Transcript of the Hon. Tony Abbott MHR doorstop interview, Raymond Terrace

02/10/12

Subjects: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax; Alan Jones; the Government's failed border protection policies; the Coalition’s commitment to upgrade the Pacific Highway; visit to Newcastle; federal election.

EO&E..............................................................................................................................................................

TONY ABBOTT:

It’s terrific to be here at Weathertex. This is an iconic Hunter business. It's great to be here with Jaimie Abbott, the candidate for Newcastle and with Michael Johnsen, the candidate for Hunter and of course my friend and shadow ministerial colleague Bob Baldwin, who is the Shadow Minister for Tourism and Regional Development. This is an iconic Hunter business. It's a business which has been on this spot for over 60 years. It is a sign that it is possible for Australia to successfully compete in manufacturing. We are making a world-class product here on this site. It is actually a product which is good for our emissions. This is a negative net emissions manufacturing operation and yet despite the fact that this is actually making a positive contribution to our environment, this is a business which is being savaged by the carbon tax.

Now, the tragedy of the carbon tax is that it is going to make it much harder for businesses like this to compete and for the hundred or so workers at this business, they are being slugged at home and at work. The carbon tax is making their job less secure and the carbon tax is making their bills higher at home. That is why this is such a toxic tax and this is why the first act of an incoming Coalition government will be to get rid of this toxic tax and the interesting thing is that the Government keeps telling people that no one has noticed the introduction of the carbon tax. Well, I tell you what, Paul Michael here has noticed the introduction of the carbon tax. It is adding about a half a million dollars a year to his costs. Every worker here who has had a power bill over the last couple of months has noticed the introduction of the carbon tax. The people who think the carbon tax hasn't hurt are the members of this Government and when they think taxes don't hurt, what does that mean? That means there are more taxes coming; that means that taxes are going up and we know what this Government is like - they will be class war taxes that this Government tries to put on people.

So, yet again, I repeat my pledge to the people of Australia: my Coalition colleagues and I will rebuild this country. We will rebuild the economy. We will rebuild family budgets by ending Labor's taxes. We will rebuild our infrastructure by ending Labor's neglect of things like the Pacific Highway, where we will spend an extra $2 billion to get it done. We will rebuild our border security by stopping Labor's boats and, above all else, we will rebuild trust in our polity by ending Labor's lies.

Are there any questions?

QUESTION:

Tony Abbott, obviously the Jones affair is still kicking around; the Government trying to link you to his comments and Nicola Roxon as of yesterday saying you should wear some of the blame. What would you say to that?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, the Government blames me for everything. Someone gets a flat tyre on the way to work, well, that is Tony Abbott's fault. If the Government misses out on the UN Security Council vote, we can be confident that that is Tony Abbott's fault. But I do want to make it clear that, as far as I'm concerned, as far as my Coalition colleagues are concerned, what Alan Jones said was wrong, unacceptable, offensive. He's admitted that. He's apologised. He's tried to make that apology personally to the Prime Minister and, look, I just think it's very important that we conduct our political debate in civil language and that is my resolve and it should be the resolve of everyone else.

QUESTION:

Labor is maintaining the attack on Jones. In fact, Mike Kelly this morning made a tweet about homosexuality. Is that appropriate? Do you think he has breached Labor’s rules and should apologise?

TONY ABBOTT:

I don't think we should be casting personal slurs on people and I think that as far as is humanly possible we should conduct our political debate in civil language and where people go over the top, I think they should be prepared to apologise.

QUESTION:

Will you continue to go on his programme?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I am not in the business of ignoring a big audience. I am the Leader of the Opposition. My job every day is to reach out to the people of Australia and to reassure them that we are a great country and a great people let down at the moment by bad government. So, I am certainly not going to ignore an audience of half a million people in Sydney. I never have and I never will.

QUESTION:

Should Julia Gillard pick up the phone and accept the apology?

TONY ABBOTT:

That is at matter for her.

