Today Show
11 Apr 2014
Transcipt E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Interview on the Nine Network – Today Show with Lisa Wilkinson and Anthony Albanese
11 April 2014
SUBJECT: Bob Carr’s Memoirs, WA Senate Election result
LISA WILKINSON:
For more we're joined by Education Minister Christopher Pyne in Canberra and Shadow Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. Good morning to both of you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Good morning.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Good morning Lisa, good morning Anthony.
LISA WILKINSON:
Anthony Albanese, I will just start with you. Federal Labor is standing by Joe Bullock, why?
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Well because he's been elected. Well, they haven’t finished the count yet. But it's pretty obvious he was number one on the ticket. He's been elected. And he’ll sit – he’ll take his place in the Senate.
LISA WILKINSON:
Part of the problem here, it seems to confirm what everyone's always expected, that unions put your candidates into power.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I certainly have a view that we need to look at further reform in the party. We need more direct participation of the membership. I've said that for some time, not in this context. I've said it in general. We need to empower the members. That means giving some people more power. Obviously it means taking power from another area which is the factions need to give up some of that power. And I think when you get that direct participation, you get the ownership of the outcome and I think that the - Bill Shorten and myself, that ballot that we went through showed that had there was a real yearning, we would have spoken directly to more than 5,000 members turned up to meetings to participate. It's one of the reasons why I think the Opposition started on the front foot talking about the future.
LISA WILKINSON:
So you're going to stand by him. The fact that he calls you all mad, that's not a problem.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
He's been elected to the Senate. He's apologised for those remarks. I just hope that Louise Pratt, who's a very good friend of mine, and I think a great candidate, gets up at number two. But that now is beyond being in the hands of the voters. The voters have voted. They'll count the votes. It's a democratic system.
LISA WILKINSON:
You'd be loving watching all this unfold wouldn't you, Christopher Pyne?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well Lisa, unfortunately Labor is continuing to be the divided and dysfunctional rabble that they were for six years in Government. They really haven't learnt their lesson from the last election at all. While they're talking about Bob Carr's diaries and Joe Bullock in the Senate and fighting about their involvement in the unions as you pointed out in running their candidates, we're getting on with the job of securing trade deals with South Korea and Japan, talking to China about trade deals, increasing employment. We're just getting on with the job of Government as we were elected to do. And I think it’s been a good week for us and Labor again talking about themselves.
LISA WILKINSON:
You mentioned there Bob Carr, someone we feel we know just that little bit better this week. Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Unfortunately.
LISA WILKINSON:
This is all of course thanks of course to his memoirs. Which have revealed his which has revealed his penchant for first-class aircraft pajamas, his desire for ripped abs and how he felt as strong as fifteen gladiators. Anthony Albanese, this must be the first political autobiography that tells the truth of the life of privilege that you lot lead.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Well, Bob Carr has done it before of course, in his other diaries, he has a penchant for doing that. We'll wait and see what Christopher Pyne's diaries have to say in a few years’ time.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
I don't think there will be any.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
That’ll be an interesting read.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Nobody wants to know about my life. Nobody wants to know about my life.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I do, Christopher.
LISA WILKINSON:
You want to bet.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I reckon your diaries could be very interesting indeed.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
No, I am an open book.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Very interesting indeed. Those little discussions in the Speaker's office.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Only what I write about you. That will be the only interesting things in my diaries.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I think one of the things about me and Christopher is I think both of us have a sort of mutually assured destruction button re private discussions which we had over the running of the Parliament over the last few years.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
It was a wild time.
LISA WILKINSON:
For all of the funny headlines, he has been called a tosser, but he's also revealed private exchanges with Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and he has been pretty vicious about Kevin Rudd. Isn't that disloyal?
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I have a view which is that discussions that I have in private, whether it's with Christopher, or with colleagues, if you have a private conversation with me, people know that it stays private.
LISA WILKINSON:
Okay, Christopher Pyne I'm figuring you're going to be one of the first in line to buy this?
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
Well I've already seen extracts of it. Look, Bob Carr is an eccentric. We now know he's a narcissistic personality. I agree with Anthony, private conversations should be private and the problem with Bob Carr is that every world leader around the world, every foreign leader, will now be wondering why they had conversations with an Australian Foreign Minister who couldn't be relied on to keep them to themselves. The wider issue is that Labor are tearing themselves apart. And Bob Carr has done one useful thing, he has highlighted how divided, how dysfunctional, how chaotic the last six years were under Labor and thank goodness we now have a government of adults who are getting on with the job. Bob Carr has proven how unworthy Labor were to be in government.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
He's got the talking points in Canberra there.
LISA WILKINSON:
He does.
CHRISTOPHER PYNE:
It’s simply true. Anthony. What are you doing about it?
LISA WILKINSON:
Christopher Pyne, we will have to leave it there. And Anthony Albanese and Christopher, just one last word, you do have to do your memoirs but you've got to be honest, that's the deal, okay. Thank you for your time this week.
[ends]