PVO NewsDay

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

Interview - PVO NewsDay

Monday 12 October 2015

SUBJECTS: Innovation, Parliamentary week.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: We're talking now to the manager of government business in the House of Representatives live from his offices there. Minister Christopher Pyne thanks very much for your company. And can I say congratulations on your new portfolio of Innovation. Malcolm Turnbull has made it clear that's it's going to be at the heart of the government going forward. But don't you need to start by the office behind you? Don't you need to get one of those standing desks and move to a paperless office and get rid of all of the books and so on?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: [Laughs] A standy-uppy desk. Well, there are few standy-uppy desks in the ministerial wing these days. But I'm not sure they'd suit themselves very well to my particular office. And while we all use technology daily in our lives, there's still - for me - in preparation for Question Time, which I'm doing at the moment, something about having in my hand a piece of paper in order to be able to respond to the Opposition's I'm sure brilliant questions they'll be throwing at me today.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: I take the same view - I'm a bit old-fashioned about the bits and pieces I want around me. But let's talk about the Innovation portfolio before we talk about the week ahead, for a moment, and it is going to be at the heart of the Government going forward. It's actually something that - and I'm not seeking a comment from you on this - but it is something that I got the impression that there was a- you know, a lag, if you like, for the Government versus the Opposition previously. Malcolm Turnbull is very into this side of things - he's put you in charge of it. What are some of the broad areas that you're going to look to, if you like, innovate from a Government business to help business and so on?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Peter, in the Australian economy, there is enormous opportunity to take advantage of our intellectual capital, our human potential. I'm not sure that we've been doing that in Australia for the last few decades - sure there are great example of commercialised research, new businesses like Atlassian and so forth that started from nothing. But other countries in the world are far ahead of us in terms of creating the kind of regulatory environment and tax environment that encourages new start-up businesses and also supports existing businesses that are doing research and development. So we've obviously relied on the mining boom, we've relied on agriculture, we have a large services sector, but the Prime Minister instinctively and reflexively supports innovation being at the centre of the economy, the capacity that has to grow jobs and growth. Only last week I was down in Geelong at a business called Carbon Revolution that has used advanced manufacturing to keep the car industry going in Australia, producing carbon fibre wheel rims and selling those to Ford in Detroit, employing workers from Alcoa and from the old Ford motor company. And that's exactly the kind of example of what we'll be looking forward into the future. And I've got the job of making that happen - I'm very excited about it.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: It sounds to me - correct me if I'm wrong - like a lot of what you're going to be looking at, whether it's through regulation, support for start-ups as you put it, you know, perhaps tax concessions, but also it'll overlap a little bit with your previous portfolio of Education, you would think of as well, in terms of with links to universities, which are at the heart of innovation. It sounds like this is going to all be going towards, can we assume, some sort of significant package for the election? It's not the kind of policy area where you sort of bring it out in dribs and drabs, it sounds like you're going to look to bring it all together as almost an innovative future package that you'll seek a mandate on at the next election?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, there's lots to be done that doesn't require any kind of mandate from the Australian people. Because I think the Australian people have already given the Liberal Party and National parties a mandate and that is to get on with good government two years ago to create jobs and grow the economy, balance the Budget and get Australia moving the in the right direction. So I'm not sure we'll be waiting until the election for a mandate - we haven't got that long to wait. We need to get on with this agenda. One of the things about innovation and creativity and commercialising research is the faster you get onto it, the sooner the benefits will start to flow. You're certainly right about the involvement of the university sector, and the national institutes like the CSIRO and Questacon - they'll all be part of this agenda. Universities have a large part of the research that's done in Australia. But some of the things we haven't done well do involve the disconnect between Australian universities and the industry and the business world. Just to give you one example, while 70 per cent of Britain's researchers are in universities and 70 per cent of Australia's researchers are in universities, 40 per cent of their counterparts in Britain are involved in business - that number here is only 4 per cent. So we have a lot of work to do to connect the universities to the industrial sector.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: Oh, it doesn't matter what you're looking at with Australian universities - whatever way you slice the dice, compared to universities abroad, there isn't that engagement. I see that in political science, even just as a field, there's not much engagement with the body politic here whereas there is in other countries. Let me ask you though about this week's parliamentary tactics. You gave me some comments for a feature I wrote in The Australian today in the Inquirer section about free trade being very much a focus for Government this week, as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership in particular, the China Free Trade Agreement as well in particular. How relevant are they to innovation? Yeah. Are there opportunities in these deals for Australia in that respect, in terms of our trade with other nations?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, you'll have to wait for Question Time for a full answer to that question, Peter, because there might be a focus in Question Time today on the Trans-Pacific Partnerships and what it means to various sectors in the economy, like agriculture, like innovation, and generally to business across Australia. There's no doubt that freeing up barriers to entry across those 12 economies will be good for Australian business. In the innovation sector - industry, innovation and science - this will manifest itself in changes around intellectual property, the exchange of data, the links between Australian businesses and overseas businesses being made much faster and easier, easier access to finance, clearing away some of the regulatory hurdles that have previously been in place because of people being in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. So it will be good for Australian business and businesses that want to get on the front foot and export their services and their products.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: A quick question for you on today's Newspoll, if I can, one right-wing polemicist on his blog said that a chill would be running through the Liberal Party now. I'm not sure why, maybe because there was a one point drop in the two party vote - well within the margin of error. Is there a chill running down your spine, Christopher Pyne, as the manager of government business, given the Newspoll today?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, you mean the poll that showed that the Prime Minister is at 57 per cent and the Leader of the Opposition's at 19 per cent?

