Transcript - MTR 1377 - 14 February 2011

SUBJECTS:Media commentary; Liberal Party; Government failings; Magazine profile

Andrew Bolt: Why isn't the press gallery onto the real story which is the total lack of performance by this government?

Christopher Pyne: Well, Andrew, it's a good question. I think it's because the media pack in Canberra would like to even up the scales a bit. They hate it when one side gets too far in front of the other. Dare I say less for the Labor Party, but I won't say that of course.

Steve Price: (inaudible)

Pyne: But I think they do want to even it up and I think where there was a crack last week, they tried to widen that out. The truth is the Labor Party had a very poor week last week. They lost votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives. On a very important vote, which was the youth allowance changes denying rural students youth allowance who live a fair distance from local tertiary institutions and of course their health reform has not been a reform whatsoever.

Bolt: But the whole point is why is it that the media pack, and I'm of course I'm talking to an Opposition person who I'd want to agree with me, but I just want an explanation; you had over the weekend for example, a lift out from a magazine in one of the Fairfax papers, the Saturday Age, come out and say "The Most Annoying Man in Australia". What is it? Do you really think you're pushing it uphill with these people?

Pyne: I think there is certainly a disconnect between the Canberra Press Gallery and media outside Canberra. I'm certain of that. When I travel around Australia or when I'm with Tony Abbott travelling around Australia and just speaking to local press galleries in each city or country areas they have quite a different take.

The Press Gallery of course are a very important player in the political game even though they shouldn't be, they simply are; that's the reality of it. And last week they wanted to even up the ledger a bit I feel because they turned what was a poor week for the Government, which started of course with a terrible poll on Monday. They turned a poor week for the Government into what they described as a "good week". And even though the Opposition won votes in both houses of Parliament and the Government's health reform completely unravelled and they couldn't explain their new 1.8 billion dollar flood tax. They couldn't even tell us how many people were going to pay it; the media still awarded the week to Labor.

Bolt: Shouldn't some of these commentators, but also some of your own.....

Price: You've lined up Fairfax there, Andrew, but News Limited Sunday papers re-ran an interview with Andrew Robb where they're suggesting that he wants to take Joe Hockey's job and presented that as a new thought whereas Andrew Robb says it wasn't a new thought. Christopher, what the hell's going on there?

Pyne: I think it's important for members of the Coalition to have an iron discipline.

Price: But that didn't look good did it? Whether he's been misinterpreted or not it didn't look very good.

Pyne: Well, of course it wasn't a helpful and Andrew has put out a statement finalising that issue yesterday. And what it says to me and what it should say to all of my colleagues is we've been a very disciplined opposition unit since December 2009, we had a fantastic result in the election; not quite good enough but much better than anybody expected. There's every opportunity for us to change the Government this year or to win an election and we have to treat every day as a campaign day.

Bolt: Christopher, this comes to my point that what a lot of the press gallery journalists in Canberra are overlooking in attempts to say, "Abbot's position is under threat; his leadership's not good, one trick pony," that in part is fed by a number of people you know very well within the Liberal ranks trying to make the same claim in order to get ahead themselves. Doesn't this latest poll, showing you're 54 to 46 ahead, I mean, that's unbelievable if it's true, doesn't that end any argument about where Tony Abbott is taking the Opposition?

Pyne: There's no doubt at all that Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop as leader and deputy leader have presided over a remarkable revival in Coalition fortunes over the last 15 months, and anybody in the political world would have to accept that and we have to keep going in that direction. This is a very poor Government that needs to be replaced. They are doing real damage to Australia. This year they've not only got to introduce their flood tax, but also a carbon tax, which is 20 dollars a tonne. They're going to introduce a mining tax, which unravelled last year. And on the health reforms; Kevin Rudd said two years ago that if he couldn't fix the hospitals, he'd take them over. Then he announced they'd become the dominant funder and they'd be run locally and now over the weekend we've simply seen some pushing around of money and I heard you say Andrew that there would be a 50/50 split. The truth is there's going to be a 50/50 split from June 2014 for new spending in growth areas.

Price: It's always great to catch up, Christopher. I've got a confession to make. Neither of us read that piece that was in that magazine. Are you annoying? Is that what it told us?

Pyne: Well, I'll let you judge that, Steve.

Price: Did you read it?

Pyne: Of course I read it. I'd be mad if I didn't. My children find me very annoying because I keep telling them to do things like pick up their cricket bats and put away their wet towels and things like that.

Price: Like all good dads should. I think through all these things when someone says you're annoying, you're confrontational or you're colleagues call you annoying or confrontational....(inaudible)

Bolt: I've been called the most controversial columnist in Australia and I just say, "controversial to whom?"

ENDS