Press Conference, Canberra

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR
PRESS CONFERENCE
CANBERRA

Subjects: Labor-Green coalition; negotiations with independents; climate action; immigration; political donations; election policy costings.

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

TONY ABBOTT:
Thanks everyone for coming. Just 11 days after the election and Julia Gillard has already broken her first election commitment. The citizens assembly was always a dud policy but it was hers and now it’s been junked at the direction of the Greens. What this indicates is that there is no election commitment that is so important and so certain that it won’t be junked in the quest to hold onto power. It demonstrates that the quest for power is now the only principle that the Labor Party holds dear.
Clearly, the Greens will be in the driver's seat of any renewed Gillard government and what this means is that there will be a carbon tax, there will be a higher mining tax, there will be funding cuts for independent schools and there will never be any offshore asylum seeker processing.
What today's announcement means is that Australia now has two coalitions. There is the Liberal-National Coalition that people are familiar with. There is now the Labor-Green Coalition. Only one of those coalitions will be good for regional Australia.
QUESTION:
So are you saying, Mr Abbott, that there is no policy compromise you’d make to obtain power?
TONY ABBOTT:
What I’m doing now is obviously talking to the country independents and others about what would be needed to form a stable and competent government but what we do will have to be consistent with the policies that we took to the election.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, doesn't the Greens' deal the Labor Party mean that whether you like it or not, they actually can promise a stable government, whereas you without the Greens' support would have trouble getting anything through the Senate?
TONY ABBOTT:
The fact is that we have a record in government of working effectively with Senates that were not of our political persuasion and I don't see that that would change.
QUESTION:
Isn't it a fact, though, that the Greens did so well on the back of Liberal preferences around the country?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, there is no doubt that the Greens did well, but I do think that the Greens were, in a sense, campaigning under false pretences. There obviously was a clear understanding between Bob Brown and Julia Gillard pre-election that there would be Greens support for a Labor government and I'm very disappointed that neither Julia Gillard or Bob Brown came clean about this pre-election. I suspect that people may well have voted differently if they had known that the Greens were going to enter into an alliance with the Labor Party if they were going to form effectively a Coalition with the Labor Party immediately after the election.
QUESTION:
Are you saying that this was a pre-arranged dirty deal that they had before the election?
TONY ABBOTT:
Obviously there was a deal pre-election which neither the caretaker Prime Minister nor the Leader of the Greens was prepared to be upfront about.
QUESTION:
How is that obvious?
TONY ABBOTT:
Well, because there has been no serious discussion between the Greens and the Coalition. Senator Brown came to see me at five o’clock yesterday evening and announced that the Greens were on the verge of doing a deal with the Labor Party. We know on the basis of the published and public commitments that have been made by the Labor Party to the Greens that many of these could just as easily been made by the Coalition. The Parliamentary Budget Office was my policy before the election, a debates commission was my policy before the election, parliamentary reform was my commitment before the election, so if the Greens had been serious about even-handedness they would’ve talk to us about these subjects, they would not have simply run off and consummated the pre-election deal with the ALP.
QUESTION:

But Mr Abbott, Adam Bandt during the election campaign made it quite clear before anyone voted for him that he would be supporting a Labor Government if the situation arose. Are you saying that that wasn’t honest, not coming clean with people?

TONY ABBOTT:

But plainly there was a deal. There was a deal which Julia Gillard…

QUESTION:

Was it not upfront considering he was able to tell his voters that before polling day?

TONY ABBOTT:

But plainly there was a deal that wasn’t simply confined to one candidate. It was a deal between the then Prime Minister and the leader of the Greens which they weren’t upfront about pre-election.

QUESTION:

What’s wrong with there being a deal? They’re of like policy mind.

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I simply make the point, Matthew, that we now have two coalitions in this country. There is the Labor-Green coalition and there is the Liberal-National coalition and only one of those coalitions will be good for regional Australia.

