Doorstop - Sydney
19 Jul 2012
Transcipt SUBJECTS: Labor leadership; Greg Rudd
E&OE…………
Christopher Pyne: Ladies and gentlemen the union leadership has put the Labor leadership back on the front pages of the newspaper again today in what seems like another deliberate leak against Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The Labor leadership needs to be settled and Julia Gillard needs to settle it. The union leadership has essentially declared on the front page of the Financial Review today that they will decide who becomes Labor Leader and the circumstances in which they lead, but worse than that there’s something sinister about the story today about Labor’s leadership because what the leak seems to say is there is $4 million sitting on the table if the caucus does the right thing. There’s a nudge, nudge, wink, wink to the Labor Party caucus that if they do what the faceless men of the union leadership tell them, again, then the $4 million will be used to help defeat the Coalition at the next election and if they choose to go in their own direction then the $4 million might not materialise in that campaign that’s coming, hopefully soon.
Effectively what the union leadership have said today, what the faceless men of the Labor Party have said today is that there is a bribe on the table for the Labor caucus and that is $4 million in election campaigning by a third party to stop a Coalition Government getting elected. This has gone on for long enough and Julia Gillard is like a rabbit at a greyhound race meeting being pursued by her Labor colleagues, cabinet and the union leadership. It’s time Julia Gillard turned around and faced her pursuers and gave the caucus an opportunity to confirm her to continue in the leadership of the Labor Party. The Australian public are thoroughly sick of the pantomime that Australian politics has become in Canberra. It’s time for Julia Gillard to ask the caucus to support her as Prime Minister and call on a ballot of the Labor Party caucus. She should announce that today.
So far this week she has failed to exert authority over her Chief Whip. The union leadership is sending her a big message on the front page of a daily newspaper. The faceless men of the Labor Party are talking and it’s time Julia Gillard stopped the speculation and called on a ballot.
Journalist: Union leaders including Dave Oliver have flatly rejected some of the claims being made in the AFR. Couldn’t this simply be a media beat up?
Pyne: There are 12 faceless men of the union leadership meeting in Canberra to discuss the leadership of the Labor Party. They’ve also discussed putting $4 million on the table, levying their members, which will be used against the Coalition at the next election. There is no beat up about the fact that the Union leadership has had that meeting and there is a clearly deliberate leak from that particular meeting to again put pressure on Julia Gillard and the Labor Caucus. Now of course Dave Oliver and the ACTU would come out and say that today, but that story didn’t appear on the front page of the newspaper as a coincidence. It is part of an orchestrated campaign. Joel Fitzgibbon on Monday night fired the starter gun in this campaign; Julia Gillard is in the waiting room of the exit of her leadership. And Greg Rudd even today has put a timetable on when Kevin Rudd will return, saying it will be no later than Christmas this year. So everyone in the Labor Caucus, the Labor movement, the faceless men of the union leadership are talking about one thing, and that is Julia Gillard’s leadership, and it is time she settled the matter.
Journalist: (inaudible)
Pyne: Look I think there’s something sinister about the union leadership determining a couple of things. One, they are saying we will decide who is the leader of the Labor party and the circumstances in which they lead. Secondly they are deciding when the timetable of the election will be. It was clear out of that report from that meeting that the union leaders have decided that the most important thing is to cling to power for as long as possible to entrench union power in the economy and they will decide that the election will not be held until late next year. Thirdly, they are saying to the Caucus we have the money to help you defeat the Coalition, but don’t think you can make your own decisions about the Labor leadership, that is something we in the Labor party, in the union leadership will decide for you.
Journalist: You mentioned Kevin Rudd’s brother who is possibly going to be a Senator for Queensland.
Pyne: Well he’s going to run for the Senate anyway.
Journalist: Do you think you would have an ally?
Pyne: I think Greg Rudd has made it clear that he has lost faith in the Labor party, he has described the Labor party as dead meat and he has been extremely voluble in his descriptions of his brother Kevin and if Greg Rudd was to be elected, he has already made it clear that he has friends on all sides of Australian politics and if he was to be elected I’m sure that he would address every issue that came before the Senate fairly and reasonably and make a choice, hopefully in the best interests of Queensland and the Australian public.
ENDS