Subjects: Ministerial reshuffle; Sydney's Kingsford Smith and Bankstown airports.
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
REYNOLDS:
Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Fiona.
REYNOLDS:
Tony Abbott is being portrayed this morning as the big winner. He has been elevated to the Cabinet post of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business but he doesn’t have a lot of experience. He’s only been in Parliament for six years. What attracted you to him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he’s highly intelligent, he knows how to implement a policy brief, he’s got ideas, he’s very articulate and the Opposition, it’s quite plain from the reaction, obviously takes notice of him. I think all of those things are qualifications to be in the Cabinet.
REYNOLDS:
But in the past few years he’s been expelled from Parliament; used terms like “work shy” and “job snobs”; been in dispute with churches over welfare; inspired a Labor walk out in the House of Representatives. Are you comfortable with his style.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I’m very comfortable with his ability and his style. You don’t of course mention that he bedded down one of the most revolutionary and beneficial changes to Labor market planning in the western world. He’s been a very effective advocate of the Work for the Dole scheme. He does lock horns with the Labor Party – that in my view is a plus. And as for the arguments he had with the churches, he hasn’t had arguments with all churches and in any event when it comes to public policy every section of the Australian community has got to stand or fall on the quality of its arguments. I think Tony Abbott will be a very effective Cabinet Minister, but as with everybody you have to wait and see how they go when they actually get in the job.
This is a very significant change to the ministry. It is a generational change and I think it will be a very strong line up going into the New Year.
REYNOLDS:
Do you think Mr Abbott will be able to turn the charm on with the Democrats? After all he will be negotiating with them particularly on the second wave of industrial relations reforms.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m not going to speculate about those sorts of things. I’ve appointed the man to the job. I’ve brought Amanda Vanstone back into the Cabinet. I think she’s done a fantastic job and she recovered from a set back she received in 1997 and I admire people like that who fight back. Overall I think it’s going to be a very strong team.
REYNOLDS:
Do you think you were a little harsh on Amanda Vanstone – she is now taking on Family and Community Services – but you did dump her from a senior ministerial post in 1997? Were you a bit harsh then?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don’t think the judgement I made then was wrong. I don’t think the judgement I’ve made now is wrong. One of the responsibilities of the Prime Ministership in a Liberal Government is that you have to make all the decisions about the personnel unlike the Labor Party where the leader has the Caucus thrusting whoever they want on him. He doesn’t have the authority to allocate the jobs. Now you can’t please everybody when you allocate Cabinet portfolios. I think I’ve done the right thing. Could I just correct the claim made about John Herron. He was not dumped. Nobody’s been dumped. John Herron was doing well in his portfolio. He would have been happy to go on. I think everybody who’s in the Government now would have been happy to go on but there does come a time when generational change is desirable and he recognised that as did others.
REYNOLDS:
But you could have said to him, no John I want you to stay.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you do need in the government generational change and I don’t think there’s anything inconsistent with somebody feeling they’re able to continue in a job but also accepting at the same time – because of relative age differences – the need for generational change. And I think you’ll see that that’s very much the case in what you’ve been talking about.
REYNOLDS:
Well his portfolio of Aboriginal Affairs has now been picked up by Philip Ruddock. He’s already been pretty busy with immigration. Do you think he’s going to have the time to dedicate to Aboriginal Affairs?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I do Fiona because he already has the reconciliation brief as assisting me in that area. I’ll be giving him an additional Parliamentary Secretary and I notice that Bob McMullan – who was criticising him for having too many jobs, well Bob McMullan himself has two jobs apart from being Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. He’s Manager of Opposition Business and he’s Shadow Minister for the Arts so I think it’s a bit rich for him to be saying Philip’s got too much work. Philip is very competent. He’s always in charge of the detail and with the arrangements I’ve made for a Parliamentary Secretary he will be able to handle the job with great ease. And importantly, for the first time in a quarter of a century, Aboriginal Affairs is in the Cabinet. Now that is a very significant move.
