Jamie Briggs MP

Jamie Briggs, Liberal MP for Mayo and Amanda Rishworth, Labor MP for Kingston in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. Two pollies who get up when you do. Good morning Jamie Briggs. 

 

Good morning. 

 

Good morning Amanda Rishworth. 

 

Good morning. 

 

It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? 

 

Yeah, before we get on to the carbon tax and the selling of that and Tony Abbott’s views on that, just watching this Murdoch business unfold, Amanda Rishworth would you support an inquiry? Your Prime Minister seems to think that that could be a possibility. Wayne Swan doesn’t think it’s a goer. But an inquiry into the Australian media. 

 

Well look I don’t know whether an inquiry is necessary or not, but I think what it does give an opportunity for is a discussion, a national discussion within the community and also within the media about what are good ethics, what are good journalistic ethics. I think it’s been said before that we need a free press in a democratic place like Australia we do need a free press, so it’s not up to government to impose ethical standards, but I think a conversation about ethics is a good thing.

 

Jamie Briggs. 

 

Well obviously what happened in the United Kingdom was unacceptable, but I don’t think we should, and I don’t think anyone thinks it is, let’s not muck around about this, I think there are now about eight people arrested. There are people doing jail time after that behaviour and so they should. I mean they broke the law. There is no evidence that this has occurred in Australia, at all, and I think Bob Brown is basically trying to go for a, create a witch hunt for people who his opinion doesn’t agree. 

 

Jamie Briggs, do you agree with your leader, Tony Abbott that a 5% reduction in emissions is a crazy idea? 

 

Well I’m not sure that is exactly what he said. 

 

He said it was a crazy target. 

 

I think he did Jamie. 

 

What I agree with is our policy that we took to an election. I know this is an unusual concept, Amanda, we took a policy and we stuck by that policy after the election. We didn’t say that there would be no carbon tax under us and then there is. We took a policy of direct action…

 

Has he back-flipped on that target Jamie? I mean that’s the question? 

 

No, our policy still exists today; it’s the same policy as was before the election. It’s the policy we took to the election. And you know what Amanda, we will take it to the next election and what you should do is take your carbon tax to an election and let the Australian people decide. 

 

Well, Jamie Briggs what do you think your leader meant when he said it is a crazy target, because he said a 5% reduction by Australia will be wiped out by increases in China. So clearly he was thinking this reduction target he has adopted as policy is crazy, it’s not going to work, it’s not going to have any real effect on emissions. 

 

Well it’s a reality actually. Within 70 hours in 2020, the increase in emissions in China will eat up a 5% reduction in Australia. Now that’s not to say that you shouldn’t take action and that’s what we’ve said, and we have said that since we announced that policy in February 2010. But it is a truthful point; that is exactly what is happening. China’s emissions are growing very quickly. 

 

But does it show that these sorts of statements and they slip out every now and then show that he’s really only playing lip service to needing to do anything about it. We’ve got to have a policy, we’ll do 5%, we’ll plant 20 million trees, but look frankly what is the point. 

 

His heart doesn’t seem to be in it. 

 

It does seem to be in the politics of it, not the policy. 

 

Well Amanda I don’t think are in any position…

 

No unfortunately what we have seen is a different message for a different audience, depending on who he is talking to, he’s creating a whole lot of spin, if he doesn’t believe in a 5% target, why is he spending over $30 billion to try and actually plant more trees…

 

Well firstly that’s not true; that’s a fib. It’s $3.2 billion over the forward estimates. It was costed at the last election and that’s our policy. 

 

That will not reach your 5% target, so is it that he is not committed to the 5% target…

 

Ok thank you climate scientist Rishworth. If we are going to get into the business, hang on, you’ve just accused us of not believing in something, if we are going to get into having different messages for different audiences, well here is a different message for a different audience; six days before an election, down a TV camera – I will not have a carbon tax under a government I lead. How’s that message? 

 

We have been clear that we want action on climate change. We have been clear, through last term of government and this term of government, we have been clear that we want action. 

 

That’s hilarious. 

 

No we have been clear that we wanted action.

 

No you were going to have a community forum. 

 

We were clear we wanted action on climate change; we are now delivering that action on climate change. As the Prime Minister said, we’ve got a different Parliament. When we come to Tony Abbott’s flopping and flipping around, not a clear message, and the question still remains – has he walked away from a 5% target reduction in emissions? 

