Wed, 4th June 2008
Nelson Doorstop with Rohan Fitzgerald - Parliament House
The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson MP
Leader of the Opposition
E&OE
DR NELSON:
Good morning everyone.
I have with me this morning Rohan Fitzgerald who is the Liberal candidate for the seat of Gippsland and Harvey Pynt who is the President of the Traralgon Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In Traralgon one of the most important issues at the moment is trying to save the post office. Rohan Fitzgerald has worked, along with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to now have 3,800 residents of Traralgon who are determined that the post office must remain in the historic building that it currently occupies. It has been there for more than a century.
Mr Rudd has been to Traralgon but he has refused to guarantee to the people of Traralgon that the post office will remain exactly where it is. And at the same time there is a proposal that once the post office moves – and pensioners are not able to get access to it because of the lack of public transport and so on – that, in fact, it could well become a nightclub.
It is time for Mr Rudd to take a stand for local people in local communities. He must accept the petition from Rohan Fitzgerald. And most importantly, if he’s got the time to go and see Cate Blanchett’s baby, he’s got the time to actually tell the people who are running Australia Post, ‘keep your hands off the Traralgon post office.’
I’ll just ask Rohan to make a few comments.
FITZGERALD:
Thank you very much, Brendan. We’ve been fighting very, very hard for the post office in Traralgon for the last four weeks. We’ve been able to get almost 4,000 signatures together in that time. It’s got a lot of community support. But this is a very important issue not only for Traralgon but for the people of Gippsland.
The Rudd Labor Government is committed to stripping services away from regional areas. I’m committed to fighting for regional services right in Gippsland and I’ll be fighting hard to make sure the post office stays exactly where it is.
DR NELSON:
Thank you. Harvey, would you like to make some comments.
PYNT:
Well, I went into the Australia Post office and they told me that they were going to move our post office. And I don’t know if you know Traralgon at all but it’s where all the transport is for the elderly people, near the banks and everything like that. It means that they’re going to have to walk the whole length of the city just to pay their bills and do everything else. And it’s just not on. He’s got to stop that.
DR NELSON:
Thanks, Harvey. Thanks very much.
QUESTION:
Dr Nelson, isn’t this a Kevin Rudd style stunt? Kevin Rudd doesn’t run Australia Post, why are we here?
DR NELSON:
Well, it’s almost two weeks since Mr Rudd said that there was nothing more he could physically do to support the Australian family budget. What’s Mr Rudd saying to Australians, what’s he saying to the people of Traralgon and Gippsland? “I’m only the Prime Minister of Australia. I can’t do anything to stop the post office from being moved.”
We all know that Australia Post will take a hell of a lot of notice of Mr Rudd and his ministers. It’s absolutely essential that Mr Rudd actually be a Prime Minister who is there for the people of Australia and not somebody that’s a quitter that puts up the white flag every time he thinks it’s too hard.
QUESTION:
What powers should he use?
DR NELSON:
What he should use is the power of persuasion. People power from Rohan Fitzgerald, the people of Traralgon and Gippsland that says that we want the Prime Minister of Australia to make a strong stand and tell Australia Post that under no circumstances should the post office be removed from this magnificent, historic building.
And I suspect under this Labor Government that this will not be the last post office that’s going to be moved somewhere where elderly, frail pensioners and others are not able to get easy access to what is a core activity in a regional community.
QUESTION:
When was this decision made? Was it made under the current Government or was it made when the Coalition was still in power?
DR NELSON:
We first became aware of this only in the last couple of months and it’s a decision we understand that’s being made by Australia Post.
QUESTION:
Are you a member of the Labor Party?
PYNT:
I’m not now. I used to be over a time – 26 years – I used to be a member of the Labor Party.
QUESTION:
So why did you leave?
PYNT:
Because of state politics, actually, and Brendan Jenkins is not doing anything for local people and I am a local man and that’s why I’m backing Roh on this because he’s doing local things.
DR NELSON:
And that’s what this is all about. I mean, what this country needs is people who come to Canberra to fight for their local communities. What we don’t need is a government and a prime minister that put up the white flag, throw in the towel and say there’s nothing more I can do for the family budget, let alone doing something to save a post office.
I mean, if Mr Rudd’s not prepared to take a stand in protecting and saving a heritage post office which is centrally located – I have been there, it’s across the road from the bus interchange, it’s on the main thoroughfare through Traralgon – if it is shifted to where it is being proposed to be put and Mr Rudd doesn’t lift a finger to stop it then he stands condemned and condemned by the people of Traralgon.
QUESTION:
Have the Nationals who currently represent the seat had anything to say about this issue?
DR NELSON:
Well, that’s a matter for the National Party.
QUESTION:
Where was Peter McGauran?
DR NELSON:
Well, Peter McGauran, as we understand it, as I said earlier, this decision, we became aware of it in the last couple of months.
QUESTION:
Just on another issue, Dr Nelson. What would you think about the idea of the Government setting up government funded child care centres in the vicinity of private centres which would increase their fees by too much as a means to put pressure on them?
DR NELSON:
Well, it sounds like an expensive waste of taxpayers’ money to make a political point.
QUESTION:
Dr Nelson, the Defence Department Secretary is giving a speech to the Lowy Institute next week and it’s advertised as, ‘256,800 paper towels mending defence’s broken backbone.’ Did you leave your former department with a broken backbone?
DR NELSON:
Well, in fact, when the last Labor government left office the Australian Defence Association described the Australian Defence Force as a degraded capability incapable of prosecuting Australia’s interests in South East Asia, let alone defending Australia itself.