QUESTION:

Greg Combet has described your comments about Alan Jones as totally inadequate. What do you have to say to that, Tony?

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, I picked up the paper on Sunday morning, like everyone else did. I was shocked and dismayed and I made that pretty clear. I made that pretty clear that he was completely out of line and it's good that he has seen that himself and apologised.

QUESTION:

Will he be invited to other Liberal Party functions to speak in the future?

TONY ABBOTT:

That is a matter for party organisers. We have never been a Stalinist party. We have never been involved in the business of suppressing free speech and, look, it's entirely up to party organisers who they invite.

QUESTION:

Do you think it is time to end these personal attacks?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think that as far as is humanly possible, we should try to conduct our political debates in a civil way. Now, I sometimes regret the deeply personal tone that creeps into some of our political debate. As far as is humanly possible I have tried to avoid that nasty personal tone. Occasionally, all of us go a bit over the top and whenever I've been responsible for saying what I shouldn't have said, I think I've always tried to do the decent thing and apologise.

QUESTION:

There’s still a bit of unrest on Nauru. What is your reaction to the disturbance there, with three asylum seekers held by police for causing damage to the facilities there?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think people are rightly concerned about the ongoing chaos on our boarders and the problem is that this is a Government which never really seemed to have its heart in the Nauru policy. Now, the Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to reopening Nauru. They have dragged their feet when it comes to actually getting the centre open. Only about 5 per cent of the people who have come since the Nauru announcement was made have actually gone to Nauru and the point I keep making is that if you want to get these policies to work, you have got to have your heart in it. But Labor's heart has never been in strong border protection policies.

QUESTION:

One of the things you've been talking about locally is the city centre revitalisation for Newcastle. I don't know if you've been down there recently but it looks pretty bad. What can you promise, if you're in power, to fix up the city?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, the most specific promise that I have made so far that will impact on the people of the Hunter, apart from repealing the carbon tax, is the Coalition's commitment just a couple of weeks ago to spend an extra $2 billion to ensure that we do get the Pacific Highway duplicated from Newcastle to the Queensland border well before the end of the decade. Now, this was a vitally important piece of national infrastructure. State and federal Labor governments have been dragging the chain for far too long. There was an unseemly brawl between the federal Labor government and the state Coalition government when the federal Labor government started to renege on promises of its funding commitment. We say, let's end the blame game, let's get on with the job. It saves lives and it builds local economies and that is what we will do by getting the Pacific Highway duplicated well before the end of the decade.

Now, if we can get the Pacific Highway right, that will help every person in the Hunter region for whom this is a vital lifeline. If we can get the carbon tax off and the mining tax off, that will revitalise the economies of this region but, yes, I am looking forward to sitting down with Mayor McLoy in an hour or so's time to talk about what the Commonwealth can do to assist the people of the Hunter. I did go for a little bike ride this morning with a prominent local sportsman, Ed Cross, who has done so much for sport and done so much for people with disabilities and he pointed out to me how the whole of the Newcastle waterfront has been transformed in the last few years. There is still a way to go, but Newcastle is a beautiful city and I want to do what I can to build on the transformation of Newcastle.

QUESTION:

The federal Coalition are obviously getting a lot of, I guess, maybe wanting to build in the federal election on the state result. That must give you great joy that perhaps the doors are opening up here?

TONY ABBOTT:

Well, look, that is exactly right. I think a lot of people in the Hunter, who were once just rusted-on Labor voters have woken up to the fact that their vote has been taken for granted for far too long. If people like the Minister for Climate Change were serious about being local members, if Greg Combet was serious about protecting jobs in his area, he would understand just what damage the carbon tax is doing to smelters, to miners, to a whole range of small business in his area. So, I think that the people of the Hunter are open to the Coalition's message. Obviously Bob Baldwin has been a great representative of the Coalition for a long time here in the Hunter but my cousin Jaimie is a great candidate for Newcastle. Michael Johnsen is a fine candidate for the Hunter and, you know, it would be nice to have another Abbott in the Parliament, wouldn't it?

Thank you.