Transcript of
Senator Mitch Fifield
Senator for Victoria
ABC Radio National
AM with Lyndal Curtis
28 November 2009
8.00am
E & OE
Subjects: Leadership, Emissions Trading Scheme
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Between now and when that decision is made, the Liberal Party is still deciding what will happen, where it will go. One of those who have been one of the key movers in this is Victorian Senator Mitch Fifield. He was one of the first to offer his resignation in a group of three Parliamentary Secretaries who resigned from the frontbench earlier this week. I spoke to him a short time ago. Senator Fifield, do you have the numbers to get the spill up and the numbers to unseat Malcolm Turnbull?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, I am not counting heads or anything of that nature. I am seeking to have a resolution to the current impasse that we have at the moment. What I would say is that Malcolm’s public contributions over the last few days have been unfair to the Party and unhelpful to its electoral prospects in a number of ways.
CURTIS:
How can you say that though because haven’t your actions and those who have joined you in trying to unseat him, helped destabilise the Party and show it to the electorate as a rabble?
FIFIELD:
I think Malcolm has impugned the motives of anyone who has issues with Labor’s ETS legislation as opposed to his leadership. And I would have thought that opposing bad Labor legislation and supporting the Liberal leader weren’t mutually incompatible. I mean my colleagues haven’t wanted to consider this legislation against the backdrop of leadership but Malcolm has constantly sought to run these two things together.
CURTIS:
What happens if Malcolm Turnbull stands on Tuesday and he wins? Do you then have to pledge to him your loyalty and pass the Emissions Trading Scheme?
FIFIELD:
Well, the important thing is to have a resolution to this situation. It can’t continue. We have a leader failing to take into account the views of the Party Room.
CURTIS:
But if the Party Room backs him then don’t you have to fall into line?
FIFIELD:
Well, I don’t think that it will. Malcolm has, I think, incorrectly characterised anyone who has issues with Labor’s ETS legislation as climate change deniers and as people opposed to modern Liberal Party. Now, I am not a climate change denier and I think I am pretty modern but like many, many colleagues, in fact probably a majority of colleagues, I believe this legislation will fail to meet the stated objectives of reducing emissions and it is going to cost Australia jobs and its international competitiveness in the process. That is the view of a majority of colleagues and I think that is the view which will find expression next week.
CURTIS:
But aren’t you, isn’t the Party Room having to choose between a man who wants the job and wants to run on an issue he passionately believes in and two men who are reluctant?
FIFIELD:
Well, I’m not sure that there are two men who are reluctant.
CURTIS:
But Tony Abbott said earlier this week he may be interested in the future but he didn’t want to be leader yet.
FIFIELD:
Tony Abbott has indicated that he is prepared to nominate if Malcolm doesn’t change his policy. Malcolm Turnbull may be the Leader of the Liberal Party in fact, but he is no longer the Leader of the Liberal Party in spirit. I think he no longer reflects the will of the party or governs with its consent. He has, I think, broken the bonds of trust with both the organisational party and the Parliamentary party. If he cares about the Party and the tens of thousands of volunteers who raise the money and hand out the how-to-vote cards, then he will stand aside.
CURTIS:
Will you face a double dissolution?
FIFIELD:
Look, I don’t know. That is entirely in Labor’s court but I think the Australian public are extremely cynical when governments seek to go to the polls early for political advantage. I don’t think Labor would seek to do so. I think Labor are actually very concerned about having to justify this legislation.
CURTIS:
Malcolm Turnbull says you face a wipe out at the next election. Will you accept responsibility for any election loss?
FIFIELD:
The Liberal Party as a collective, the Parliamentary Liberal Party as a collective always has to accept responsibility for an election loss. What we should be doing is contrasting ourselves with the Australian Labor Party, pointing out the flaws of their legislation and presenting to the Australian people a clear alternative.
CURTIS:
In this term in Parliament, Liberal senators have twice defied the leader. Will you give any commitments to whoever wins on Tuesday that you won’t do it again?
FIFIELD:
I will not be supporting Labor’s ETS legislation. I have already made that clear. I have already resigned from the frontbench so that will not change.
CURTIS:
But will you tell the next leader of the Liberal Party that senators, Liberal Party senators will abide by the decisions of the Party Room and of the leadership.
FIFIELD:
Well, Liberal senators like all colleagues, obey and observe the decisions of the Party Room on most occasions. But what contrasts us from the Labor Party is that we jealously guard the right to exercise individual judgement and to express that on occasion in the Parliament. That is what our pre-selectors want. That is what our voters want. That is what the party wants.
ELIZABETH JACKSON:
That is Victorian Liberal senator Mitch Fifield, speaking in Canberra at Parliament House to our chief political reporter Lyndal Curtis a little earlier this morning.
ENDS