Joint doorstop interview with the Federal Member for Sturt Christopher Pyne

Monday, 26 July 2010

Subjects: Coalition’s $7.5 million commitment to the Campbelltown Leisure Centre; Leader’s debate; women’s vote; Sturt electorate campaign.

E&OE…

JULIE BISHOP    I am here in Adelaide today supporting Christopher Pyne in his campaign for the seat of Sturt. And we are in Campbelltown this morning to announce that should the Coalition be elected to Government we will provide $7.5 million to help support the Campbelltown Recreational Centre be redeveloped. We will work with the State Government, with the local council and with local sporting organisations to redevelop this facility.

Now this will have long term and short term social and economic benefits. In the short term it will mean that community groups will be able to use the redeveloped facilities for their sport and leisure activities, it will also mean that young people in this area will have a safe place to go for sports or exercise, for leisure and socialising.

In the long term this means that we can do more to prevent chronic disease in this country. And as you would have seen this morning there are a number of older people who are using the facility. There is a commitment to long term exercise and if people start exercising earlier in life they are likely to have a lifelong commitment to it that will ensure that chronic disease in this country can be prevented or its onset delayed and that will of course will have long term benefits to our health budget.

So I think this is a wonderful announcement and Christopher Pyne has been fighting for this announcement for the seat of Sturt. It will be important for the local community and Christopher is to be congratulated on standing up for the people of Sturt.

Now I will ask Christopher to say a few more words about the announcement.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Thank you Julie and I am delighted to be here with Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader, and the Mayor of Campbelltown Simon Brewer to be part of this announcement of $7.5 million to the Campbelltown Leisure Centre. It is a project that is screaming out to be done. South Australia has really missed out over the last few years in terms of national competitions in lots of sports but particularly basketball.

This redevelopment will be great for basketball, for futsal, for squash and for swimming. I think most people in the area know that we need more recreational facilities. And it really dismays me that the Labor Government has had money for campaigns to win a seat on the Security Council, for campaigns to win a World Cup in soccer which I think is a distant mirage, to send the Minister for Sport Kate Ellis to South Africa for the World Cup, but when it comes to facilities for local people in local communities then Government just doesn’t have the money.

And I can tell you for $7.5 million from a Coalition Government we’ll be able to build a fantastic facility for that. We won’t have the waste and mismanagement that we’ve seen in the school hall debacle under Julia Gillard. I think if they had $7.5 million to spend we might get a canteen for that. Under a Liberal Government we will get a stadium, we’ll get a pool, we’ll get eight squash courts, basketball courts, it will be great for my local area and I’m delighted that with Julie Bishop’s support and Tony Abbott’s support in the Shadow Cabinet that we’ve got this announcement for South Australia and for Sturt.

JOURNALIST    Is this announcement a bit of a reward for your work in the last term in attacking the Government on BER and projects such as that?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    I’ve been a member here for 17 years and of course I keep fighting for Sturt. So before the last election we announced $1 million for the Campbelltown Soccer Club to build facilities for their 500 families that are in their kids’ teams. That is now being built and is being used and it is fantastic improvement to facilities in this area. So this, I guess, is the next stage. $7.5 million for the Campbelltown Leisure Centre.

Local members of parliament need to keep fighting for their electorate. When they have experience, when they have energy and are seen to be effective they get things for their electorate back in Canberra. And that is what this is all about, proving that if you elect a member of parliament who knows how to run a situation in Canberra you can actually achieve things for your local people.

JOURNALIST    Last night’s debate, how did you think your leader went?

JULIE BISHOP    I was very proud of Tony Abbott in the debate last night. He was clear, he was concise, he was direct, he exposed Labor’s many flaws, he set out a plan for the Coalition and I think he won the debate.

Julia Gillard gave a good scripted opening. She was very rehearsed. I was sitting in the audience. Her gestures, her body language were obviously very well rehearsed but she failed on all the major policy issues. On the mining tax, on the East Timor solution which is now laughable, on climate change. There were just no policies, nothing that was believable.

JOURNALIST    The worm is suggesting that Tony Abbott is still struggling with the women’s vote. Do you think that is right?

JULIE BISHOP    I think the worm responses to words and concepts, but Labor is so bad at delivery. When you stop and think about it, it sounds good, but Labor doesn’t deliver on it. So the worm responses to feel-good words and fuzzy things but then people stop and think, what does that actually mean?

