Transcript of
Senator Mitch Fifield
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary
for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector
Sky News “Playing Politics Program”
with Ashleigh Gillon
26 November 2009
12.30am
E & OE
Subjects: Offer of resignation, Emissions Trading Scheme
ASHLEIGH GILLON:
Even though the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation is now expected to pass through the Senate, we are expecting another couple of messy days for the Liberals, with up to twelve Senators expected to be crossing the floor. One of those is the newly demoted Liberal Senator, Mitch Fifield. Good afternoon.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Good afternoon Ashleigh.
GILLON:
You voluntarily stepped down from your frontbench position yesterday, before the vote on the leadership spill happened, do you regret that decision now?
FIFIELD:
No, not at all. The offer of my resignation is something that I did with regret but with a clear conscience. There are important protocols to follow in a Parliamentary Party. If you are a member of the Shadow Ministry and you feel that you can’t support a decision of the Leader, then the only thing to do is to offer your resignation. And I thought that was the appropriate thing to do given that I had decided that I couldn’t support Labor’s ETS legislation.
GILLON:
So you will be crossing the floor when this goes to a vote, even though that is of course against the leader’s wishes.
FIFIELD:
That’s right I’ll be moving to the opposite side of the chamber to the Australian Labor Party. I will be making sure that I am voting against the Australian Labor Party and their ETS legislation.
GILLON:
And against your own party.
FIFIELD:
Well I think it is important to note that I won’t be moving to the other side of the chamber to vote with the Labor Party, I will be moving to the other side of the chamber to make sure I’m voting against the Labor Party.
GILLON:
How many of your colleagues do you expect will have a similar position to you?
FIFIELD:
Well I don’t like to speak on behalf of other colleagues. I think it is appropriate to let them speak for themselves. But clearly myself and Senators Mason and Cormann will be doing likewise. We announced our intention together. So beyond that, I think it is best to let colleagues make their own decisions and speak for themselves.
GILLON:
Even so though, do you think there will be more frontbenchers who do stand down over the next week?
FIFIELD:
I’ve had no indication from any other frontbench colleague that they are thinking of taking the same steps, but I would certainly expect that there would be some other colleagues who would vote against this legislation.
GILLON:
35 in your Party Room did want a leadership spill yesterday, what do you think that tells us about Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership? What should we be reading between the lines there?
FIFIELD:
The result yesterday was an endorsement of Malcolm Turnbull. I think with this ETS legislation it is important to not consider it against the backdrop of leadership issues. It is important to look purely at the legislation and its merits or lack of.
GILLON:
But this did become a leadership issue and 35 is still a pretty large number.
FIFIELD:
Well we did have a spill motion yesterday. It was defeated. I certainly wasn’t one of those people who were agitating for a spill motion. I am someone who has said all the way along that it is important to separate issues of leadership from consideration of legislation.
GILLON:
So does Malcolm Turnbull have you personal support then?
FIFIELD:
Malcolm Turnbull has my support and he has the support of the Party Room.
GILLON:
And do you think he is safe until the next election?
FIFIELD:
I expect that Malcolm will lead us to the next election, certainly.
GILLON:
How damaged do you think the Liberal Party has been from the events of this week?
FIFIELD:
Well legislating isn’t always an elegant business. Party Room debates aren’t always elegant. That is the nature of politics and I don’t pretend that this hasn’t been a challenging week. But I think the public are actually pretty understanding about political parties and the importance of having robust debates. You don’t want to have a Party Room where everyone just automatically follows the leader, where everyone automatically follows what they think is expected. It is important to have robust debate and the public expect us to have serious discussions with each other about important legislation.
GILLON:
It won’t be exactly elegant though, will it, in the coming days when this vote finally does happen and we see that split again?
FIFIELD:
Well the vote will be as it is. One of the great things about the Liberal Party is, unlike the Labor Party, we do allow for colleagues to act on conscience, we do allow colleagues to exercise independent judgement. And that’s something which I think should be embraced. I think it is a real strength of the Liberal Party. You’ll never see in the Labor Party this sort of debate, this sort of discussion. And you will never see in the Labor Party individuals exercising independent judgement. That is what we are elected to do, is to consider the best interests of our constituents. And that is what you will see in this vote.
GILLON:
Liberal Senator Mitch Fifield thanks for your time.
FIFIELD:
Thanks very much Ashleigh.
ENDS