TRANSCRIPT
Sky News AM Agenda
Ashleigh Gillon & the Hon Craig Emerson MP
2 March 2010
8:30am
Subjects: Newspoll, public hospitals, national curriculum, Peter Garrett
Ashleigh Gillon:
Let’s go to our panel of politicians. Joining me from business, the Small Business Minister Craig Emerson and from Melbourne the Liberal Senator and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Mitch Fifield. Good morning to you both, Craig Emerson lets start with you. Voters were kinder to Labor than the Prime Minister expected. Why do you think that was?
Craig Emerson:
We believed that the polls would tighten in an election year and the reality from this poll is that if just two or three out of every 100 Australians change their vote then Tony Abbott as Prime Minister and workchoices is back. We don’t need polls Ashleigh to tell us that we need to get back to basics and that’s what the Prime Minister is doing with the curriculum, the national curriculum launch yesterday with Julia Gillard and with a health policy coming out in the fairly near future so it is a matter of getting back to basics but this isn’t a surprise to us Kevin Rudd really foreshadowed that there would be tightening in the polls.
Gillon:
Craig Emerson, the mere fact that you mentioned workchoices in the first sentence of your answer there makes me think that you might be a bit worried because support for Tony Abbott is climbing steadily. The Prime Minister seems to be a bit rattled by that.
Emerson:
Well it’s just a reality. This poll suggests that we’re 52/48 percent. I don’t want to over diagnose polls, they do come and go but we have said they would tighten and I think the Australian people probably understand that if there’s a small shift of two to three in one hundred Australians towards Tony Abbott, then they will get workchoices because this is the guy who said, just after he was elected, he said the name workchoices is dead. His colleagues before him, before he became leader were all declaring hand on heart that workchoices was dead. When he gets asked, the name workchoices is dead, but they are going to bring back, remove unfair dismissal protections for two million or more working Australians. They’re talking about reducing or getting rid of penalty rates and putting people back on individual contracts. That’s workchoices.
Gillon:
Well of course the Coalition is yet to unveil its industrial relations policy so we don’t actually know what the Coalition is going to do in that area.
Emerson:
Well we do Ashleigh, they have made those commitments. They have made those commitments already. To individual contracts Tony Abbott has absolutely said that he will remove unfair dismissal protections for people working in small businesses and that’s more than 2 million working Australians. He’s already made those commitments and his deputy has said that these penalty rates need to go down or be wiped out. That’s the core of workchoices.
Gillon:
Ok, well it’s only fair to let Mitch Fifield respond to some of those comments about workchoices and also Mitch it does seem clear to me from my conversation with Coalition MP’s that confidence levels are up in the Coalition despite the turmoil last year. It seems like you have got your act together a bit. The party is a lot more united under Tony Abbott. Are you confident the sort of polls you’ve seen today and over the recent weeks are a trend that Mr Abbott will just continue to get more and more support from here?
Mitch Fifield:
I’ll address that, but I can’t actually let Craig’s comments on industrial relations go unchallenged. All Tony Abbott has said. .
Emerson:
. . . There not my comments Mitch, they’re Tony Abbott’s…
Fifield:
. . . All Tony Abbott has reiterated is the fundamental commitment to the right of an individual to sell their labour on terms acceptable to them. That’s all individual contracts are. The Coalition has always been committed to reasonable unfair dismissal laws that don’t unjustly penalise small businesses. Now those two things are elements of our industrial relations policy which long predate workchoices. So workchoices is dead, but our commitment to a better and freer and fairer labour market remains.
Ashleigh, in relation to the poll, obviously the trend is encouraging. I think it partly reflects the opposition’s decision at the end of last year to adopt a new leader, a new policy and a new attitude. But I think it also reflects the growing realisation that this is a government that just can’t get anything right. Whether it be health, whether it be rolling out free pink batts, whether it be Julia Gillard memorial school halls, this government bungles, it wastes money and it breaks promises. And it’s clearly a case of spin over substance as we’ve been saying for quite sometime. In fact, so much spinning that you can say this government is spinning out of control. The trend is encouraging in the polls but we are still behind. We’ve still got a lot of hard work to do and you have to say that the government at this stage are still the favourites.
