Joint Doorstop Interview, Brisbane, 28-04

28 April 2010

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR

JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH

SENATOR THE HON. GEORGE BRANDIS SC, SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL,

THE HON. BRONWYN BISHOP MHR, SHADOW MINISTER FOR SENIORS,

AND MR BERT VAN MANEN, CANDIDATE FOR FORDE

BRISBANE  

Subjects: Kevin Rudd’s great big new tax; Pauline Hanson; Kevin Rudd’s wasteful and reckless spending.

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

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I’m very pleased to be here at the Palm Lake Village with my colleague, the Shadow Minister for Seniors, Bronwyn Bishop, with my colleague, the Shadow Attorney-General, George Brandis and with Bert van Manen, who is the LNP candidate for Forde at the upcoming federal election. This is a seat that we can definitely win and I think Bert is the kind of grass roots community candidate that we need to win it against a Labor member who is another machine man more interested in politicking inside the Labor party than the kind of grass roots activism that people expect. It’s also good to be here at Palm Lake amongst a lot of people who are at least in part self-funded retirees. These are the people who are going to be most exposed to Mr Rudd’s great big new tax and Mr Rudd is back-pedalling on his emissions trading scheme; he’s trying to hide it. He’s changed his tactics but he hasn’t changed his mind and if Mr Rudd gets re-elected Australia will have a great big new tax.

Now, the thing about Mr Rudd’s great big new tax is that it will mean a 25 per cent increase in electricity prices, up to a five per cent increase in supermarket prices, it would mean 126,000 jobs lost in regional Australia, 12 major coal mines to close and that is just for starters – that’s the beginning. It will cascade through the economy, it will get bigger over time and that will mean that the economic burdens just grow and people like the residents here are uniquely vulnerable because they can’t raise their prices, they can’t get more pay, they are dependent upon their superannuation incomes and in some cases their incomes are frozen because of the way the Rudd Government mishandled its bank guarantee just at the start of the global financial crisis.

So I don’t think the people here are fooled by Mr Rudd’s attempts to cover up his support for an emissions scheme. I think they are convinced though that this is a Prime Minister who doesn’t have the courage of his convictions. He barnstormed the country for two years telling us that climate change was not just a big issue but it was the greatest moral challenge of our time. He said, time and time again, that it would be absolute political cowardice, that it would be an absolute lack of leadership, it would be an absolute lack of logic not to proceed with an emissions trading scheme and now he has gutlessed out of that which he said was so essential. So I think the people here are worried about Mr Rudd’s policy which they know hasn’t really changed and they are dismayed at the lack of character which he has shown on this issue. I’m going to ask Bronwyn if she’d like to say a few words and then I’ll ask George if he’d like to add something.

BRONWYN BISHOP:

Thanks Tony. I’d jut like to reinforce the point that that ETS tax is still in the back pocket. If we don’t win this election, and that means electing Bert as the member for Forde, then you will cop that tax, it’s as simple as that. It hasn’t been abolished, it’s just been put off. If Mr Rudd wins again then people will be whacked with that great big tax and I think that’s the reason you’ve got to vote for Bert.

TONY ABBOTT:

Ok, George?

GEORGE BRANDIS:

Thanks Tony, It’s a great pleasure to welcome Tony Abbott to Forde where he’s come this morning to support Bert van Manen, our candidate for the seat of Forde. This is I think, Tony, your sixth visit to Queensland since you became the leader of the Liberal Party last December. These days we seem to see more of Tony Abbott in Queensland than we see Kevin Rudd, and Queenslanders have warmed to Tony because unlike Kevin Rudd he is straightforward, he is direct, he is not the product of a political advertising machine, he is the real thing. Queenslanders like that. They like straightforwardness, they like honesty and they like courage, and they see those qualities in Tony Abbott where they fail to see them in Kevin Rudd.

TONY ABBOTT:

Ok, are there any questions?

QUESTION:

Speaking of endorsements by Queenslanders, Pauline Hanson has given you her endorsement to be PM. What do you think of that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I’m happy to get as wide a range of endorsements as possible.

QUESTION:

But specifically from Pauline?

TONY ABBOTT:

I’m happy to get as wide a range of endorsements as possible. 

QUESTION:

You spoke yesterday in an interview saying that you would cut $10 billion from the Budget, slash spending by $10 billion. Is that a commitment, a firm commitment, or a hope?

TONY ABBOTT:

We are committed to responsible economic management and the last thing you will see from the next Coalition Government is the kind of waste, the kind of spending spree that we’ve seen from Mr Rudd. He has wasted billions in overpriced school halls. He has wasted billions in his pink batts scheme; not only has he wasted money but he’s put lives and homes at risk and this is the kind of extravagance that you will never see from the Coalition because we understand that government does not have a dollar that it doesn’t hold in trust from tax payers and we have to honour and respect taxpayers whenever we spend money.

QUESTION:

But is that a promise, the 10 billion? 

TONY ABBOTT:

You will always see taxes lower, spending lower and debts lower under the Coalition than under Mr Rudd.

QUESTION:

Did that stimulus spending save Australia going into recession?

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s very clear that it’s not the spending spree of the current Government that has kept us out of recession but the reforms of previous governments that have kept us out of recession. What Mr Rudd has done by rolling back those reforms is actually expose us to the next recession and he has mortgaged the future through a spending spree which owes much more to Mr Rudd’s political interests than it does to any concerns of economic management.

QUESTION:

What do you make of Pauline Hanson’s other comment [inaudible]?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, look, I’ll just let vendors do what they think is best.

QUESTION:

What do you think of her attitude?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I think that there are many, many migrants from all around the world who have been absolute model Australians. I think there are Muslims and there are Muslims, just as there are Christians and there are Christians.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible] target for savings?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, what we would never do is give money to the state Labor education bureaucracies to waste. We would give money, as we previously did, to school communities who know how to get value and who understand that this is not a free gift, it’s tax payers’ money and it’s got to be deployed wisely.

QUESTION:

Are you concerned about the battle for the Deputy Senate Leader?

TONY ABBOTT:

I am always concerned to ensure that the Coalition mounts a very strong critique of the Government and the fact is that if you want to avoid an emissions trading scheme, if you want to escape the great big new tax that Mr Rudd is planning for you, there’s only one way to do it and that is to vote Coalition at the next election. Re-elect the Rudd Government, there will be an emissions trading scheme. Change the government, there will not be an emissions trading scheme, there will not be a great big new tax. It’s as simple as that.

Thank you so much.  

[ends] 

Source: TONY ABBOTT