ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION
MEMBER FOR FRASER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
SUNDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2014
BELCONNEN
SUBJECT/S: 200 days with no Assistant Treasurer; Abbott
Governments unair bud!et; Cormann "a!s more #uts and ta$es;
%ationa& se#urity; 'ra(; )o&&s*
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Thanks very
much everyone for coming along today. Today marks 200 days since
Arthur Sinodinos was stood down as Assistant Treasurer. Thats the longest
time since Federation that any minister has stood aside and just as no
rugby league team would sensibly take to the eld with !2 "layers its
hard to see why Abbott #overnment thinks it can survive a man down on
economic "olicy. The "eriod since Arthur Sinodinos ste""ed down has
been marked by misste"s from the #overnment$ broken "romises and
cuts to "ensions$ health and education. %ew ta&es$ contrary to what the
#overnment "romised and a shambles of a 'udget. %ow weve seen this
morning (athias )ormann saying that theres going to be further cuts to
come$ cuts across the board and not ruling out further new ta&es. This
#overnment needs to get its act together on economic "olicy because its
vital for Australias future that we begin to "ut in "lace the investments
thatll under"in future "ros"erity. This #overnment needs to take its
'udget back to the drawing board and this #overnment needs an
Assistant Treasurer. *a""y to take +uestions.
JOURNALIST: (r ,eigh$ do you think the #overnment$ s"ecically the
S"eaker and the -resident of the Senate and then the -rime (inister
comments about the bur+a this week was a serious misste"$ that it
actually clouded the issue of security in the light of our im"ending con.ict
in /ra+0
LEIGH: 1ell / understand that the 'ur+a might be unfamiliar to many
Australians but certainly the conce"t of religious tolerance is a very
familiar conce"t. Australia has for decades now recognised "eo"le of
di2erent faith who wear di2erent forms of clothing to mark their religious
views. 1hether thats a yarmulke$ nuns wearing a headscarf$ whether its
the commonly worn hijab or the less commonly used ni+ab or bur+a.
1hat we need to remember is that Australians arent marked by what we
wear$ were marked by the values that make us who we are and one of
those fundamental values is religious tolerance. Some nations around the
world which have strict rules about what men and women can wear in
"ublic. / dont want Australia to be one of those nations.
JOURNALIST: So do you think that the -rime (inster has made a serious
errors of judgement this week with his comments0
LEIGH: / think it was a mistake to be considering a ban on the bur+a in
-arliament. /m "leased to see that the -rime (inister now a""ears to be
walking away from that.
JOURNALIST: The #overnment has the involvement in /ra+ to "ay for and
new security measures$ so arent savings justied0
LEIGH: 1hen ,abor was in o3ce we looked to a range of sources to make
'udget savings. 1e means4tested the -rivate *ealth /nsurance rebate$
over the screams of the )oalition because it was the fastest growing area
of e&"enditure. So ,abor has a strong track record on savings. 'ut what
were not going to su""ort is unfair cuts that force twenty4somethings
without a job to live on the street$ that cut back the "ension$ contrary to
"re4election "romises. 1ere not going to su""ort a new #- ta&$ were not
going to su""ort cuts to health and education while at the same time the
#overnment is "utting "lace a "arental leave scheme that gives the most
to those who have the most.
JOURNALIST: (r ,eigh theres a new "oll out today by #ala&y saying that
52 "er cent su""ort the /ra+ airstrikes and only 2! o""ose it$ but then also
theres also another "oll which suggests that 67 "er cent believe the
threat of a terrorist attack on Australia is real. 1hats your reaction to
those "olls0
LEIGH: / think theres more im"ortant issues today than "olls. / do think
that the risk to Australia is$ as the outgoing head of AS/8 9avid /rvine "ut
it$ real but manageable. Australians should have condence in our
security agencies in managing the threat and the good wishes of all
Australians should go with our "ersonnel serving in the (iddle :ast on our
behalf.
JOURNALIST: ;our "arty su""orted the #overnment on this$ are you
concerned that the longer the mission takes the more the su""ort will
dwindle among voters0
LEIGH: All Australians would like to see the mission against /S/S over as
+uickly as "ossible$ but / dont think thats its "articularly hel"ful to "ut
time frames on that. ,abor has "ut a cou"le of conditions on our su""ort
for the involvement in /ra+. 1ere not going to su""ort ground troo"s$ we
dont su""ort involvement within Syria and our su""ort is on the
"recondition of the /ra+i #overnment doing the right thing in looking to
restore security on the ground.
JOURNALIST: -otentially you might have to< defence force might have to
go into Syria and bomb there as well$ why cut o2 at a border when the
issue is cross border0
LEIGH: The #overnment hasnt come to us suggesting that it would be
a""ro"riate to use Australian forces within Syria$ certainly at this stage
that case hasnt been made and ,abors view is clearly out there.
JOURNALIST: 9oes ,abor still believe its =inaudible> to get back to
sur"lus =inaudible> for the foreseeable future0
LEIGH: ,abors commitment to a return to sur"lus can be seen by
com"aring the -re4election :conomic and Fiscal 8utlook with the 'udget
that (r *ockey handed down. The -re4election :conomic and Fiscal
8utlook had a smaller decit this year$ ne&t year$ the year after than the
'udget that (r Abbott and (r *ockey handed down. So even if -arliament
just rubber4stam"ed the 'udget$ which / think is what the #overnment
would like it to do$ then the decit would be bigger$ not smaller. Thats
because the #overnments said no to so many sources of revenue$ the
carbon "rice$ the mining ta&$ the fair ta&ation of multinationals. So lets
not fall for the lie that this is a #overnment whose "olicies would see us
get back to sur"lus faster. This is a #overnment thats blown out the
decit because it has said no to sensible sources of revenue.
JOURNALIST: (r ,eigh the #ala&y "oll also showed that the third
successive survey since the (ay 'udget that the "rimary vote for the
)oalition has increased =inaudible> 2 or ? "oints to @2 "er cent and also
the two "arty "referred basis though still has ,abor in from 7! to @A.
1hats your res"onse to those results0
LEIGH: /ve been a strong "oll sce"tic for more than a decade when /
wrote my rst "a"er showing that "olls have very little "redictive "ower$
"articularly this far out from an election. / just think theyre the candy
.oss of "olitics B it might taste good but ultimately it rots your teeth and
distracts you from the more im"ortant conversations about issues that we
as a nation need to be having. Thanks for coming everyone.
E%+S