In the case of climate change. Initially Julia Gillard’s talked about climate change and so the worm goes up but then people realise she hasn’t announced anything in her climate change policy. She has announced a massive focus group of 150 Australians who will obviously be put away in some remote location and then in three years time they will emerge blinking and say, well this is what we think Labor’s climate change policy will be. That is no way to govern a country. So I think when the worm goes home the worm will think about what Julia Gillard announced and it was nothing.

JOURNALIST    The women’s vote though.

JULIE BISHOP    I think that women of Australia are concerned about cost of living expenses, they’re concerned about Labor’s waste and mismanagement, they are deeply concerned about the level of debt and the budget deficit. And the women of Australia want competence in the Government and that is not what they are seeing with the Rudd/Gillard Government.

And Tony Abbott was there last night with his family, with his mum and his dad and his wife Margie and two of his three sisters and two of his three daughters, and he talked about the pressures of raising a family, of paying for school fees, of paying the expenses, paying off a mortgage. And I think when people stop and think about Tony Abbott’s commitment to the women of Australia I think the vote will improve.

JOURNALIST    It is no secret though that he’s sometimes conservative views have had some women arching up. How are the Libs going to counteract that?

JULIE BISHOP    I worked as Tony Abbott’s junior Minister in the health portfolio and Tony Abbott was absolutely committed to improving women’s health. And not only did he talk about it he actually did things to improve women’s health particularly in relation to cancers. So when you look at what Tony Abbott’s done he has supported women’s health. I didn’t ever see Tony Abbott’s views impact in any negative way on women’s issues when I was working with him as his junior Minister.

JOURNALIST    Christopher, how afraid are you of Rick Sarra in this campaign? How much of a threat is he?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Look I am not in the least bit afraid of any particular candidate. I’ve been the Member for Sturt for seven elections and I have seen off six candidates so far. Sturt will be a tough fight, it always is, I never take it for granted. I think the campaign in Sturt is going well so far and we’ve got four weeks to go and we’ll know on election night whether I win or whether I lose. Fear doesn’t really come into politics. It is about wanting to serve the people of the electorate of which you represent. I want to continue to do that as effectively as I hope I have for the last 17 years.

JOURNALIST    What are the issues here locally?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Well the issues in Sturt are, well locally there are local issues, but obviously the electors of Sturt care about things like cost of living and border protection. I was out at Gilles Plains on Saturday morning at the supermarket, I went to a numerous number of Italian events over the weekend as well as out at Landcare at Campbelltown on Sunday morning. And people talk about the same issues that everyone is concerned about. The pressures of cost of living, high interest rates, high inflation, Labor’s debt and deficit putting more pressure on their cost of living. They are concerned about border protection, they want a Government that actually does things to protect our borders rather than just talk about them. They know that since Labor’s changed the policies there has been a massive increase in the number of boat arrivals and that really worries them.

Locally they’re concerned about things like water. This is Adelaide and the Murray Darling Basin and us getting our fair share of water is a primary issue in my electorate. They want to know about what we are going to do for stormwater harvesting, they like the Liberals policy at the state election, they’d like to see that rolled out at the federal election. So water is the number one issue locally.  But so is recreational facilities, open spaces, the need to protect our standard of living in the eastern and north eastern suburbs. They are all some of the issues that we need to keep fighting for and the Campbelltown Leisure Centre is one commitment from the Coalition which shows we are listening to people and responding.

JOURNALIST    Mr Pyne are you concerned about the ACTU targeting your seat and running what sounds like a very personal campaign against you?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Look the ACTU is, I can’t remember the last time they supported the Liberal Party. Labor is the political arm of the industrial movement. You’d expect them to campaign against the Liberal Party. I wouldn’t regard them as a very objective third party endorsement for Labor so really quite frankly their campaign is quite irrelevant. Whether it is in Sturt or whether it is elsewhere I think voters look right through the ACTU and all they see is Gillard at the other end.

JOURNALIST    If you happen to lose your seat would you consider making a run for Premier of South Australia?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    [laughs] Pia there are four weeks to go until the election. I intend to win this seat. I have absolutely no intention of canvassing any other options.

JOURNALIST    Nothing in state politics down the line if you get sick of Canberra one day?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Look one thing people know about me is when I focus I focus like a laser beam on the job at hand. And that is what I am doing and I will win this seat on election night because the people in Sturt will see me as the most effective, experienced and energetic candidate and I don’t think about anything other than that.

