JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR JOHN WILLIAMS, TAMWORTH

26 January 2010

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR

JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR JOHN WILLIAMS

TAMWORTH

Subjects: Australia Day; visit to Tamworth; soil carbon; Kevin Rudd’s great big new tax; Australian flag; property rights; Tony Windsor.

E&OE……………………….………………………………………………………………………………..

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s great to be here in Tamworth for Australia Day. I think there is no better place to spend Australia Day than in the heart of a regional centre like Tamworth. I think it’s important to remember how much country Australians have contributed to the ethos of our country and that’s one of the many reasons why it’s good to be here in Tamworth. I’m also very pleased to be with my colleague, Senator John Williams. Senator Williams has been a great advocate for best practice farming, and later on today with Senator Williams I’ll be going out to Spring Ridge to look at a property which is a world leader when it comes to carbon capture in soil.

Because it’s Australia Day, I should congratulate the Australians of the Year who have been announced. Pat McGorry has been a marvellous advocate for mental health as well as a leading practitioner in this field. Trooper Donaldson is a legendary hero and a very worthy addition to a glorious company, and of course Maggie Beer has done a lot for style in this country.

I also note that Professor Garnaut made a significant speech yesterday. Professor Garnaut has been the Government’s chief advisor on climate change. I think it’s very significant that Professor Garnaut has urged the Government to dump its emissions trading scheme. Of course climate change, the Prime Minister kept telling us on numerous occasions last year, was the greatest moral challenge of our time. He tried to bully the parliament into passing that legislation before Christmas. He has threatened to bring it back now in the new year. I notice that it was not on the parliamentary notice paper that was published this week and I call on the Prime Minister to come clean and tell us exactly what his intentions are in respect of the emissions trading legislation, and I suspect that we are on the verge of a humiliating backdown by Prime Minister Rudd who I suspect will not bring this legislation back because he fears its failure yet again, particularly in the new climate created by Copenhagen.

That’s probably enough by way of a statement from me. I might ask Senator Williams if he wants to say a few words.

SENATOR WILLIAMS:

Thank you Tony and can I say welcome to Tamworth and to the north-west of New South Wales. I phoned Tony’s office the day after he became leader actually and said look we’d welcome you up here to look at soil carbon. It’s one of those things that I feel very passionately about, to raise the carbon levels in the soil. It makes the soil better, it protects the soil for future generations, and stores a lot of carbon in the soil. So it’s great to have Tony here and we’ll be heading out to Spring Ridge shortly to have a look at Cam McKellar’s property. On the way out I’m going to drive through Liverpool Plains and point out to Tony the threat of the land there from coal mining and the concerns of the farmers there, and also show him some of the native vegetation, the land that has been locked up with no compensation – Peter Spencer’s issue – and where land has been locked up under state law and people are restricted from farming their land but there is no compensation. So that will also be a very interesting time when we view that land this morning as well.

TONY ABBOTT:

Are there any questions?

QUESTION:

What are you going to do about the flag?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I’m going to keep it.

SENATOR WILLIAMS:

Hear, hear!

TONY ABBOTT:

As far as I am concerned, it’s a great flag and I will keep it and I will fly it.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott you said you’re visiting Spring Ridge this morning. You do unveil your climate change policy next month. Can you say whether that policy will include incentives to boost soil carbon levels?

TONY ABBOTT:

We are looking at a range of options. The important thing in any policy is to actually reduce emissions and improve the environment, and the problem with Mr Rudd’s great big tax is that it won’t actually of itself reduce emissions, all it will do is raise the price of everyday living. So, I can absolutely guarantee that our policy won’t involve a new tax or a new charge. What our policy will involve is encouraging things that will actually help the environment and reduce emissions.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, do you see climate change as a key election issue?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think it’s inevitably going to be an important issue. It was after all the Prime Minister who kept telling us last year that this was the greatest moral challenge of our time. I think that yet again the Prime Minister was going right over the top with his language, but nevertheless I think it is an important issue, I think that the public are concerned about environmental improvement and I’m confident that the Coalition can put forward policies which thoughtful people will conclude are better, much better for the environment than those of the Government.

QUESTION:

(Inaudible) with locals this morning. What sort of issues are they discussing with you, and what (inaudible)  this region?

TONY ABBOTT:

Okay, well plainly the big issue as Senator Williams has just alluded to is the prospect or the threat, if you like, of mining in some of Australia’s best agricultural land. Now obviously we support the mining industry as we support the agricultural industry. It’s important that we have a strong agricultural sector just as it’s important that we have a strong mining sector. The message I am getting loud and clear from locals is that they don’t want to destroy this agricultural breadbasket with mining and the position that the Coalition parties have adopted in the federal parliament is that there is no way there should be any mining in this very important agricultural region until such time as a very, very thorough water study is done and we can be absolutely crystal clear that mining can take place without damaging the agricultural prospects of this region. John, do you want to say something on that?

SENATOR WILLIAMS:

I think you’ve said it well, Tony. The prime agricultural land in Australia is vital for our food production. We’ve seen the forecast of increased population not only in Australia but around the world. Australia’s a great food bowl provider for many parts of the world. This prime agricultural land must be protected for future generations.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, the New South Wales Farmers’ Association is organising a rally outside federal parliament next week on the property rights issue. What is the Coalition’s stand on that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well we support property rights obviously, and governments have to be very, very careful about taking action which significantly reduces people’s asset value and this I suppose is the Peter Spencer issue and I think Peter Spencer and all the other farmers in his position are entitled to feel ripped off because the New South Wales Government it seems didn’t offer those farmers any kind of assistance to help them cope with the changes that were mandated by the New South Wales Government. Inevitably, because all of us have got to live together – farmers, miners, country people, city people – we’ve all got to live together, there’s got to be give and take, inevitably, but you can’t ride roughshod over people’s rights and that’s what seems to have happened with the kind of legislation that Peter Spencer was dealing with.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, what does it mean to be an Australian?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well that’s a great question from one of our budding young journalists over there. To be an Australian is to be a citizen of the freest, the fairest and we would argue the best country on earth. To be an Australian is to be a happy optimist, someone who looks forward to the future with great hope and a confident expectation that tomorrow will be better than today. That’s what it means to be an Australian.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, an election year, no doubt very busy. I was wondering how does the Coalition see the seat of New England? Is it winnable?

TONY ABBOTT:

I don’t want to get cocky because it’s going to be a very, very tough election. I’m buoyed by the start that we’ve made over the last few weeks but we’re certainly going to go into this election as underdogs. It’s 70-odd years since Australia had a one-term federal government. Many people were telling me last night that that means it’s time to have another one-term federal government but I’m taking nothing for granted. That said, it was a pretty enthusiastic gathering of Liberals and Nationals that I was at last night and I think anything is possible. So we’ll certainly be picking a good candidate and we’ll be getting behind that candidate and we want to give Tony Windsor a good contest.