Doorstop Interview, Melbourne
Posted on Thursday, 30 June 2011
Subject: Business leaders’ calls for new election; Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; live cattle exports; industrial relations.
E&OE……………………….…………………………………………………………………
TONY ABBOTT:
I understand that yesterday some of Australia’s most senior business leaders said that the country needed an election and we need an election now. I can very much understand why some of our senior business leaders do think we need an election. I think that millions of Australians are rapidly concluding that minority government is an experiment that’s failed and we do need an election to restore certainty to our national life.
The problem is not that this government lacks a majority, but that it lacks integrity. That’s the problem. A government can’t say one thing before an election and do the opposite after an election and that’s what this government has done. It promised no carbon tax before an election and it’s rushing to introduce a carbon tax after an election. That’s why the Australian people feel completely dudded.
Now, I notice that the Prime Minister today is trying to deny that what she’s doing constitutes a carbon tax. She’s been calling it a carbon tax for months now. If it looks like a tax, if it works like a tax, if it costs like a tax, it is a tax. What we see is a prime minister who is compounding incompetence with trickery. We know that this is a government which was untrustworthy, now it’s being tricky as well and I think that the Australian public deserve better than a Prime Minister who is not only untrustworthy but tricky on top of that, too.
I should also say a few words just about the live cattle exports. The Prime Minister has been in Darwin. She should have got on the plane for another couple of hours and gone to Jakarta and fixed this problem because the cattle industry of northern Australia is in crisis and the problem is all of this government’s making. The Gillard Government has created the problem. The Gillard Government should fix the problem. I think she’s very, very badly let the cattle industry of northern Australia down by refusing to go to Jakarta and fix this issue. The live cattle trade could be resumed tomorrow because there are already many Indonesian abattoirs which operate in accordance with the best international standards and the trade to these abattoirs should begin again now and the Prime Minister should make that happen.
QUESTION:
What’s your reaction to the $30 million assistance package for the industry?
TONY ABBOTT:
I think that the cattle industry doesn’t want welfare, they want their trade back. That’s what they want and it’s typical of this government that instead of allowing people to work they’re handing out welfare cheques. It’s always better to allow people to do their job than it is to subsidise them not to do their job.
QUESTION:
Do you think they should not offer them $30 million of assistance?
TONY ABBOTT:
I think what they should be doing is getting the trade restarted. The trade can restart tomorrow, it just needs the Prime Minister to sit down with the Indonesians and reassure the Indonesians that this is not all about them. That’s the problem. The Indonesians think that what Australia has done is all about them, and it’s not about them, it’s just about ensuring that we have a trade to abattoirs that adhere to the best international standards and we know there are many abattoirs in Indonesia that do.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, you’ve repeated your calls today for an election. What happens, though, if we have an election and there’s another minority government?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well I think that Australians have concluded that minority government is an experiment that’s failed. I don’t think we’re going to see another minority government in Canberra for a long, long time. I think that one way or another the next federal election will produce a result, a decisive result. It will end the uncertainty and it will determine once and for all whether we are going to have a carbon tax. Now as I said, governments can’t say one thing before an election and do the opposite after an election. The Prime Minister was untrustworthy before the election and she’s now being tricky and I just think the Australian people deserve better than a Prime Minister who is untrustworthy and tricky.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, you mentioned the business community before, what can business expect out of the Coalition on workplace relations policy?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, what business can expect from the Coalition is no carbon tax. We give business the certainty of no carbon tax and we give the Australian people the certainty of tax cuts without a carbon tax.
QUESTION:
Well the question related to workplace policy. You said that you’ll get a strong policy. I’m just wondering what sort of thing, would it be change on unfair dismissals, greater individual flexibility, what can we expect?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, that’s something that we’ll address in good time before the next election.
