GARY ADSHEAD:
We’re now joined by Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Thanks for your time this morning, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Gary, thank you for having me.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Obviously, this is going to be a hotly-fought Senate election, given that we’ve got yourself and the Opposition Leader in town right now. How fierce is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it is going to be a very fierce contest and I guess the issue is do you want a better deal for Western Australia to build more jobs and grow a stronger economy? Because we’ve got a strong Liberal team who will vote to scrap the carbon tax and scrap the mining tax because that means more jobs and more investment in Western Australia. So, I think it’s really very simple and I hope if Bill Shorten comes on the programme, Gary, you’ll say to him ‘look, why are your Labor Senators and the Greens blocking to repeal of the mining tax and the carbon tax which means so much for the West’?
GARY ADSHEAD:
You’re hoping that this election will double the mandate that you believe you had after the last federal election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I know, Gary, that the carbon tax and the mining tax are anti-Western Australian taxes. They are anti-Western Australian taxes and they’re still there because the Labor Party and the Greens are frustrating what the public voted for last September and I don’t think the public have changed. I think the public are just as down on the carbon tax, just as down on the mining tax as ever and they’ve got to know that the reason why the mining tax and the carbon tax have not yet gone is because of the Labor Party and the Greens in the Senate.
GARY ADSHEAD:
You’re under pressure here in WA to give some sort of commitment on the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. Will you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I appreciate its importance. Now this is a Budget decision. It’s a partnership agreement which the former government refused to renew. Now, we don’t want to let the people of Western Australia down. I know it’s very important to Premier Colin Barnett. So, there will be an answer on Budget night, but I just want to say at this point in time that we won’t let the people of Western Australia down.
GARY ADSHEAD:
But why can’t you give a commitment that they won’t be worse off in terms of funding of this one?
PRIME MINISTER:
Because if I start saying a definite yes on all of these things basically I’ve given away the whole Budget and there are appropriate processes and timings for all of this, but I think there is no need to be agitated on this. Come Budget night all will be revealed and I think people will be happy.
GARY ADSHEAD:
You’ve certainly given commitments that the health cards not going to go for self-funded retirees. Why can’t you just say ‘look the funding’s there for homelessness, we know how important it is’?
PRIME MINISTER:
Gary, look, we can go ’round and ’round in circles on this one. What I said on the Healthcare Card is that we’ll keep our commitments and we gave a very clear commitment in the election campaign to index the thresholds. Now, this is a Government which will honour its commitments; we won’t always be able to keep everyone happy, but we will honour our commitments. The former government – the Labor government – didn’t honour its commitments. That’s one of the big reasons why they got turfed out – as they should have been – and we’ve got to be different and better and the best way we can be different and better is by being competent and trustworthy. So, we’ll keep the commitment on the Seniors Health Care Card and as for the Homelessness National Partnership Agreement all will be revealed on Budget night, but I can say that we aren’t going to let people down.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Ok, do you feel vindicated today given the announcement Woolworths have gone into a $70 million deal with SPC Ardmona, that market forces can work once you drew your line in the sand?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it was interesting that once we said no we’re not going to provide that $25 million worth of taxpayer subsidy given that the parent company has made $215 million after tax in the last six months and actually has a stronger balance sheet than the Commonwealth of Australia, once we made that announcement there were no threats from the company to close down or anything like that. They said that they were disappointed, but that they’d get on with things and good on them they have got on with things and now they’ve got this big new deal with Woolworths and that’s good for SPC and I always said, Gary, that I was confident that this was a fundamentally sound business and the important thing was not to bail them out; the important thing was for them to get on with the job, but only the management and the staff of a particular business can save the business and looks like they’ve done exactly that and I guess along the way we’ll get the carbon tax off their back and that will certainly help.
GARY ADSHEAD:
You’ve driven into WA – you were flown in obviously – but you’re driving around WA…
PRIME MINISTER:
I did drive into WA about 30-odd years ago as a student, Gary, which was an interesting experience!
GARY ADSHEAD:
What on a bus or a Kombi van or…?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no I drove my P76 across the Nullarbor Plain at the end of 1976.
GARY ADSHEAD:
How much did that cost you in petrol?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, I can’t remember, but petrol in those days was about 20 cents a litre.
GARY ADSHEAD:
They were gas guzzlers though those P76s.
PRIME MINISTER:
It was a 4.4 litre V8 engine and it was nice to have a V8 under the bonnet in those days.
