29 January, 2013
Sky News AM Agenda
With David Lipson and Andrew Leigh MP
28 January 2013
8:45am
E & OE
Subjects: Coalition plan, Register of Interests
DAVID LIPSON:
Welcome back to the program. Joining me now for our political panel is the shadow disabilities minister, Senator Mitch Fifield in Melbourne. Also, Labor MP Andrew Leigh joins us from Canberra. Good morning to both of you gentleman.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Good morning David.
ANDREW LEIGH:
Good morning David. Good morning Mitch.
DAVID LIPSON:
First to you Andrew Leigh. In response to what Eric Abetz was claiming there that the government had broken a promise when it comes to giving unions access to work sites. There has been an increase in the number of union visits to sites over the past 12 months.
ANDREW LEIGH:
Well David, unions play an important role in terms of looking at the conditions that workers face, so there will be perfectly reasonable situations in which union officials go into work sites. But I think what we have seen in Australian politics is two very different visions of industrial relations. The last time that the Coalition had an industrial relations policy it cut overtime, it reduced penalty rates, and it was seen as being an extreme industrial relations policy by the Australian people. I think it would have been good yesterday if we had actually seen what the Coalition’s plans are for industrial relations. But instead what we got yesterday was what Senator Abetz described as a skeleton. Arthur Sinodinos on this program yesterday said was the beginning of the Dance of the Seven Veils. This is kind of macabre stuff David and you have got to wonder whose head is going to be on the platter at the end of it all.
DAVID LIPSON:
Mitch Fifield, speaking of yesterday, we didn’t seem to get a whole lot of answers out of Senator Abetz earlier in the program when it comes to a few of these policy ideas that may or may not be announced this week. What we had yesterday from Tony Abbott was sort of relaunch of policies that have already been on the table. Is that enough to satisfy the electorate til the time of polling day?
MITCH FIFIELD:
What we had yesterday from Tony Abbott was our priorities and our directions. We already do have a significant body of policy work that has been released. You touched on industrial relations before. We already have a policy for bringing back the Australian Building and Construction Commission. We already have the policy of setting up a registered organisations agency that can apply to the union movement the same level of accountability that there already is with companies. These policies are out there, as is our plan to put local control into schools, set up local community hospital boards. We have a lot of policy out there. But obviously as we get closer to the election we will release additional policies and will provide some greater detail. But we have a plan. It is a positive plan and Tony is going to spend the week explaining that plan to the Australian people.
DAVID LIPSON:
Will we be seeing any more US style sort of campaign launches like we saw yesterday, Mitch Fifield, do you think?
MITCH FIFIELD:
I don’t know what is particularly American or presidential about what happened yesterday. You need to have a venue. You need to have seats. You need to have people. You need to have a microphone. Yes, all those elements were there. I think we can get distracted and sidetracked by the backdrops which are there for any particular speech by a party leader. What matters is the substance. What matters is the policy. Fundamental to everything that Tony Abbott is going to be talking about this week right through to the next election is the fact that you can’t do any of the good things we want to do unless you have a strong economy and unless you have a government that is living within its means. That is one of the big problems with this government. They’ve got cumulative budget deficits of $172 billion. If that is not addressed, if that is not paid down, if Government doesn’t live within its means then that will compromise the opportunities which government is there to provide for Australians.
DAVID LIPSON:
Andrew Leigh, the report in today’s papers is that on Thursday, Tony Abbott will pledge not to touch superannuation as he searches for savings in his first year if he is elected Prime Minister. Is that a commitment that Labor could make as well?
ANDREW LEIGH:
Certainly our touching of superannuation will only be in a positive direction David. We have universal superannuation because a Labor government put it in place in 1992. Over the objections of those in the Coalition. We are increasing universal superannuation contributions now because a Labor government believes that Australians deserve to retire in dignity. But again we are doing that over the objections of the Coalition. And now you have had Eric Abetz on your program unwilling to rule out that the Coalition will damage superannuation. I think that this is deeply troubling. The Coalition of course has a serious budget problem. That arises because the only things that they have committed to is getting rid of the carbon price, the most effective way of dealing with climate change, and getting rid of the mining tax, which is a profits based mining tax, the sensible way of taxing mining. They then need to do a lot of slash and burn to make up the $70 billion gap that they have in their costings. We know a bit about how they are going to do that. We know that they are going to get rid of the Schoolkids Bonus for example, $15,000 to eligible parents. We need to know some of the other detail.
DAVID LIPSON:
Lets get back onto some other issues. I want to talk about Senator Cory Bernardi. He is in the newspapers again. This time for links to a lobby group that is associated with gun control, or pro gun lobby I should say and pro tobacco as well. Now the government claims that there is some sort of conflict of interest here with Cory Bernardi. Can you explain that to me Andrew Leigh? I find that conflict of interest a little bit hard to pin point.
ANDREW LEIGH:
Well David, ALEC which is the group that Mr Bernardi is a member of is a group which is allying with the National Rifle Association to make sure that the US doesn’t put in place major changes in its gun laws and it is a group which has challenged Australian tobacco laws in the courts. So you have the Liberal Party of Australia taking large donations from big tobacco, now with a senior member, a close ally of the Opposition leader, being in charge with a committee of members’ interest, but he can’t even declare his own interest in being part of a group that supports challenging Australia’s anti-tobacco laws. I think it is time for Mr Abbott to sack Mr Bernardi. I think his views are out of …
DAVID LIPSON:
… But why should he disclose it, why should he actually disclose that because you know it’s not an office holder position. It is not an organisation where necessarily $300 in donations were made or where membership would result in a conflict of interest. Where is the conflict?
ANDREW LEIGH:
Well David, let me read you the rule. The rule that says Senators are required to disclose “any other interests where a conflict of interest with a senator’s public duties could foreseeably arise or be seen to arise”. If I was a member of a group that was challenging Australian laws in the High Court, I would be disclosing that to the Australian people. That is what Mr Bernardi hasn’t done. Lets remember the position he currently has he got after being sacked by Mr Abbott as a sort of consolation prize for his earlier extreme comments. This is someone whose political …
DAVID LIPSON:
… But you think he should be sacked now?
ANDREW LEIGH:
This is somebody whose political statements put him out of the mainstream. His views are far more extreme than a moderate like Mitch Fifield.
DAVID LIPSON:
I’ve got to get a response from Mitch Fifield before we run out of time. Mitch, it is all yours.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Thanks David. I don’t take at face value anything that the Australian Labor Party says. Essentially all I have heard Andrew say is that he is against freedom of association. Cory Bernardi has been the chair of the senator’s interest committee for quite some time. He has said that he has fulfilled his obligations. Obviously it is important for all members and senators to fulfil their obligations and to declare what is required. But I actually think a more interesting question here is about the Prime Minister’s own declarations to the House register of interests. The Prime Minister hasn’t declared anything or updated her registry since about the middle of last year.
DAVID LIPSON:
Very quickly now Mitch.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Now that is extremely unusual for a member of parliament not to have anything to declare over a six month period, particularly a Prime Minister.
DAVID LIPSON:
Ok we are out of time. Mitch Fifield and Andrew Leigh thank you both very much for joining us on AM Agenda and thanks for your time.