their chop and a headline, which they get from saying, “No”. Even if it's good, they'll say, “No” initially. Is it now impossible, with this Senate, to ever expect firm decisive Government and a mandate for cutting? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Andrew this is the Senate that the public gave the Government. Now, when Labor is in power, the Greens, their alliance partners, work with them to pass things through the Senate. That looks a lot better for them. With the Coalition of course, Greens and Labor are simply oppositionist, they are not working collaboratively with the Government at all. That's a choice that they’ve made. That means we have to work with the crossbenchers. Watching legislation being made, being amended, et cetera, is like watching sausages being made. And as Bismarck once famously said, “It's better for the public not to see how sausages are made”. That means that the public see a lot more about the machinations of government than they would normally under Labor, and that's why, of course, there is a lot of this commentary in the press about the Senate. My view is, the Senate has been working collaboratively in some areas. We’ve passed, for example, the abolition of the carbon tax, the mining tax, the changes to the temporary protection visas last week. 75% of 400 budget measures are through the Senate, and we just need to keep patiently working with them. We're only 15 months since the last election. We have a lot more work to do, and I look forward to working with them and looking forward to sitting down with Glenn Lazarus in the new year and having a lovely long meeting with him to talk to him about my higher education reforms. ANDREW BOLT: Oh, can't wait for that one! CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think he owes me a meeting! ANDREW BOLT: I think he sure does. I think any elected member that doesn't meet a minister to discuss important reforms is selling his electorate short.  Christopher Pyne, thank you so much for your time. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It's a great pleasure. ANDREW BOLT: Coming up, the panel. [ends]