Wed, 2nd July 2008

Nelson Doorstop - Westmead

The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP
Leader of the Opposition

E&OE

DR NELSON:

Well Mr Rudd has said over the last few days that he has had to make a lot of tough decisions. He’s now got an easy decision to make. He needs to get Belinda Neal to go to the police, tell the police the story about Iguana Joe’s or have her removed from his Government. Everyday fair dinkum Australians have had enough of people in public office that aren’t actually doing the things that are expected, and in this case it is about making sure that Belinda Neal actually speaks to the police and gives her side of the story. Many Australians would be asking themselves: why won’t Belinda Neal actually go and front the police? Why won’t she talk to the police? And why won’t Mr Rudd actually require Belinda Neal to go and tell her story to the police?

What we saw at Iguana Joe’s was ugly bullying of workers just trying to earn a living, and the abuse of power to bully and intimidate people who don’t have any. In this case especially it’s very important that the right thing not only be done but be seen to be done. And Mr Rudd has now got a responsibility to make it very, very clear to Belinda Neal – you either front the police, tell the police your story or get out of the Government. And it’s a very easy decision for Mr Rudd to make.

It’s not good enough for Mr Rudd to simply say that he has sent Belinda Neal to counselling. If he can send her to counselling then surely he can tell her to go and speak to the police. And if she doesn’t want to do that then get out of the Government.

QUESTION:

Has it taken too long, Brendan?

DR NELSON:

Well we’ve got to ask ourselves why it is that it’s nearly a month and Belinda Neal has not been able to speak to the police. Mr Rudd at first dismissed this as some sort of joke. He then decided he would send Belinda Neal to counselling. Now after almost a month Belinda Neal has still not spoken to the police and yet there has been some sort confrontation at her office today and she has called the same police I am advised that she would otherwise be talking to if she was giving a statement. Australians deserve and expect very high standards from those that they elect into the parliament. Belinda Neal is letting Australians down and Kevin Rudd is letting all of us down by not applying high standards and telling her to either go and talk to the police or get out of the Rudd Government.

Today we’ve got further evidence that Australians are disappointed in Mr Rudd who seems not to be the same person that he was in 2007. We have now got a survey which shows that Australians are twice as pessimistic about the next six months than they were in December last year. Australians also have now lost their confidence in Mr Rudd to actually govern Australia. It’s very important that this country has leadership. We need a government that sets priorities and a government that actually makes decisions. Mr Rudd is all backswing and no follow through. He is much more concerned about his media image, his plan for Asia, than he is about having a plan for Australia and making decisions that are in Australia’s short and long term interests.

Mr Rudd after seven months in government has 135 committees and inquiries and summits and various things but he has not made any real decisions that are affecting Australians every day in petrol, in groceries and interest rates. And the one thing that Mr Rudd can do about petrol is to cut the excise, cut the tax on patrol. And we know from Mr Swan, our nervous Treasurer, that the Government has in the order of a $500 million windfall because petrol prices have gone up and more GST is being collected. And Mr Rudd needs to work with the states in giving that windfall gain on petrol and petrol taxes at least to Australia’s pensioners.

Ken Henry, the secretary of Treasury, in conducting a tax review, we are told, and that pensioners will have to wait until that is complete. One of the things that Mr Rudd can do if he wants to work with the states is look at the windfall gains from the GST and the petroleum resource rent tax and distribute it back at least to pensioners over the next 12 months whilst they wait for this Ken Henry taxation review to give pensioners some kind of relief.

After seven months in government, business confidence and consumer confidence have plummeted, retail sales are down, housing approvals have flat-lined, we’ve had two official interest rate rises and Mr Rudd seems more concerned about things that happen overseas. He seems more concerned about stunts and more concerned about his own media image than he does actually making decisions that are so important for Australian families, Australian small businesses and people just trying to survive in a tough economy.

QUESTION:

Are Australians feeling like they’ve been duped?

DR NELSON:

Well Australians are feeling seriously let down because in 2007 Mr Rudd ran around the country and led us all to believe that he would be able to fix things. Now it seems after seven months he has put up the white flag, he has thrown in the towel. Australians have been misled. Mr Rudd only a month or so ago said he couldn’t physically do any more for the Australian family budget. Well Mr Rudd if you can’t do anything, if you can’t make decisions for Australians on groceries and petrol and cost of living pressures, then please think about getting out of the way and give the job to someone who will.

QUESTION:

This morning I was at the press conference where the Prime Minister [inaudible] for organ donation. What do you think about that?

DR NELSON:

Organ donation is critically important for Australia and especially those Australians who are desperately waiting on waiting lists for an organ donor to be available. Investing $136 million in organ donation is a sound investment. We hope that it will result in more donors coming forward, more families agreeing to have the organs of their loved ones donated and more Australians who literally have their lives hanging on waiting for an organ donation – anything and everything we can responsibly do to support organ donation should be supported by all Australians.

I think every Australian has got to get behind the Sunrise campaign to get the means test off the solar rebate. It flies in the face of common sense that Mr Rudd said in 2007 he wanted to do everything he could to support the environment, and now he is means testing the solar rebate. The Sunrise campaign is absolutely essential to backing the Bill which we now have before the federal parliament to remove the means test. I don’t know what planet Peter Garrett is on, but it’s not planet earth. He thinks the solar rebate programme was overheated and now the Government is saying that if you’re a teacher and your wife is a nurse then you can’t get $8,000 to put solar panels on your roof. I mean for goodness sake Australia has lots of sun; we have lots of Australians who want to do something to help our environment. The Sunrise campaign is extremely important. The Coalition has got a Bill before the parliament, let’s get behind it and let’s get Mr Rudd to admit he was wrong. Bring back our solar panels, save our solar panels and support the Sunrise campaign.

QUESTION:

When asked about Belinda Neal this is what he said [inaudible]?

DR NELSON:

Well what kind of mealy-mouthed words are those? Obviously everybody must obey the law and comply with the law. Belinda Neal is saying that she is exercising her legal right not to actually speak to the police. Mr Rudd needs to show leadership and apply common sense that he’ll find in any pub or shopping centre in any part of the country and actually tell Belinda Neal to go and speak to the police or indeed to get out of the Government.

I think the voters of Robertson themselves, I think would like the opportunity to decide whether they would really want to have Belinda Neal representing them in the federal parliament. This has gone beyond a joke. It has gone beyond what is reasonable. We know that we had bullying of staff at Iguana Joe’s, we know those men and women have stood up for their rights. The former employee of Belinda Neal, the workers at Iguana Joe’s – they have shown enormous courage in standing up for their rights at work against the bullying behaviour of Belinda Neal. Mr Rudd needs to be decisive. He needs to make the decision. It’s an easy decision to make – and that is to tell Belinda Neal to go and speak to the police, and if she won’t he should sack her from his Government. Belinda Neal is one of those members of parliament that is keeping Mr Rudd in his job and he should put Australia’s interests first, he should put morality and what is right first and tell her to see the police.

QUESTION:

[Inaudible]

DR NELSON:

Well Mr Rudd is so indecisive on this that he is making Morris Iemma look good. Mr Rudd is apparently incapable of doing what Morris Iemma did with John Della Bosca. Mr Rudd, it’s not often that any Australian would say it, but just have a look at what Morris Iemma has done. He has actually phoned John Della Bosca and said you hightail it and go and talk to the police. Nothing less should be expected of Mr Rudd, he should now speak to Belinda Neal and he should tell her: ‘go and talk to the police and if you don’t want to talk to the police then get out of the Government’.

Thanks guys.