PETER VAN ONSELEN: [Laughs]

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: That's not sending a chill down anybody's spine, no. Look, most people in the Coalition and on the non-Labor side of politics want to keep Bill Shorten and the CFMEU out of office - that is overwhelmingly the feeling that I have received. I went out super-marketing in my electorate on Saturday in Athelstone

, it was one of the best experiences I've had in the last few years, meeting my electors. Whereas about a month before I went to a supermarket in Newton in my electorate and it was one of the worst experiences I'd had, as a member of parliament. So there's no doubt that a- that the public have responded very favourably to the change of prime minister and government, and I believe we will give confidence to that faith and we will deliver better government and good government over the course of the next 12 months. I'm not really too fussed about what the polls say between now and then - they'll go up and down - but I believe that we'll win the election because the alternative, the Shorten CFMEU alliance, is- would be inimitable to jobs and growth in Australia. Whereas the Government has the polices that will grow jobs and growth in Australia.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: Before we go back to some of the policies, just a tactical question, if I can, I think it's really interesting because there's no doubt that these polls show an underlying problem for the Labor Party with a low primary vote and particularly the low leader ratings for Bill Shorten, and a lot of this comes before we will find out more no doubt through the trade union Royal Commission process. But at the same time as that - as much as that's a weakness for the Opposition - the Government presumably, tactically, wants to leave that there for voters to decide rather than spend too much time talking about it, don't you? It seems from Malcolm Turnbull's performance so far, he really wants to talk about what the Government's agenda is and leave it for voters to make their own mind up about what the polls show is something that they've got a lot of concerns about the Opposition leader.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, we're just getting on with the job and I think that's quite obvious to the Australian public - that's what they want, they want to turn down the temperature on antagonism in the political world. Bill Shorten and the Labor Party haven't done for the last two years - I think tomorrow is Bill Shorten's anniversary as Leader of the Opposition - they haven't done that deep thinking that oppositions need to do about why they ended up in Opposition and what they need to change about their polices, and their approach. Labor has been coasting on the basis they would win the next election based on the unpopularity of the Government and they haven't done that hard work, that navel-gazing, if you like, that is necessary. We are getting on with the job, we do have the policies, and the Prime Minister is very determined that we should not worry about what Labor's up to, but focus on what we're up to. That's why we'll be focusing on free trade, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will be begin being debated this week. Today, we finished the…

PETER VAN ONSELEN: [Interrupts] well, can I ask you something on that- can I jump in, sorry Christopher Pyne, on that…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE:… sure.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: … on that free trade agreement - Penny Wong gave some comments today about the fact- I think she said the same thing yesterday when interviewed on television that there's an opportunity here for Malcolm Turnbull, if you like, to come to the table on some of their concerns on Australian jobs. Is there any value, do you think, in these free trade agreements, if the written up content isn't to change but, for example, the Immigration Act is to provide more protection there. Is there a value in the Government looking to meet Labor halfway do you think?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I'm sure that over the course of the next week we will be having discussions with all interested parties in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to ensure that the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement passes both houses. It's obviously absolutely vital to our economic future. The Australian public know that. Labor has been very big on spin and rhetoric. Their attack dogs in the CFMEU have been out campaigning in marginal seats trying to spread fear and mis-information. Trying to fear Australians back in- frighten Australians back into poverty. That has been Labor's policy so far, but now that the bill will be coming into the House of Representatives for debate, I'm looking forward to a much more constructive discussion. It's too vital for the future for this to be simply a political play thing of the union movement.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: A whole bunch of new faces on the front bench via the reshuffle that's occurred. Are we likely to see some of the Dorothy Dixers directed their way? Are we going to see some new Cabinet ministers strut their stuff in Question Time today? You can give us a bit of a quick insight.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, it's always good to have young, fresh, enthusiastic new faces on the front bench rather than broken down old war horses like me, Peter. But no doubt they will get a run in the next few days, and it will be very exciting for the Australian public to see.

PETER VAN ONSELEN: Alright, Christopher Pyne, as always, we appreciate you joining us, we'll talk to you again next Monday. Thank you.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It's a pleasure, thank you.

[ends]