Pyne and Marles Show

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

Pyne and Marles Show
20 February 2016

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning. And welcome to Pyne & Marles, the show where we get to talk as politicians directly to you, the viewer, without the filter of journalists. It's Saturday morning here on Sky News Live. I'm Christopher Pyne. My colleague in Melbourne is Richard Marles, and he's going to tell us what we're dealing with on the show today. Good morning, Richard.

RICHARD MARLES: Good morning, Christopher, and can I start by complimenting you on your very smooth opening to the show? I think our viewers might be relieved to know that, after my performance last week, I've been banned from ever opening this program again!

But, Christopher, we should be the thanking The Project this morning, who've given us some fantastic publicity during the week, those smug, professional comedian announcer types. They actually need to know that we are smashing it in the ratings. You know, we are the leading non‑sport program in the 8:30 time slot across the whole of the Foxtel network for over‑55‑year‑old males and that is exactly the demographic that everyone is after.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Richard, that is the sweet spot of ratings, and everyone knows that. And of course The Project fell into our very cunning trap, which was to make sure they gave us publicity to over a million viewers across Australia. So thank you, Pete Helliar.

RICHARD MARLES: Thank you.

Well, this week, Christopher, the Treasurer was talking at the National Press Club, so we're going to have a chat about the Government's economic narrative, or lack thereof.

The steel industry has been in focus this week. Arrium's had issues in Whyalla and you've been busy announcing anti‑dumping inquiries. We're going to talk about that.

And we've got Harold Mitchell on the show, a person who probably knows as much about media as anyone in the country. He's a philanthropist and a wonderful Australian.

But, Christopher, what are the news stories of the day?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yes. Before we get into the bigger subjects, there's a couple of news headlines which we should probably deal with.

The first is this very breathless speculation about early elections. What I find remarkable about these headlines on early elections, Richard, is the fact that people are talking about a snap poll in the Fairfax press today. The election's due in August and September this year. If there's an election in July, nobody would regard that as a early election. It always reminds...I always find it remarkable how the media get themselves worked up about election timing. There'll be an election when there is an election, as there always is every three years.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, obviously, this is coming, though, from somewhere, Christopher, and I think what this is indicating is there's been a panic in the Government ranks about a lack of an agenda, about disunity. I think people are hoping to get to the polls hoping that Malcolm Turnbull stays popular.

From Labor's point of view, it's all fantastic. Let's have an election as soon as possible.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yeah, no, Labor's going really, really well. I think the only people who are panicking, Richard, are the people who are going to follow Bill Shorten as leader after he loses the election come this year. Certainly we're not panicking.

But the other headline is the…a story about asylum seekers in the Fairfax press. Peter Hartcher's written that the Government is in discussions with South East Asian nations about settling asylum seekers. It's a very speculative story, but I guess it leaves me to say that, you know, at least we are in a position now where we have strong, secure borders - Labor is essentially supporting that policy - and we've got the number of children in detention down to less than 80. It was 2,000 when you were in government.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, the issue here, Christopher, is this ‑ when, when you came to power, the very first thing you did was turn your back on the UNHCR and turn your back on the global community. And it's not surprising then that ever since then, you've been scratching around countries in the region trying to get arrangements, but without much success at all.

There's a very obvious thing that needs to happen here. The Government needs to swallow its pride, go to Geneva, make peace, stop cutting funding to the UNHCR and actually engage with the global community. And if it does that, the Government might actually find that there are some countries willing to help, and we can get some resettlement going. But I tell you what ‑ it is absolutely essential that this happens as soon as possible, because there are real issues here.

This week, we had the Treasurer speaking at the National Press Club and, in doing so, really started the firing gun on the Budget season. We've got a clip here. Have a look at this clip about the Treasurer answering questions in a range of interviews he did.

MALCOLM TURNBULL: It is clear enough that the Government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need.

DAVID KOCH: You will key up negative gearing tax reform?

SCOTT MORRISON: We'll consider these issues, but I…I've always been…

DAVID KOCH: So, yes, you are?

SCOTT MORRISON: No. Well, I've always been very clear…

DAVID KOCH: You are? Or not? Yes or no?

SCOTT MORRISON: ..that negative gearing is a viable savings vehicle for ordinary Australians. And I want to make sure that…

DAVID KOCH: But does it go too far?

SCOTT MORRISON: ..in anything we consider…

DAVID KOCH: Does it need to be reformed?

SCOTT MORRISON: There are excesses. There are excesses.

RICHARD MARLES: So what we have here, Christopher, is Malcolm Turnbull becoming the Prime Minister on the basis that there was no economic leadership under Tony Abbott, but he was going to provide that. And now, six months later, we have the week which begins the Budget session. You've got the Treasurer talking about his mate Clay in America and what he's got to say. He's talking about selling unicorns or not doing that. He's saying that a GST is, is not go for launch. But in terms of an actual economic plan, presumably six months or so out from an election, the Government doesn't have one. And I think this is a real issue for you going forward. What on earth are you going to do in relation to the Budget? Particularly when back in 2013, you were elected under a platform of saying there was a budget emergency…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: OK, Richard.

