Today Show

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Interview – TODAY SHOW
Friday 5 February 2016

SUBJECTS: The Big Issue, The GST, The ABCC, Double Dissolution.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Karl.

KARL STEFANOVIC: In the streets of Sydney for an important cause, good morning lads, what is it?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: G’day, welcome to Summer Hill where here with Dave, helping him, he’s a seller of the Big Issue, this is Vendor Week where they get people to come and work with the homeless who are selling the Big Issue in order to raise the profile of the program. Hopefully if you see someone, today or any other day, buy a copy.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: $7, it’s got Beyoncé on the front rather than Anthony Albanese.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: I’m selling, I’ve sold more than Christopher so far this morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: He’s over exposed; he’s a bit over exposed.

KARL STEFANOVIC: It’s a good cause.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: He’s in Summer Hills scaring my constituents.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I’ve turned them towards the Liberal Party…

KARL STEFANOVIC: Righto, very, very good cause…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Actually I’ve had quite a lot of success already.

KARL STEFANOVIC: Let’s get onto some politics right now, Christopher, raising the GST, LOL?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: What’s that Karl, sorry?

KARL STEFANOVIC: I knew you wouldn’t get that, raising the GST, it’s not going to happen is it?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: They don’t want to hear of raising the GST

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I can’t hear what he said because you were talking again

ANTHONY ALBANESE: You’re raising the GST, that’s what you’re doing aren’t you?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, there’s no policy for us to raise the GST, there is certainly a Labor Party scare campaign, the difference between us and Labor though Karl is that we’re being prepared to have a conversation about reform of the tax system because of things like bracket creep, Labor just says they’ve got a money tree where they’ve got $37.5 billion to spend, they’re still the tax, spend and borrow party, at least one political party is being economically sensible.

KARL STEFANOVIC: Alright so what you’re doing is ruling out lifting the GST?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, Karl what I’m saying and what we’ve being saying now for months and it’s perfectly reasonable and I think the Australian people are actually appreciating that we’re prepared to have a national debate, a conversation around tax, and around jobs, and around growth, whereas Labor wants people to believe that they don’t believe that somehow there’s money to burn, the government is hiding they’ll spend on schools and hospitals and other things…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: What’s that Chris?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And other things…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: That was the 6:21 train.

KARL STEFANOVIC: The point is you know that lifting the GST is not going to go down with anyone, particularly in your own Party it’s not going down very well so why don’t you just rule it out now?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Jay Weatherill’s in favour of it, well Jay Weatherill, the Labor Premier of South Australia…

KARL STEFANOVIC: What about your own Party?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: is actually arguing for a 15% GST, and my Party is more than happy to have a national debate about the tax system because we need a tax system that encourages jobs and growth, not limits jobs and growth whereas Labor just wants people to believe we can keep spending money that we haven’t got but the public know that’s not true, that’s why they prefer the Liberal party to run the economy.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, Karl they say want a debate but they won’t say what their position is, this is arrogance in the extreme…

KARL STEFANOVIC: Okay just on that…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: They have to say what their position is before you can have a conversation…

KARL STEFANOVIC: On that Anthony…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: And what they want to do is increase the GST to 15% but they don’t want to tell Australians that that’s their position.

KARL STEFANOVIC: Okay, Paul Keating said the GST rate could comfortably rise by 1 or 2 per cent, with respect I trust him more than you with the economy, is he wrong?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, Paul Keating said very clearly that the GST is lazy politics and lazy economics, that is what he said because it takes a hammer and effects people at the poorest and rather than is serious tax reform, that’s what he said very clearly and he’s right on that.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Paul Keating also said that we should avoid extravagant spending and he was referring directly to the Labor Party because they are the ones promising $37.5 billion of money that they simply don’t have, people are over promises without showing how they’re going to pay for it.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: A fully committed promise to support education is an investment in our kids and our future…

KARL STEFANOVIC: Okay Malcolm Turnbull…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: And is exactly what he promised as Shadow Education Minister…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: And we delivered…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Prior to the last election when they cut…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The first four years of funding 100%, we put $1.2 billion more in but the point is that Labor…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Then cut years 5 and 6, 4.5 billion.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Labor can’t keep using the same money over and over again to fund their promises. Sza Sza Gabor ran her budget the same way, but you can’t run the Australian budget that way.

KARL STEFANOVIC: Righto just wanted to…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Are you still there?

KARL STEFANOVIC: I am still here, just, I mean you’re boring me senseless today, however, I do have some vision that just reminded me of the two guys in the Muppets there, remember these guys from the Muppets?

KARL STEFANOVIC: There we go.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thanks Karl.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: I bet they didn’t sell the Big Issue Karl, they weren’t helping the homeless.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: They’re teasing us and we can’t do anything about it.

KARL STEFANOVIC: Can we split the screen there while the guys talk? Now Malcolm Turnbull was threatening the Senate with a double dissolution if they don’t pass the legislation to implement a building industry watchdog Jacquie Lambie recons, that’s complete B-S, Chris you don’t have the guys for something like that do you?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, what surprises me Karl about the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner is that Labor want to keep that monkey on their back, now everyone in Australian knows that we need to clean up the Australian building and construction industry. The last time there was an ABCC, productivity increased 9%, there was 7.5 billion of improvements for consumers every year, Labor wants to keep the building and construction industry the way that it is now, that’s why they’ve been blocking the ABCC, we want to clean it up, Australians want to clean it up, and Labor should stop blocking it and support the government’s agenda, if they don’t, obviously a double dissolution becomes a live issue.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, Karl the only reason why they would want a double dissolution election is to avoid handing down a vicious budget, we saw what happened to the Liberal Party after the 2014 budget, they had gotten rid of a Prime Minister as a direct result if that and if they do they are running from the budget, they’re running from the GST. We’ve seen again this morning the extraordinary proposition of saying ‘we want a debate about the GST…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You were asked about the ABCC.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: We just won’t tell you what it is.’

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: But why won’t they support reforming building and construction in Australia? I mean the Dyson Haydon royal commission put it beyond doubt that something needs to happen, he said there needs to be an agency tasked with just this job, yet Labor keeps standing by the CFMEU.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Anyone that breaks the law should be prosecuted under the law, it’s that simple.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s been great being with you this morning Karl.

KARL STEFANOVIC: It’s been awful, I just want to show that Muppets vision just once more because it does look like you guys and we’ll show you next week in person.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: But we have been supporting a good cause!

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It’s not a funny for us I can tell you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: No one in Summer Hill’s laughing Karl, they’re out buying the big issue.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The homeless aren’t laughing either Karl…

KARL STEFANOVIC: