E&OE……………………….…………………………………………………………………

 

 

I'm joined now by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.  Mr Abbott, thanks for joining us. Your colleague Tony Crook is quoted in the papers today wondering whether last week's tragedy could have been avoided if he had voted in favour of the Malaysian solution. Do you agree with him?

 

 

Look Kochie, I think this is a very difficult problem but let's never forget that this was a problem that the Howard Government faced and the Howard Government solved by putting in place rigorous offshore processing at Nauru, temporary protection visas and the option of turning boats around where it’s safe to do so. These were the policies that worked in the past. I think they can work again in the future and that’s been a clear and consistent position for ten years.

 

 

Do you agree with Tony Crook that it may have been able to have been avoided if you had let the Malaysian solution go; you had voted for it?

 

 

Let's never forget, Kochie, that there have been 8,000 illegal arrivals since the 800-for-4,000 people swap was put in place. Now, the best you could say of Malaysia was that it was a band-aid on a bullet wound. It was completely inadequate to dealing with the scale of the problem. There were no human rights protections. The Government wasn't going to send juveniles and women back to Malaysia. It was just a dud deal for Australia as well as being a cruel deal for boat people.

 

 

So, is Tony Crook a bit misguided in thinking that?

 

 

Look, Tony Crook is a very decent human being and all of us are right to consult our consciences in the face of tragedy but having consulted my conscience, having discussed this with my Shadow Cabinet, I am very confident that the position that the Coalition has had for a decade and which has stopped the boats is the right one.

 

 

Would any amount of negotiation change your mind from your stance? Julia Gillard is saying let's put this above politics. I think most Australians would agree on that. Will you put yourself above politics? Will you negotiate?

 

 

I think the Prime Minister is playing politics with the best of them right now. She hasn't picked up the phone. She hasn't dropped me a line. There hasn't been an email.

 

 

If she does, will you negotiate?

 

 

Kochie, I think what the public want here is not more talk. There has been plenty of talk. They want effective policies. That’s what they want. They want effective policies.

 

 

That's, sort of, I only need a yes or no from you on that. Will you negotiate?

 

 

Well, what is there to negotiate? The Prime Minister just wants us to accept a dud deal. Now, she hasn’t moved on at all.

 

 

So, if she does though, will you meet her half way?

 

 

Well, if she wants to put good policies in place, obviously we will support good policy but we are not going to support bad policies and the job of an opposition is not to make weak compromises with a government that's failed.

 

We might be able to negotiate here between our politicians but it seems to me Indonesia is sort of at the root of this. The amount of corruption in that country that lets these boats leave is absolutely staggering and when you look at the timeline of last week's tragedy, the Indonesians basically left them alone after that first distress signal. Do we need to get tougher with Indonesia and say, just don't give us the talk, act to help us and to stop the boats leaving your country?

 

 

Kochie, I think one of the big problems here is the way the Government has completely mishandled the relationship with Indonesia. Instead of talking quietly with the Indonesians, they’ve engaged in megaphone diplomacy, they’ve engaged in negotiations through the media…

 

 

So, what would you do with Indonesia?

 

 

…they’ve done the same thing with Indonesia that the Prime Minister has tried to do with the Coalition now. It’s negotiation through the media. That doesn't work. What you've got to do is show genuine good faith, sit down, talk with the Indonesians, work out what they can do, what we can do…

 

 

Haven't we been doing that for years though?

 

 

Certainly, that’s what John Howard and Philip Ruddock and Alexander Downer did. That's why we had the kind of relationship with Indonesia then that did enable boats to be effectively turned around where it was safe to do so.

 

 

Ok. So what’s different in dealing with, apart from the megaphone politics, what did you offer under the Howard regime, the Indonesians for them to be serious about this. Did you give them money? Did you give them extra aid?

 

 

Kochie, we treated them with respect. We treated them as equal partners. We treated them as people who were fair dinkum with us as we were fair dinkum with them and that’s what there hasn’t been from this Government. This has been a government which just doesn't get it on anything and it hasn't treated the Indonesians decently and that's the difficulty.

 

 

Tony Abbott, it’s going to be a fascinating week leading up to the winter recess. Appreciate your time this morning.

 

 

Thanks, Kochie.

 

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