SUBJECTS: Nation Building and Jobs Plan, Midnight Oil return
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Chris Bowen, good morning.
CHRIS BOWEN:
Good morning Virginia.
TRIOLI:
Take us through the negotiations as they’ve taken place last night and in the last few hours.
BOWEN:
Well, the Treasurer continued negotiations with Senator Xenophon last night. They were constructive but there’s a long way to go and those negotiations will continue this morning. We’ll continue those with him [Senator Xenophon] and there should be more news later in the day.
TRIOLI:
So when you say they were constructive but they’re continuing; you’re sounding reasonably confident that somehow the two parties can meet in the middle a bit and more money can be found for his particular concerns?
BOWEN:
Look there’s a long way to go and we can’t take anything for granted in this process. The Liberal Party – having voted against this jobs package – has put us in the situation in where we do have some tough negotiations to go through and they will continue today. We can’t take it for granted, but there have been constructive talks overnight.
TRIOLI:
Does it come down to money?
BOWEN:
Well at the end of the day, Senator Xenophon has asked for extra funding to be brought forward for the Murray-Darling. We have agreed to go some way on that but there continues to be negotiations, and to some extent, they’ll always involve further money; but the negotiations will cover – I’m sure – a number of issues.
TRIOLI:
Why is the government hesitant to bring forward more money – money that you’ve actually allocated to the Murray-Darling system? Why not just advance it in terms of a timeframe; it’s not, in essence, and over time, going to cost you much more?
BOWEN:
Well, we do have a very substantial commitment to the Murray-Darling; we’re coming off a very high base. Those negotiations will be strong and difficult.
TRIOLI:
But the point I’m trying to get you to talk to you about here, is simply the timeframe – that’s where it’s about. You can get some of that money that you’ve allocated and move it forward in time; and get your package through – why not?
BOWEN:
Sure, I understand the point; but there are issues about just how efficiently you can spend money; you’ve got to look at the programme – whether there’s a program in place; look at how that can be changed – whether it can be sensibly changed to upload alot of that money, to front-end a lot of that money. So that’s what the negotiations are all about and they’ll continue.
I understand your point, I understand Senator Xenophon’s point – the government does too, and obviously we’re all committed to the Murray-Darling. Senator Xenophon wants action on the Murray-Darling, the government wants action on the Murray-Darling, but we have to do it sensibly and responsibly; and that’s what it’s all about.
TRIOLI:
Do you mean – just to dig further in to this – that just in terms of what you hope and you want your stimulus package to do, that the projects associated with the Murray-Darling money simply aren’t quickly turned around enough to justify being put forward as part of the stimulus package?
BOWEN:
What we’re concerned about is to make sure that the money can be sensibly spent, quickly, and that it’s an efficient process. You don’t want to just throw money and say, ‘yes, no problem we’ll bring that money forward’, if that wouldn’t be the sensible and rational thing to do.
TRIOLI:
But you already have a program for the Murray-Darling Basin, surely you can just implement that?
BOWEN:
Absolutely we do – and it’s timed and staged, and carefully managed. Now that’s what’s got to be worked through, but look as I say, Senator Xenophon and the government want the same thing: it’s a matter of reaching the same destination in the same way and that’s what the negotiations will continue on today.
But we’ve been put in this situation because Malcolm Turnbull has voted for a jobs deficit, he’s voted against this jobs plan and he’s put the government in the situation, and the nation in the situation, where we have to go through this process. He could’ve avoided this situation by simply saying, ‘in this economic crisis, we stand with the government for jobs’.
He’s voted for a jobs deficit and he’s got to take some responsibility today for the situation he’s put the nation in.
TRIOLI:
Now I understand the government is very keen to paint Malcolm Turnbull as the bad man in all of this, but surely you need to look closely at your own negotiation skills – or maybe even, lack of. It’s surely a failure of leadership that your very important stimulus package – and as you say, the only package that’s been voted down by a Western government in the last few weeks – is a failure of you to bring reluctant parties to the table; to include them, and to negotiate with them well.
BOWEN:
This is a failure for one person and one party: Malcolm Turnbull…
TRIOLI:
But that’s simply not true – you’re dealing with Senators who have the balance of power in the Upper House.
BOWEN:
Because Malcolm Turnbull has put them in that situation.
TRIOLI:
Because he’s the opposition…
BOWEN:
Oppositions should be responsible. Oppositions should say, ‘the nation comes first’. Oppositions should say, ‘there are times when politics comes second, when we stand with the government’. Oppositions should say – and oppositions are saying around the world – that this is a time, an extraordinary time for extraordinary circumstances.
Now if Malcolm Turnbull said that, then it wouldn’t matter, frankly, what Senator Xenophon or Senator Fielding or anybody else said, it would pass and the Australian people would’ve woken up this morning knowing they had a plan to support jobs, to invest in schools, to invest in the future, to invest in climate change.
They would’ve woken up this morning to a very different set of circumstances if the Leader of the Opposition and his party had been more responsible.
TRIOLI:
Are you saying the government has negotiated as well as it possibly could? There’s nothing you could’ve done better?
BOWEN:
Well negotiations are always tough at the most senior level. The Treasurer has been intimately involved in these negotiations – and having done some negotiations with the cross-benchers on other issues myself, I can tell you that they’re tough, they’re hard.
There’ll always be argy-bargy, there’ll always be claims about the negotiations, there are always two sides of the story – that’s what negotiations are about in this environment that we’re in. But the government is absolutely committed to getting this package through. That involves tough negotiations: that’s what we’ve been doing, that’s what we did overnight, that’s what we’ll continue to do today.
TRIOLI:
Alright just a couple of final questions: the Senate, as we mentioned, sitting today; how hopeful are you that a vote might actually be taken today?
BOWEN:
Well obviously we are hopeful that there will be a result today, otherwise we wouldn’t be going through the process today; but there’s a long way to go, nothing can be taken for granted here; we are not taking this for granted, there are further negotiations to continue through this morning.
TRIOLI:
I hear you loud and clear. Just on a slightly lighter note and coming off the back of the dreadful bushfires in Victoria: there are discussions now that some fundraising rock concerts might be held in both Sydney and Melbourne, and I understand the organisers are very keen to get Peter Garrett up on the stage and singing, maybe even as part of a reformed Midnight Oil. Would you like to see that happen?
BOWEN:
I think all Australians would love to see that happen, but I know Peter is focussed on his job, so I think they might have some convincing to do of him; but I think all Australians would love to see Peter back but it’s a matter for him. He’s moved on from that part of his life; he’s now a very senior, serious Cabinet minister and I think he is dealing with that accordingly.
TRIOLI:
Alright Chris Bowen, thanks so much.
BOWEN:
Pleasure.