REYNOLDS:
Well by giving Aboriginal Affairs perhaps a little more attention by putting it in Cabinet, does that mean that in the past it hasn’t been given full consideration?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it doesn’t mean that, it just means that we’re giving it a particular consideration as we go into the Centenary year.
REYNOLDS:
Defence Minister John Moore’s retirement from politics forces a by-election in his Brisbane seat of Ryan. Is that risky at all given that there’s been a lot of Liberal jostling and allegations of branch-stacking?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there’s always jostling for pre-selection for seats safely held on one side of politics. Fiona nothing in politics is risk free. Doing nothing is risky and I’ve never been a person to sit and do nothing. We will not take the by-election lightly. I am sure the party will choose a good candidate and I’ll be campaigning very strongly. I never take the Australian electorate for granted.
REYNOLDS:
Will you be keeping a close eye on the Liberals in Ryan though? Or are you fairly happy with what’s been happening up there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well organisational matters are generally attended to by the Federal President, Shane Stone and the Director, Lynton Crosby, but as somebody who’s been through the Liberal Party organisation I always keep a weather eye on everything that’s happening in the party all around Australia, not just in Queensland.
REYNOLDS:
Will that also be to make sure that attention isn’t diverted from Labor’s electoral rort problems in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t normally utilise programmes like this to sort of map out my political strategy.
REYNOLDS:
Prime Minister will you be pushing for a by-election in Ryan though as early as possible?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the question of when John actually retires is a matter for him. He’ll no doubt talk to me and the party organisation about it. He is a former party president in Queensland, he’ll be cognisant of the interests of the organisation. As well . . .
REYNOLDS:
Well he says he won’t be back when Parliament resumes next year.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well yes but the exact announcement is a matter for him, that’s the point I’m making.
REYNOLDS:
Do you have a job in mind at all for Jocelyn Newman? Perhaps Governor-General or an overseas posting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t encourage speculation about those things, whether they involve Jocelyn Newman or anybody else, you know that if I have announcements to make I make them and until I have announcements to make I don’t encourage speculation. And I don’t encourage speculation in either of those areas.
REYNOLDS:
She does have a lot of talents though doesn’t she? You’d want to use them in some way wouldn’t you?
PRIME MINISTER:
She has a lot of talent. John Herron has a lot of talent. John Moore has a lot of talent. I have no doubt that in different ways they will continue to serve the Australian people. All of them, the three of them.
REYNOLDS:
Could they be in for an overseas posting?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not going to encourage speculation about anything, but I would not want anybody listening to this programme to think that I didn’t have enormous regard for the talents of those people. But they’ve contributed mightily to the Government, but they all agree that notwithstanding that contribution there is always time in the life of a government when generational change is a good thing.
REYNOLDS:
Prime Minister, one final question, this time last week you announced the decision on the Sydney Airport. Since then we’ve seen virtually every aviation commentator say that Bankstown is not a very good option for the industry, that regional airlines will suffer under the new regime. Can you guarantee those regional airlines that in five years time they won’t be forced out of Kingsford Smith?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can guarantee them what was outlined in the statement made by Mr Anderson, that is their current access will be maintained. There will obviously be, over time growth in relation to Bankstown. I think that the decision is the right decision. I think people have misunderstood a number of things, including the unpopularity of Badgery’s Creek as an alternative airport. It might be popular with the aviation writers, but I can tell you it’s not popular with passengers. It’s not popular with the aviation industry. And I think it makes far more sense to develop an overflow capacity for Kingsford Smith, and Bankstown over time, and all of these things will happen quite gradually because you haven’t reached capacity at Kingsford Smith. Kingsford Smith is now running more efficiently than it was five years ago, much more efficiently and that is one of the reasons why the Government reached the conclusion that it did. And people should also bear in mind that when Bankstown goes into private ownership there is the opportunity for the enhancement of transport links between Bankstown and other parts of Sydney, not only by road but also by rail and people should see the decision in relation to Bankstown in the context of that broader approach to transport infrastructure.
REYNOLDS:
Prime Minister thank you for joining us this morning and have a good Christmas.
PRIME MINISTER:
Merry Christmas to you and to all of your listeners.
[ends]