Doorstop - Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Labor’s distractions; Shadow Cabinet; Pope Francis

E&OE................................

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Good morning everyone.  What has become completely apparent over the last couple of days is that the Government will do anything at all to distract the public and the media from their leadership woes.  From the battle between Kevin Rudd, Bill Shorten, Julia Gillard and we hear now Simon Crean has also entered the race for the Labor Party leadership.  The media laws that have been propagated by the Government have only got one purpose and that purpose is to distract the press and the public from Labor’s leadership woes.  Stephen Conroy, has shanghaied Cabinet into accepting this rushed legislation.  We haven’t even seen the legislation yet and they expect it to get through the parliament by the end of next Thursday – less than a week’s time. This shouldn’t be tolerated by the Australian public or the press. It is quite clear that we have white smoke from Rome and black smoke from the caucus.  We are yet to resolve the Labor Party’s leadership woes and they are trying to distract the public and the media at every turn; the media laws are the latest terrible public policy.  It is a bad thing in Australia when public policy is driven by the Labor Party’s leadership woes.  We need an election in order to stop this bad government from trying to change the policies in Australia simply for the purposes of political expediency rather than good public policy.

Journalist: But hasn’t the Liberal Party been distracting from the Labor Party’s leadership woes given two Liberal Party leaders have been rolled in the space of a week?

Pyne: Well if you seriously regard the change in the Northern Territory as distracting the Australian public and media in Canberra from good public policy nationally then I think you are overestimating what has happened in the Northern Territory.  I don’t think you can seriously compare the dysfunction and division that characterises the federal Labor Party over the last year or more with what has happened in the Northern Territory.  What is happening in Canberra is paralysing the government; it is crippling the caucus and it is time to put an end to it.  As I have said, we have had white smoke from Rome and black smoke still coming from caucus. The media laws, the government has decided to trash the Australian belief in freedom of speech simply to distract people, to distract the media and the public from their leadership woes.

Journalist: But the Chief Minister was rolled while he was overseas, isn’t that not a dignified exit?

Pyne: I think we have dealt with that issue.

Journalist: The media laws have been in works for over a year, is it fair to expect that the Government wouldn’t want to push them through before the election?

Pyne: Well it’s a good question. The media laws have been talked about for some time.  So why does it have to be dealt with in 5 days, 5 sitting days next week, next week and today?  The truth is, why are we rushing this at the last minute?  If the Government had their ducks in a row, if they had their house in order, this would have been introduced months ago.  The only reason why it has come up this week is because the Labor Party is reaching around for any distraction and the media laws are the latest.

Journalist: Was Shadow Cabinet divided over cuts to the Baby Bonus?

Pyne: Not that I am aware of, no.  I was in the Shadow Cabinet meeting on Monday.  There was no division whatsoever.

Journalist: So Joe Hockey has been rolled though?

Pyne: Not that I am aware of. I was in the Shadow Cabinet meeting on Monday, there was no division whatsoever.

Journalist: Do you know if Joe Hockey does want to keep the cuts to the Baby Bonus? Was that mentioned?

Pyne: I was in the Shadow Cabinet on Monday and there was no division at all.  I can assure you that if there was any division it would have come out by now, I am certain.  But no, there was no division.

Journalist: Was the Baby Bonus raised, was it talked about?

Pyne: I don’t discuss what happens in Shadow Cabinet.  I know that the Labor Party talks about what goes in Cabinet and we are used to people talking about Cabinet about everything that happens behind closed doors. But the Shadow cabinet doesn’t leak and I don’t talk about matters in Shadow Cabinet.

Journalist: (inaudible) ...what does it say about Joe Hockey’s authority that he was rolled?

Pyne: Joe is going to be a marvellous treasurer should we be given the opportunity of governing in September.

Journalist: Are there no tensions between him and Kevin Andrews?

Pyne: None whatsoever.  They are the best of friends.

Journalist: The cuts to Baby Bonus will save about half a billion dollars.  The Coalition will need that in government if you do win in September.

Pyne: We support the Baby Bonus in the Coalition.  It was the Peter Costello-Howard brainchild.  It reflects the costs that new families have with new babies.  And also it is a very important policy to reflect that there are many families that choose to have one income earner at that time when a baby is born, the Baby Bonus gives them an enormous boost to new mothers and fathers dealing with the costs of children.

Journalist: But isn’t there a contrast between the Coalition’s policy and what Joe Hockey has said on the record in regards to welfare issues like this?

Pyne: Look, Joe Hockey has talked about the need of Australians and the federal government to end the sense that the government can solve every problem in Australia.  I think that is a very fair thing to say.  Of course the government can’t solve every problem and when Labor tries to pretend it can, it creates a false expectation in the community.

Journalist: Last week the Coalition said there was a world of difference between what happened in Victoria and what happened to Kevin Rudd in 2010, is there a world of difference between what is happening in the Northern Territory and Kevin Rudd?

Pyne: I think the take-out from what happened in the Northern Territory is that the Liberal Party has elected the first indigenous leader to be a Chief Minister, Premier or Prime Minister.  And we have done it without any fanfare, we haven’t had to shoehorn someone into a Senate vacancy because the pre selection process didn’t achieve it.  The Liberal Party has been electing indigenous Australians to parliament for forty years, Neville Bonner, Mal Brough, Ken Wyatt and in the Northern Territory.  And of course now we have an indigenous Chief Minister in the Northern Territory and I think that is a great achievement for Adam Giles and I welcome his election.

Journalist: But Terry Mills got dumped, he was not even in the country, let alone in the Northern Territory.

Pyne: Well how these things happen is a matter for the Northern Territory Liberal Party room, it’s not a matter for me.  But I do welcome Adam Giles’ election as the first indigenous Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.  And I note that Labor is still trying to catch up having yet to actually elect any indigenous person to the Federal Parliament.

Journalist: Does the Coalition support changes and giving the ACCC more teeth (inaudible)?

Pyne: Well, our policies for the issues of competition, we have released some of them.  We have talked about how we will have a root and branch review of the competition laws in Australia, which will be the first time for over 20 years.  Things have changed a great deal in the market over that time and it is time to seriously review the competition laws and I am glad that we will do that.  If the review suggests there needs to be more teeth in the ACCC, they might need more resources as well, and the change to the law in order to ensure that there isn’t price gauging and there is a fair market well then we will adopt that review when it has completed.

Journalist: Are you concerned (inaudible)?

Pyne: Well I am always concerned when there is a dilution of competition in the market.  Coles and Woolworths are very large corporations; there is no doubt about that.  As a consumer, I think we all are consumers, we want more competition, not less competition.  It is a matter of striking the right balance in the law.  Is anyone going to ask me about the Pope? 

Journalist: What is your response?

Pyne: I am very excited about the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. He is a Jesuit and I went to a Jesuit school so Jesuits around the world will be very happy today to have our first Jesuit Pope.  I am very excited that he is from South America because I think it shows that the Church is alive in the new world and I am very excited that he is a social justice campaigner who will show the Church is very relevant in the modern era.

ENDS.