It’s great to be here in Warwick with Bruce Scott, the local member. I want to congratulate Dick Estens and Greg and everyone else associated with this opening today. This is a sign of the good things that can happen in regional Australia if good people have a go and I guess that’s my main message to the people of Australia today. This is a great country. Please don’t let the spectacle in Canberra persuade you that there is anything wrong with our country. There is nothing wrong with Australia. We are a great country which is being let down by a bad government.

 

Now, every time a minister opens his or her mouth in Canberra today, we learn more about the depth of the poison which afflicts the current government and I want to say that by contrast to the Labor Party as it stands today, the Coalition is a stable and united team and we stand ready to give Australia the good government that it needs. We stand ready to give the Australian people the hope, reward and opportunity that they deserve to have.

 

We have a plan for a stronger economy, for a stronger society. We will build a stronger economy and we will build a stronger economy by getting government spending down and getting productivity up. If we can get government spending down, we get borrowing down – that takes the pressure off interest rates, it takes the pressure off tax. That means that the pressure on family budgets is reduced. We’ve got to get productivity up in this country because it’s only through higher productivity that we will create the greater wealth that will give Australians the better life they seek and government has an important role to play here.

 

We do need to reduce the red tape burden. We do need to inject more flexibility into our workplace system but as well as a stronger economy, we need a stronger society because every Australian lives in a society, not just an economy. So, we will get more people power into our schools and hospitals. We will stop the boats because if we can stop the boats, we will persuade Australians that once more their government is in charge and that once more we will have an immigration programme that is running in Australia’s interests and not just in the people smugglers’ interests.

 

We will have a cleaner environment because we will pursue sensible policies to get emissions down. We won’t hit everyone with a great big new tax, a bad tax based on a lie which is socialism masquerading as environmentalism and finally, we will build the infrastructure for the future that Australia needs. If you are in a place like Warwick, you need better roads. Yes, we all want better broadband and we can get better broadband delivered through market competition not through a great big government monopoly, not through a $50 billion-plus white elephant.

 

So, I say to the Australian people: do not lose heart. We can have a better government. We are, as a people, better than this. What I think the Australian people yearn for right now is a Prime Minister who they choose, not a Prime Minister who the faceless men chooses and whatever happens on Monday of next week, it will be the faceless men pulling the strings and the only way we can get away from a government based on dodgy back door deals, deals done in the dark, is to have an election: let the people decide and that’s my fundamental message.

 

Bruce, you might like to say a few words and then we’ll take some questions.

 

 

Thank you, Tony, for coming up to Warwick today for this very important announcement. Of course, the distraction of Canberra, I think, has got everyone in Australia distracted and I think the only comment I’d like to make is on the other side of the house, what we see is they’re only interested in their own job, they’re not interested in creating jobs as we see here in Warwick today for the betterment of Australia. It’s always been their focus – they’re disjointed, they’re disorganised. But you’ve led a united team, ready to govern when the opportunity arises and the people of Australia are given that chance.

 

 

Thanks, Bruce.

 

 

Mr Abbott, regardless of Monday’s ballot result, will you move a no confidence motion on Monday or Tuesday?

 

 

Well, I have had no confidence in this government from the beginning and I think the Australian people have long lost confidence in this government. It’s not a question will I move a no confidence motion. It’s a question: will the independents move a no confidence motion?

 

 

Mr Abbott, you’re calling for an election immediately. You’ve called this a farce, many other words to describe what’s going on in Canberra at the moment. So, why don’t you, you’re calling for an election, why don’t you move the motion?

 

 

Well, as I said, I have no confidence in this government. The Australian people have no confidence in this government, as indicator after indicator increasingly shows. There is now a great question before the independent members of parliament – are they prepared to let this shambles go on? Do they want to have all the faults of this government on their conscience? Because this government was only formed because they formed it; this government only survives because they back it and every mistake that this government makes, every day that this government lasts, this shambles goes on. It is their responsibility and this is an issue for them.

 

There’s been much said about the faceless men in the Labor Party. Who are the men? Can you put a name to them that will be directing from behind the scenes this weekend ahead of Monday?

 

 

Look, I don’t always agree with Kevin Rudd. I think Kevin Rudd was a poor Prime Minister, but at least he had this virtue: he was the last Australian Prime Minister to have a mandate from the people. He was the last democratically elected Prime Minister this country has. Now, he knows what’s going on inside the Labor Party and he nailed this government. He nailed this government last night when he said the faceless men are in charge and as long as the faceless men are in charge, a divided and directionless government will be damaging our country.

 

 

Mr Abbott, have you spoken to the independents and if not, why not?

 

 

Well, I just have a rule in life and that is that I don’t blab about private conversations. I think that’s a good rule. I think if more politicians had that rule, we would have a better government and a better society and I’m not going to break this rule for anyone’s benefit today.

 

 

Is your party prepared for a Kevin Rudd return or in the event that he doesn’t come back as Prime Minister, he quits the party and causes a by-election in Griffith. Are you prepared for all those scenarios?

 

 

Our party is ready to fight an election campaign and we are ready to give Australia the stable government that it needs – the hope, reward and opportunity that Australians deserve.

 

 

Mr Abbott, do you welcome the fact that the Labor Party has resolved to sort out this issue or were you happy for this rot to continue?

 

 

I think that they have to sort it out for their own sakes and for Australia’s sake because this is a demoralising spectacle. Just think what a spectacle we are making of ourselves for the world right now. A great country let down and embarrassed by an awful government. Now, I think they should sort it out. I very much doubt whether they can sort it out because the message that we are getting from Cabinet minister after Cabinet minister as he or she stands up to blaggard a colleague or a former colleague is that the poison runs incredibly deep.

 

 

Does Kevin Rudd have a chance?

 

 

Look, I’m just not going to speculate on what might be happening to the numbers inside the Labor Party. I’m interested in giving good government to Australia as soon as possible.

 

 

If this is a push to get back his old job, how do you rate his strategy of how he dropped it last night and basically the timing and understanding how things are going to work out?

 

 

Again, I’m not going to provide a running commentary on the Labor Party. I am going to tell the Australian people what needs to happen if we are to get the better government that we need.

 

 

Mr Abbott, given that we could be facing another election soon as you are pushing for, can you guarantee Mr Scott here that you won’t ask him to stand aside for Barnaby Joyce, who is looking for a seat in the lower house?

 

 

Well look, I respect our party processes. We are a democratic political movement and in the end, it will be up to the Liberal National Party to decide who our candidate is. I have enormous respect for Barnaby Joyce, who is doing an outstanding job as the Leader of the National Party in the Senate. I also have a lot of respect for my friend and colleague Bruce Scott, who I served in the ministry with during the Howard Government and I think we’re very lucky to have two such fine men in our parliamentary party.

 

 

You mentioned in your speech that you’re not a miracle worker like Kevin Rudd. What did you mean by that?

 

 

Look, I know from my time in government that the government that governs best is, in John Howard’s words, a government which under promises but over delivers and that has been the polar opposite of the Rudd/Gillard government over for the last four years.

 

 

You say you are ready to fight an election. Who would you like that fight to be against?

 

 

I am very happy to fight an election against whoever the faceless men put up as the leader of the Labor Party and I think that that election will be a very good opportunity to end forever the culture of the faceless men which is contaminating and, I think, destroying a once great political party.

 

Thanks very much.

 

[ends]