Doorstop - Parliament House
20 Mar 2014
Transcipt E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Doorstop – Parliament House
20 March 2014
SUBJECTS: Labor’s record; Independent Commission Against Corruption; South Australian State Election
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well Mr Shorten continues to spend the week blocking legislation in the Senate, whether it is the Carbon Tax, the Mining Tax, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the Registered Organisations Commission. Bill Shorten has to decide on who’s side he is. On the side of dodgy union officials, like Craig Thomson, and is that why he continues to block the Registered Organisations Commission, or is he on the side of the Health Services Union workers, whose union dues were stolen by Mr Thomson and Mr Williamson. He has to decide whether he is on the side of the unions who are subject to allegations of thuggery and corruption in the Building and Construction industry. Is that why he continues to block the Australian Building and Construction Commission, or is he on the side of people who want to get on and build and construct in Australia in a way that creates jobs and creates economic activity.
Is he on the side of people who want to have lower cost of living by reducing energy prices and therefore abolishing the carbon tax, or is he on the side of those who want to keep cost of living high, or is he on the side of people who want to hurt the mining industry or is he on the side of those who want to grow the size of the Australian economy by supporting abolishing the mining tax.
Bill Shorten can’t have it both ways. The crunch time is this week, and next week when he has the opportunity again and again in the Senate and the House of Representatives to reaffirm whether he wants lower prices, and more jobs and a growing economy or whether he wants to be on the side of stagnating the economy.
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne, why did Arthur Sinodinos quit, when on Tuesday the Prime Minister said he had full confidence in him. What changed between Tuesday and Wednesday yesterday?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well Arthur made a decision himself that he would stand aside in order to not be a distraction from the important work that the Government is trying to do.
QUESTION:
Are you sure he made that decision himself or was it the Prime Minister’s office that made the decision for him?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
No I am quite certain that Arthur made the decision himself on the basis that he wanted to not be a distraction from the Government’s economic agenda and from our budget management process in trying to repair Labor’s damage. But Latika, can I say we are not going to be lectured by the Labor Party on Arthur Sinodinos and on ministerial standards. Tony Burke, Greg Combet, Steve Conroy, Doug Cameron, all of those people appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW to give evidence. We didn’t demand that any of them stand down from the frontbench and Arthur Sinodinos didn’t need to stand down from the frontbench because of the fact that he is appearing as a witness at ICAC. He chose to stand down so that he wouldn’t be a distraction from the Government’s important agenda. We are not going to be lectured by the Labor Party who protected Craig Thomson for years after they were aware of the extraordinary allegations surrounding him. He was still in the Labor Party caucus on the 29th of April 2012, many months after a number of investigations have been completed by the NSW Police, by the Fair Work Commission and yet Labor continued to hang onto his vote and protect him. So Labor would want to be careful, very careful indeed about throwing stones when they are in a particularly vulnerable glass house.
QUESTION:
How damaging is this for the Government? We are now in a situation where we are comparing Craig Thomson to Arthur Sinodinos who is seen as one of the good guys and I mean Repeal Day didn’t go down that well did it, the only thing that was repealed was Arthur Sinodinos’ position?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well, Repeal Day is next Wednesday. I mean yesterday we introduced the Omnibus Bills to abolish the Acts of Parliament and Regulations that we are clearing away. Next Wednesday we will debate those and vote on those. The only reason why Craig Thomson would be mentioned in this is because we don’t want to be lectured by the hypocrites in the Labor Party. Now the Labor Party would like to try and make a hay out of this issue with Arthur Sinodinos, but let’s not forget that they protected Craig Thomson for months, if not years, after we were aware, after the public was aware, of the serous investigations surrounding his use of Health Services Union money. Labor should not be lecturing anybody about standards. Steve Conroy, Greg Combet, Doug Cameron, Tony Burke all appeared before the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
QUESTION:
How damaging is this for the Government though, suffocating the agenda as it has done for the last two days?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
I don’t think it has in the least bit been damaging for the Government. What the Government is showing is that we are the party that believes in making sure our economic agenda is at the forefront of the daily news rather than allowing distractions to take people’s attention away from the important job of creating employment in Australia that ensuring the budget is managed properly and proceeding with Government in an adult, calm and methodical way.
