Transcript - Doorstop - 11 July 2010

SUBJECTS: Smith in Foreign Affairs post election; Conflicting Smith and O'Connor comments on Papua New Guinea; Regional processing by 2013.

Journalist:

Stephen Smith was on air this morning, a few controversial comments from him?

Pyne:

Well Stephen Smith exposed the fact that the Government is an amateur hour operation. We now have a foreign minister who can't confirm he'll continue as foreign minister because he has Kevin Rudd looking over his shoulder, we have a Defence Minister who is retiring, and we have a Finance Minister who is retiring, so three of the most important jobs in the Government, and the public have no idea who will fill those roles should Labor be re-elected at the coming Federal election.

Now Julia Gillard owes it to the Australian public, to say who will be foreign minister, defence minister and finance minister in a Gillard Government, and if she doesn't then she is basically taking the Australian voters for mugs, and assuming she can get re-elected on the back of a team which is, quite frankly, dysfunctional or retiring.

Journalist:

Should she go to the election given the uncertainty surrounding her so-called solution on asylum seekers?

Pyne:

Well she hasn't go a solution on asylum seekers. She embarrassingly tried to steal the Coalition's clothes on Tuesday by announcing a regional processing centre, and Brendan O'Conner this morning on Sky News indicated that, if a regional processing centre happens, it might be in 2013, so the Government is expecting to get through two federal elections before their promise is actually brought to book. That contrasts with the previous government that quite literally had a processing centre up and running in Nauru within weeks of the interception of the Tampa in 2001, because that's what Governments do - Governments don't do this ham-fisted, amateur hour, Brady Bunch kind of performance, where they move from country to country. I notice as well that Stephen Smith said on Friday that Papua New Guinea wasn't interested in a regional processing centre, and Brendan O'Conner said this morning that Papua New Guinea was on the table for discussion, so we have a real amateur hour operation in Government in Canberra.

We have three Ministers who are either retiring or can't confirm they are continuing in three of the most important roles, we have an asylum seeker policy which was a thought bubble that has been well and truly pricked with the Minister responsible saying it might take over two elections to achieve. We have a Minister for Foreign Affairs who has ruled Papua New Guinea out, and the Minister for Justice and Customs who has ruled Papua New Guinea in - and the Australian public could be starting to get quite concerned that, quite frankly, the most important Government in Australia is dysfunctional. We need to have an election where a government can be elected that has a record of achievement in being able to protect our borders, at the very least, and have stable government.

Journalist:

There has been a lot of whinging and wailing from refugee advocates that these people are being pursued and have fled away from conflicts and various other things in Afghanistan, but most of the boats have guys who are quite fit and of military age - and one example in the paper the other day - who go back to Afghanistan for a holiday - is that a parallel universe we're in?

Pyne:

Well the Labor Party is in a parallel universe, on the one hand they want us to believe that the Prime Minister will take a firm line with asylum seekers, on the other hand Julia Gillard was the author of the previous asylum seeker policy which opened the borders, allowed about 150 boats to arrive in the last 18 months and over 6,000 people. Apparently we're supposed to forget that. She is now the architect of a new asylum seeker policy. Well that policy seemed to last about 24 hours because by the end of the week East Timor wasn't playing ball - she was then trying to pretend that East Timor had never been earmarked by her, and I think even the journalists were getting embarrassed because they had all gone off to write their stories fully in the knowledge that the East Timor solution was the Government's policy, only to be told that they had got it wrong. Now Julia Gillard has a record of failure of being able to deliver a program. The school halls debacle has been a fiasco of waste and mismanagement; the computers in schools, only a third have been delivered; 20 trades training centres out of 2650 have been delivered, and now the asylum seeker policy is a thought bubble that has been pricked.

Journalist:

...Won't Faulkner still be in the role until the election is called, and so will Stephen Smith, so it sounds to me like a normal process...?

Pyne:

I think Julia Gillard needs to come clean about what her frontbench will look like after the election...

Journalist:

Why wouldn't she do that after the election?

Pyne:

Because she is asking people to vote for the Labor Party on the basis that a Defence Minister, a Foreign Minister, and a Finance Minister, none of whom will be in their jobs after the election.

Journalist:

But we vote for local members though...

Pyne:

Now come on, we all understand the political process in this country, at the last election Kevin '07 was on the how to vote cards in Sturt, so let's not try and pretend that they are not presidential style elections about teams and Prime Ministers. Julia Gillard has become the Prime Minister because the Labor Party factional heavies decided Kevin '07 couldn't get them elected, it was entirely poll driven, and she owes it to the Australian people to tell them who will be the Foreign Minister the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister if they vote Labor because I can tell you if a Coalition Government is elected I'll be the Education Minister, Julie Bishop will be the Foreign Minister, David Johnston will be the Defence Minister and Andrew Robb will be the Finance Minister, but Labor can't do that.