QUESTION:

The national accounts today show the economy grew at 3.3 per cent for the year ending June. Is it wise that if you get into government to spend the remaining $5 billion on school buildings no matter how you disperse that money given the economy’s back to above trend growth?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well look, I think that the strength of the Australian economy is fundamentally due to the reforms of previous governments, not to the spending spree of the current government. I think the important thing is that we avoid waste. You might remember that this was a very important part of my pitch to voters and I think it was a very important part of the success that the Coalition had, the unprecedented success that the Coalition had in the election. So, I think it’s important to end the waste. I’m not against spending on school infrastructure, but it’s got to be effective spending.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, in your own wheeling and dealing, your National Party colleague from Western Australia, Mr Crook, is still demanding, I think, nearly $900 million as part of being a member of your coalition. What is your response to that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I’m obviously having conversations with Mr Crook, I’m having conversations with many of my colleagues about many subjects, that’s how you’d expect things to be…

QUESTION:

But what’s the progress on that conversation?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I am confident that the regions will always get a better deal from the Liberal-National coalition than they will get from the Labor-Green coalition because the Labor-Green coalition is fundamentally opposed to the mining industry, it has big problems with our irrigation sector and it wants to whack a carbon tax on everything which means that a lot of rural industries are going to be under a lot of cost pressure.

QUESTION:

Aren’t you being a bit cute here because in order to form a government someone’s going to have to do a deal with someone, aren’t they, and in terms of the Greens, beyond parliamentary reform, where are the points of common ground between you and the Greens that could have seen an agreement with them?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, I am the only major party leader who has a clear policy to bring about the five per cent emissions reduction by 2020. I mean, short of the carbon tax, which Labor is committed to but won’t talk about, they have no policy to bring about emissions reductions. I have a clear policy and it’s been on the table for months now to bring about emissions reduction. As well, there’s my Green Army which will make a serious difference to land care issues right around our country. So, we’ve got, I think, serious runs on the board as committed environmentalists, it’s just we don’t do the sort of secret deals which we now see evidence of today.

QUESTION:

Are you worried that Ms Gillard will now do a deal in the next few days with Andrew Wilkie and how much tougher would that make it for you to form a minority government?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, obviously I’m talking to Andrew Wilkie. I had constructive discussions with him on Monday. I’m expecting to have further discussions with him. I’m not going to pre-empt those discussions.

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, in your discussions with the independents, in particular the three country crossbenchers, are they giving you any indication of which way they’ll move when they finally make a decision?

TONY ABBOTT:
Look, I’m not going to verbal anyone here and I’m not going to try to heavy or pressure people. I’ve had good discussions with them. Those discussions are ongoing. I think that if you want a clean politics, if you want a reformed parliament and if you want a better deal for regional Australia only the Coalition can deliver.

QUESTION:

At the last election you promised to stop the boats. It was probably your most memorable line. How are you going to stop…

TONY ABBOTT:
I’m pleased you can remember it.

QUESTION:
How are you going to stop the boats? To get it through the Senate you obviously need the vote of two independents, both of them don’t seem too enamoured with the idea of TPVs. Do you think you can do it without legislation? Do you think you can do it without regulation because obviously if you do it by regulation the Senate would still be allowed to move to disallow that with Labor and the Greens requiring the vote of just an additional Senator, independent Senator, so how do you actually plan to get these laws or to get these policies in action?

TONY ABBOTT:
Well, what I said during the campaign was that we would have a form of temporary protection visa, that we would have rigorous offshore processing, preferably in a third country, and that where possible we would turn around boats. Now, I think all of those are possible without legislation.

QUESTION:

How confident are you that you can oppose a carbon tax, as you call it, when at least half of the Liberal Party at one point in time actually supported a price on carbon?

TONY ABBOTT:
I think what we wanted to do was to take effective action to reduce emissions and we have come up with a better way of reducing emissions that does not involve a great big new tax on everyone and everything.

QUESTION:
What do you actually think of this new climate committee idea and will Coalition members be able to sit on that committee?

