ABC NewsRadio with Marius Benson
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Subjects: Labor leadership
E&OE…
PRESENTER Watching the Labor tumult from the other side of politics is of course the Opposition, and for their view on the dramatic turn of events Marius Benson is speaking here to the Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop.MARIUS BENSON Julie Bishop, this is just something you are watching from the sidelines, a complete gift to the Opposition?
JULIE BISHOP It is a shocking state of affairs when the Foreign Minister resigns while on official duties overseas because he cannot work with the Prime Minister. But his resignation won’t resolve the crisis that is engulfing Labor.
MARIUS BENSON And the crisis, the next step in the crisis is a vote on Monday which will determine whether Julia Gillard stays or Kevin Rudd. Some Liberals are privately saying they would much prefer Julia Gillard to stay, you are pretty comfortable with the status quo.
JULIE BISHOP Well the situation is currently untenable. This is one of the biggest crises in Government since 1975. A leadership ballot won’t solve the crisis because the two camps are so deeply divided. The vitriol between the Rudd camp and the Gillard camp is reaching new lows and it is impacting on the nation’s confidence, it is impacting on our international reputation as Kevin Rudd himself alluded. But the leadership ballot won’t solve the crisis within the Government, only a general election can restore certainty and stability to the Federal Government.
MARIUS BENSON And that is not within your power. You are hoping the Independents, in particular, might decide it is time to ask the people?
JULIE BISHOP It is hard to see how the Independents can continue to prop up this shambolic, divided, dysfunctional government.
MARIUS BENSON Will you be speaking to the Independents yourself?
JULIE BISHOP Well that is a matter for the party and Tony Abbott as our leader, but most certainly the Independents are in a position to view this shambolic state of affairs that is impacting on business and consumer confidence in Australia and also on our reputation internationally as the former Foreign Minister himself pointed out.
MARIUS BENSON Is it having such a big impact, does business really care that much whether Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd is the leader? Obviously it is a distraction but is it more than that?
JULIE BISHOP It is more than that. When there is conflict at the highest level of government people are uncertain about investments, uncertain about spending. I have been speaking with a group of business people in Townsville overnight and while they think both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard will be hopeless as Prime Minister in the weeks or months ahead, they want to see some settlement of the issue. And that is why we believe that only a general election will resolve this crisis and bring back the certainty and stability that has been missing from the top levels of government for months now.
MARIUS BENSON But isn’t conflict at the highest levels of government the norm in Australian politics? It was Costello and Howard, it was Hawke and Keating, and government rolls on.
JULIE BISHOP Of course in political parties there are tensions and there is competition between Ministers, Members and Senators, but rarely have we ever seen this kind of conflict spill out into public view. The acrimonious statements by the Treasurer against Kevin Rudd, the fact that Kevin Rudd resigned without telling the Prime Minister, the comments of Simon Crean, backbenchers using very personal abusive terms to describe their leaders, shows that this is unprecedented, this is unlike any other leadership battle that I have ever witnessed in my time in politics.
MARIUS BENSON In purely political terms, would you prefer Labor stays with Gillard rather than goes to Rudd?
JULIE BISHOP The fact is that it doesn’t really matter which of them runs the party, and therefore the country, because their policies will have to change. Now whoever steps up to take the leadership from Julia Gillard will have to spell out what they intend to do about the carbon tax which is so damaging for our economy, what different policy they intend to adopt in relation to asylum seekers, what they propose to do about the ballooning debt and deficit that the Gillard Government, and then previously the Rudd Government, has imposed upon the Australian people.
MARIUS BENSON Julie Bishop, thank you very much.
JULIE BISHOP My pleasure.
PRESENTER The Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop speaking to Marius Benson.