RICHARD MARLES: What on earth have you got planned?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You have to give me a turn now. You've got to give me a turn now. You can't just…this is not a Shakespearean soliloquy, my friend.

RICHARD MARLES: (Laughs)

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think people are less concerned about your commentary about the narrative than they are about the credibility of Labor versus the Government.

Now, Labor is trying to pretend they've got economic credibility. When they left office, they left us with a massive budget deficit, with an enormous debt, with no plans at all about jobs and growth. They've had no economic credibility ever since. You've got massive spending policies. You've got now massive tax increases. What you can't raise in tax, you're going to borrow. So we're back to the sad old Labor Party of spending, taxing and borrowing.

Now, the public knows that, when it comes to economic credibility and managing budgets, they'd much rather have the Liberals and Nationals in power than the Labor Party, especially Bill Shorten, who thinks that people will believe that he's got billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars of new spending proposals that he hasn't even shown how they're going to be paid for. And you're blocking savings measures in the Senate, some of which you proposed when you were in government. That's how base your political party has become, Richard.

RICHARD MARLES: But, but what that says to me, Christopher, is that you're really riding on an old political brand, which is quickly becoming…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, we have a plan…

RICHARD MARLES: ..out of date. I mean…that…well…but…we want to hear what the plan is. I mean, in actual fact…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And you will, in the Budget.

RICHARD MARLES: But, but you were a big‑spending government in the last Budget. You spent near 26% of GDP, and that was all about trying to save Tony Abbott, which ultimately didn't work.

But here we are, six months after the...Malcolm Turnbull proclaims a need for economic leadership. There is none. That is the real issue for the Government. Without an agenda, everyone is asking the question what on earth do you stand for? And what are you going to say in the lead‑up to the next election?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, one of the things that we're working on, Richard, this week, has been, for example, the steel industry, and I think we've certainly got a very clear message around steel policy and the Anti‑Dumping Commission.

Last week, we put duties on tinned tomatoes from Italy.

This week, I announce an inquiry into Asian steel allegedly being dumped in Australia, but not just an inquiry. We've put duties on Chinese steel in January. Arrium, the big steel‑maker in Whyalla, have 75% of their products from competitors already have duties applied to them.

And the Australian...the Anti-Dumping Commission will soon come back to me with a number of decisions in at least three to potentially six cases around the dumping of Asian steel, whether it's from South Korea, Taiwan or China. And I...my policy on this is I'm in favour of free trade, but I'm also in favour of fair trade. And Australian businesses shouldn't be injured by dumping, just because we are connected to the World Trade Organisation. There are rules, and I hope Labor will support me in my efforts to protect Australian business from unfair competition.

RICHARD MARLES: Well…and, and, of course, you can be guaranteed that Labor is going to be doing everything it can to make sure that we continue to have a steel industry in this country. And it's, it's good that there is going to be an inquiry in relation to anti‑dumping. But we actually want to see some action. We were asking the Government about this back in October, to, to seek an inquiry into the, the question of anti‑dumping, and, had an inquiry been done back then, we wouldn't be talking about an inquiry now. We'd actually be talking about concrete action.

But as you said, I think, in your presser during the week, it, it's not just about the questioning of anti‑dumping. Um, Arrium has 75% of its, of its, of its competitors with tariffs already.

Is the Government willing to co‑invest in the steel industry? That's the real question. Is the Government going to go down a path of letting the steel industry go, just as you let the car industry go without a whimper? And…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, that's rubbish, Richard. As you know, Holden didn't...Holden said that it wouldn't have mattered how much money the Government gave them of taxpayers' money, they were not staying. Now, that's a very different situation to the steel industry, where they are not saying they want to leave the country. They want to stay. So we're working with the South Australian Government.

And I want all state governments to do what the South Australian government is doing about their procurement policies.

RICHARD MARLES: Well, Labor absolutely knows that...people know that Labor stands up for businesses. We know we need to have a manufacturing industry in this country, and we're going to make…we will make sure we do that if we're in government. The question now is whether or not this Government is going to stand up for the steel industry.

Well, we're going to go to a break, but stay with us. Afterwards, we'll be talking with Harold Mitchell.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, welcome back to Pyne & Marles this Saturday morning. We're very lucky this morning to have as our guest Harold Mitchell.

Harold Mitchell is a guru of the advertising and business world for many decades. He's also a noted philanthropist. I've, in fact, travelled with him to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands to observe the trachoma programs amongst Indigenous Australians that Harold's been supporting.

He's also an expert on Indonesia, so we're very lucky to have Harold. Welcome to the program this morning, Harold.

And my first question to you to get the ball rolling is, after all of your decades of experience observing business and politics, how would you describe the change over the last few years? What