 

No and no one suggested that he has, but you cannot…

 

Well I think he suggested it. 

 

No he didn’t, not at all, Amanda. It’s still our policy. Our policy is a 5% reduction by 2020. It’s been our policy before the election and it’s our policy today. 

 

I hate to jump in, seeing you are both interrogating each other. We are talking to Jamie Briggs, he is the Liberal MP for Mayo, it’s a federal seat as is the Federal seat of Kingston for Labor, Amanda Rishworth. Amanda Rishworth, in your seat, if the Newspoll we saw this week which had Labor’s primary vote I think at 26%, if that holds to an election, would you lose your seat? 

 

Well look I haven’t done those calculations, I’m not so focused on the polls. 

 

Really? You’d have to be the only MP who doesn’t go let’s see, 26 minus 4, add 7 in preferences from the Greens, boy I’m in trouble. 

 

I’d have to say…

 

You must be in a safe seat Amanda? 

 

Well I honestly have not looked at that. What I’ve been doing is talking with people, talking about the issue, providing information to people, talking them through some of the issues that quite frankly there have been a lot of hysteria whipped up by the Leader of the Opposition and when we were work with those details and when I explain those details people are a lot more comfortable about putting a price on carbon, and in fact they see the need to actually price carbon. That’s what I’m doing. I haven’t focused on the polls. I certainly haven’t worked them out for my seat or anything like that. I’ve just been getting down to the job of actually explaining this and talking to people. 

 

Jamie Briggs, Liberal Member for Mayo, how fragile do you think those polls are? Do you think that you have actually got a rock solid 51% primary vote? 

 

Polls will bounce around, they did in the last term of parliament, they did in the parliament before, but it is really the field evidence that is most important, and the message I get from people is that they can’t trust a Prime Minister who said that she wouldn’t roll Kevin Rudd, she’d rather play full forward for the Western Bulldogs, I notice now that she could play full forward for the Western Bulldogs. 

 

Do you think you have a 51% primary vote? 

 

Look, who knows, we will know that on election day and what we say, let’s have an election because their policy has changed so fundamentally that they should take this back to an election. I mean it is clear as that. We would very happily have one, 6 weeks time, name the date. Let the AEC organise the places for the people to express their view on the two policies and who is better to run the country. 

 

Amanda Rishworth, there is not going to be an election though, the government is going to tough this out. I heard the first of the radio ads, I think $12 million worth of radio ads being run by the federal government, probably in its first tranche, maybe not to support its tax, and they say in the ad it is not a tax on people, it is a tax on the 500 biggest polluters. How can that be? Because obviously costs are going to be past down, so there is got to be a cost impact just like you might say well the GST isn’t a tax on people, it’s a tax on the plumber who comes to do your work, but you sure as hell when you get the invoice you’ve got the 10% GST in it. 

 

We don’t say company tax is a direct tax on people; we say company tax is a tax on business and they have a number of other inputs into their business, whether it’s materials, whether it’s labour and this is effectively a tax on the 500 biggest polluters. 

 

But is it dishonest to say this is not a tax on people? I mean technically that is correct but the actual impact is that it’s the people who will pay; it’s the voters who will pay. 

 

And that impact has been clearly set out as less than 1% increase in CPI, but that is why we have got a compensation package, an assistance package put together to help people with those expected cost of living pressures. So it is not a direct tax on people. In fact people will be getting assistance through increases in their payment and tax cuts to actually help them with the impacted cost of living pressures, so it is a direct tax on businesses and they can reduce that tax by reducing pollution, I mean that is the critical factor. We don’t want them to pay this tax. In fact if they can reduce their pollution, they wont have to pay as much. 

 

Well they will have to pay the tax or you are going to have a huge budget deficit. 

 

Yeah exactly. How are you going to fund the payments if…

 

We’ve made it very clear, we’ve made it very clear that this is funded but obviously through this price, obviously we have done modelling about how this will work and what it will cost, and we are working on that. That Treasury modelling… 

 

That sounds a bit…

 

Well Amanda there’s already a $4 billion black hole in it. 

 

That Treasury modelling is the same modelling that was used in the Howard, the same people that did Treasury modelling for the Howard Government. Are you suggesting that was inaccurate? 

 

We need to go. Amanda Rishworth. Thank you. Labor MP for Kingston. Jamie Briggs, Liberal MP for Mayo. Thank you.