Over almost 12 years in government we significantly modernised, rebuilt and enhanced the capability of the Australian Defence Force. It is now in a very, very strong position. We increased the funding in defence by 47 per cent in real terms over eleven and a half years. And when we collected Labor’s $100 billion of debt that was inherited in 1996, the one area of government expenditure which was not cut was that of Defence.
And one of the many things that I undertook when I was the Defence Minister was reform of the way in which the organisation is actually run and one of my decisions was, of course, to appoint the now secretary for that very reason because it was important.
QUESTION:
Should a senior public servant be making such a speech that has such a political title?
DR NELSON:
I believe in an independent public service and I believe very much in respecting the hard work that is done by Australia’s public servants on behalf of Australians. And the attack that we saw last week from Mr Rudd on the Australian Public Service is nothing short of disgraceful, particularly when you consider that he was just trying to deflect attention from the fact that he won’t do anything decisive about petrol prices.
QUESTION:
Dr Nelson, now that you’re supporting Labor in dismantling the single desk, what do you say to the thousands of farmers that still do want the single desk [inaudible]?
DR NELSON:
Well, I made my position and that of the Liberal Party clear in my remarks in the parliament last night. The world has changed over the more than 60 years since the single desk was established. This is in the long-term interests of the wheat growers of this country and Australia’s competitive place in the world.
It is not an easy decision for a lot of wheat growers in Australia but it is the right decision. And we will be moving some amendments to the legislation, but we need to have certainty, we need to have clarity and as Liberals we believe as best we are able to support individuals in making their own decisions.
QUESTION:
Dr Nelson do you support lifting the ban on Australian overseas aid money being used to fund abortions?
DR NELSON:
No I don’t. If there are Australians who want to support organisations that are involved in the procurement of abortion in the developing world then they are free to contribute to those aid organisations. But as far as Australian Government taxpayers’ money is concerned in terms of aid and development we need to be supporting economic development, the construction of schools and houses, the development of agriculture and other things in the developing world.
And yes of course we should also be supporting the education of women about their fertility. We should also be prepared to support, where it is appropriate, access to birth control in the developing world where women are free to make their choices. But I don’t believe that Australia aid money should be used to support abortion.
QUESTION:
What about [inaudible] done for medical reasons? Needed for medical reasons?
DR NELSON:
Well again I don’t believe that there is a place for Australia’s aid money to be supporting the procurement of abortion, whatever the reason.
QUESTION:
Since you’ve become Opposition Leader, several times you’ve strongly supported the same-sex, same financial rights for same-sex couples. I think you said at the Press Club that people should not be discriminated on the basis of their sex.
DR NELSON:
Correct.
QUESTION:
Regardless of what the Coalition decides in the end on interdependency, will you guarantee that you’ll at least deliver the original Labor bill for same-sex couples?
DR NELSON:
No Australian should pay a dollar more in tax nor receive a dollar less in support by virtue of his or her sexuality alone. We are strongly supportive of marriage between a man and a woman and we will oppose anything which undermines the position of marriage in Australian society.
We’ve just received the first of what we understand will be in total some six pieces of legislation that will deal with the issues of economic discrimination against same-sex couples. We will be sending it to a Senate inquiry to be absolutely satisfied that it does not by definition or effect undermine the position of marriage, nor does it change the relationship between people in a same-sex relationship and the beneficial treatment of children compared to children in other relationships.
Our disposition, our very strong disposition is to see that we do everything we can to deal with the economic and financial injustices faced by interdependent couples including same-sex couples. But in the process we must make sure that we see that the bedrock of our society continues to be a man and a woman trying to raise a family in a marriage. We will not support anything which undermines that.
QUESTION:
Didn’t the Cabinet of which you were a part reject the interdependent aspect of it? [Inaudible] you couldn’t quantify how many people there were?
DR NELSON:
Well I am the leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party and I’m not prepared to discuss what we did in Cabinet in the previous government.
QUESTION:
Dr Nelson with your medical background how likely is it that the after effects of a dodgy hotdog would be mistaken for a mild heart attack?
DR NELSON:
I don’t think I’ll comment on that but I wish the Prime Minister very good health.
One other issue, I saw Phil yesterday having a chat on Sky. In relation to windfall tax gains for petrol over the coming financial year, the Government in its Budget papers budgeted for oil to be priced at US$115 for West Texas crude. That equates to around $1.30 or so a litre in Australia. At the moment oil is at about $128 a barrel. If oil continues at that price and petrol averages $1.60 a litre over the next year the federal Government will have a windfall gain of in the order of $175 million in the petroleum resource rent tax. And in addition to that the states will get an unbudgeted windfall gain of in the order of $975 million.
Given that these are windfall gains, based on the assumptions that are published in the Budget papers, Mr Rudd could consider along with the states of making sure that that extra money goes to Australian pensioners at least to provide a bit of short term relief.
QUESTION:
Is that the GST the 975 million?
DR NELSON:
Yeah that’s right. So check the Budget papers. US$115 million for West Texas crude, currently running at $128. If it remains at around that level over the next 12 months, that’s the sort of windfall gain that you’re looking at and that would obviously have no impact on the Budget because it is by definition a windfall gain.
QUESTION:
How could he hand that out? A one-off payment like the previous government did or some other form of relief?
DR NELSON:
Well that’s entirely a matter for the Government but the windfall gains themselves, both the Commonwealth and the sate GST collections in windfall gains, I don’t think there’s any higher priority at the moment than giving it to pensioners, particularly single age pensioners who are trying to live on $273 a week. And I’ll be interested to hear the Government explain how they’d do that.
Thanks very much everyone.