Sky News AM Agenda
Kieran Gilbert and Richard Marles MP
19 July 2010
8:40am
E & OE
Subjects: Newspoll, cost of living pressures, Victorian seats, “moving forward” slogan
KIERAN GILBERT:
Joining me now on the program from Melbourne the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Senator Mitch Fifield. Good morning Mitch.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Good morning Kieran.
GILBERT:
And from Canberra the Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry Richard Marles. Richard good morning to you and first to you. What do you make of the polls? Is it reassuring to see this lead in Newspoll today? A ten point margin. I know you’ll say you’re not watching the polls. I won’t believe it but what’s your reaction to it?
RICHARD MARLES:
You don’t believe that? Well look yesterday we had a poll which said that it was 50/50. The Newspoll today obviously says that we’re a bit further ahead than that. I guess what both those polls show is that these things are going to bounce around a lot over the coming days and weeks. So I think it probably is a bit closer than what the Newspoll result is. We think we’re in a tough fight here. We think this is a close election and I’m sure it will be at the end of the day and we’ve thought that for a long time and it’s an election which is so important that Labor wins because we have to see the Budget return to surplus in three years time which will be three years ahead of schedule and we cannot afford to see at return to Workchoices which we all know in our hearts will occur if Tony Abbott gets elected.
GILBERT:
But Richard you must be encouraged by the personal rating for Julia Gillard and indeed as Martin was referring to, the economic management number is also up since you changed leader. Do you feel vindicated shifting support to Julia Gillard from Kevin Rudd?
MARLES:
Well I think Julia Gillard has done a fantastic job as the Prime Minister. I think she is somebody who the Australian people can connect with. I think she has done a great job putting forward our policies. I think importantly, I think we had lost our way but I think Julia’s got us back on track. And we saw that with the resolution of the mining tax. We’ve seen that what I think a breakthrough in the debate in relation to asylum seekers. So you know I think Julia is making a huge difference and I think she’s going to be a great Prime Minister. Can I say on the economic management, we have a proud record on this. We got this country through the global economic crisis. The biggest global economic shock since the great depression and we kept our economy going forward and out of recession and it so important therefore that this government be returned because we need to build on that work. We do need to take the country forward and make sure that we get our Budget back in surplus within three years.
GILBERT:
Senator Fifield, what do you think of the polls? There’s been two sort of different ones with different message the last 24 hours or so. Do you think it will take a little while for the, as I asked Martin O’Shannessy, he has the sense that it will take a little while for public opinion to settle once the campaign is well and truly underway.
FIFIELD:
I think that’s probably right. We’ve had one poll that’s a little bit up. One poll that’s a little bit down. I think by the end of this campaign we’ll be as heartily sick of opinion polls as we are of the slogan “moving forward.” But we’ve got a job to do. We are the underdogs. We’re very much competitive, but there’s no doubt that we’re the underdogs in this campaign. We’ve got a task ahead of us. We have to get our message out there. That we’re intent on repaying the debt. We’re intent on stopping new taxes. We’re intent on stopping the boats and we want to stop the waste. This is a bad government. It’s an incompetent government and we’ve got to get the focus fairly and squarely on the fact that you can change the person who’s out the front of this government but it’s still the same operation which deserves to lose office.
GILBERT:
Tony Abbott was asked about an issue that dogged your side of politics at the last election, Workchoices. He’s asked again to rule out reintroducing it a couple of times. This morning this was on the Nine Network.
TONY ABBOTT: I have an election to win. It’s the 2010 election. And as I said Workchoices is dead, it’s buried, it’s cremated. If I win this election I will not change the legislation. I can hardly be stronger than that.
GILBERT:
Mitch Fifield, Tony Abbott there on the Today Show earlier this morning. Why is it proving so hard to just say this is gone? It seems to be a recurring theme here. Eric Abetz the other day suggested you might tweak the edges of this legislation. Why can’t you just get rid of it once and for all?
FIFIELD:
Well it’s not proving hard for us at all. It’s proving hard for the government to talk about the future. It’s proving hard for the government to talk about their own policies. It’s proving hard for the government to talk about their record. All they want to do is talk about the 2007 campaign. The last thing that Julia Gillard wants to do is to talk about $16 billion of school halls and wastage there. The last thing Julia Gillard wants to do is to talk about home insulation and the rorts there. The last thing Julia Gillard wants to do is to address the issue of rising costs of living because before the last election, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd said that they wanted to ease the squeeze. That they were going to magically solve grocery prices by having GroceryWatch. Well that didn’t happen. They were going to magically solve petrol prices by having PetrolWatch. Well that didn’t happen. So the last thing that they want to do is talk about the issues which matter to Australians today. They don’t want to talk about repaying debt which would help take upward pressure off interest rates. They’re the issues that we’re going to be talking about. How you can ease the cost of living pressures on Australians. How we can pay off debt. And how we can make sure that we stop new taxes such as Labor’s ETS which will increase cost of living pressures as well. So we’re talking about the future. It’s this government which is incapable of doing that.
GILBERT:
Senator Fifield and Richard Marles in Canberra, lets just pause for the moment. It’s time for a quick break and we’ll be right back. We’ll check on what the leaders are doing today and we’ll be back with Mitch and Richard very shortly.