JOURNALIST    We haven’t seen much of other people from the major parties in South Australia. Is it fair to say that we are being overlooked?

JULIE BISHOP    Can I say absolutely not! I am the Deputy Leader of the party, I happen to be a South Australian born and bred. Christopher Pyne is a great mate of mine. We are proud of the leadership team and we want to see Christopher back in Canberra as the strong voice for the people of Sturt.

And I am here today as the Deputy Leader to support Christopher’s campaign and he will be an outstanding candidate, as he always is, and will continue to be one of the most effective members of parliament that we have in this country. And the people of Sturt need Christopher Pyne in Canberra as their voice.

JOURNALIST    How much of a risk is Christopher Pyne at losing his seat? It is a razor thin margin. Federally in the party are there any concerns about Sturt or even Boothby?

JULIE BISHOP    Well we are the underdog in this campaign across the country. But I have great faith in Christopher’s commitment to this electorate, his commitment to the people of South Australia. He raises the hard issues in parliament, he is an outstanding parliamentary performer, he is one of the best in parliament, and I believe that Christopher will be judged on his merits as the best candidate for the seat of Sturt. So I have great confidence in him but make no mistake this is going to be a really tough election for the Coalition.

After all this is a first term Government. Just because they have changed the face of the top doesn’t mean that it is a new Government. It is still a first term Government and the Australian people would normally give a first term Government a bit of a go.

But if ever a Government does deserve to lose after a first term it is this Rudd/Gillard shemozzle. It is one of the worst Governments I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think I would see the day when a Government made the Whitlam Government look good.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Hear, hear.

JOURNALIST    You might be from South Australia, but Julia Gillard also grew up here and she’s got some popularity according to polls. Are you concerned about her popularity here?

JULIE BISHOP    No. Well I am very delighted to be back in my home town. I’ve got a lot of friends and family here and I spend a lot of time in South Australia. I went to school here, I went to university here, I worked here, I think I spent more of my time here than Julia Gillard did and I feel very much at home in South Australia.

I’m not concerned about her popularity anywhere in the country quite frankly. I am concerned to see great candidates like Christopher Pyne, who’ve made such a commitment to public life in this country, continue to carry out that role in Canberra.

So I am here to support Christopher and I am sure that he will be the next Member for Sturt because the people in this community know how hard he fights for them. This $7.5 million commitment, Labor turned it down, Christopher Pyne picked up the issue and ran with it and convinced the Coalition that even though Labor have run up a massive debt and a huge budget deficit we will still find a commitment to help Christopher meet the needs of the local community.

JOURNALIST    I just want to know, did you breathe a sigh of relief when the preference deal between Greens and Labor didn’t target your seat?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    [laughs] Well I am after first preferences, I campaign for primary votes. The Greens haven’t decided what they are going to do in Sturt.  They have carved Sturt out of the national preference deal. And look there are a number of issues in which voters in my electorate and Greens-leaning voters in particular would think that I represent views that they would support. For example, I’ve been arguing for national control of the Murray Darling Basin for 17 years and the Greens would support that. I’ve been talking about issues to go with climate change for a long time and I think people know that I support direct action on climate change. And as some of them said to me yesterday morning at the Campbelltown Landcare up at Wadmore Park, the Coalition has a better policy on climate change and action on climate change than the Labor Party. They were horrified that the Labor Party’s policy is to put climate change policy up again to a citizens’ assembly randomly chosen for another two years so that if they win the election it will be five years before they do anything. They were saying ironically why they don’t usually support the Liberal Party Tony Abbott has a better policy on climate change than Julia Gillard. So I am not surprised that they would be thinking that support for me would not be misplaced and of course I am delighted to accept all their preferences.

JULIE BISHOP    Now can I make one final comment? Last night’s Masterchef winner Adam has now ensured that Adelaide is the culinary capital of Australia. Congratulations Adam!

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    And from my electorate.

JULIE BISHOP    And from your electorate.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    Adams a local boy, started in Glenunga.

JULIE BISHOP    Well there you go! Congratulations to Masterchef on choosing a South Australian, an Adelaide boy from Christopher Pyne’s electorate.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    They didn’t have much choice because there were two South Australians in the final.

JULIE BISHOP    Yeah but from your electorate.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    But from my electorate specifically.

JULIE BISHOP    That’s right, it is the culinary capital of Australia.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE    We congratulate them both.