Tony Abbott interview with Karl Stefanovic - Today show, Channel Nine

Subjects: Kevin Rudd’s factional execution.

E&OE

KARL STEFANOVIC:

Well, the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott joins me now. Tony, good morning.

TONY ABBOTT:

Morning, Karl. Where’s my sparring partner?

KARL STEFANOVIC:

I don’t know. Can you ask her?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I tried to shame her in the Parliament yesterday to resume these, to keep these jousts going, but she ratted on Kevin Rudd and now she has ratted on us.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

We are going to move on from that and let's hope that she comes back very soon. It’s always better, I reckon, to go softly, softly at first. But, you are a different man and we love it. This is harder for you now that she is the Prime Minister, isn't it?

TONY ABBOTT:

No, because effectively the Labor Party has accepted the Opposition's critique. I mean, we were saying all along that this was a dud Government. They have essentially agreed with us and they’ve given themselves a makeover. Now, it’s just a makeover, they’ve changed the leader, but they haven’t changed any of their policies and I think the public will wake up to that pretty soon. I think all that’s happened is that there’s been this superficial makeover. They’ve exposed the ugliness, the factional manoeuvrings, the kind of knock on the door at midnight assassination style which has characterised State Labor but I’m not sure that there’s been any benefit for the Australian people to come out of this, Karl.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

This is a very big achievement for a woman, isn't it?

TONY ABBOTT:

Oh, sure. It's a magnificent thing to assume the highest office, elected office, in the land, although she hasn’t actually been elected by the people, she’s been elected by the powerbrokers. Sure, I feel good for her and I congratulated her. But, there are three tests for her, Karl. Can she stop the boats? Will she suspend the school hall rip-offs? Most importantly, can she fix the mining tax debacle and I don't think she is going to be able to do any of them.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

I’ll come to you about the mining tax in just a second but I think these are the things that you are battling, Tony, as you would know only too well. Front page of every newspaper in the country today, as you would expect on such an historic day, is her front and centre. It’s Julia Gillard everywhere. The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun in Melbourne. That is good PR for her and..

TONY ABBOTT:

Of course it is.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

I wonder if that’s going to be very difficult for you to battle come the election time.

TONY ABBOTT:

Karl, look, sure, for a few days there’ll be tremendous excitement and that’s as it should be but then people will say ‘what’s really changed, what’s really different, can she fix our problems’ and I don't believe that she can stop the boats. I don’t think she’s got the guts to accept that she was wrong and end the school hall rip-offs and I certainly don’t think she can fix the mining tax because the Government absolutely needs that revenue to sustain the spending spree.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

What are you hearing about the mining tax from mining companies? She has indicated that she wants the negotiations to take place here. The mining companies have come back and the majority of them said, "OK, well, we will take a look at the negotiations." Are you, do you have any word at all from the mining companies that they will give her a very short leash on this before they roll those ads back out?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I think the mining companies will want to know what increase in their tax is she going to demand and she's left in the Budget the $12 billion that Kevin Rudd wanted to gouge out of the companies and destroy their competitiveness and our jobs here in Australia. So, it’s all very well for her to pull the ads but unless she pulls the revenue out of the Budget I don't think the mining companies would regard her as acting in good faith.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

Fairly or unfairly, people say that you are still not connecting with women of this country. Now, that’s as a result of a survey that has been done very recently in the last couple of days. I wonder in terms of her now and the attraction that women are going to have and the honour that women feel around this country that they have their first female Prime Minister, whether that’s going to make a big difference in this election. Are you concerned about that?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think that's good. It's exciting. But, in the end, male, female, what we all want is good government and that’s the big test. Can she deliver good government? Now, it’s interesting Wayne Swan said that the mining tax had nothing to do with the return to surplus. In the year we get a $1 billion surplus, there's $3 billion of mining tax revenue. In the year we allegedly get a $5 billion surplus, there’s $9 billion of mining tax revenue. So, you take that revenue out and we’ve got a $2 billion deficit in the first year and we’ve got a $4 billion deficit in the second year and presumably even bigger deficits in the out years. So, the Government has a real problem here and there’s no evidence that Julia Gillard can fix it.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

Alright, it’s a very interesting point. Thank you very much for your time today, Tony. We look forward to seeing you very soon, hopefully at least once a week.

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, you'll certainly see me here every Friday morning, Karl, at ten past seven and I hope Julia doesn’t keep squibbing it.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

We’ll send that straight to her. Thank you very much for that, Tony.