EDDIE MCGUIRE:
The man who is in charge of Australia, open for business, is the Prime Minister of Australia and we welcome to Triple M’s Hot Breakfast Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott. Welcome, Tony.
TONY ABBOTT:
Eddie, it is lovely to be with you and thank you for talking to me in times past and I hope you will continue to talk to me in times future.
EDDIE MCGUIRE:
We will indeed. Now Tony, congratulations. Can you give us just a little personal insight? There was a wonderful moment where you hugged your mother and your father and the publicity of obviously seeing your daughters and wife on stage, but to look down and see your dear old dad there, he gave you just the look of a proud father, wasn’t carrying on or anything there, it must have just been a wonderful moment for you and your family.
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, Eddie, look, in the end these things aren’t about me or my family, they’re about the country, but you are absolutely right, we are all human beings and there is no prouder moment in the life of a parent than the success of a child and my parents have been terrific to me for 55 years now and it’s nice to be able to make them feel good about what they have done and I hope that was one of those moments.
EDDIE MCGUIRE:
Good on you Tony, it was, it was a wonderful humanising moment in the cut and thrust of politics to see a proud dad looking at his son. I actually just, I was quite moved by it when it actually happened.
TONY ABBOTT:
And Eddie look, you know, the greatest thing we ever do is have kids, if we are lucky enough to have kids, they hopefully outlive us, they carry on our memory, they carry on our works and our values and look, it’s good to celebrate every parent and I certainly honour mine.
LUKE DARCY:
Tony, congratulations to you, you campaigned incredibly hard and have got an amazing result. It looks as though you are going to have to deal with some interesting characters in the Senate. Have you picked up the phone and rung Clive Palmer or any of the other candidates that look like they are going to be elected as independents?
TONY ABBOTT:
Yeah, it is a bit premature for that. Let’s wait and see exactly who gets in and who doesn’t and obviously, as a prime minister you have got to treat every member of parliament with courtesy and respect and that is how I intend to operate, but I do also expect the Parliament to respect the mandate that the government has got and at the heart of the mandate is repealing the carbon tax, stopping the boats, getting the roads of the 21st century well and truly underway and getting the Budget back under control and I do expect the Parliament to respect that mandate and to work with the government towards achieving it.
EDDIE MCGUIRE:
And Tony, for all the hoo-ha about Queensland and New South Wales, don’t forget it was Victoria that came to the aid of the government and I see Dr Denis Napthine, the Victorian Premier, has said, hey, not only are we going to get the East West tunnel but there’s a chance they might push you to stump up $9 billion for the rail tunnel as well. So, don’t forget Victoria, Tony!
TONY ABBOTT:
Well Eddie, I certainly won’t forget Victoria and I’m very conscious of the fact that Victoria was very good to me and my candidates on the weekend but the priority is the East West Link. That’s the priority and the point I make about urban rail, about commuter rail, is that the rail systems are owned and operated by the state governments and given all of that I think it would be unusual, very unusual, of the federal government to get too involved, particularly with the fiscal situation that we’ve got. So, obviously I’ll give Denis Napthine a very respectful hearing and we will deal like grown up adults with each other but I do think he understands that this Commonwealth Government’s absolute priority is getting the major roads that our country needs underway and completed as quickly as possible.
MICK MOLLOY:
Who was that idiot on stage with you? Who crashed the stage? It was like a political Helen D’Amico. What happened? How long did you know he was there?
TONY ABBOTT:
In the words of my kids, ‘some random, Dad’.
MICK MOLLOY:
Some random!
EDDIE MCGUIRE:
He was random alright!
MICK MOLLOY:
Probably holds a seat in the Senate.
TONY ABBOTT:
Initially I thought to myself ‘is this guy the MC?’ I didn’t think there was one! But then of course he was swiftly bundled off but he was obviously, I suspect, he was just enjoying himself too much.
MICK MOLLOY:
Fair enough.
EDDIE MCGUIRE:
Well Tony, thank you very much for joining us, right throughout the campaign. We really appreciate it and thank you for the offer to join us on the show going forward and we look forward to you running the country, Tony. You’ve been, as you said, you’ve got a very strong mandate from the electors, some 30 seats which was the tip that we had here on Triple M’s Hot Breakfast for a while there so we got that one right and we wish you all the best in being the Prime Minister of Australia.
MICK MOLLOY:
Congratulations.
TONY ABBOTT:
Thanks so much. Thanks team.
[ends]