2GB Ray Hadley
E&OE
RAY HADLEY:
Minister good morning.
MINISTER MORRISON:
G’day Ray.
HADLEY:
The latest poll, the Coalition substantially closing the gap on the Opposition. 51-49 on a two party preferred basis. That is a huge improvement on the figures a month earlier where Labor led 54-46. So it would appear that people have had enough of leadership discussion. They want to simply get the Prime Minister to the line to the next election and they want you to do the job as a group that you were put there to do.
MINISTER MORRISON:
It is a pretty fair summary and over, particularly the course of the last few weeks, we have been getting on with that job – whether it is the announcement on foreign ownership, or the announcement on where we are heading on welfare reform, or on childcare, or on deeming rates for pensions, all of these sorts of things. We are just getting on with the job Ray and at the same time what the Australian public are seeing is a fairly vacuous opposition who is looking to Steven Bradbury at the next federal election. When they have had a closer look at Bill Shorten they haven’t been impressed and there is good reason for that, there is not much to be impressed about.
HADLEY:
Samantha Maiden wrote yesterday these days it is Turnbull’s dinners with rising star Scott Morrison that should worry the PM for two blokes who fell out in 2009, the rupture has clearly healed they are dating again. Are you dating Mr Turnbull again?
MINISTER MORRISON:
If this is what political analysis has come to in Canberra it is all pretty sad. We all have mates, you have got mates, I have got mates and you have got mates inside and outside of politics. I am a good mate of Jason Clare too, I am not looking to get him elected Prime Minister. In politics you have friends.
HADLEY:
Have you had dinner with him lately?
MINISTER MORRISON:
With Jason? No – I saw Jason a couple of weeks ago.
HADLEY:
But you haven’t had dinner with him?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, no but Malcolm and I are mates…
HADLEY:
But you weren’t mates.
MINISTER MORRISON:
I am happy to have dinner with him as regularly as we do. I had dinner last night with Tony Abbott.
HADLEY:
Do you agree with my analysis that for him to be the leader would be absolutely suicidal for your party?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I think it is exactly as you said it before Ray. We want to get on with the job, the idea of a change is just nonsense and we need to focus on the job the Australian people want –
HADLEY:
But Scott I have got to call a spade a spade, everyone knows Turnbull has been white-anting behind the scenes. He has been ringing media people, he has been lining his ducks up in a row, all of a sudden and mate you can deny it all you like but I know it to be true personally. He has been lining up people, you know – ‘oh I am not like I was when I led the republican movement in 1999. I have changed my mind about you know carbon emissions, I have changed’ – all this crap that he goes on with and so you are seen at your age as a future leader of the parliamentary party and maybe a Prime Minister and so can you understand that he may be you know cultivating you to give the impression that you’re favouring him over the Prime Minister? That is how it appears.
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, I don’t Ray. I don’t for this simple reason – when people are friends, they are friends either politics or no politics…
HADLEY:
But do you agree that he has been white anting behind the scenes?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, no I don’t. That is not my view and I don’t buy all the conspiracy theories about this.
HADLEY:
No. Hey Scott it is not a conspiracy theory. He has been ringing people in the media telling them that he no longer feels that way about the republican movement which of course he tried to assassinate John Howard over with his comments after that. He is saying look I don’t feel the same way about carbon emissions, he knows at 60 this is his last crack and if he doesn’t get a crack now he won’t have his photo in Parliament House as a Prime Minister. If you are tumbling for it, I am really surprised.
MINISTER MORRISON:
I don’t know why you think I was, I simply go and have a dinner with a mate and I don’t think there is anything in that in plain open view.
HADLEY:
But this mate is trying to undermine your – your mate is trying to undermine the Prime Minister. Your self-described mate is trying to undermine the Prime Minister, it is very simple.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well look, I know that is your view Ray, I know it is the view of others, it is not mine. So I am getting on with the job that I am getting on with and if I choose to have a Thai meal with a friend every now and then I don’t think there is much in that other than just you know people are people and they catch up with each other from time to time.
HADLEY:
How long since you had a Thai meal with the Prime Minister?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I had dinner with the Prime Minister last night.
HADLEY:
Did you?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Yes.
HADLEY:
Thai?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No it wasn’t actually, it was lamb roast. It was very nice.
HADLEY:
Did he ask you about your luncheon or dinner with Malcolm?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, he couldn’t care less. He couldn’t care less and frankly I –
HADLEY:
Well maybe he should care less.
