Julie Bishop - Member for Curtin

Sky News, PM Agenda with David Speers

Subjects: Julia Gillard at the G20; Bob Carr; Melinda Taylor; Gina Rinehart’s holdings in Fairfax; gender in politics

E&OE…

DAVID SPEERS    The Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been particularly critical of the Prime Minister saying today it is hard not to laugh at how she has been acting on the world stage. Julie Bishop joins me now. What’s so funny about the Prime Minister’s performance?

JULIE BISHOP    The President of the European Commission knew exactly what he was saying, using the diplomatic language that Julia Gillard consistently fails to use. The European leaders would know that Julia Gillard wrote a letter to them before she left Australia and released it to the Australian media. Clearly it was grandstanding for political purposes back home and I think the European leadership have taken it with the disregard that it deserves.

David they don’t need to be lectured, they don’t need condescending language, they don’t need any more pressure. What they need is constructive ideas and Julia Gillard has so far failed to come up with one new idea that isn’t already on the table and yet she is lecturing them to do it the ‘Australian way’. It would be laughable if it were not so serious.

DAVID SPEERS    The Prime Minister says she’s spoken to President Barroso a few times today and he’s laughed at the suggestion, or been amused at the suggestion that he was specifically talking about Australia.

JULIE BISHOP    I am sure he was very amused when they received the letter after it had been released the Australian media so that Julia Gillard could score political points at home. Look, the European Union situation is very serious and the G20 debate will be dominated by this issue and for Julia Gillard to go over there and condescendingly suggest it has got to be done the ‘Australian way’, suggesting the Europeans don’t know they are in a crisis, and that they….

DAVID SPEERS    So what should an Australian leader do? Surely we shouldn’t just keep our mouth shut about these problems.

JULIE BISHOP    If you’ve got some ideas, put them on the table. A new idea, a constructive idea. Rather than just telling them to get their act together, come up with something constructive. I am yet to hear her say anything that hasn’t already been suggested.

DAVID SPEERS    But is there anything wrong with an Australian Prime Minister talking up the economy and how good comparatively things are in Australia?

JULIE BISHOP    It is all in the language you use, the tone, the circumstances and I think that once more Julia Gillard has shown herself out of her depth on the world stage.

DAVID SPEERS    So the words “take note of the Australian way” is the wrong tone?

JULIE BISHOP    The whole attitude that she took by releasing the letter before she went to Europe, by trying to score political points back home and then lecturing, hectoring as it has been described, on the world stage, it just shows again that foreign affairs is not her passion, as she said, and that she is out of her depth in these matters.

DAVID SPEERS    You were also in the Coalition party room meeting today talking to Coalition MPs critical of Bob Carr as well, the Foreign Minister. You likened him to the Peter Sellers character in the famous film The Party. For those who don’t recall the film we have found a quick clip of it, take a look.

[Shows clip of The Party of Peter Sellers character]

So the stumbling, bumbling Peter Sellers’ character there. Why does that remind you of Bob Carr?

JULIE BISHOP    The point of my comment is, and it was obviously light-hearted, but the point of it is that the Peter Sellers character was accidentally invited to a party and found himself totally out of his depth, and Bob Carr seems to be the same way on the world stage.

I am not just talking about his public blunders where he has threatened to isolate and condemn PNG and impose sanctions on our nearest neighbour, I am not just talking about when he gets his basic facts wrong such as overstating our troop commitment in Afghanistan, insisting it was four times the number that it really is, or his unfortunate comments about the dead parents of the young Brazilian man that was killed, or his indiscrete description of detailed conversations he has had with Chinese officials. It is the fact that he seems to be spending more time promoting his media profile then getting on top of his brief.

DAVID SPEERS    And does that relate to the handling of the case of the Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor being detained in Libya?

JULIE BISHOP    He has adopted a very unorthodox approach to that case and clearly we want to see Melinda Taylor released. She has no reason to be detained and we have called upon the Libyan authorities to release her. I just hope that Senator Carr is acting on consular advice, on the experienced voices within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in doing what he has done overseas which is insert himself into the negotiations in Tripoli between the ICC and the Libyan authorities. And I just hope for Melinda Taylor’s sake and for the sake of the others in the ICC team that he is acting in their best interests.

DAVID SPEERS    Are you saying that is unorthodox, actually his suggestion he’s just made that the ICC, the International Criminal Court, offer some form of apology to the Libyans for the way they’ve dealt with this case?

JULIE BISHOP    The advice that I have always received from the Department is that in cases of detention of Australians overseas that we leave it to our consular officials who are expert in it to handle it, that we not provide a running commentary through the media and we particularly don’t go into the details of every step of the negotiations.

DAVID SPEERS    Is he jeopardising her potential release?