Journalist:

(inaudible)

Pyne:

It's always been the case that the team that goes to the polls should be expected to say who will be filling the important roles post the election and in fact before the last election Kevin Rudd confirmed that Wayne Swan would be Treasurer, Julia Gillard would be Deputy Prime Minister and that Stephen Smith would be the Foreign Minister

Journalist:

Do you expect that Julia Gillard will call the election next weekend?

Pyne:

Look there is no doubt the Labor Party are limbering up for an election. The whole reason Julia Gillard was put into the position was the trade union bosses decided that Kevin couldn't get them elected and hoped Julia Gillard could. She will try to capitalise on her honeymoon period and therefore I think the election will be by the end of August. I think she is taking the voters for mugs, I think such a move will confirm that the change was purely poll driven that it was part of a trick - to trick the Australian people into voting Labor on the basis the Prime Minister has changed and therefore the Government has changed. I think the Australian people, and the feedback I get in my electorate of Stur,t is they aren't fooled, they know Julia Gillard was part of the gang of four and the Deputy Prime Minister and I think when the election is called the clock will start at zero and the people will make a considered judgement.

Journalist:

She's in town, will you be welcoming her to your electorate given how close it is?

Pyne:

Look I don't get nearly the attention in Sturt that I deserve from the Labor Party I haven't had many visits at all from ministers, in fact I think Kevin Rudd was here once in the last three years, I think Julia Gillard has been here once of twice in the last three years so they obviously don't find me a very welcoming presence in the eastern suburbs.

Journalist:

Do you think it's significant a lot of the, some of the political punters, the Laurie Oaks and (inaudible) are starting to write columns and broadcastings what six months ago they just wouldn't have done, saying that they have made some mistakes actually admitting that something may have been...the wheels are starting to come off?

Pyne:

I think the political commentariat have been shocked this week that Julia Gillard would on Tuesday very clearly nominate East Timor as a site for a regional processing centre in an attempt to end the asylum seeker debacle the Government has created through their own policy changes, and by the end of the week is trying to convince the same people that in fact they are the ones who have convinced themselves that it was East Timor and it had nothing to do with her. I think the Laurie Oaks's and the other political commentators are not going to be treated like infant children, they know perfectly well what Julia Gillard tried to do on Tuesday, it was a total balls up and is of a piece with the handling of other issues she has been responsible for, whether it is school halls, computers in schools or trade training centres.

Journalist:

Stephen Smith seems to indicate today that he is beginning talks with, diplomatic talks with people in East Timor so it seems to be a move again to that solution?

Pyne:

Look this is an amateur hour operation. On Tuesday they talked about East Timor, by the end of the week East Timor was apparently off the table and Papua New Guinea was on, Papua New Guinea was then ruled out by Stephen Smith and today Brendan O'Connor has breathed life back into it again.

You would think that a Government that was following proper processes and actually knew what it was doing would have lined up their ducks in a row before they went out and announced other sovereign nations as the sites for regional processing centres. They are doing this in a rush; as Ms Gillard said she had a list on her white board of things to tick off. She feels she's ticked off the Mining tax even though the figures are quite frankly rubbery and then she tried to tick off the asylum seekers and unfortunately she has got caught in the spokes of the wheel and that issue is not going away.

The Australian public know that the boats are still arriving and the governments' asylum seeker policy was a fiasco.

Journalist:

Is it fair to say that people in Nauru welcomed your establishment of the asylum seeker base there under the Howard Government because it meant money for their economy basically and they were quite happy to have that and it is still sitting there unused

Pyne:

Well Nauru has, since the Coalition announced that we would bring back temporary protection visas and have offshore processing, Nauru has indicated that they would be open to re opening their processing centre. They don't see it as difficult at all in fact I think they would welcome the possibility. For some reason the Government has ruled out Nauru probably because of the politics of the situation and not wanting to admit complete failure in their border protection policy. But what this points to, is that the previous Government managed to get a processing centre at Nauru, operating literally within weeks of the Tampa being intercepted in 2001. In nineteen days of the Tampa being intercepted Nauru had agreed to a processing centre and a few weeks later it was established and operating. This Government has admitted this morning, Brendan O'Connor has admitted, that it will be at least 2013 before a regional processing centre could be operating so how could it be that the previous government could take a matter of weeks to get a processing centre operating and this Government is asking the public for three or four years grace. Unfortunately we are now at the stage where Australia just can't afford this incompetent Government to be re elected for another three years.