THE HON BILL SHORTEN

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
MOONEE PONDS
SUNDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2014
SUBJECT/S: One year of Tony Abbotts broken promises; Tony
Abbotts unfair Budget; ra!; "anus s#and; Constitutiona#
re$ognition of ndigenous Austra#ians; United %ations; &at'ers
(ay)
BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Today marks one year
since Tony Abbott was elected Prime Minister of Australia, and in that
time Australians have a right to feel both angry and bitterly disappointed
because Tony Abbott lied his way into ofce. Australians didn't vote for
increased taes. Australians didn't vote for cuts to the pensions and
cuts to family payments. Australians didn't vote for cuts to the funding to
schools and hospitals. Australians certainly didn't vote to create !"##,###
university degrees for their children. They didn't vote for the broken
promises, the dirty deals, and indeed the incompetence. $ver
since Australia voted last year Tony Abbott has broken his promises, he
lied his way into ofce and Australians are paying the price. Australians
won't be forgiving Tony Abbott any time soon. They certainly
haven't forgotten his broken promises. %appy to take &uestions.
JOURNALIST: 'ooking back on the year since 'abor's defeat, what's the
biggest policy idea that you've developed since becoming leader(
SHORTEN: )ell 'abor has now absolutely taken a stand to defend the
universal accessibility of Medicare. The policy idea that we
are championing, amongst very important ideas, is that regardless of
where you live in Australia, you should be able to access &uality
healthcare. )e believe, and 'abor stands for the idea that it should
be your need for a doctor, your Medicare card, which determines the
&uality of healthcare you get in Australia, not your credit card.
JOURNALIST: *ulie +ishop announced last night that Australia had agreed
to provide military assistance for air strikes against ,slamic -tate as
soon as a formal re&uest was made. +ut she's also said that there will be
no troops on the ground. .o you support this course of action(
SHORTEN: )e haven/t been 0 the 1pposition hasn't been formally
briefed about what re&uests there are for any further etension of support
to oppose the ,- organisation. 'et me be clear, as 'abor has been from
the outset of the rise of ,-, it's a barbaric organisation with an insatiable
desire for power, which uses the trappings of religion to 2ustify
atrocities and violence and far worse. 'abor has supported humanitarian
relief to be provided in northern ,ra&. 'abor has supported the use of the
3AA4, our professional men and women, to resupply 5urdish irregulars in
terms of their 6ght against ,-.
)e haven't yet seen what is being re&uested in terms of the Air 4orce.
7learly 'abor has put a no go of the use of formed up combat troops in
,ra&, but the 8overnment's also con6rmed that is their position as well. )e
will listen to what the 8overnment have to say and we will apply the same
principles. .oes the ,ra&i 8overnment seek support( .oes it provide a
better outcome for civilians in northern ,ra&( ,s it part of what would
be appropriate to provide support for humanitarian relief(
JOURNALIST: 9ou've spent a lot of time talking about broken promises
from Tony Abbott but not yet committed to reversing all of them, why not(
SHORTEN: The election is not likely to be for another year and a half to
two years, but what 'abor is doing is we haven't given up on the idea that
we can keep Tony Abbott honest now. %e hasn't got through his
higher education changes. )e are going to make that an election
issue. Tony Abbott's :oundering in terms of his unfair +udget, in terms of
healthcare cuts and we do not support the 8P ta. )e have not supported
their proposals, and we'll 6ght the net election about not reducing the
pension in the manner in which they say they're going to do.
-o what 'abor has been doing in a positive sense is standing up for
the ordinary Australians, dare , say it, the forgotten Australians. , think
we all remember on election night Tony Abbott said that he would be
a government of no surprises and no ecuses. $ver since then we've seen
nasty surprises and pathetic ecuses. , think there's a real sense of
aniety in the Australian community. )hat we've seen is taes going up,
pressure on cost of living, we see the etension of household debt, and we
see people losing their 2obs. And the latest we've seen, we've got
unemployment rates which are the highest they've been for "; years, and
we've seen a massive attack on people's superannuation accounts.
, think there's a lot more aniety out in the community and again to go
back to the outset, , think Australians have a right to be
bitterly disappointed. )hen Tony Abbott was elected, it was on the
basis that things would get better. The one thing that Australians have
learnt in the last "; months about Tony Abbott is what they've always
suspected 0 you can't trust Tony Abbott to keep his word.
JOURNALIST: ,s the 8overnment doing enough to ensure conditions on
Manus ,sland are safe(
SHORTEN: 'ike all Australians, 'abor is saddened by the death of a
second person. )e would epect the 8overnment to give a full account of
what's happened here.
JOURNALIST: ,n a spirit of birthday celebrations, what would you rate as
the Abbott 8overnment's best achievement(
SHORTEN: )ell , think the Abbott 8overnment, both their commitment to
try to 6nd M%<=#, because of course in the more recent tragedies we've
seen, we shouldn't forget how shocking that was for people, and also
M%"=, , think the 8overnment has absolutely tried to put its best
foot forward there and we've been very supportive of what they're doing.
1f course though, their broken promises when it comes to the unfair
+udget, the increased sense of threat that people feel about their 2ob
security, about their standard of living, these are real problems and it's a
year on and nothing seems to be getting better, it 2ust seems to be
getting worse.
JOURNALIST: *ust back on Manus ,sland, do you think that more needs to
be done to ensure that it's safe for people(
SHORTEN: , do think that we have an obligation in Australia to ensure
people under our control are safe. That is, , think, a bottom line standard
in Australia. , think the 6rst thing to be done here though is for the
8overnment to eplain what has happened and how has it come to be
that another person has passed away.
JOURNALIST: 1n a slightly di>erent matter, is there a danger of the
referendum on ,ndigenous recognition being hi2acked by people who want
to turn it into a vote for a bill of rights(
SHORTEN: )ell , wouldn't support us having a bill of rights, but , don't
think we should be surrendering to the tyranny of low epectations either.
)hat's important in the referendum is that Aboriginal people feel that
the &uestion that's going to be put is worth voting on, and what is also
important is that it be bipartisan. , think Australia is smart and generous
and clever enough to come up with a &uestion that 'iberal and 'abor can
agree on, and that Aboriginal people 6nd to be satisfactory and will
improve their lot. And that's the test we set, that it's real change, not 2ust
token change, but on the other hand it has to be bipartisan.
JOURNALIST: )ith so much happening internationally, do you think the
Prime Minister should attend the ?@ 8eneral Assembly in @ew 9ork this
month(
SHORTEN: )ell, that's a matter for the Prime Minister, whether or not
he goes to the ?nited @ations 8eneral Assembly. )hat , would like him to
do this month is reconsider the 8P Ta, , think he should dump that. , think
he should reconsider doubling and tripling the costs of sending kids to
university, making it harder for mature age people to change careers. And
, think if he was going to do a trifecta of doing the right thing by
Australian people, , think he absolutely needs to make it clear that he's
not going to cut pensions which go to carers and older Australians.
@o other &uestions( Thanks everyone, have a lovely 4ather's .ay. 8o
Tigers for the Port Adelaide game, the 7inderella run may or may not
come to an end, we/ll see. Thanks.
E%(S