SUBJECTS: Nation Building and Jobs Plan, Senate vote
MARIUS BENSON:
Chris Bowen, more talks with Nick Xenophon last night – no resolution so you are talking again this morning?
CHRIS BOWEN:
We did have talks with Senator Xenophon last night and they were constructive, but there is a long way to go here, this is a very serious set of negotiations and as you would expect they are being treated seriously by both sides. We are not taking anything for granted and there is some way to go yet further in the day.
BENSON:
You are talking about redirecting, accelerating funds to the Murray Darling and the gap seems to be the Governments talking about $400 million and Nick Xenophon is talking about $4 billion.
BOWEN:
Well look certainly as I say these negotiations are tough. There is a gap between the parties but the negotiations have been constructive and we will continue on with them today, this is too important to step away from, this is important for Australian jobs, for the ongoing health of the Australian economy.
Malcolm Turnbull, having put us in a situation where instead of standing with the Government for jobs, has voted for a jobs deficit so that we now need to go through these sets of negotiations with the cross benches.
BENSON:
Malcolm Turnbull says 'why don't you talk to us?'
BOWEN:
Well, he came out on day one and said we will oppose this package. He said in the Parliament last night 'we will give this package no support, we would have no part of it', and then he says 'well why don't you sit down with us?'
Really that is not a good basis to start negotiations. He is playing politics here, he should be showing leadership, he should be saying we 'we stand with the Government, with jobs'. Instead he is saying 'I stand for my job in a cheap political stunt'.
Well he should get with us, and get with jobs, and not play games and say 'I'll vote against it, but you should talk to me'.
BENSON:
What about the suggestion that the government is not doing much of a job of negotiating; it should have been having the conversations your now having with Nick Xenophon a week ago?
BOWEN:
Look, having done some negotiations with cross benchers myself, they are difficult, they are hard, and there will always be argy bargy, there'll always be these claims, these negotiations are being handled very seriously at the most senior levels. And that is appropriate, you'll always get argy bargy in these negotiations but the government is taking them very seriously at the most senior levels.
BENSON:
Is the Government prepared to give further ground?
BOWEN:
Look obviously negotiations are about discussion, about compromise, but we are also making the case to Senator Xenophon as to why our package is so important. And we are talking about the elements he wants to talk about in relation to the Murray Darling but pointing out why we are coming from where we are, and what our point of view is.
So you will always find that in these sorts of discussions.
BENSON:
Did the government misjudge this whole issue from the start? This is an enormously important and complex bill as you have said yourself, and you put it up initially saying you want this $42 billion in 48 hours – were you too much of a bull at a gate?
BOWEN:
Look, I believe that this package is so important and so urgent, that the Government has handled it in the only way possible.
There was a very interesting speech last night from an Independent in the House – a very good speech – Rob Oakeshott, the Member for Lyne on the North Coast of NSW. And he said as you'd expect an independent to say: 'I think this bill needed scrutiny, I think it should have been considered very carefully, like the Senate did, and it should not have been rushed'. And then he said: 'the ironic thing, the more the bill was scrutinised, the more it became clear how important it is that this package must pass'.
The irony is that the Government's package stands up the more you hear about it and the more you hear the weakness of the arguments against it. A very powerful speech from an Independent; somebody who was a former member of the National party, saying that the Government's stimulus package – the more it stands up to scrutiny, the more it is scrutinised, the stronger it becomes – and I thought that was a telling point.
BENSON:
Is the package better for the changes you have already to?
BOWEN:
As I say, these are negotiations between Senator Xenophon and us. We want the same thing. We want the Murray Darling fixed. What we are talking about is, trying to agree on a journey to the same destination, and that will continue today.
BENSON:
So it sounds like you are pretty confident that it will be resolved today?
BOWEN:
Well, look, there have been constructive discussions, but we certainly aren't taking anything for granted. There will be some way to go yet. [Inaudible] It won't be over until the Governor-General puts her pen on the paper, when it has passed both houses of parliament. We are focussed on getting to that result.
BENSON:
And what will that mean in terms of the payments? Will they be delayed as a result of these drawn out negotiations?
BOWEN:
Obviously, both the Chief Executive of Centrelink and the Tax Commissioner have said, in the past, that it needed to be passed as a matter of urgency to get those payments made.
We will be in discussions with them to see what implications this will have on the payments and the timing of the payments, but we need to focus on getting the package passed first and then we will have more to say about that, if we get that far.
BENSON:
Chris Bowen, thank you very much.
BOWEN:
Great pleasure Marius, anytime.