Transcripts

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW SYDNEY 2.30PM FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2010

5th February 2010

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

SYDNEY

2.30PM FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2010

E&OE………………………………………………………………………………………

Subject: RBA announcement, industrial relations, ETS, Senator Conroy’s attack on Patricia Scott

JOE HOCKEY:

Well, there’ll be a number of issues that I’ll want to cover today.

Firstly on the Reserve Bank’s Statement on Monetary Policy.  It is quite clear the Australian economy is certainly outperforming the expectations of the Rudd government, yet they continue to spend as if we are in recession.

There is a very clear message to the Rudd message from the Reserve Bank – stop spending so much money.  Interest rates will rise and the challenge will be the growing concern around the world about government debt.  Clearly the world is getting nervous about the amount of government debt and Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan are making it worse.  They’re spending far too much money, which is putting upward pressure on interest rates and is going to make life more difficult during the economic recovery over the next few years.  We said that the downturn was not as bad as what the government was claiming.  The government continues to spend money as if we’re heading towards an 8.5% unemployment rate, and yet the Reserve Bank is warning that unemployment will not reach 6%, that they are facing and Australians are facing higher interest rates.

Again we call on the government to stop spending so much money. Stop wasting so much money.  Stop borrowing so much money, because the world is getting increasingly concerned about the very high levels of government debt.

I also want to say something about Industrial Relations.  Kevin Rudd promised the Australian people that his laws would not make workers worse off.  In fact, Kevin Rudd has misled the Australian people and misled Australian workers, as each day there is more evidence emerging that workers can and are at times worse off under Kevin Rudd’s new industrial laws.

His new industrial laws are a Trojan horse for the Union movement and are in some cases delivering worse outcomes for workers than previously existed.  It is now time for Kevin Rudd to come clean with the Australian people, admit that he misled the Australian people about what workers were going to get and admit that workers in a number of cases are worse off as a result of his new industrial laws.

The third issue I want to touch on is the emissions trading scheme.  If Kevin Rudd doesn’t understand his emissions trading scheme, how can he expect Australians to understand his scheme?  If Kevin Rudd doesn’t know if people are worse off, how can he expect Australians to buy into and support his emissions trading scheme? 

Greg Combet, one of his climate change Ministers, couldn’t explain the compensation arrangements for Australian families and Australian workers.  He said, he claimed, that low and middle income workers and families and households would be fully compensated.  He was wrong.  A single person earning just $45,000 a year will be worse off under Kevin Rudd’s ETS and Kevin Rudd has to come clean with the Australian people and explain in detail how much worse off they will be and whether his figures are robust.

And just as the government goes about covering up more modelling, we again call on the government to release all the Treasury modelling on their emissions trading scheme.  Stop the cover-up, start being fair dinkum with the Australian people about the real costs of the Rudd emissions trading scheme.

And the final issue I want to touch on relates to what I would describe as the most aggressive and hostile attack on a senior and respected public servant today by the Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy.

Patricia Scott was the head of my department in Human Services.  She is a very well-respected and widely respected public servant.  For Senator Stephen Conroy to engage in the underground, background briefing of a journalist in order to undermine the personal integrity of a public servant such as Patricia Scott is reprehensible.

Senator Conroy is desperately trying to shift the blame for a $17m bungle onto someone else and not accept responsibility himself.  But I just say this – you will gain no advantage in demeaning individuals in the public service who have contributed, over a long period of time, to the hard work of a government, both governments, governments of all persuasions, and I think now’s the time for Stephen Conroy to apologise to Patricia Scott for this unseemly behaviour and for this outrageous slur on her reputation.

JOURNALIST:

Mr Hockey, on emissions trading, we have the architect of your climate change policy admit today that it’s a short-term solution. How do you expect ….

JOE HOCKEY:

I’m sorry, who was claiming to be the architect?

JOURNALIST:

Danny Price.

JOE HOCKEY:

Well, Danny Price is not the architect of our climate change policy.  We are the architects of our climate change policy.  Our policy is robust.  We asked Mr Price to have a look at the costings involved.  He agreed the costings are robust and correct and we stand by a direct action policy that is going to be far, far cheaper than Kevin Rudd’s policy.

JOURNALIST:

What about his claim that it’s only a short-term and a stop-gap measure?

JOE HOCKEY:

Well, I would say that obviously there is no agreement around the world on dealing with carbon emissions.  Kevin Rudd admits that.  Overnight there’s further evidence that Barack Obama is walking away from an emissions trading scheme.  Clearly, the world is divided on the best way to proceed with a united, single, global approach to dealing with carbon emissions. 

I would say to everyone involved, there is a clear choice; a $3.2 billion commitment by the Coalition to address climate change, to reduce emissions by 5% or the $114 billion economic churn from Kevin Rudd with his, with what appears to be a flawed emissions trading scheme that leaves Australians worse off.

JOURNALIST:

What about Wayne Swan saying this morning that the Opposition’s policy is ‘voodoo economics’?

JOE HOCKEY:

Well, Wayne Swan’s best asset is his name-calling.  His worse asset, his most flawed characteristic, is that he’s a failed Treasurer and I’ll just leave it at that.

I think we urge our children not to be bullies and not to chastise each other in the playground. It’s about time Mr Swan listened to some of the advice he freely gives others.

JOURNALIST:

Is Barnaby Joyce embarrassing the Coalition?

JOE HOCKEY:

I’ll just say this, everyone always yearns for a bit of colour and movement in their politicians. They want to know that their politicians are real people, who have real life experience, and in doing so, those politicians have their own unique way of communicating.

Barnaby’s intentions and Barnaby’s desires are absolutely right.  He wants to pay down the debt left by the Rudd Labor government.  He believes we should not be in the business of racking up massive debt.  He’s absolutely right and his communication, his way of communicating, may not be acceptable to those people who have straight-jacket views of politicians. They said that about Tim Fisher, they’ve said that about a number of people in the past who’ve gone on to make exceptional contributions to Australian life.

And I would just say to those people who are all too willing to criticise Barnaby Joyce - he’s a straight-talker, he is horrified at the level of government debt and the impact on Australian families and he wants to do something about it, and that is exactly the view of the Coalition.

[ends]