Transcript - Two Chrisses ABC 891 - 9 April 2009

Journalist:

The Premier thinks, I don't know why he'd think this, but The Advertiser has given Martin Hamilton-Smith an easy run, it could be, welcome to the new pulse of the city, that's the headline on the inside pages for the stadium, new state of the art sports stadium, public facility to rival Federation Square, bars, cafes and restaurants, urban forest and playing fields.

Christopher Pyne MP:

Sounds terrific, that's going to change the city.

Journalist:

Hamilton-Smith's grand vision for Adelaide, city arena.

Journalist:

This is similar to the sort of thing that you've been talking about Chris Schacht for many years.

Schacht:

One fundamental difference, I want to build the new all purpose football stadium, cricket stadium, soccer stadium on the present site at the Adelaide Oval, having a fourth stadium in South Australia, in Adelaide is just not going to work.

Journalist:

Is that the elephant in the room with this plan ... that you've got this stadium, if you zoom the camera back a bit ... you'd see Footy Park still down there and Adelaide Oval and Hindmarsh Stadium...

Pyne:

Well I think that it is a sensational plan to totally reinvigorate Adelaide ... anybody who travels overseas knows that sport, especially in the western world ... they love to spend a lot of their discretionary income ... on sport and Adelaide is a long way behind Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne when it comes to stadia and whilst we've got the magnificent Adelaide Oval for cricket it's sensational

Journalist:

You wouldn't have that right next to a new stadium would you?

Pyne:

Well why not? ... we can spend plenty of time always pulling every big idea apart ... and saying, we can't do it, there's a good reason why we can't do it

Journalist:

And you haven't done that with the new hospital?

Pyne:

We've got a great hospital, the Royal Adelaide Hospital on North Terrace which can be redeveloped in to an even better hospital ... the Opposition says we can have that redeveloped Royal Adelaide Hospital ... we can build a new fantastic multipurpose stadium for Olympic size events and Commonwealth Games events, soccer and the whole lot ... we can make the city come alive with all of these ideas to do with the Federation type Square and the new entertainment centre as well ... Adelaide is a growing city, we have a million people, we are an affluent western city and we need to be able to have huge sporting events and Schachty agrees with this, the only difference is that some people say well redevelop Adelaide Oval ... I don't think you can do that ...

Schacht/Journalist:

(Schacht discusses the refurbishment of Adelaide Oval)

Pyne:

I just think you're just wasting so much time here this morning. You're so busy talking about another one of your hobby horses which is the Adelaide Oval. The Adelaide Oval redevelopment is not actually on the agenda. It would be easier for you to solve this dispute in the Greek Orthodox Church at Adelaide than it would be for you to get the [unclear] and the SACA to come together and redevelop the Adelaide Oval

Schacht:

How are you going to get SANFL to give up Football Park?

Pyne:

We're talking about Martin Hamilton-Smith's visionary proposal for the city precinct and you've spent 10 minutes talking about the Adelaide Oval, the Adelaide Oval is not on the agenda.

Schacht:

It should be.

Journalist:

(Raises incident between Kevin Rudd and a RAAF air hostess.)

Pyne:

I think Chris Wallace handled it very well on your (program) this morning. The Parliamentary Press Gallery was delirious with, as she put it, when the Howard Government was finally defeated. Kevin Rudd's been given a tremendously good run, by the press and by the public and he's setting stratospheric popularity, as was Howard for a period, as was Hawke, not so Keating, or even Fraser as popular as this Prime Minister, but he's had 16 new employees in the last 12 months, or he's had one employee leave a month. He has apparently admitted to speaking roughly to this flight attendant from the RAAF on this trip. I think he has obviously accepted he was in the wrong which he has apologised for, but it's of a piece with forcing public servants to work 36 hours straight, and the public service being in uproar in Canberra with the way they're being treated by Labor Ministers, of a piece with keeping Angus Houston and Michael L'estrange waiting for hours outside the Prime Minister's office: the head of the Defence forces and the head of the Departnment for Foreign Affairs and Trade, which was a story that came out about 18 months ago. There's a side to this government that isn't nearly as attractive as the public persona, that is presented to the public in general and the media have picked on this as a hook to write about it...

Journalist:

Gee, you're tip toeing around this one...

Pyne:

I didn't mean to be, a lot of people have been commenting on it. There's a whole process here of Kevin Rudd saying one thing then trying to dissemble. Going back to when he tried to get the Vietnam Anzac Day service put on at a different time so it could be on Sunrise, and when he was caught he said he knew nothing at all, it was his office. As it turned out there were emails from him trying to arrange it. He said he had nothing to do with Brian Burke when they had a fundraising event in Perth: it all came as a terrible surprise to him. As it turned out there were a half dozen emails between him and Brian Burke's PA setting it up. It's of a piece of when he couldn't remember the night in New York at the Scores Nightclub, and now when this was raised about the flight attendant his office denied it. His office said they didn't know anything about it, it wasn't true... there is a lot of dissembling that goes on, the public will make their judgement, but I'm more concerned about the Government in a whole range of areas - aged care this morning, Joel Fitzgibbon as Minister for Defence.

Schacht:

(Claims the Department of Defence leaked the material to damage the Prime Minister.)

Journalist/Schacht/Pyne:

(Discuss walking pedometers and the airport curfew.)

Pyne:

I think we're very, very lucky to have Adelaide Airport where it is all the people that I know that come to Adelaide say it's sensational that you can be in the city in 20 minutes from the airport and if you're going to have the airport there, it's going to have to have a curfew because it flies in over residential areas.