Doorstop - Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Labor leadership; Cabinet divisions;

E&OE…… 

Christopher Pyne: A divided and dysfunctional Government that is trashing Australia’s reputation and the reputation of Australian Government as a brand.  The Government is falling apart at the seams and it has all the hallmarks of the death throes of a leadership in Julia Gillard’s Prime Ministership.  It is untenable for Joel Fitzgibbon to remain as the Chief Government Whip and not be a 100 per cent rolled gold supporter of the Prime Minister.  The Chief Government Whip or the Chief Opposition Whip are the two people that have to be the eyes and ears of the Leaders of their political parties.  If you’ve lost the whip’s support then you have lost the party room’s support and Joel Fitzgibbon’s statements over the weekend have been muted in their support for the Prime Minister and when the Prime Minister has to stand at a press conference and bat away questions about whether she has the Chief Whip’s support then clearly we’ve reached a nadir in this dysfunctional and divided Government. 

Putting that to one side we also have cabinet ministers like Martin Ferguson and Chris Bowen clearly freelancing if the Prime Minister is to be believed in announcing very significant Government policy and if the Prime Minister isn’t to be believed then essentially they are not taking important matters to cabinet.  The Prime Minister is not being informed.  Even Chris Evans confirmed on radio this morning that there have obviously been communication breakdowns.  Well, I think the failure of the Prime Minister either to be trustworthy about what she knew or what she didn’t know or in fact not to be told in the first place by senior ministers indicates a government that it essentially falling apart at the seams.  The only way to resolve this is to end this ludicrous minority parliament that the public have lost all faith in. 

The new Prime Minister or the current Prime Minister should call an election and allow the Australian people to get a Government that has a clear mandate to govern in this country rather than current circumstances we find ourselves in. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well, whether they have Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Bill Shorten, Greg Combet or Wayne Swan as leader won’t change the fact this was a divided an dysfunctional Government.  They’ll pass the baton again.  It’ll be the fourth Prime Minister in four and a half years in Australian and quite frankly it’s like NSW all over again.  Clearly the Labor Party needs to have some time out to get their act together, to work out their relationships within the party and maybe then they’ll be ready for Government one day in the future, but right now the Australian people shouldn’t have to sit on the sidelines while the Labor Party works itself out in Government.  They will change leader.  That seems quite apparent, but it won’t change a divided and dysfunctional Labor Party. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: We do support enterprise migration agreement and obviously we created the 457 visas in the first place, but I don’t believe and I don’t think anybody believes this Government will get it right.  They haven’t even got the announcement right.  They are at loggerheads over it.  Doug Cameron has indicated they want it to be reversed and this goes to another very important point.  Just who is running the country?  Cabinet Ministers make an announcement.  Union leaders then say that has to be reversed.  The Prime Minister seems to side with the union leaders.  Whatever happened to cabinet solidarity?  How can Martin Ferguson and Chris Bowen turn up to cabinet again knowing their Prime Minister won’t back them over Paul Howes or other union leaders?  Now, the Australian people elected the Labor Party or a mish-mash of Labor, Greens and independents in this Government – in this particular parliament.  They don’t expect the union movement to be running the country and yet the Prime Minister seems to be responding to whatever the union leaders say because of the desperation all over her face to hang onto power. 

ENDS