Today Show

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview on the Nine Network – Today Show with Lisa Wilkinson 28 March 2014 SUBJECT: The Speaker LISA WILKINSON: To recap on the week that was in Canberra we are joined by Education Minister Christopher Pyne, and Shadow Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. Good morning to you. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning, Lisa. Good morning Anthony. ANTHONY ALBANESE: G'day, Lisa, G’day Christopher LISA WILKINSON: Christopher Pyne we will start with you. It does seem that Bronwyn Bishop has lost control. She's got to go, doesn't she? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Absolutely not. Bronwyn Bishop is not going anywhere. She will be staying in the Speakership. She's doing a fantastic job. And as you said in your introduction this has been building for months. From the moment that Bronwyn Bishop was elected Speaker Labor started attacking her that day. And yesterday, the fact that this was such a stunt was highlighted by Tony Burke coming into the chamber with a prepared speech. A typed out speech so Labor has been planning on doing that yesterday for a long time and there was nothing spontaneous about it. LISA WILKINSON: But the fact is, 99 MPs have been thrown out of Parliament by Bronwyn Bishop, all of them in the Opposition - that hardly sounds partisan. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Lisa, what it shows is that the Labor Party has been deliberately misbehaving for the last six months. Now in the Howard Government about 90% of the people thrown out were from the Labor Party. In the Rudd Gillard Government about 90% of people thrown out were from the Liberal Party. That's what happens when you are in Opposition. Oppositions try and disrupt the Parliament, governments don't. That's why Government members don't get thrown out and Opposition members do. So all that proves is that Labor should start behaving. LISA WILKINSON: Anthony, Christopher thinks you are all a bunch of sooks and the Opposition moved a vote of no confidence in the Speaker which failed. But all this argy-bargy almost completely consumed Question Time, don't the voting public deserve better from our elected representatives? LISA WILKINSON: They do deserve better, Lisa. What they deserve is a Parliament that functions properly and whereby just like the umpire in a cricket game or a referee in a rugby league game, if you don't have fairness from the chair, from the person in charge, then you have a breakdown in standards. And that's why it is important that the Speaker, it is enshrined in the rules that the first thing that they have to insist on is the impartiality of the chair. Yesterday Mark Dreyfus was named and thrown out of Parliament for 24 hours by the Speaker… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Deservedly. ANTHONY ALBANESE: …for saying the words "Madam Speaker”. For says those words and any time there is a penalty count of 99 to 0 there is something very wrong. LISA WILKINSON: Christopher, why would calling the calling the Speaker “Madam Speaker” get Mark Dreyfus thrown out of Parliament? CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Lisa, Mark Dreyfus has been behaving very aggressively towards the Speaker. It wasn't the phrase “Madam Speaker”, it was as usual his aggressive tone. If I spoke to my wife or if I spoke to you the way that Mark Dreyfus speaks to Bronwyn Bishop, people would quite rightly think I was trying to bully either you or my wife, and it’s not acceptable. Men particularly can say words that sound like they are perfectly, meaningless words but it is the tone and the aggression. And Mark Dreyfus needs to tone it down. He needs to start treating the Speaker with a bit of respect and not bullying her. And I don't resile at all from the fact that I regarded him, described him yesterday as an aggressive bully. I think he has been treating the Speaker that way and he needs to start to behave properly. LISA WILKINSON: Let's move on to the Prime Minister's decision this week... ANTHONY ALBANESE: With respect, Christopher, I mean to be lectured by Christopher Pyne about parliamentary standards does show some chutzpa. I mean really, you go back to… CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Chutzpah, chutzpah Anthony, not chutzpa. ANTHONY ALBANESE: …day in, day out. Day in day out, you had an Opposition that was determined to suspend Standing Orders, to wreck the Parliament, what is extraordinary now they are the Government and they are still acting like they are the Opposition. They are still engaging in disruptive behaviour. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: What is extraordinary is that you can't get used to being in Opposition. ANTHONY ALBANESE: And Bronwyn Bishop yesterday - the Speaker, well the fact is that you have a government but you also have an Opposition and millions of people expect to be represented by us, by us and to be able to have... CHRISTOPHER PYNE: You should get on with it. ANTHONY ALBANESE: …to have a say in the Parliament and to hold the government to account. What we shouldn't have, and I have not seen before, is a Speaker participating in debate, yesterday including whether when the resolution that wasn't actually even allowed to be presented to the Parliament, but the attempted suspension, you had the Speaker intervening and participating from the chair. That's not on. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The problem is, Anthony, you are moving to the seven stages of mourning but you haven't yet got to acceptance. Now the Opposition has to accept that they were a very bad government for six years. And they lost. ANTHONY ALBANESE: No Christopher, the problem is that you have to accept you won, Christopher. You have got to accept... CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I'm very happy to have won, I’m very happy, we did win. ANTHONY ALBANESE: To start - you need to start behaving like the Government. The problem is you are behaving like an Opposition in exile. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We are getting on with governing, the problem is you are not getting on with being an Opposition. ANTHONY ALBANESE: …on the government benches. You have had very little business to deal with. And the Speaker... CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Rubbish, stop talking, let Lisa say something. ANTHONY ALBANESE: You can either be a Speaker or participant, you can’t be both. LISA WILKINSON: You know what, I have nothing to say because Barry White has entered the fray. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Correct. LISA WILKINSON: And clearly celebrating the bromance between the two of you. Unfortunately we have run out of time. But thank you. LISA WILKINSON: Barry White is much better than Anthony Albanese. I must say. ANTHONY ALBANESE: Now, now. You are just being hurtful, Christopher. LISA WILKINSON: Alright, well you two have got - you and your mates have got six weeks to get your act together so we can have a proper Question Time once the Budget comes down then. Gentleman, thank you so much for your time this morning. Have a lovely weekend. CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Pleasure. [ends]