24-June-2009
Portfolio Media Releases, Emissions Trading Scheme
Topic: OzCar, allegations against Wayne Swan, fake e-mail.
MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Robb, I suppose the first question to put to any Liberal Parliamentarian today is when did you last to speak to Godwin Gretch?
ANDREW ROBB: I’ve never met Godwin.
MARIUS BENSON: Don’t know him?
ANDREW ROBB: I don’t know Godwin, no.
MARIUS BENSON: According to all reports he’s been giving the Liberals information for years.
ANDREW ROBB: Well, look, a lot of my colleagues deal with lots of public servants all the time. We were certainly in Government, we do in Opposition. It was true of the Labor Party in opposition so the fact that you have contact with public servants is part of business.
MARIUS BENSON: But you’ve had no contact with this particular public servant?
ANDREW ROBB: No, I haven’t.
MARIUS BENSON: How do you think Malcolm Turnbull’s been handling this issue, particularly the faked email?
ANDREW ROBB: I think Malcolm has been prosecuting his job and our job in the way that he should. He has been seeking to keep the Government accountable. He’s done it enormously effectively on debt and deficit, and he has exposed now Wayne Swan having now misled the Parliament. He has exposed a succession of activity which goes to looking after cronies and this is improper practice and I think it’s been an important exercise.
MARIUS BENSON: What about the suggestion that he went off half-cocked? He should have checked out his information before he relied so heavily on what was a faked bit of communication?
ANDREW ROBB: Malcolm said consistently that the contradiction between what Mr Rudd had said in the Parliament and that given by a senior public servant before the Senate needed to be clarified, needed to be explained or else there were consequences for Mr Rudd. Now the Federal police have explained that contradiction and that matter is now passed.
MARIUS BENSON: Is Party discipline breaking down in Liberal ranks? We’ve seen a vote with some people crossing the floor on a vote on alco-pops and there is an expectation now that there is another vote which will see people crossing the floor on an immigration vote?
ANDREW ROBB: No, we’ve got a party which people have got some strong views on issues and we are a party which gives expression to the views of individuals and these issues are important to people and they’ve been given that opportunity and we will continue to address issues in this sort of vein.
MARIUS BENSON: But traditionally parties think it’s healthy to debate things internally and then have unity when you get to Parliament and you are not able to achieve that unity? Malcolm Turnbull is not able to lead that unity now?
ANDREW ROBB: That’s not true. The expression of the Party Room is being carried through in all of these cases and that is the important thing. That the expression of the Party Room, the majority view, is the Party view and that’s carried out on the floor of the Parliament and that’s certainly the case.
MARIUS BENSON: And the Party Room was yesterday told by Malcolm Turnbull that you can’t win an early election.
ANDREW ROBB: Malcolm Turnbull said that it’s always difficult in a first term Government to win early and it just a statement of fact. It’s always difficult to win elections and our view is that certainly the longer that people see the very negative effect of the massive and unnecessary debt that’s been put on this country that the political position of the Government will deteriorate.
MARIUS BENSON: How much is your own position deteriorated over the past week because of this ute-gate scandal?
ANDREW ROBB: These things are very, these issues that we confront with the scandal of the Government..the fact of the matter is over the last week what has been exposed is that the treasurer of the country has misled the parliament and has acted on behalf of cronies in the execution of major responsibilities. This really is a scandal and it will be pursued. And I think these issues play out over a long period of time and there will be that long-standing concern about the activities of the Treasurer in this regard.
MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Robb, thank you very much.