QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, could we get your reaction to Bill Shorten’s elevation as Opposition Leader?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, mostly today I want to just pay tribute to the work that carers do right around our country. There are two and a half million of them. As time goes by and our population ages there will be more carers. It is important that they are acknowledged and recognised and respected by everyone, but certainly it is important that government should do what it can and obviously the National Disability Insurance Scheme to which the new government is fully committed is a very important part of that.
Now, on the new Labor leader, I called Bill Shorten last night to congratulate him.
I have had a bit of experience at being Opposition Leader. It’s a great job but it’s a tough job. I know he will do his best and I certainly respect Bill Shorten’s political skills. He has a lot of political acumen. The difficulty is that they might have a new leader but they have got all the old policies which caused them to be rejected by the people. They are still in denial about the election result and if he wants to have a good start to his new job he could begin by saying that he understands the people’s verdict at the election and the Labor Party will not oppose the legislation to abolish the carbon tax which will be the first item of legislation that the Parliament considers.
QUESTION:
Is a double dissolution still on the table, Mr Abbott?
PRIME MINISTER:
As I said, if Mr Shorten is fair dinkum about democratic politics and if he is fair dinkum about heeding the voice of the people, he will accept that the last election was a referendum on the carbon tax; the carbon tax was decisively rejected. The only people who don’t understand that seems to be the members of the Parliamentary Labor Party.
Thanks very much, thank you.
[ends]