Doorstop

SUBJECTS: Labor-Greens war; Labor leadership; Plastics tax

E&OE………

Christopher Pyne: Julia Gillard needs to use the NSW Labor Party Conference to outline her position on the current Labor-Green alliance in Canberra. It’s not good enough that Julia Gillard is the only Labor figure not to be expressing a view about this current stoush between Greens and Labor. Either it’s a genuine falling out, in which case the Labor-Greens alliance needs to be ripped up and Labor needs to go it alone, or otherwise it is a more choreographed display than a bird of paradise mating ritual in Papua New Guinea. My suspicion is it is a choreographed display; it’s more florid than the mating ritual of the bird of paradise in Papua New Guinea, but if it isn’t then Julia Gillard needs to outline that to the NSW Labor Party Conference and explain what is going to happen in this hung parliament in Canberra.

If Labor and the Greens have fallen out, she needs to say where she stands on preferencing the Greens at the next election. She needs to say whether the alliance will continue in Canberra. If it does continue, then she has no credibility when the faceless men of the Labor Party are saying the opposite.

I also suspect this is a faux proxy war for the leadership battle within the Labor Party between Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Bill Shorten and Wayne Swan with those gentlemen trying to fit Julia Gillard up for the current malaise the Government finds itself in; in other words to say it was all Julia Gillard’s fault. They’ll break the alliance with the Greens and therefore the public can forget the cost of living increases, electricity price pressure, the carbon tax, the boat loads of arrivals arriving almost every day in this month and the last month.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: The NSW branch of the Labor Party is central to whomever the leader is or is going to be. Julia Gillard has lost the support of much of her caucus. We know that. The carbon tax has borne down on Labor members in their marginal seats when they’ve returned there after the parliamentary sittings. The Labor right in NSW is moving against Julia Gillard and this battle over the Greens is a proxy war over who should lead the Labor Party, who’s going to stand up for Labor values and Julia Gillard can’t get out of this weekend without saying whether she’ll be ripping up the alliance with the Greens in Canberra or whether in fact she intends to continue to have it both ways; attack the Greens on the one hand through the faceless men of the Labor Party and stay in Government as well with their support in Canberra.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: The plastics tax as it has been dubbed is Labor Party policy. My view it that if the Labor Party hadn’t hit the public with a massive new carbon tax on everything that has increased the price on all goods and services, then there might be more of an appetite in the public for a container deposit scheme across Australia, but there isn’t, because the people are already feeling the pinch because of the carbon tax. So Labor has essentially killed the goodwill that exists in the public for such measures because the carbon tax is pushing up the price of everything and people can’t afford to pay their household bills because of the Labor Party’s new taxes.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: The deposit scheme in South Australia is decades old, as you point out, it’s become very much part of the recycling efforts in South Australia and goes hand in hand with our other recycling efforts in water, where Adelaide leads the country in terms of the recycling of storm water. As I said if the Labor Party hadn’t killed the goodwill that exists in the public for these measures, by introducing a great big new carbon tax it might be considered by the other states. It is a state matter, it’s not Liberal Party policy, it is Labor Party policy and Julia Gillard needs to explain whether a plastics tax is going to be the next tax she puts on the Australian public.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: It is thirty years old in South Australia, you can’t compare it with the rest of the country who haven’t had it; they do have other recycling measures outside of South Australia but if Julia Gillard hadn’t increased the taxes on everybody, the carbon tax, the alcho - pops tax, the mining tax, and other taxes and charges, people might be prepared for a deposit scheme nationally. But she has unfortunately made it impossible for people to pay their bills now without increasing the pressure on them through a deposit scheme.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: We have simply accepted the deposit scheme that was introduced thirty years ago. One can’t try and compare something that was done in this state three decades ago with the current situation the country finds itself in with increasing cost of living pressure, because of the carbon tax and because of the mining tax and the alcopops tax, all of which if hadn’t been introduced the public might be prepared for the deposit scheme in other states.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Look, the South Australian scheme is thirty years old; it’s become very much a part of the fabric of South Australian society, it’s quite impossible to compare it with the current situation where the Labor party have hit the Australian public with tax, after tax, including the carbon tax and for that reason the Australian public probably would be very unlikely to be prepared to bear the burden of more cost pressures which would add to the cost of items because the Government has removed the goodwill that existed before.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well the Liberal Party is the only party in Australia that has had a record of placing the Greens last. In the Victorian state election, in the New South Wales state election we placed the Greens last in almost all seats in New South Wales and across the state in Victoria. If Labor is serious that they think the Greens are a fringe lunatic party akin to One Nation as some have described them, then they should place the Greens last on their how to vote cards and they should announce that this weekend. The pressure is on Labor to prove this stoush - this so-called stoush is anything more than a choreographed display. If it is more than a choreographed display they could prove that by announcing the Greens will be placed last on the Labor Party’s how to vote cards. Otherwise it’s all hot air, all sound and fury, smoke and mirrors designed to fool the Australian public yet again.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well we’ll place the Greens on how to vote cards at specific state and federal elections closer to those polls, we don’t make announcements about that at this particular juncture but we are the ones who have the record of putting the Greens last, Labor has no record of doing so and yet they want the Australian public to believe that somehow they’re involved in a fight to the finish with the Greens. If they are genuine about their new view of the Greens, if Julia Gillard is genuine that the Greens need to be broken with then she can do it in two ways – she can announce the Greens will be last on their how to vote cards and she can rip up the alliance in Canberra and go it alone rather than relying on their support to stay in power. She can’t be best friends with the Greens in Canberra and their sworn enemy in every other part of the country.

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Absolutely and I think the Victorian Liberal Party made the right decision in placing the Greens last in that state. I think Barry O’Farrell made the right decision in placing the Greens last in most contests in New South Wales. We’ll make our announcement about preferences at the next election. Labor, to prove that they are genuine about their new view of the Greens, need to rip up the alliance in Canberra and put the Greens last on their how to vote cards. They could announce both of those things this weekend and the pressure is on Julia Gillard to do just that – she is addressing the Labor Party conference tomorrow – if she doesn’t make an announcement about both those matters, then this stoush with the Greens is no more than a choreographed display, akin to the birds of paradise of Papua New Guinea’s famous mating ritual.

ENDS