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne why is the Prime Minister prepared to defend Fiona Nash as a minister and not Arthur Sinodinos who arguably, most on both sides of politics would argue, has a greater future in politics than Fiona Nash?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well we have been very strongly defending Arthur Sinodinos, and the Prime Minister has been at the forefront at doing that in Question Time this week. Arthur has made the decision himself, he doesn’t want to be a distraction from the Government’s economic agenda and that was a decision for him. It is a measure of Arthur’s integrity that he has made that decision.
QUESTION:
You don’t think it is because what is coming out of the ICAC looks extremely bad for him?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
No.
QUESTION:
Do you think given his experience in the lead up for budget preparations, how much of a blow is it to lose his experience?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well I have every confidence that Joe Hockey, the Treasurer has a firm grasp on the budget process agenda.
QUESTION:
But you have got a budget coming up in weeks, you have got the Assistant Treasurer going, that’s not (inaudible) is it?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Look, I am sure the Treasurer, the Expenditure Review Committee, the Departments of Finance and Treasury are doing an excellent, so far I have seen them doing an excellent job, in preparing for what will be a difficult budget given the circumstances in which we have to frame it which is a ballooning debt, towards $667 billion and accumulated deficits of $127 billion left to us by the profligate and incompetent former Labor Government.
QUESTION:
In the last Parliament, you ran a mile away from accepting Craig Thomson’s vote, should you be accepting Senator Sinodinos’ vote?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
I was faster than I expected.
QUESTION:
Should you be accepting Senator Sinodinos’ vote, given that he is under a cloud at the moment?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
No, it is an extraordinary bad question. There is absolutely no comparison between Craig Thomson who has been found guilty of stealing Health Services Union members money and is potentially going to jail, if that’s what the judge decides next week, and Arthur Sinodinos who is appearing as a witness in the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne, do you think it was sloppy of Arthur Sinodinos’ director to not know about donations, to not know that the Obeids had a 30% stake and (inaudible)?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well look those matters will all be canvassed in the Independent Commission Against Corruption and that’s the appropriate place to do that.
QUESTION:
(inaudible)
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well I have every faith in Arthur and I look forward to his return to the ministry hopefully when he has exonerated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
QUESTION:
Should the Russian President be allowed in Australia for G20?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well that’s a matter that Julie Bishop will address over the coming days.
QUESTION:
In the South Australian elections, Mr Pyne, what went wrong?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
We got 53 per cent of the vote so in fact it was an extraordinarily good result. Labor is better at gaming the system than the Liberal Party. It is extraordinary that Labor who spent the 1960’s in South Australia demanding electoral reform, now hold up the fact that they can get 23 seats with 47 per cent of the vote as a great victory. It speaks volumes for what Labor’s real agenda, is actually just gaming the system, hanging on to power with whatever means and in fact having no interest in the democratic principles that most people believe are people. We have got 53 per cent of the vote and we should therefore form Government and I hope that the two independents, Geoff Brock and Bob Such, will weigh up those matters when the make their decision. I will also make the point though that the Electoral Commission is still to count 310,000 votes in South Australia. Yesterday they had a lay day, there were no votes counted yesterday. Monday they had opening of the envelopes day. They counted about 10,000 votes on Tuesday. Now let’s hope today they can really put their back into it and we might get a result perhaps today.
QUESTION:
On the Electoral Commission in South Australia, what is going on there? I mean, you make a joke about them having a lay day yesterday; they didn’t count on Monday, (inaudible)?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
I don’t appoint the Electoral Commissioner in South Australia, that’s a matter for the State Labor Government. The important point is, is that today we should get a pretty clear picture particularly about seats like Colton which is moving towards the Liberal Party in postals and pre-polls and I certainly hope that that seat falls our way, we will know by the end of the day I assume.
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne, I keep reading articles in the lead up to the SA election saying that the Liberals thought they would win between 8 and 11 seats. Should those people, were they talking out of their hats?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well I never count my chickens before they hatch, Latika. And I think that’s not a bad position in politics to adopt.
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne…
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Rory said last question about five questions ago, what are you doing!
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne, it appears that the judge from the inquiry of Manus Island… (inaudible) Do you think that is acceptable?
QUESTION:
Mr Pyne, it appears that the judge from the inquiry of Manus Island… (inaudible) Do you think that is acceptable?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well, I would need to closely examine the claims being made by asylum seekers and I don’t think that every claim made by an asylum seeker should be assumed it is a holy writ.
[ends]