JULIE BISHOP    Well I am assuming he is acting on Departmental advice. They have obviously taken a different approach in this case. It is an unusual case because of the complex situation surrounding the Libyan authorities, the people in charge in Zintan and who is actually holding Melinda Taylor and the team. So it is a very unusual situation. Maybe the department has decided to adopt an unorthodox approach, I just hope Bob Carr is acting on their expert advice and this running commentary in the media is part of an overall plan. But it does go against the advice that I have received in the past.

DAVID SPEERS    Now Julie Bishop, can I take you to Gina Rinehart buying up more of Fairfax and seeking board seats as well? The general assumption is that she wants some greater influence over what the newspapers, the Fairfax newspapers, do. You know Gina Rinehart personally, what do you think her motive is buying up Fairfax?

JULIE BISHOP    Well first David, Fairfax is an organisation that is struggling for its very survival and its share price has gone from something like $5 down to 65 cents in a matter of years. Gina Rinehart is prepared to invest her money into this organisation at this time. I know she has an interest in diversifying her holdings, her assets. She has been very focussed on mining and resources, but more recently she’s been interested in the media, as many people in the past have been.

DAVID SPEERS    But purely as a financial investment? You don’t think this is about power and influence?

JULIE BISHOP    Well have a look at what she has done with Channel 10. She has made an investment in Channel 10, she has a place on the board, I haven’t heard anybody complaining about her influence over Channel 10 or what has been happening on the board. So you look at what she has done, and if she is prepared to invest the kind of money that we are talking about in Fairfax to keep Fairfax alive then she is entitled to board representation.

DAVID SPEERS    Well surely then she wouldn’t have a problem signing this charter of editorial independence. Do you share the government’s view that that is what she should do?

JULIE BISHOP    I think that is a matter for the board and for Gina Rinehart. If that is a precondition for giving her a seat on the board well she may or may not do that. I haven’t asked her about that. And it is a matter for Gina and the board.

DAVID SPEERS    It wouldn’t be problem for you?

JULIE BISHOP    Well it is a matter for Gina and the board. I have no problem with it at all. If the board wished to grant her three seats or two seats or whatever it is on particular terms and conditions then that is a matter for them and it is up for Gina to accept them or not. There are other options available to her.

DAVID SPEERS    Is there a concern though at all about board members and major media companies having influence over what the journalism is in that company?

JULIE BISHOP    I note that the government got themselves into a lather over this today. Wayne Swan in Question Time just went on and on about it, and the Greens are trying to regulate the internal workings of a media company. I wonder, in fact I question whether there would be so much angst about this if it were say the Greens backer, the owner of wot.if, who was making this bid for a seat on the board of Fairfax. Would we hear so much from the Greens if it was one of their major backers and supporters?

DAVID SPEERS    Doesn’t this go to question editorial independence? I mean is that important?

JULIE BISHOP    A paper like Fairfax wouldn’t survive unless the editorial team were able to have independence from the owners.

DAVID SPEERS    But this may threaten that if she isn’t willing to sign that charter.

JULIE BISHOP    Well why is there an assumption that Gina Rinehart will be telling people in Fairfax what to do? You work for Sky, do you get a phone call from Kerry Stokes or Rupert Murdoch telling you what to do?

DAVID SPEERS    No we don’t.

JULIE BISHOP    Of course you don’t. Has Channel 10 had a phone call from Gina Rinehart telling them what they have to put on their news at night? Of course they haven’t. I mean please! Gina is a very clever businesswoman.

DAVID SPEERS    So with or without signing this you don’t think she would interfere in the journalism at the newspapers?

JULIE BISHOP    I think she would want her investment to be successful and we know what makes for a successful media organisation. Fairfax is struggling for its survival and I would have thought Fairfax shareholders would be delighted that someone was prepared to put their own money in to save this company.

DAVID SPEERS    Finally question, Bill Shorten today gave a speech in which he did talk about Gina Rinehart, Twiggy Forrest and he said, I think, “in Australia it doesn’t matter if you are Twiggy, Gina or the Prime Minister there is a tall poppy syndrome, but I also think a government also has a job to represent all the people”. And he spoke about the grief the Prime Minister gets, look at the grief she gets for gender. Do you think the Prime Minister gets grief for being a woman?

JULIE BISHOP    That is an absolute furphy. When Julia Gillard took the job as Prime Minister ,sure there was disquiet about the way she took it off Kevin Rudd, understandably it was unheard of, nobody had ever seen anything like that political assassination. But Julia Gillard received a lot of good will and support for being the first female Prime Minister and she has squandered that support by reason of her appalling political judgement and her very poor policy implementation.

DAVID SPEERS    Nothing to do with gender?

JULIE BISHOP    This has got nothing to do with Julia Gillard’s gender, it is all about her own incompetence, her own lack of ability, lack of capacity and her poor judgement.

DAVID SPEERS    Julie Bishop, thank you.

JULIE BISHOP    Thank you.