SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INVESTMENT
LABOR SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
TRANSCRIPT
3 March 2015
DOORSTOP – CANBERRA
E&OE - PROOF ONLY
WONG: Can I first discuss what happened in the Senate yesterday. Yesterday this Senate passed judgement on George Brandis. Yesterday this Senate deplored his actions in seeking to get the President of the Human Rights Commission to resign. And yesterday the Senate rejected not only his attacks on the President but also his failure as the nation’s first law officer to defend the independent statutory office of the Human Rights Commission. The Senate found that George Brandis, the nation’s Attorney-General, was unfit to hold office. Well it is now time for Tony Abbott to act. The Senate has passed judgement and I would say to you so have the Australian people. The outpouring of support for Professor Triggs and the criticism of the behaviour of this Attorney-General demands that the Prime Minister should act.
I also want to have a discussion about the GP Tax. There is a lot of discussion in the papers, a lot of conjecture about what is going to happen to the GP Tax, Tony Abbott sending up smoke signals. If the Prime Minister moves away from the GP Tax today everyone in Australia will know what made him. Not the voters, not the doctors, not because he believes in Medicare, but his own job. This is all about saving his own skin, that’s why the Prime Minister is looking at the GP Tax, not because he likes Medicare and not because he has listened to the Australian people. You can’t trust the Liberals when it comes to Medicare.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of this new replacement floated in the papers this morning, this new replacement for the GP co-payment and this approach of paying GPs a lump sum per patient, is that any better?
WONG: I’ve lost count of how many versions of this GP Tax the Government has floated, has suggested, has announced. But everything comes back to this one proposition. You can’t trust this Liberal Government or any Liberal Government when it comes to Medicare because they simply don’t support it. Any change this Prime Minister makes is all about saving his own skin, not because he has listened to the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: The Parliamentary Budget Office has put out a report saying $112 billion of Budget savings have been held up over the next 10 years by the Senate. Is it time for the Senate to get out of the way?
WONG: I also heard the Finance Minister today on radio reminding everybody how many savings this Senate has passed. Thank you for asking me a question about the Budget because I thought that the contribution from the Business Council of Australia today on the Budget was very important. We welcome the Business Council’s involvement in this debate, we welcome the Business Council’s assertion that there is no Budget crisis and that everyone should get away from the blame game. I think Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey and others should perhaps listen to the Business Council of Australia. I do note that the Business Council also described the leadership turmoil within the Government as “paralysing.” So Australia’s business community is recognising what we all know, that this Government is entirely paralysed and focussed on its internals. That’s why the GP Tax is on the table, that’s why we are seeing what is happening in the party room today, not good government, paralyzed government focussed on themselves.
JOURNALIST: Is it time for Labor to reconsider some of those savings though that could be delivering $112 billion to the economy over ten years?
WONG: If you are asking us to turn away from our fundamental values, we will not. We will not, for example, contemplate a GP Tax. We will not contemplate some of the harsh changes which are in this Budget, the cuts to pensions and so forth. But I will say this, yesterday Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen and Andrew Leigh did put out one of our propositions around multinational tax. You will see Labor putting ideas on the table for discussion, for consideration, because we do agree with the Business Council that what we need is a sensible debate that looks at the medium term position of Australia’s Budget. Instead what we have had from this Government is the political blame game over-riding good government. Thanks.
WONG: Can I first discuss what happened in the Senate yesterday. Yesterday this Senate passed judgement on George Brandis. Yesterday this Senate deplored his actions in seeking to get the President of the Human Rights Commission to resign. And yesterday the Senate rejected not only his attacks on the President but also his failure as the nation’s first law officer to defend the independent statutory office of the Human Rights Commission. The Senate found that George Brandis, the nation’s Attorney-General, was unfit to hold office. Well it is now time for Tony Abbott to act. The Senate has passed judgement and I would say to you so have the Australian people. The outpouring of support for Professor Triggs and the criticism of the behaviour of this Attorney-General demands that the Prime Minister should act.
I also want to have a discussion about the GP Tax. There is a lot of discussion in the papers, a lot of conjecture about what is going to happen to the GP Tax, Tony Abbott sending up smoke signals. If the Prime Minister moves away from the GP Tax today everyone in Australia will know what made him. Not the voters, not the doctors, not because he believes in Medicare, but his own job. This is all about saving his own skin, that’s why the Prime Minister is looking at the GP Tax, not because he likes Medicare and not because he has listened to the Australian people. You can’t trust the Liberals when it comes to Medicare.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of this new replacement floated in the papers this morning, this new replacement for the GP co-payment and this approach of paying GPs a lump sum per patient, is that any better?
WONG: I’ve lost count of how many versions of this GP Tax the Government has floated, has suggested, has announced. But everything comes back to this one proposition. You can’t trust this Liberal Government or any Liberal Government when it comes to Medicare because they simply don’t support it. Any change this Prime Minister makes is all about saving his own skin, not because he has listened to the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: The Parliamentary Budget Office has put out a report saying $112 billion of Budget savings have been held up over the next 10 years by the Senate. Is it time for the Senate to get out of the way?
WONG: I also heard the Finance Minister today on radio reminding everybody how many savings this Senate has passed. Thank you for asking me a question about the Budget because I thought that the contribution from the Business Council of Australia today on the Budget was very important. We welcome the Business Council’s involvement in this debate, we welcome the Business Council’s assertion that there is no Budget crisis and that everyone should get away from the blame game. I think Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey and others should perhaps listen to the Business Council of Australia. I do note that the Business Council also described the leadership turmoil within the Government as “paralysing.” So Australia’s business community is recognising what we all know, that this Government is entirely paralysed and focussed on its internals. That’s why the GP Tax is on the table, that’s why we are seeing what is happening in the party room today, not good government, paralyzed government focussed on themselves.
JOURNALIST: Is it time for Labor to reconsider some of those savings though that could be delivering $112 billion to the economy over ten years?
WONG: If you are asking us to turn away from our fundamental values, we will not. We will not, for example, contemplate a GP Tax. We will not contemplate some of the harsh changes which are in this Budget, the cuts to pensions and so forth. But I will say this, yesterday Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen and Andrew Leigh did put out one of our propositions around multinational tax. You will see Labor putting ideas on the table for discussion, for consideration, because we do agree with the Business Council that what we need is a sensible debate that looks at the medium term position of Australia’s Budget. Instead what we have had from this Government is the political blame game over-riding good government. Thanks.
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