Jamie Briggs MP

Now on a Wednesday, we like to talk to two pollies who get when you get up. Jamie Briggs, Liberal Member for Mayo. And Amanda Rishworth, Labor Member for Kingston. Good morning to you both.

RISHWORTH:

Good morning.

BRIGGS:

Good morning.

ABRAHAM:

Amanda Rishworth, how do you feel about Peter Malinauskas, the head of a shop assistants’ union deciding who should or should not be premier?

RISHWORTH:

Well look I think what we have seen over the last couple of days and I haven’t been in any meetings or anything like that, but there has been I think a broad consensus within the Parliamentary party that it is time to talk transition with Mike Rann and I think in discussing that Jay Weatherill has put up his hand and there seems to be a consensus across the Parliamentary party that he is the right person to transition from Mike Rann, when Mike Rann decides to set down and that discussion has occurred with Mike Rann. So I think…

ABRAHAM:

It didn’t’ initially, there is a consensus now. The trigger though was Peter Malinauskas and Jack Snelling, but mainly Peter Malinauskas, we understand after consulting with Don Farrell, who walked into Mike Rann’s Office and really said your time is up and Jay Weatherill is the successor. Now and we know from our many conversations over the last four, four or five days, the first many people heard about it was when they heard it on ABC News on Angelique Johnson’s report, many Labor MP’s did not know this was happening.

Well look I am sure that there have been discussions about where the party might be with State Members of Parliament in you know five, ten years time and I am sure discussion about transition has occurred and there seems to be a broad consensus now across both the different groups, the different factions within the party that Jay Weatherill is the right person to transition. But you need to talk about generational renewal, you need to talk about where we are going and I mean I think the important point is that we need to point out is that the Liberal party somehow makes this out as if they have never been involved in anything like that, since Mike Rann has been Leader of the Labor Party, there has been six leaders of the Liberal Party, three of them premiers, three of them opposition leaders.

BEVAN:

And Amanda to be fair, the Labor Party made much of that so now they are doing this, shouldn’t they be judged by the same standard?

RISHWORTH:

Well I think what the Labor Party made up was a lot of the undermining of Liberal had been leaking in discussions with the Labor Party, not necessarily within their own party. This has been clear that there have been discussions within the Labor Party, not with the Liberal Party about this, but actually within our own party to discuss transition and where we go to once, you know once Mike Rann has decided that his time is finished, how we transition, who we transition to.

ABRAHAM:

Amanda Rishworth, now on our twitter feed there is a journalist with Radio Adelaide and he tweets under ‘radionotes’ and he said, I might have been Thursday night in Queensland about the push on Rann from a Senior Queensland ALP MP, details Sunday on his program. Now are you aware of any awareness within the Federal ALP that this was on before Mike Rann was told?

RISHWORTH:

In terms of any specific meeting or anything like that, I am not aware of any discussions, but of course parties always talk about how they need to transition, where they are going for the future, whether that is at the next election, the election after that.

ABRAHAM:

So some Federal MP’s, Labor MP’s, may have known before Mike Rann knew?

RISHWORTH:

Well I am not aware of any particular detail, but I am just saying in general a discussion about transition and how transition occurs within parties, where are we going to be at the next election, where are we going to be at the election after that and what we need to achieve and what we need to do for the Australian and South Australian people as well.

ABRAHAM:

Jamie Briggs, good morning.

Bevan:

Good morning Jamie Briggs.

BRIGGS:

I think there is one guarantee that is Don would have known.

ABRAHAM:

Don who?

BRIGGS:

Don would have absolutely have known what was going on.

ABRAHAM:

Don Farrell?

BRIGGS:

Don Farrell and he would have given the head nod at some point to the 30 year old faceless unelected union hack who went into Mike Rann’s Office. Let’s not forget that Peter Malinauskas was 13 years old when Mike Rann became the Leader of the Labor Party and yet, you know Jay Weatherill let two trumped up attempted political sopranos walk into Mike Rann’s Office on Friday afternoon to do the political kill and they walked out as political pip squeaks, they couldn’t go through with it. They walk in there all trumped up, we are going to roll Mike Rann, we are going to tell him he has got to go and they walk out and Mike Rann says I think not.

BEVAN:

Jamie Briggs, is that fortunate for the Liberal Party because had it been a quick succession if Jay Weatherill was Premier this week or in a few weeks time as opposed to this limbo that might go on for months, the State Liberal Party might find itself up against a very difficult position? Now you are lucky it turned out to be this long drawn out saga.

BRIGGS:

Well we have seen in recent history an example of that in Canberra, which of course Don was involved with as well where they walked into Kevin Rudd’s Office and in fact (inaudible) actually fronted Kevin Rudd, now Jay Weatherill was no where to be seen. Jay Weatherill didn’t have the courage, was a political coward, hasn’t even spoken to Mike Rann yet, let two…

BEVAN:

I think he has tried, but the Premier isn’t…

ABRAHAM:

Taking calls.

BEVAN:

Taking calls. He is taking calls from Jennifer Rankine (inaudible).

BRIGGS:

Well there you go, that just sums up what Mike Rann thinks of Jay Weatherill as the next premier of our state.

BEVAN:

Adam has called 891 Breakfast, good morning Adam.

CALLER:

Good morning gentlemen, how are you?

ABRAHAM:

Very well.

Bevan:

Well.

Abraham:

We are talking about Michael Atkinson’s rationale that because Peter Malinauskas was elected by 20,000 shop assistants, or got a majority, he is an elected person, who is therefore able to tap the Premier on the shoulder and tell him it is time to go. Your view Adam.

CALLER:

Well I feel that I have over 100,000 clients on my books so therefore I should have been able to tap the Premier on the shoulder long before this and told the Premier to call an election to do it the proper way, rather than have this school boy come in and tap Mike Rann on the shoulder and make South Australia look like a pip squeak state.

ABRAHAM:

What’s your business?

CALLER:

I own a pizza bar.

ABRAHAM:

Thank you Adam.

BEVAN:

Thank you Adam.

ABRAHAM:

Well look Amanda Rishworth is this going to be a problem? Jamie Briggs is like a missile and locked on to this target that is that it took a union official to go in a tell Mike Rann that his time was up and that Jay Weatherill didn’t have the, well Jamie Briggs has called him a coward.

RISHWORTH:

Well look that is obviously inflated, I think hysteria from Jamie, as usual but I mean quite frankly I mean why didn’t John Olsen go in and speak to Dean Brown, why was he…

BRIGGS:

Amanda, he was an elected official.

RISHWORTH:

And you try to make the parallels between Canberra; I mean let’s be clear, I mean people were elected, the people that discussed transition in the Federal Party.

BRIGGS:

Paul Howes?

RISHWORTH:

Were also…

BRIGGS:

Paul Howes?

RISHWORTH:

Were also elected, well Jamie the people were elected, there was a caucus meeting and Kevin Rudd didn’t stand and Julia Gillard put her hand up for the leadership and there was no debate.

BRIGGS:

Because he bleed to death the night before Amanda, after they had gone in and knifed him.

ABRAHAM:

Okay.

RISHWORTH:

In terms of the transition, in terms of orderly transition and you sort of suggest that, I mean you were talking about the time frame, Mike Rann has been a longstanding, good, great Labor Premier, but it is now time to talk about transition and for people to be able to talk about that unions are affiliated to the Labor Party, there are elected Parliamentary representatives that are part of the caucus and everyone in the Labor Party has the right to discuss and have a discussion about transition.

ABRAHAM:

Amanda Rishworth, thank you. The Federal ALP Member for Kingston and Jamie Briggs, thank you, the Federal Liberal MP for Mayo.