Gillon:
Mitch Fifield, could you say that this could be a honeymoon for Tony Abbott though? Some Labor MP’s have been saying they hope the election is later in the year to give Tony Abbott enough rope to hang himself. Is that a risk, a common fear among Coalition MP’s, that Tony Abbott could put his foot in and somehow ruin the party’s chances?
Fifield:
Colleagues have tremendous faith and confidence in Tony Abbott. He’s got great judgement and he’s got a real capacity to put the government under pressure. Tony’s also someone who believes that the guts of politics is good policy and that’s what we are seeing Tony articulate. An alternative policy agenda. That’s what the Australian public want to see and that’s ultimately what will determine the next election is the public judgement as to who has the best policies and who’s best placed to manage. We’re seeing growing evidence every day the government is a hopeless manager.
Gillon:
Well health reform is one area the Prime Minister says has been more complex then he imagined. Today a number of newspapers seem to have leaks just exactly what the government will do in the area and the reports suggest that the government is going to go through on its direct takeover funding from the states. Craig Emerson, Labor Premiers aren’t likely to be too thrilled with that idea are they?
Emerson:
Well this is media speculation Ashleigh and I don’t think I can comment on that. I don’t think Kevin Rudd or Nicola Roxon would see the funny side of me speculating about what will be in this health plan but . . .
Gillon:
. . . It was worth a try though wasn’t it?
Emerson:
You’re showing that you’re worth your salt Ashleigh by asking but what we won’t do of course is rip a billion dollars out of the public hospital system like Tony Abbott did when he was Health Minister. In fact our $64 billion health agreement is a 50% increase on the previous health agreement so if you’re looking for a political party that’s committed to proper health care and health reform in this country than you need to look no further than the Australian Labor party.
Gillon:
But Minister despite all that extra funding elective surgery waiting lists have grown and emergency waiting times are longer aren’t they?
Emerson:
And this is one of the features of health care in a western democracy. There’s always a demand for extra quality care and that’s why we need to have a look at the fundamentals of health care in this country. We’re facing up to that. I think the State Premiers realise they have a real funding problem on their hands Ashleigh. We’re committed to health reform and we’ll be positive about this, I’d just like to hear something positive, anything positive from Mitch, from Tony Abbott. They criticise everything we do and Tony Abbott has actually said if in doubt we will oppose and he’s carried through on that. Mitch talks about the ridge-away of polices that Tony Abbott’s unveiled, well beyond bringing back workchoices I cant think of too many. Their policy is to do the opposite of what Labor has done and we’ve seen that and i’m sure we will get onto the national curriculum with Christopher Pyne out there saying well they’ll review it and if they don’t like it they’ll start again. We’ve been waiting a hundred and six, a hundred and eight years for a national curriculum and before it was even out the Coalition was opposing.
Gillon:
Ok, I do want to get to the national curriculum, but just back to health reform Mitch Fifield, the Coalition isn’t against taking over funding for the states is it? In principle is it really a bad idea?
Fifield:
Well, what we are expecting from the government shortly on health is more blah blah. We have already indicated the direction we think national health should go.
Emerson:
In two states.
Fifield:
We’ve put out a policy which is to put the power back in the hands of local boards and regional boards in Queensland and New South Wales so local clinicians, the local health care community and the local community more broadly have a say in the running of the hospital.
Gillon:
But as the Minister has pointed out, that’s a plan for New South Wales and Queensland. We have no idea what you planing to do across the rest of the country.