Cross to David Lipson reporting from Melbourne and Laura Jayes in Queensland.
GILBERT:
Let’s go back to Richard Marles in Canberra. Richard you’re the Member for Corio in Geelong. The neighbouring seat Corangamite, one of those seats which is looking a little bit tricky for Labor to hold on to isn’t it?
MARLES:
Look we’ve got a strong campaign in Corangamite. I think the issues that are going to resinate in Corangamite are the issues which are resonating across the country. I don’t think anyone in Corangamite is going to be particularly keen to see a return to Workchoices. I don’t think anyone in Corangamite wants to see the deep cuts to health and education which is being proposed by a potential Abbott Government. So I’m confident that we’ve got a good story to tell in Corangamite and I’m really confident that Darren Cheeseman’s going to be returned.
GILBERT:
But there are some seats in Melbourne that you might consider yourselves a chance in as well with that. Do you think the local favourite, sort of momentum might help Julia Gillard in seats like La Trobe and McEwen in the north of Melbourne?
MARLES:
Look I think that Julia Gillard is a fantastic candidate for the Prime Ministership and so I think that’s going to help across the country. We might get a bit of a bounce in Victoria where her home state. Certainly you mention Corangamite. We see Julia next door representing the town of Werribee as something of a local and I think those in Melbourne might feel the same way. But there is a sense of confidence about a number of the seats in as you say McEwen and La Trobe. But look this is going to be close and it’s going to be close across the country and it’s going to be close in Melbourne.
GILBERT:
Mitch, what do you think? You’re a Victorian. Do you think the fact that Julia Gillard is a local is going to help Labor in a couple of those crucial seats? Because if they do pick up La Trobe, McEwen, Liberal seats now, that’s going to make the task of winning a majority nationally all the more difficult.
FIFIELD:
Victorians are pretty sophisticated people. Yes Julia Gillard is from this state but Victorians are very much focused on the issues. They’re keenly aware in the local communities of issues of waste with school halls. They’re keenly aware of cost of living pressures. So those will be the things that they’re focused on. You mentioned La Trobe and McEwen. We have a terrific sitting member in Jason Wood in La Trobe and a great new candidate in McEwen. Cameron Caine, a police officer, coached the local footy club. These are strong representatives for their communities and we’d be extremely hopeful that they can fight a good strong campaign. They’ll be focusing on the issues of cost of living, government waste, Labor’s proposal for new taxes, Labor’s inability to secure our borders. So we’re very hopeful in Victoria.
GILBERT:
Richard Marles, the first female Prime Minister in Australia seems to be copying the first female Prime Minister in Great Britain to at least some extent. We saw in The Australian newspaper today a slogan run on the side of a bus that Maggie Thatcher had in I think it was 1987 “Moving forward with Maggie.” They don’t have much in common but they do with that slogan.
MARLES:
Well look I reckon it’s a great slogan because it articulates what’s going on here. We need, having got this country through the global economic crisis, we need to take this country forward. We wouldn’t be having this opportunity if Tony Abbott had his way. He blocked all the stimulus packages and he really wants to take us back to an era of Workchoices. He wants to cut services in health and education. But we’ve got a plan going forward.
GILBERT:
Is it time to ease up on the slogan a bit though Richard? I mean 25 times in the first speech. It’s a bit too much isn’t it?
MARLES:
Look I think it’s important that you get your message across and I think what people are identifying about our campaign at the moment is that it is about taking this country forward. You know, in the first week or two of her Prime Ministership, Julia Gillard struck a deal with the mining companies which has seen a much greater proportion of the revenue raised through the resources boom going to ordinary Australians. Increasing retirement savings. Building infrastructure for mining towns. Reducing the company tax, unlike what the opposition is proposing and would do were they to be elected to govern. All these things are about taking us forward.
GILBERT:
I want to get Mitch Fifield quickly on the “moving forward” slogan. Obviously you’re enjoying it Mitch?
FIFIELD:
Well Maggie Thatcher, that was 23 years ago and “moving forward” wasn’t quite the cliché that it is today. And also with Maggie Thatcher she had a strong record. She had a strong policy platform. So the phrase back then actually had some context and some meaning around it. “Moving forward” is a completely meaningless slogan under Julia Gillard and I know we talk about her mentioning it 25 times in her press conference. Well if you count her Q & A she actually mentioned it 45 times. Julia Gillard, Labor are treating the Australian public with contempt. They’re treating them as though they’re idiots. That you just need to repeat a meaningless slogan over and over again and that Australians will think wow, that’s somehow meaningful. It’s not. We want to compare our record when we were in government with Julia Gillard’s record in government and we want talk about the future. Julia Gillard has a shocking record. It’s a record of waste and mismanagement. It’s a record of new and higher taxes and new taxes proposed. It’s a record of failing to secure our borders. We have action plans . . .
GILBERT:
. . . Ok Senator Fifield we’re out of time I’m sorry to interrupt but we’ll catch up again in a couple of weeks during this campaign. Appreciate that Senator Fifield. Richard Marles, thank you for your time.
ENDS