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, I don’t think he should Ray because I think the unhealthy obsession with all the personalities in all of this…
HADLEY:
It is not unhealthy – it is a fact – look Scott you can wax lyrical all you like. He has been trying to typify himself in the media by phone calls to people in the media – ‘look that is not how I feel’ – not directly but through you know other parties – ‘that is not how I feel about the Republican. Tell Hadley not to link me with the republican movement any more. That is not how I feel about carbon emissions trading’. He is trying to portray himself in a different light to the actual light he is in.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Ray I am interested in the government getting on with the job and I think frankly all of this discussion about personalities is not helpful for the government. I am not engaging with it and I don’t think the simple fact of me having dinner with Malcolm Turnbull one night and the Prime Minister on another night is news. I just don’t think it is relevant. People are more interested in what I am doing which is focussing on getting a good child care package up. We are working with the Opposition on that, we will see how that goes and we are working on trying to get some reforms through on the DSP which I think is an important area and Patrick McClure released a very important report on that last week. We are getting on with all of that and that is I think why we are seeing the change that we are seeing and I welcome that but one poll does not change the world, just like the other one does not change the world. We have just got to stick with the job we have got. We are getting on with that and anyone else who wants to go around and undermine and carry on well frankly I don’t think that is very helpful…
HADLEY:
Maybe you tell Malcolm that, seeing you feel so firmly about it, next time you have a Thai feed you – ‘Malcolm drop off’.
MINISTER MORRISON:
I am not going to go in and out about my private conversations with a mate any more than you would mate.
HADLEY:
No of course. But I am trying to give you some advice as an older man. I am the same age as him. I am just trying to give you the benefit of fifteen years more in life than you’ve had by saying Malcolm drop off.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well I am not going to telecast the nature of our conversations but what I know is this, and that is I’m focused on the job for the Government and I think people understand that, and I really don’t think this obsession everyone has with, whether it was Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull or Julie Bishop…
HADLEY:
Or you. Or you.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Or me or anyone else is helpful for the Government.
HADLEY:
Ok. Just in relation to you, you spoke about getting things through the Parliament and obviously we are talking with the Senate, you got the numbers in lower house. This legislation relating to, well I guess we can call it for what it is, terrorism, and you know Bill Shorten talks about being a supporter of the Prime Minister in relation to the war on terror and all the rest of it. Will they show that with their support of legislation in regard to what we do with phones and data that is kept for a period of time, we want it to be kept longer?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well I hope so. I honestly hope so. I know that the national security Ministers are working to that end. There is a joint standing committee which Dan Tehan chairs which has been doing a lot of good work and Anthony Byrne from the opposition has been playing a very constructive role in all of that as well and I hope that is where it is taking us to. I don’t think the Australian people want to see any politics being played with this anymore than they want to see politics played with how we support families in their childcare arrangements. I think there are things the parties have to come together on and agree on here. The Government is certainly trying that and I would be hopeful that the opposition is doing the same thing and I think that’s very important.
HADLEY:
Why are we calling the launch of the Mike Baird assault on March 28 an ‘unofficial launch’? What is the difference between an unofficial launch and an official launch?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I am not quite sure but I was there yesterday…
HADLEY:
I know you were there I saw the photo.
MINISTER MORRISON:
…With Mike. It was a great speech and he was down in the Shire and it was great to have him in the Shire and there were a couple of things that came out of that and I am sure your listeners may know of them, but Gladys Berejiklian has two million people on the Opal card. Now the previous Labor Government spent $100 million and got absolutely nowhere on that. I think that is an extraordinary achievement. His infrastructure plan is the sort of thing that will get the state moving. What we have seen in Victoria is Daniel Andrews go and cancel road projects, 7,500 jobs gone in Victoria because he won’t get on with infrastructure. Mike Baird does want to get on with infrastructure in NSW. We have got runs on the board and there is a simple choice in NSW – Mike Baird is going to get on and do something or you have the party of Eddie Obeid that is coming back. Pretty simple choice I think.
HADLEY:
Yeah and the other thing I advised Luke to do this morning is to make sure with anything in future you have Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen as far away – if he has it out at Campbelltown put them at Brewarrina or somewhere else. As far away from him as he possibly can because the taint will affect him. Most people appreciate that there will be a narrowing of the gap between the government and the opposition because Baird is not as toxic as Mr Newman was leading into the Queensland election. It is almost unbelievable to expect that the Labor Party could win but they will certainly narrow the gap I would imagine.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well I think Mike is running a very strong campaign. He has got a great team of people.
HADLEY:
Well he is a very popular man in NSW, very popular.
MINISTER MORRISON:
True and with good reason. And with very good reason.
HADLEY:
Ok we will leave it there. Thank you it has been nice talking to you.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Of course Ray, good to talk to you mate.
HADLEY:
All the best Scott.