TONY ABBOTT:
It was absolutely crystal clear from Bob Brown’s press conference today that the purpose of this committee is to come up with an effective way of putting a price on carbon. So, this is basically the carbon tax committee. Now, we are committed to strong action against climate change but it’s not going to come with a heavy price tag for consumers. So, it’s just not possible for Coalition members to sit on this committee.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible] sit on that committee?

TONY ABBOTT:
As I said, it’s just not possible for Coalition members to sit on this committee because the clear commitment that we gave to the Australian people during the campaign, a campaign in which there was a five per cent swing against the Government, a campaign in which for only the second time in a hundred years a first term government lost its majority, lost its legitimacy, a clear commitment was that there would be no charge on consumers in this way.

QUESTION:
Isn’t the bottom line out of this deal today that Labor can call on 73 votes, at the moment you can only call on 72 votes because you haven’t yet done a deal with Tony Crook and doesn’t that mean that as of today they are more likely to be able to form government and they offer a greater chance of stability?

TONY ABBOTT:
Well, I just reject, Ben, your characterisation of Tony Crook’s position. I mean, what Tony Crook has made crystal clear is that he cannot support a government that will drastically damage the mining industry in Western Australia. I mean, a mining tax in any shape or form is out as far as I am concerned and as far as Tony Crook is concerned.

QUESTION:

What’s your position on political donations? We now know that Labor’s looking to reduce the threshold to $1,000 which they tried to do in government. Are you supportive of that as an idea or are you supportive of the notion of moving to full public funding? I know you’ve said broad things about donations but what’s your specific position?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I will put a specific proposal to the country independents in the course of these discussions that we’re having. I certainly don’t like the money power in politics and I’m very conscious of the fact that Labor is the big money party when it comes to politics. They’re the party which is always better funded. They’re the party which has so-called third parties that advertise massively in a very partisan way in support of the Labor Party and I think we do need to tackle this if we’re going to have fair elections. But I’ll put my proposal to the independents and we’ll see what they think of it.

QUESTION:

The independents are meeting Treasury this afternoon. Will you commit to releasing those costings of your policies after that meeting is over?

TONY ABBOTT:

I am totally committed to being upfront and transparent with my costings and we were upfront and transparent with our costings in the course of the election campaign. Let me scotch the myth, Phil, that Labor is somehow open and honest about these things. At three o’clock on Friday afternoon, without a press conference, they put out a press release saying that the budget bottom line would be a half a billion dollars different to what had previously been announced. So, you know, these guys are just not straight and honest when it comes to this subject. No, look, what is going to come out of this process, I trust, is a stable and competent government and all cards will be on the table and that means that everyone will be fully aware of the best possible costings of Coalition policies.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible] in your costings? Are you aware of any holes they have found?

TONY ABBOTT:

I’m not aware of and I am confident that our polices are robust.

QUESTION:

The deal between Labor and the Greens, where does this leave your relationship do you think with Bob Brown and the Greens? Could you work, if you formed a government with the independents, be able to work with the Greens in the Senate if they have as you believe formed a coalition now with Labor?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, obviously I’m disappointed that no serious negotiation was entered into between the Coalition and the Greens and that the Greens chose to consummate what was plainly a pre-arranged deal with the ALP and the point I made to Senator Brown last night is that this is the most corrupted Labor Party in living memory. This is a Labor Party that is completely run by the hollowmen. This is a Labor Party that has no soul whatsoever. This is a Labor Party which deserves to lose and yet this is a Labor Party which Bob Brown has through a lifeline to and I’m just extremely disappointed with Bob Brown because he is a man who has always stood for political integrity and I think he has sided with a party that has not a shred of political integrity. Having said all of that, look, I understand that if you want to get legislation through the Parliament you’ve got to talk to the people with the numbers and so if I am in a position to form a government in a few days time and I need to negotiate with the Greens, well plainly we’ll negotiate, we’ll do it in good faith.

Thank you so much.

[ends]