Fifield:
Well Western Australian already has something close to local boards. Victoria also has regional boards. You will see the rest of our health policy in due course. We’ve got no reason to have any confidence at all in what this government is going to propose in relation to health. They break their promises. They promised 31 GP super clinics; there are only two out there. This government promised they wouldn’t touch the private health insurance rebate, yet they have got a meat axe ready and waiting for private health insurance. This government promised they would fix public hospitals by the middle of last year. They didn’t. This government promised they would take over public hospitals if public hospitals hadn’t been fixed in the middle of last year and they haven’t. If they were serious about taking over public hospitals they would have introduced a referendum bill into the parliament. They haven’t. What they’ll be promising is probably another damp squib. They’ve broken their promises to date and now it looks like they might perhaps be starting to move closer to what Tony Abbott has been advocating which has been more local control. We will have to wait and see what is in their policy. But we do know they lack the capacity to deliver.
Gillon:
Well we do need to wait for more detail from both sides of politics on this . . .
Emerson:
. . . There’s Mitch shaping up to say we’re going to propose whatever Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon reveal about our health reform package. He’s already readying the Coalition . . .
(inaudible)
Gillon:
. . .Gentlemen we are going to leave it there because I know you’ve made your points on that, but when we come back just after the break we will be looking at the national curriculum and the controversial over history lessons. Stay with us, we will be back in a sec.
Gillon:
Welcome back to AM Agenda. It appears the history wars have begun again. This time over what students will be taught in Australian schools. The shadow education minister Chris Pyne says the government wants to give the Australian students a black armband view of Australia’s history. He says there are 118 references to aboriginal, indigenous issues in the new national curriculum but there are no mentions of Westminster or the Magna Carta. Joining me this morning on our panel of politicians Craig Emerson and Mitch Fifield. Craig Emerson, firstly to you, is there too much emphasis on indigenous issues in the new curriculum?
Emerson:
Well of course not. There’s a balance reference to indigenous issues and isn’t it amazing that Tony Abbott is out visiting remote aboriginal communities and that’s a good thing. So he’s empathising and supporting aboriginal communities, that’s the impression he wants to give and then he’s got his education spokesman back in the city saying before the whole policy curriculum was unveiled based on newspaper reports oh this is all about aboriginal history and how badly we treated aboriginal people. It’s so typical, it’s pathetic that Tony Abbott would have his education spokesman trying to undermine a massive achievement of a first national curriculum in 108 years and before it’s out they are attacking it, they’re undermining it because they just cant get used to the idea of supporting a good initiative. I actually think it would reflect better on the Coalition if just every now and then they supported something the government did and there’s wide spread support for this national curriculum that will allow kids to move from one state to another. A contribution by the way to our efforts for a seamless national economy. We are a single nation Ashleigh and people have been calling for this national curriculum for so long and before it’s even delivered the Coalition is bagging out on it and saying they’ll review it, if they’re not happy with it they will tear it up. How irresponsible is that!
Gillon:
The Coalition isn’t against the national curriculum; it’s against the content of the national curriculum.
Emerson:
There against this one, yes and they said they will tear this one up. That is so irresponsible!
Gillon:
Mitch Fifield lets get your take on this, its important isn’t it to give students a good understanding of Asian and indigenous cultures. History teachers, the consensus this morning seems to be that Chris Pyne overreacted and gave a real knee-jerk reaction to yesterday’s announcement.
Fifield:
Look sure those are important things to include in a national curriculum and the opposition supports a national curriculum. I myself went to five different schools in three different states growing up so I appreciate the difficulties kids have when they move interstate and they have different curriculums. But in supporting the concept of a national curriculum it doesn’t mean we support just any old national curriculum. It’s important that a national curriculum isn’t a lowest common denominator curriculum. That it raises standards overall. But it’s also important that it’s a balanced curriculum. It has been mentioned many times over the last couple of days, 118 references to Aboriginal and Indigenous and Torrens Strait Islander culture. That’s a good thing. It’s important to cover that important part of Australian life and history. But it’s important to have that balanced. There are only something in the order of 60 references to Asia, only 10 references to Great Britain. So it’s important we also have adequate balance for the region in which we live and also the nation which gave birth to Australia. But I think perhaps there’s another element that should be considered in the wake of the mea culpas from the government, I think perhaps there should be a very substantial section in the new national curriculum on Maoist self-criticism.
