Joint Doorstop Interview, Sydney
Posted on Saturday, 12 May 2012
Subjects: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; Budget 2012; Craig Thomson.
EO&E..............................................................................................................................................................
TONY ABBOTT:
It’s great to be here with John Alexander at Top Ryde shops. This is a very vibrant shopping centre obviously but so many of the shopkeepers are concerned, as are so many Australians, about the impact of the coming carbon tax, just a few weeks away now. Julia Gillard’s gift-wrapped hit on the cost of living of Australian families and on the jobs of Australian workers. So I want to thank Chris and the other staff of Peter Roans Seafood for making John and I so welcome this morning. Peter Roans Seafood has an electricity bill of about $40,000 a year. There is a $4,000 hit on that from Day One of the carbon tax but it’s not just Peter Roans power prices that are going up. It’s all of his other costs going up because the cost of power and transport is embedded in everything. If you take a fish shop, well, there’s the fuel that the fishing boats use, there’s the power that they use at the markets to freeze things, there’s the transport which gets the fish to the markets and to the shops. All of this is going to be impacted by the carbon tax and this is why this carbon tax is so toxic for the families and the workers of Australia.
Now, the Government knows that this is a toxic tax and that is why there was disguised carbon tax compensation in the Budget released this week but essentially it was a deceptive and misleading budget. The Treasurer talked about a surplus and yet he undercuts his surplus by attempting to lift the nation’s credit card limit by a further $50 billion. The Treasurer talks about helping families to pay for educational expense. It’s just another cash splash from a government which has previously given cash splashes and we all know what happened to them.
So, more deception, more misleading conduct from the Government this week in the budget.
Finally, we had an interview with Mr Craig Thomson today. I don’t think anyone believes his story. Fair Work Australia didn’t believe his story. I don’t think the Australian public will believe his story either. This story is essentially to provide the Prime Minister with an alibi. It’s all about giving Julia Gillard an alibi so she can keep clinging to his vote and really the question for the Prime Minister is, did Craig Thomson tell her himself this story and is that why for so many months she has been declaring full confidence in Craig Thomson? Now, she needs to explain why it was that she for months was declaring full confidence in Craig Thomson and what story he told her in order to justify her statement that she had full confidence in him.
I’m going to ask John to say a few words because this is his electorate. He is a great local member. John Alexander is an Australian legend who has taken the heavy step of going into public life. I really admire John for doing this. I respect the fact that he was prepared to take on a Labor member of parliament in this seat and I think he has turned out to be not only an outstanding local member but a great contributor to our party room in Canberra.
JOHN ALEXANDER:
Thank you, Tony. Thank you for visiting and the point I would like to make is that this is an authentic story. In meeting with Peter yesterday, who is sponsoring our volunteers awards night this coming Thursday, he, with no solicitation whatsoever, said that his power bills had gone from $1,500 to $3,000 a month and that he could see them going much higher with the advent of the carbon tax on July 1. He made the point that this is a business where there is some discretion but there is no discretion on having to keep things frozen, having to pay bills to keep things cold and so this is an example of which we see so many examples of throughout Bennelong and the country of small business really struggling under the weight of the ever-increasing cost. There is very little chance to pass on. Businesses are having to absorb and there are many businesses suffering incredible hardship and inevitably may have to close down.
We are the champions of small business and here in this region we are doing what we can to take direct action.
TONY ABBOTT:
Ok. Do we have any questions?
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, what should Mr Thomson do now?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, he should cooperate with the police. He should have made a statement months ago to the Australian Parliament. He should give an absolutely complete and candid explanation to the parliament, to the people of Australia and to the various agencies that are looking at this whole sordid, squalid mess. But in the end, it’s not so much a question of what Mr Thomson should do. It’s a question of what the Prime Minister should do. For months and months and months she has been expressing full confidence in Mr Thomson. I think today’s statement by Mr Thomson is essentially an attempt to give the Prime Minister an alibi to continue to cling to his vote in the parliament. I don’t think anyone will believe this statement. Fair Work Australia didn’t believe this statement. The Prime Minister needs to tell us, does she believe this statement?
QUESTION:
Does he have the right to his vote in parliament?
TONY ABBOTT:
I think that the Prime Minister, if she’s fair dinkum, would disown his vote in the parliament. I mean, you cannot disown him from the caucus and cling to him in the parliament and this whole protection racket that has been run for so long by the Labor Party for Craig Thomson’s benefit has basically been about propping up Julia Gillard and her government. Now, I think the Prime Minister’s evasion, her shifty evasions about what she knew and when she knew it, what her staff knew and when they knew it, what the Labor Party did to pay his legal bills, otherwise to protect his position and when they told the Prime Minister’s office about it. I think there is an implausibility about the suggestion that the Prime Minister knew nothing about this until very, very recently.
QUESTION:
Does that mean that you don’t respect Nick Minchin’s opinion, that that would be overreaching to can his vote?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, the point is that the Prime Minister…
QUESTION:
No, no, Nick Minchin’s opinion I’m asking about, not the Prime Minister.
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, the answer I’m giving you is that this is an issue for the Prime Minister. She cannot disown in the caucus but cling to him in the parliament. This is another issue of judgement and integrity for the Prime Minister.
QUESTION:
Wouldn’t it set a dangerous precedent though if you canned his vote?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, you’ve got to remember that these aren’t just allegations against Craig Thomson, these are findings. This is not just a claim, these are findings of fact by Fair Work Australia, by a very, very respected senior member of Fair Work Australia. So, the idea that this is just on a par with the sort of allegations that are made from time to time is simply wrong. These are findings that have been made against Craig Thomson, findings of fact that have been made against him by a quasi-judicial body and let’s not forget that the Fair Work Australia investigation concluded that Mr Thomson had given false and misleading evidence to the investigation.
QUESTION:
So do you think a new precedent should be established?
TONY ABBOTT:
I think that a government and a Prime Minister of integrity would not try to have it both ways. They wouldn’t try to disown him in the caucus but cling to him in the parliament.
QUESTION:
So would it be right to say that you are not going to give Mr Thomson the benefit of the doubt?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, as I said, he’s told us a story today. He’s given us a story. Fair Work Australia didn’t believe the story and I don’t think the Australian people will believe the story either.
QUESTION:
On the budget issue, in the light of your budget reply and comments that have come from Mr Turnbull and Mr Costello in the past about your economic credibility and literacy, I guess, what are you going to do to dispel the perception that really, you don’t have a good handle on it?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, I think that what I did on Thursday night was outline a vision. A vision to get the families and the small businesses of Australia back on track. A fair deal for the families and the small businesses of Australia and I think that’s what they want. They want to know that there is a better way, that there can be hope, reward and opportunity and that’s what they’ll get from the Coalition. The message I keep giving to the Australian people is there is nothing wrong with our country that a change of government wouldn’t improve. We are a great country and a great people but we are being badly let down by the current government.
[ends]