The Bolt Report

SUBJECTS: Preferences; Direct Action Plan; GST; Election 2013; E&OE............................... ANDREW BOLT: Joining me is Coalition campaign spokesman Christopher Pyne. Chris, a nice stunt – this was designed just to embarrass Labor, isn’t it, about its links to the Greens? At most, it will cost the Greens just one Lower House seat, in Melbourne. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Andrew, the Labor Party and the Greens would like people, during an election campaign, to believe that they’re like the cobra and the mongoose of politics. But actually, they’re more like the horse and the cart – it’s just that no-one knows which one is the horse, and which one is the cart. Labor and the Greens are inextricably linked, and their announcement this weekend that they will preference each other just confirms their cosy relationship. Labor would rather link up with a party that doesn’t support a modern economy, that opposes forestry, opposes sugar, opposes mining, opposes manufacturing – the Greens will do to Australia what they’ve done to Tasmania, and Labor is prepared to allow that to happen, by preferencing the Greens in exchange for their votes. The Coalition’s said we’re not going to do it. The Coalition has said that we believe, on principle, the Greens are bad for Australia, and we will put them last. Labor should have followed suit. Instead, they’re continuing their dirty deals, their grubby backroom arrangements, designed to keep the Greens and Labor in power, and chaos and dysfunction ruling Australian politics. ANDREW BOLT: Chris, that was a terrific campaign announcement there. But now, look, try and be philosophical about it. Stepping back, I get the feeling that the Green tide has peaked. I mean, your reaction to it, Nick Xenophon, the Independent Senator, saying his supporters were begging him not to give a preference deal to the Greens – do you think the tide has turned on the green movement generally? Not the Greens party, the green movement generally? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think people still very strongly believe that we should have development that is responsible, but they believe also that green tape and red tape, led by Labor and the Greens working together, are stopping them being able to get jobs, and stopping a modern economy, so I think the Greens vote has peaked. ANDREW BOLT: But I’m just meaning as a philosophy, almost like a religious fervour – it seems to be in retreat. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: When people are anxious about their jobs, when they’re worried about the cost of living, and they’re worried about economic management, they tend to turn away from fringe parties like the Greens, but not Labor – Labor is in bed with the Greens. Of course, unfortunately, while the Green vote will drop, I think, in this election, they will still elect people because Labor will support them in the Senate, to try and keep control of the Senate. ANDREW BOLT: But I’m just wondering whether the Liberals fell for that green thing a bit too much in the past. On global warming in particular, you were once for emissions trading, for example. And I’m still counting all your policies to cut emissions – you know, direct action, renewable energy target – all that stuff works out to an impost of about $7 billion a year, that all the rest of us have to pay, and makes no difference at all to global warming. I mean, shouldn’t you guys, you know, junk that whole green stuff yourself? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Andrew, we were in favour of an emissions trading scheme when we believed the world was moving towards an emissions trading scheme. And then Copenhagen occurred, and it became transparently obvious to everyone except Kevin Rudd that there was not going to be any kind of global emissions trading scheme. ANDREW BOLT: Yeah look, Kevin Rudd, alright, Kevin Rudd one side. But I’m just saying, you’re spending billions we don’t have on schemes that won’t work to stop the world warming. I think it’s crazy. I think you should have junked it. And then you’ve still got – while you’re scrapping the carbon tax, you’ve still got carbon compensation. Can we afford compensating people for a tax you’re scrapping? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: But Andrew, a lot of the things that we’re doing in the – in terms of climate change are good for the environment, in any event. I mean, nobody would think that it was a bad idea to plant more trees, to have better technology. ANDREW BOLT: Oh, for heaven’s sake. We’ve got trees, Australia’s got trees, Chris. We’ve got trees. I don’t understand why you need to spend billions. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You can never have too many trees, Andrew. And it would be – it’s always a good thing to have better agricultural practices and, of course, to have technology that makes our pollution less pollutant. So all of those policies are good for the environment, whether you believe in climate change or not. ANDREW BOLT: Well, alright, we’ll see about that. Now Christopher, GST. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’m going to plant a tree in your house, just to give you the – ANDREW BOLT: No need, when it comes to planting trees, I’ve got plenty. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You can never have too many. ANDREW BOLT: Chris, I understand the Liberals’ real policy is to rule out a GST in the first term only, of an Abbott government, and leave it open after that. Now you went further, under pressure, on ‘Q&A’ this week. Just have a listen. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: There will be no change to the GST in an Abbott government. ANDREW BOLT: In any Abbott government – I mean, have you actually gone too far? Is this your Julia Gillard moment? You know, “There will never be a carbon tax under a government I lead”? Will that be hung around your neck like an albatross, and should you, now, just rephrase what you actually meant? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Andrew, there will be no GST under an Abbott government. There was never going to be. We believe that the GST should be part of a tax review, it would be bizarre if it wasn’t. But if the tax review comes back and recommends an increase in the GST, an Abbott Coalition government will not increase the GST, for a whole host of reasons. ANDREW BOLT: Now I know not in this term, I know in this – in the next term. But I know that you went further than Liberal Party policy. I don’t know – this will be hung around you, to make you look like a liar, in time – in the future. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I don’t believe that’ll happen, Andrew, because I’m absolutely confident there will be no increase in the GST under a Coalition government. So it won’t be hung around my neck, because I will not be proven to be wrong. ANDREW BOLT: Christopher Pyne, it was a great pleasure to catch up. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thanks, Andrew. ENDS