Gillon:
Mitch Fifield . . .
Emerson:
. . . Oh that’s so hilarious . . .
Gillon:
. . . It’s a good line though; you’ve got to give him credit on that Craig Emerson.
Fifield:
I thought it was quite good.
Gillon:
We are running out of time so I want to get to another issue. Peter Garrett emerged publicly last night. He’s still of course defending the actions he took over the insulation program rollout. Peter Garret had this to say on the ABC . . .
Gillon:
Mitch Fifield, you’ve got to give Mr Garrett points don’t you for fronting up last night and facing voters on a show like that where he’s open to all sorts of questions.
Fifield:
He’s sure got more front than Myers, but I think last night we saw exactly why Peter Garrett should be sacked. He just doesn’t get it. He admitted that at no stage did he consider offering his resignation. Well that’s stunning that he has that lack of insight and self awareness. But also the fact that he said that he acted on the advice he received on all occasions. Well we don’t put ministers in the Cabinet to simply act on bureaucratic advice. Their job is to question that advice, their job is to probe. Their job is to say “sorry, that’s not good enough, go away come back.” We don’t want ministers who just sit there as some glorified post box. Ministers are there on behalf of the Australian public to make sure taxpayers are getting value for money in programs and that the taxpayer is safe. Peter Garrett failed on both those counts and his great defence is “oh well I accepted advice.” That’s not what you are there for. You’re there to ask questions, you’re there to do your job.
Gillon:
Craig Emerson of course we’ve all seen what a debacle this has been and the opposition over the last few days have been saying well if the government can’t even handle this insulation program how on hearth are we supposed to trust it to run hospitals for example. Ho much of a blow was it to see someone like Peter Garrett who’s such a star member of Cabinet to be demoted by the Prime Minister and then for Peter Garrett to say wasn’t my idea I didn’t even offer it up?
Emerson:
Peter Garrett is a great human being and I think most Australians would agree . . .
Gillon:
. . . No ones doubting that. . .
Emerson:
. . . Yeah well I’m not sure about that if you’ve just heard from Mitch but he is a great human being. He said that he responded to advice and you don’t know Mitch that he didn’t instigate extra work or the generation of extra advice.
Fifield:
Well let him show us.
Emerson:
The test that the Coalition is implying to Rudd government Ministers is that they must act on advice that they didn’t receive. They must act on briefings that they didn’t receive. This is so plainly absurd and if you contrast . . .
Fifield:
. . . Craig you are talking gibberish, this is more blah blah . . .
Emerson:
. . . If you contrast it to George Brandis’ defence of John Howard and Peter Reith on the children overboard affair, where every Australian knows they were up to there neck . . .
Fifield:
. . . All roads lead back to workchoices. All roads lead back to children overboard. You’ve got to do better, sorry Craig. . .
Emerson:
. . . The standard you’ve been applying to Peter Garrett is a vastly different standard to the one you applied to your own Prime Minister and your own Defence Minister. Hypocrisy thy name is Liberal. Now Peter Garrett will be working in the natural environment. I’ve known Peter for 25 years, he has a great passion for it. We worked on banning mining in Antarctica, Kakadu stakes to world heritage listing, the world heritage listing of the wet tropics of North Queensland. He has a wonderful record in that area . . .
Fifield:
. . . That’s just more blah blah Craig. . .
Emerson:
. . . And he will do great things in supporting and protecting the natural environment of this country.
Gillon:
Ok Mitch Fifield and Craig Emerson, thank you as always for joining us we have run out of time.
ENDS