SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG
LABOR SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
TRANSCRIPT
27 November 2014
SENATE DOORS – CANBERRA
E&OE - PROOF ONLY
SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE:
If I can start with Kate Lundy who has announced overnight she doesn’t
intend to nominate again for the Senate. Kate is one of the women who
was in the Senate when I first came to Parliament and she’s been an
outstanding Senator. She is an outstanding representative for the ACT.
She has been a Labor Minister, front bencher and someone it has been a
pleasure to serve with. We wish her well and we certainly hope that she
goes on to have a very fulfilling second career, as she described it. So
best wishes Kate, and thank you for everything you have done for the
cause of Labor and in service to the people of the ACT.
On
to less pleasant matters, yesterday the Senate censured the Defence
Minister. The last Cabinet Minister to be censured by the Senate was
Amanda Vanstone in 2005.
Censures
are rarely moved and rarely supported. But the Senate chose to do that,
and we did so for very sound reasons. This is a Minister who quite
clearly has demonstrated an attitude, a temperament and an approach
which isn’t consistent with a standing that Australians expect of a
Cabinet Minister but most particularly the Minister for Defence. This is
a very senior portfolio.
His
comments about the Australian Submarine Corporation are not just a slap
in the face for those workers; they compromised perceptions about
Australia’s naval capability, which was an incredibly irresponsible
thing to do. But most importantly what those comments did was compromise
the integrity of the largest procurement the Commonwealth will make,
that is the Future Submarine Project. What this Minister did to cover up
a broken promise, a promise that the Government intends to break, was
to put the boot into the principal Australian shipbuilding yard because
the Government doesn’t want to build the subs here in Australia. They
promised it, they want to break that promise and how they want to deal
with it is by putting the boot into the Australian Submarine
Corporation.
It
is not only dishonourable, it compromises the largest procurement
project that the Commonwealth will enter into. And that is why the
Senate overwhelmingly voted to censure the Defence Minister. And our
message is this: if the Defence Minister doesn’t resign, the Prime
Minister should sack him. The Prime Minister should sack him. This is a
test of the Prime Minister’s leadership and he should sack the Defence
Minister, neither the Senate or the Australian people have any
confidence in this Minister.
JOURNALIST:
The Australian Defence Association says wasting a day yesterday was
disgraceful, it also suggested the Minister was expressing long held
frustrations that go back to your time in Government and the Submarine
Corporation’s handling of various contracts. Isn’t that a reasonable
thing?
WONG:
Ministers are accountable to the Australian people through the
Parliament and the Parliament should ensure the Minister is held
accountable. This Defence Minister was held accountable by the Senate in
the most serious of ways and I think that was a proper exercise of the
Senate’s role and I think the fact that we had so many crossbenchers
voting in support of the censure demonstrates the widespread feeling
amongst Senators, which can I say I think is reflective of the
community. I think if you talk to the workers, if you talk to the
industry, and I invite you to look at some of the comments from the
defence industry, you will see that this Minister has really undermined
confidence in an important industry in Australia, an industry important
not only for jobs but for confidence in our capability.
JOURNALIST: Do you have complete confidence in the Submarine Corporation?
WONG:
I have confidence in the ASC. I was their shareholder Minister. We
worked very hard to improve submarine availability times. And despite
this Minister and this Government’s attempt to sink the boot into the
ASC, to justify a broken promise, to knock out an Australian business
from having the opportunity to build submarines here in Australia. What
we know is in fact submarine availability has exceeded Navy targets both
in this financial year and in the previous financial year. That’s a bit
of good news that the Defence Minister doesn’t want to talk about.
JOURNALIST:
You said that the comments damaged the perception of capacity. Did they
have the potential to actually damage capacity itself in any way?
WONG:
I hope not, and I have faith in the management and the workers at the
Australian Submarine Corporation. And as Andrew Daniels said I think on
Tuesday, he said ‘we only give them the best.’ These are the people we
trust to keep Australian submariners safe and they do a great job, and
as he said they give them the best.
JOURNALIST: Senator is Labor… [inaudible]
WONG:
I think everybody was probably raising their eyebrows at Tony Abbott
calling anybody a vandal after the way he behaved in opposition. Now
we’re staying for what’s fair. Now I’d just remind everybody, in this
Parliament we’ve supported or bills through the Senate are close to 140.
What we are refusing to pass is legislation which puts in place
unfairness, which is contrary to the promises Mr Abbott made before the
election and which Australians don’t want. I think that standing up
against a GP Tax, standing up against $100,000 degrees, these are things
which Australians expect Labor to do and we will do because they are
not consistent with the sort of Australia we all want.
JOURNALIST: Eric Abetz is adamant that the GP co-payment remains policy. What would your reaction be to any kind of regulation of that?
WONG:
I think from the chaos that has been reported in the papers about the
Government’s position on the GP Tax, one thing remains clear: they are
absolutely determined to ensure Australian families have to pay more to
take their children to the doctor. That’s one thing you can say: this
Government is absolutely determined that Australians pay more to go to
the doctor and they’re prepared to do that in a mean and tricky way just
like they did the fuel tax, just like they did the financial advice
reforms, try and bypass proper debate and sneak it through by
regulation. I think Australians expect more from this Government and
Australians certainly did not vote for a Government that would impose
higher costs on going to a doctor.
JOURNALIST: How long do you give David Johnston if you believe his position is not tenable…
WONG: As I said, if he doesn’t resign the Prime Minister should sack him.
JOURNALIST: Just on Kate Lundy, do you think she has any questions to answer over her handling… [inaudible]
WONG:
Look no I don’t, and I think what I look at and what I think the
community looks at is long, dedicated and outstanding service to the
people of the ACT and of course her contribution to the cause of Labor. I
said last night she’s a courageous Labor woman and I thank her for her
service.
Thank you.
ENDS
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