QUESTION:
But what do you think about Mr Reith putting, going on the initiative about it? How do you think that’s going?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well again, I dealt with that issue yesterday. Today the issue is first of all the fact that some of our most senior business leaders have said that Australia needs an election and we do need to resolve this uncertainty, we do need the Government to try to regain some integrity by putting the carbon tax to a vote. That’s the issue today. The other issue is the Prime Minister’s attempt to deny what she’s accepted for months now, namely that what she’s proposing is not a carbon tax. Well as I said, if it looks like a tax, if it works like a tax, if it costs like a tax, it is a tax and the Prime Minister is being both untrustworthy and tricky.
QUESTION:
Isn’t the Prime Minister just stating a fact though, that the carbon tax will evolve into an ETS?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, an emissions trading scheme is itself a tax. The only difference between a straight tax and an emissions trading scheme tax is that the tax is going to go up and up and up under an emissions trading scheme in response to a market and what we’ve seen overseas is that the price can vary enormously, sometimes in response to people scamming the market and that’s the last thing that people need in this country.
QUESTION:
But haven’t business leaders also been calling for change on workplace. This is your constituency. They’re saying we need change, Mr Abbott.
TONY ABBOTT:
I’ve dealt with that issue. Are there any other questions?
QUESTION:
Wayne Swan’s given a speech just a short time ago saying the effect on the manufacturing industry will be very modest. You’ve been visiting manufacturers in the last couple of days. Is that what they believe will happen?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, I think you should tell that to Paul O’Malley of BlueScope who, last time the Treasurer said something like that said, ‘look, tell him he’s dreaming’. Tell him he’s dreaming. I mean, the Treasurer does not understand the reality of Australian manufacturing if he thinks that on top of our small markets, on top of our good wages, on top of the high dollar, manufacturing can survive with a carbon tax.
QUESTION:
You say that minority governments are a failed experiment. Does that mean you rule out ever leading a minority government?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, I am just saying that based on the results so far, this minority government is an experiment that’s failed. Basically, we’ve seen a bad government get worse since the election. We saw a Prime Minister announce about nine months ago that this was going to be the year of decision and delivery. In fact, it’s the year of backflips and broken promises. We know she’s untrustworthy. What we’ve learned today is that she is tricky as well.
QUESTION:
Does the fact that they’ve reached an agreement, it appears with the Greens to bring in the ETS by 2015, make it harder for you to [inaudible]?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, the point I make is that a carbon tax is a tax. An emissions trading scheme is a tax. If these things work like a tax, look like a tax and cost like a tax, they are taxes and the Prime Minister can play all the word games she likes but what her policy means is that everyone’s cost of living increases and everyone’s job is less secure.
QUESTION:
But how much harder does that make it for you to repeal it if an ETS is in place?
TONY ABBOTT:
The thing is that if we win the next election we will have the strongest possible mandate to repeal any carbon tax, any emissions trading scheme legislation and I call on the Prime Minister to respect that mandate and I challenge the Prime Minister to say what she will do faced with a Coalition government with a clear mandate to repeal the carbon tax. This is a real challenge for the Prime Minister.
QUESTION:
What would the Coalition do about workplace relations? I am just trying to get a clear message on this. You’re calling on the Prime Minister to do one thing. What does the Coalition want to do about workplace relations?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, as I’ve said already, we will have more to say on that in good time before the election.
QUESTION:
If I could ask you about the New South Wales Government, they’ve scrapped an agreement that it made with the Federal Government last year about buying back water from the Menindee Lakes. Do you think they’re making the right decision? That seems to put the Murray Basin plan in jeopardy.
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, it’s not a subject that I’ve been brought up to speed on but I just make the general observation that this is a Government that finds it very hard to do deals with anyone. It’s had enormous trouble doing deals with East Timor. It’s had enormous trouble doing deals with PNG. It’s had enormous trouble doing deals with Malaysia. It’s had enormous trouble sitting down and negotiating with the mining industry. It can only negotiate with the Greens because it gives into the Greens again and again and again and now it seems it can’t have a constructive relationship with the New South Wales Government. This is a federal government which is untrustworthy, incompetent and tricky.
Thank you.
[ends]