THE HON CHRISTOPHER PYNE MP

Minister for Education Leader of the House

TRANSCRIPT

E&OE TRANSCRIPT East Torrens Primary School, SA 21 March 2 1! S"#$ects% National &ay o' Action a(ainst )"llyin( an* +iolence, Harmony &ay, So"th A"stralian election, A"stralian -ater Hol*in(s, O.eration So/erei(n )or*ers, Assistant Treas"rer

CHRISTOPHER PYNE% Well good afternoon everyone, and can I thank Meredith Starkey, the Principal of East Torrens Primary School and the East Torrens Primary community for having me here today at their school in my electorate, in the Eastern su ur s of !delaide" I#m here, of course, to e part of the $ational %ay of !ction against &ullying and 'iolence in schools and to mark Harmony %ay" Harmony %ay is a national day, of course, to cele rate our diversity as a nation and in schools particularly (e have a $ational %ay of !ction against &ullying and 'iolence" Today the )ederal *overnment can announce that (e are moving to stage three of the Safe Schools Hu that can e found on the Students )irst (e site, (ith of course links through to Education and other (e sites" That (e site contains very valua le information a out ho( to make schools safer, to make school communities safer" &ut also to help parents to pick up the (arning signs a out their children eing potentially ullied at school and to sho( parents ho( to talk to their children, ho( to pro e them for information to find out if they are happy at school and if they#re eing mistreated and that if they do find that they#re eing ullied, ho( to react to that, ho( to deal (ith it, ho( to talk to the school, the principal, the teachers a out ensuring that their children are not eing ullied, and not ullying others, of course, ecause it takes a ully to create a ullying situation" I#ve +ust spoken to the eautiful students here at East Torrens Primary School , there are -. different nationalities, so it (as a marvellous place to choose for Harmony %ay, and I#m sure that the teaching staff here, the parents, /the0 community are very attuned to the importance of not having ullying in their schools and their classrooms"

I have four children, aged si1 to 23, so I#m (ell a(are , I#m at that stage of life (here (e are very (ell a(are of issues like ullying and drugs and alcohol, etcetera, so as a parent I (ould really encourage other parents to go onto those (e sites to have a look at the information that#s availa le to make sure that their children are eing properly protected and looked after in their school communities" !re there any 4uestions5 0O1RNA2IST% I have some 4uestions on the state election /inaudi le0" CHRISTOPHER PYNE% Sure" I imagined you (ould" 0O1RNA2IST% Has anyone from the federal government spoken to the independents regarding the position they#re in at the moment5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% $ot that I#m a(are of, no" 0O1RNA2IST% If they (ere (hat (ould e the message that they (ould e saying, like (hat (ould e your message e to the independents, say hoping for a Li eral state government or""5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% I#m very much hoping for a Li eral state government" My message to the independents (ould e that they (ill make a considered decision, and they#ll (eigh up (ho had the ma+ority of the votes in the election (here the Li eral Party achieved 63 per cent of the t(o party preferred vote" We achieved at least 78,... more votes than La or and there are still several hundred thousand votes left to count" I kno( &o Such very (ell" I#ve kno(n him since I (as the 9oung Li eral President in 2:88" I#ve a very high regard for &o Such and I#m very sorry that he#s not still a mem er of the Li eral Party" !nd I feel that the (ay he (as treated over the years (as (rong, and I (ould (elcome him ack into the Li eral Party" &ut he kno(s that ecause I#ve said it to him many times efore" I don#t kno( *eoff &rock (ell, in fact I#ve only met him once" &ut I#d say to oth those gentlemen, the Li eral Party (on 63 per cent of the t(o party preferred vote and therefore the South !ustralian pu lic voted for change" They voted for change in ;.2., they voted for change in ;.2-, and I think Steven Marshall has the right plan for the South !ustralian economy, for gro(ing +o s, for reducing ta1es, for reducing regulation and red tape to giving usiness the opportunity to gro(" So I hope that they#ll choose the Li eral Party to support" !t the end of the day it#s a decision for them" I#ve een in a hung parliament situation efore in the -3rd Parliament and it<s a testing time" &ut it can e managed (ith good(ill, and I<m sure those t(o gentlemen have enormous (ellsprings of good(ill (ithin them" !nd I kno( that the Li eral Party does for them" 0O1RNA2IST% !re you concerned that there may still e some ad lood et(een &o Such and those as he calls them, the = ig L Li erals> that remain /inaudi le05 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% Well I<m not going to comment on the relationships et(een &o Such and other mem ers of the Li eral Party" &ut I (ould say that I<ve al(ays had a good

