Doorstop Interview, Canberra
Posted on Tuesday, 28 September 2010
TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
CANBERRA
Subjects: Opening of 43rd Parliament
E&OE……………………….………………………………………………………………………………..
TONY ABBOTT:
It’s good to be back in Canberra to start the new parliamentary term. The job of the Opposition will be to hold the Government to account and to be a credible alternative. Where the Government does well, if the Government does well, we will give credit where it is due, but otherwise we will be holding the Government ferociously to account because that’s what the public have a right to expect of an Opposition.
QUESTION:
Is the Opposition’s job to hold the Government to account as you just said or to wreck it, as the word has been used in the last few days?
TONY ABBOTT:
It’s important that this Parliament works, but we’ve got to remember that the Parliament should be working in the national interest, not just in the interest of the Labor Party. So that’s our intention, to ensure that this is a workable Parliament, but the test of what’s workable will be the national interest, not just what’s good for the Labor Party and for the Government.
QUESTION:
You reneged on a deal to pair the Speaker. Why should Labor follow through on the deal and give a Coalition member the Deputy Speaker job?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, the important thing is that this Parliament works in the national interest and the point I make is that you cannot validly make an agreement that turns out to be constitutionally unsound and we assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that the Government had done it’s homework on this point.
QUESTION:
Did you pressure Alex Somylay to back down on the deal he did with Labor?
TONY ABBOTT:
One of the things that I’ve been really encouraged by is the way that all of the Coalition’s members are full of enthusiasm, very keen to hold the Government to account and be a credible alternative and I’ve been really pleased by the spirit that all of my MP’s have shown since the election.
Thanks so much.
[ends]