MTR 1377

SUBJECTS: Inquiry into the Australia Day riot

E&OE………

Steve Price:… The fallout from the Australia Day riot that trapped the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and the Prime Minister Julia Gillard inside the Lobby restaurant continues. The federal Opposition believe there needs to be a full inquiry into who tipped off who about what was happening in Canberra on Australia Day, Christopher Pyne is Manager of Opposition Business and Shadow Education spokesman he is on the line good to talk to you again.

Christopher Pyne: Good morning Steve,

Price: What do you think that inquiry will find?

Pyne: Well Steve there was obviously an affray on Australia Day and obviously somebody created that affray so there’s an incitement to violence essentially and we want to know what the AFP find out, who was responsible, what was the purpose of the passing on of the information and ensuring something like this doesn’t happen again. This was the most serious security breach of a Prime Minister since the Fraser Government and yet the prime Minister thinks we should all say well that was unfortunate and move on, no a lot more needs to happen than that.

Price: It’s already cost one of her staffers Tony Hodges his job he has quit, should other people pay with their jobs because of what happened?

Pyne: Well this is exactly what we need to find out, the Prime Ministers conference on Saturday left a lot mote questions unanswered than answered, for example the Prime Minister said there are three other members of her office at the lobby restaurant with Tony Hodges on the on Australia Day but she wants us to believe that this relatively new media adviser decided to unilaterally create this situation and didn’t actually mention it to anybody else on the staff. We know that other members of her staff were speaking to Kim Sattler in the following few days.. we want to know what they had to say and particularly did anybody lean on Kim Sattler yesterday to change her story again and these are the questions that Prime Minister has left unanswered.

Price: We’ve actually been sent a statement from Kim Sattler this morning; she did change her story as you say. She now says that ‘reports that I contradicted the Prime Ministers account of what transpired are inaccurate as I said in my statement on Saturday Tony Hodges from the PM’S told me what Tony Abbott had said that people should move on from the tent Embassy, yesterday the Prime Minister gave an accurate account of my role “ ..and she has declined to be interviewed further. You wonder why her story changed so quickly?

Pyne: So dramatically, I mean on in the Sunday papers yesterday morning she said that Tony Hodges had told her that Tony Abbott wanted the Tent Embassy removed which is big difference from the statements he actually made. But also there is a common sense point here Steve, if Tony Hodges had passed on precisely the words of the Leader of the Opposition to Kim Sattler why anybody would why would anybody take any offence, I mean clearly that couldn’t have happened.

Price: No, the message to her has to have been paraphrased, has to have been at the end of exaggeration as opposed to the accurate quote because if you said the Opposition leader said in relation to the Tent Embassy that it’s served its purpose and its time to move on that would hardly trigger a riot.

Pyne: Precisely, it doesn’t make any sense and therefore the Prime Minister in saying that this is all benign and that Tony Hodges passed on the leader of the Oppositions words precisely etc simply doesn’t stack up and the people that really only get to the bottom of this and also review their processes and procedures at the same time is the Australian Federal Police and any Prime Minister worth their salt would want to do that.

Price: How embarrassing would it be er would it be for the prime Minister to realise that her own office could have generated the anger and fury that saw her dragged along the ground shoeless and dumped into a car?

Pyne: Well, ahh

Price: Well does it get anymore embarrassing than that?

Pyne: No, I think you’ve put it very well…it was utterly humiliating for the Prime Minister, I felt terribly sorry for her at the same time, but also for us as a nation, internationally those pictures were flashed across the world of our Prime Minister being dragged essentially in a head lock, losing their shoes down those stairs and being pushed into the back of a car, it was the most unedifying experience and we know that her office set off the chain of events that caused this to happen.

Price: Can you imagine what would be being said right now Christopher if it was someone for the Oppositions media unit that had caused this?

Pyne: Well, exactly, and it also gets worse to an extent, the Prime Ministers staffer told the rest of the office on Thursday afternoon of his involvement  and yet the Prime Minister, was, no-one thought to tell the Prime Minister until sometime on Friday.

Price: Well until Ray Hadley did it at nine o’clock.

Pyne: Until Ray Hadley broke the news it then took a further eight hours for the Prime Ministers office to fess up to what everybody else knew, so they were all they were still trying to manage the media cycle still trying to spin themselves out of this particular problem and on Thursday afternoon the Prime Ministers press office was up in the gallery the press gallery in Canberra blaming Tony Abbott for this riot.

Price: Well you do need a full inquiry I think you’re absolutely right, Christopher Pyne thank you very much.

ENDS