relationship (ith &o Such" I hold him in very high esteem" I think he deserves to e respected as should all people, particularly on the $ational %ay of !ction against &ullying, it<s (ell to remem er that ullying doesn#t +ust occur amongst children" It can occur amongst adults, and people should treat each other (ith the respect that (e all (ould like to e treated, that includes &o Such and *eoff &rock" 0O1RNA2IST% In terms of )ederal politics, there (as a )airfa1 media report this morning that ?oe Hockey has actually put out a statement declaring that those claims (ere false, there (ere claims that he had received money from the !ustralian Water Holdings and repaid it, and he<s flat out denied that" In your position have you or any charity that you are a(are of, received money from !ustralian Water Holdings5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% $o" 0O1RNA2IST% @kay, no (orries" !nd also, +ust 4uickly, the latest update on @peration Sovereign Waters""" CHRISTOPHER PYNE% /interrupts0 &orders" 0O1RNA2IST% Sorry, &orders" Sho(s that it<s een 4uite successful" :; days no( (ithout any oat arrivals" What do you have to say to that5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% Well the La or Party said that our orders couldn#t e protected" Ander La or, they changed the la(s that ?ohn Ho(ard had in place, and 6.,... unauthorised arrivals came in a five year period" !nd they said it couldn#t e helped" What (e<ve sho(n, (hat Scott Morrison<s sho(n, is that (ith the right mi1 of policies, (ith the (ill to make changes, that (e can protect the sovereignty of our orders and ensure (e have a humanitarian process for taking refugees that is orderly and that (e are in control of" He#s proven that no( for :2 or :; days I think it is, (here there#s een no successful arrival in !ustralia" We#ve done it y turning ack the oats (here it#s safe to do so, y trying to introduce temporary protection visas, y having a genuine offBshore processing programme and making sure those (ho did come early in the piece (ere 4uickly transferred to Manus Island and $auru" He#s proven that the la(s can e implemented to (ork" 0O1RNA2IST% ?ust on another matter, is Mr Sinodinos still a mem erCah sorry, still a minister5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% !rthur has stood aside from his responsi ilities" He#s not eing paid as a minister, (hich means he can#t receive superannuation as a minister" He#s leaving his ministerial office and has een allocated a ack encher#s office in the Senate side of the parliament in Dan erra" His staff, of course, are still in place and they are ans(ering to Mathias Dormann, the Minister for )inance" So he#s stood aside from eing minister" 0O1RNA2IST% So he#s not a minister at present5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% He#s not a minister at present, he#s stood aside from eing a minister" He#s follo(ed e1actly the same precedent as Mick 9oung, as Ian Sinclair, as Phillip Lynch (hen they (ere in similar situations over the years"

!nd I think (hat is most note(orthy of course is that La or is criticising us for maintaining ministerial standards" When they (ere in po(er they had not even a passing association (ith high ministerial standards, and I certainly am not going to e lectured or +udged y the La or Party, (hich is the party of Draig Thomson and Mike Williamson and Eddie @ eid and ?oe Tripodi and Ian Macdonald" I don#t think they#re in a position to e +udging the Li eral Party" 0O1RNA2IST% %id the *overnment receiveCseek advice from a solicitor in regard to Mr Sinodinos stepping do(n5 CHRISTOPHER PYNE% That#s a 4uestion you#d need to put to the Prime Minister#s office"

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