GARY ADSHEAD:
You’ve got me off track there! But did it break down, out of interest?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, it didn’t miss a beat – didn’t miss a beat.
GARY ADSHEAD:
That’s good for the P76 owners’ club! Look, just on obviously what’s going here with the state Liberal Party – are you disappointed that you’ve come into town, there’s disarray, no Treasurer, all sorts of issues surrounding that. Do you think the public differentiate when they go to the Senate vote?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, absolutely and, look, on Troy Buswell I feel the deepest of sympathy for him because he’s obviously got a couple of personal issues to deal with. He’s a charismatic man who has made a fine contribution to the state, not without controversy obviously, but nevertheless he’s done his best to serve the public and I think he does deserve the people’s respect and privacy at this time.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Have you had a conversation with the Premier about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Not as yet. It only happened yesterday and I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with the Premier, but I have no reason to think that there’s anything to add to what the Premier said publicly yesterday which was that he needed time out and we should respect his privacy at this difficult time for him and everyone who knows and loves him.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Can I ask you just given your long period in politics and you’ve probably seen a few crises along the way and how these things play out, are you surprised that it took 15 days for the WA public to become aware that the Treasurer of the state had crashed his car in a drink driving incident?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I just wouldn’t want to comment on any of that. I just wouldn’t want to comment. Yeah, it’s just one of those unfortunate things.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Now, on Qantas, I asked Anthony Albanese in the studio here the other day whether he feels that Labor’s painting itself into a corner ideologically because, you know, whenever we talk about Qantas on talkback we’re not exactly overrun by people that say we must have a national carrier, it’s vital. Has that argument now gone from the landscape of Australia; that we must have a national carrier?
PRIME MINISTER:
Gary, we must have airlines. Obviously, we must have airlines, but the best airlines to have are profitable, competitive ones and I’m confident that Qantas can be profitable and competitive and that’s one of the many reasons why I’m so keen to get rid of the carbon tax because the carbon tax was a $106 million hit on their profit last year. So, you know, let’s give Qantas a fair go and the best way to give Qantas a fair go is to give it the same regulatory environment as Virgin has and that means repealing part three of the Qantas Sale Act and getting rid of the carbon tax. So, that’s my two part plan to help Qantas and, again, I wish the Labor Party wasn’t getting in our way in the Senate because it would be a lot better for Qantas as well a lot better for Western Australia if the Labor Party wasn’t obstructing everything in the Senate.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Can I ask you, Prime Minister, have you had any updates on the Malaysian airliner situation – the 777?
PRIME MINISTER:
Not since yesterday, Gary. Now, yesterday, our Orion aircraft were joining the search and recovery effort. I was delighted to be able to offer Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia those two aircraft as an act of regional mateship, if you like; as the act of a good neighbour and he was very pleased to get them and indicated publicly that he was pleased. So, no, I don’t have any updates and the sooner we can recover something, the sooner we’ll know more.
GARY ADSHEAD:
How extraordinary to you have been the revelations about stolen passports being used by people to board that flight? In this day and age, post 9/11, it seems extraordinary.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I guess you’d like to think that there are computer systems in place so that if a passport comes up on the screen and it has earlier been reported as stolen that there would be some warning. You’d like to think that that’s case. My understanding is that the Malaysians do have pretty strong border security arrangements. My understanding is that they’ve got biometrics and things like that which are routinely deployed that we don’t have. So, look, even the best system is not entirely fool-proof and, again, this is the kind of thing that will be thoroughly investigated and rather than speculate I guess we’ve just got to say that we’re disappointed, maybe surprised, but let’s wait and see what the investigation reveals.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Alright and just finally if I could ask you the Opposition are talking about the 900 page Audit Commission report that’s being done looking top to bottom at possible cutbacks across government. Are you going to release that before the Budget or is that something people are going to have to wait for?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Gary, it’s an interim report…
GARY ADSHEAD:
It’s got 900 pages. I can’t wait to see the final!
PRIME MINISTER:
…it is an interim report, it’s not the final report. It’s a comprehensive report and what sensible adult governments do when they get a very thorough report is that they sit down and they carefully study it and when they’ve studied it and when they’ve decided how to handle it, that’s normally when they release it. So, it will definitely be released. Be under no doubt or dismay, it will definitely be released, but almost certainly it will be released at a time when the Government is able to say ‘well these were the recommendations and we’ve accepted this, we’ve accepted that, we’ve rejected this, we’ve rejected that and these other recommendations are going off for further consideration’.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Well, thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, Gary.
[ends]