Doorstop - Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Government negativity; Craig Thomson; Opposition costings

E&OE……………

Christopher Pyne: This morning we have Penny Wong continuing her relentless negativity against the Coalition. Labor is obsessed with Tony Abbott and obsessed with the Coalition.  Rather than having any visions or plans for the future they are reheating old policy announcements - in skills today, which we saw in last years budget and pretending they are new measures.  They have no plans for the future.  The only thing they are good at doing is coming up with dodgy figures, relentlessly and publishing those and demanding the Opposition come to the party.  Well, quite frankly, the Government had five different financial figures for their mining tax; three different iterations of the mining tax.  They have new modelling on an almost monthly basis for the carbon tax and when it doesn’t suit them they refuse to even release that modelling.  So it’s startling and audacious at the least for the Government to expect the Opposition to dance to their tune.  We won’t be dancing to their tune.  They have dodgy figures.  Penny Wong should hang her head in shame quite frankly if as the Finance Minister she believes she can keep get away with producing simply more of these rubbery numbers. 

Journalist: Should the Opposition offer Craig Thomson a pair for the rest of the week? 

Pyne: The matter for Craig Thomson’s pair is a matter for the Chief Whip Warren Entsch.  I would simply say that Craig Thomson took himself to hospital last week for two days; he was discharged on Thursday.  Apparently the hospital believed he was well enough to discharge him from hospital and send him home.  He received a doctor’s certificate on Thursday, which vaguely talked about abdominal pains, the same matter from which he’d been released from Canberra Hospital on Thursday.  Our view is that if he has a continuing medical condition, the hospital he was visiting last week in Canberra should give him a certificate or a letter or some correspondence which indicates he wasn’t well enough to go back to the Central Coast and indicates he isn’t well enough to come back to Canberra this week. 

Journalist: Aren’t you concerned though that this is going to make the Opposition appear petty to fight over a medical certificate? 

Pyne: This is a matter for Warren Entsch.  He’s the Chief Whip.  What’s important is members of parliament serve their electorate by being in Parliament when it’s sitting.  This Government doesn’t ask them to come to Canberra very often.  We’re only sitting 17 weeks this year, which is a record low number.  Craig Thomson was released from hospital last week apparently having recovered.  If he has new medical evidence that he hasn’t recovered we’d expect the Canberra Hospital to release them last week showing he has an ongoing medical condition. 

Journalist: Do we need to know the details anyway?  Warren Entsch suggested on radio this morning that he might be constipated.  Is that any of our interests? 

Pyne: That’s of no interest to me at all.  I simply note that Mr Thomson had appendicitis last August, apparently he had appendicitis last Tuesday and we’d like to know before we grant a pair that he has a genuine ongoing medical condition.  Now, if the media want to simply accept that Mr Thomson had appendicitis last August, last Tuesday, well, that’s fine for the Press Gallery, but the Opposition intends to have some real evidence of his ongoing medical condition. 

Journalist: So you’re suggesting that he could be faking it? 

Pyne: I said we want some ongoing evidence of his medical condition, that’s a matter for Warren Entsch. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: It’s a matter for the Press Gallery if they want to pursue Mr Thomson.  That’s simply one issue in the many, the great panoply of exciting things that happen in Canberra on a daily basis. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: The next election is due in 18 months.  We know that the Government spends all its time criticising the Opposition.  You can’t get a minister in front of a camera who doesn’t start talking about Tony Abbott.  It’s kind of peculiar actually, their obsession with talking about Tony Abbott.  So we don’t intend to meet the Government’s agenda.  We’ll meet the people’s agenda.  By the next election they expect to know what the Coalition’s plans are for the budget and they will know them in very good time. 

Journalist: But given the Opposition is continually calling for an election to be brought on now shouldn’t you be prepared to release those figures now? 

Pyne: When an election is called and we’d love the Prime Minister to have the courage to go to the people at any time.  There’s a five week period where an election can be held.  It’s a 33 day campaign.  If an election is called, a snap poll soon the public would welcome it and the Coalition would welcome it and our figures would be ready to be released. 

ENDS