Sky News AM Agenda

SUBJECTS: PM dodges big issues; Labor-Greens war; Gonski review; Labor leadership

E&OE………

Hon Christopher Pyne MP:  Kieran, the Prime Minister’s strategy is utterly transparent and it’s totally cynical and that is rather than talk about the carbon tax or her failed border protection policies or the faux stoush of her Labor Party with the Greens she’s created a new weapon of mass distraction, which is to talk about industrial relations.  But honestly, do the Australian public really believe that a heated up debate that happened over five years ago is the best the Government can do or the best the Prime Minister can do when all the challenges facing Australians at the moment are about cost of living, electricity prices, new taxes like the carbon tax putting up prices, the fact that our borders are basically open to people smugglers and the Prime Minister can only come up with a reheated five year old debate. 

Kieran Gilbert: The carbon tax is unlikely to be the sole issue though when we arrive at the next election; likely to be a year on.  It’s vital the Coalition has a credible alternative on this including safe guards that match the rhetoric that work choices is dead, with legitimate policy.  You can see that can’t you? 

Pyne: Well, Kieran, of course there will be a comprehensive policy for industrial relations at the next Federal election, of course there will be policies in absolutely every area of government policy, but the next election will be a referendum on the carbon tax and there’s no getting away from that.  As much as the Prime Minister might try and create every possible distraction for the public in a very cynical way, the truth is the election will be about the carbon tax because the Opposition is committed to repealing it and the Government is committed to keeping it. 

The other major issue of the election will be about the return of the Howard Solution to the issue of boat arrivals because the Government has opened the borders and we’ve allowed a flood gate of asylum seekers to come into Australia and an Abbott Government or a Coalition Government will obviously return to temporary protection visas, turning back the boats where it’s safe to do so and reopening Nauru in order to get some efficacy back to our border protection policies. 

Gilbert: But the Prime Minister is not the only one talking about industrial relations and the need for Mr Abbott to come up with a policy.  Peter Reith, I spoke to him on this programme on Friday and he was saying Tony Abbott is too cautious on this.  Others inside the parliament believe Tony Abbott should get on the front foot.  While there’s a vacuum that remains in terms of this policy, doesn’t it make the Coalition more vulnerable to Labor attacks? 

Pyne: No it doesn’t Kieran, the only policy vacuum at the moment is the Prime Ministers complete inability yesterday to deal with the issue of the Labor Green alliance.  She is the only senior Labor figure in Australia who doesn’t have an opinion about whether the Greens are cannibalising the ALP vote.  Yesterday she went to the New South Wales ALP conference; she spent all of her speech talking about everything other than the elephant in the room, in spite of the fact that there has been debate all weekend, and all week from senior Labor figures about the alliance with the Greens.  Julia Gillard is too weak, far too weak as a leader and therefore she squibbed that issue and I think Labor people around the country were very disappointed that their Leader wasn’t able to address the only issue that Labor people have been talking about for the last seven days.

Gilbert: Of course as well as the Manager of Opposition Business you are the Education spokesman too for the Coalition.  What do you make of the Greens leader calling for $5 billion increase in education funding to implement the Gonski Review? As a matter of principle more funds for education, it’s hard to argue against.

Pyne: Well Kieran, Christine Milne knows there isn’t $5 billion available to give to the education sector as part of the Gonski review.  So what we are really seeing of course is the next victim of the Labor Greens alliance in Canberra will be non-government schools, because without that money and even with that money the analysis has been done that non-government schools, Catholics and Independents would be worse off as a result of the Gonski Review, that school fees will have to rise, some schools will have to close because schools can’t stay open without Government support and what we’re seeing is Christine Milne as taking the weakness of Julia Gillard from yesterday’s speech, recognising she has the upper hand over Julia Gillard and now moving the frontier of Greens policy into education.  The Greens policy for education is to return to 2003 levels of funding for non-government schools.  So the Gonski statements that she’s made are a code for saying the Greens new demand from this Labor Party to keep the alliance will be to hurt non-government schools, and non-government schools from around Australia, parents, principals and teachers should be terribly feared that they are the new victims in this Labor Green alliance.

Gilbert: Mr Pyne on a couple of other issues, the carbon tax, Geoff Kitney in the Australian Financial Review today reports out of some focus groups from both major parties that there are doubts that Tony Abbott will honour his blood pledge that it is a political tactic and he won’t deliver it.  What does this say about how sceptical voters are across the board when it comes to Australian political leadership.

Pyne: My intelligence from my own electorate Kieran is that the Prime Minister and the Labor Party have lost any credibility with the Australian public at all, but the next election will be a referendum about the carbon tax.  Tony Abbott has made it absolutely clear that one parliament can’t bind the next one and if the Senate is still controlled by the Labor-Green alliance and they refuse to roll back the carbon tax then we will have another election.  We will have a double dissolution election.  We won’t want to because the Labor Party would be mad quite frankly to pursue that policy in Opposition, but we’ve made it absolutely clear; we’re telling the Australian public right up front that we will abolish the carbon tax and if the Senate doesn’t pass that legislation we will have another election to ensure that happens.  We couldn’t be any clearer than that. 

Gilbert: Finally, Mr Pyne, Tony Abbott says the Prime Minister won’t lie down and die.  He said that to party room a couple of months ago.  Yesterday to her ALP conference in Sydney she said, “Too right, I won’t.”  You have many, many differences of opinion with the Prime Minister, but do you give her credit for resilience? 

Pyne: I think Julia Gillard’s speech yesterday was a sad speech, Kieran.  The speech she gave the ALP National Conference last year was known as the “We Are Us” speech.  I think this speech will be known as the great nothingness.  She had nothing of any substance to say.  She sadly had to remind the Labor Party that they are a political party and not a brand, which I think is terribly depressing for Labor people around the country.  Julia Gillard clings to power for one reason and one reason only, Kieran and that is the half a dozen Labor figures who want her job can’t agree on which one should have it and therefore they are all keeping Julia Gillard in the job until they can sort that out.  She is simply swinging in the breeze and one day one of the challengers, whether it’s Wayne Swan or  Kevin Rudd or Bill Shorten or Greg Combet or Steve Smith or any of the others will cut her down and take the Labor leadership before the next election, as sure as night follows day. 

ENDS