LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR WARRINGAH

25 February 2011

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR,

JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH MRS JANE PRENTICE MHR,
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR RYAN
AND DR BRUCE FLEGG MP, STATE MEMBER FOR MOGGILL,
BRISBANE

Subjects: Queensland flood recovery; Julia Gillard’s carbon tax.

E&OE……………………….…………………………………………………………………

TONY ABBOTT:

First of all, it is good to be with my friend and colleague, Jane Prentice, the member for Ryan. It‟s also good
to be with Bruce Flegg, the state member for Moggill and a former Leader of the state parliamentary Liberal
Party.

I‟m here in Brisbane today to talk to small business people about the flood recovery. Now, Brisbane looks a
picture on a day like this. The sun is shining, the traffic is flowing, people are going about their business but
there are still deep scars from the floods. In particular, there are still thousands of small businesses that have
lost massively in these floods. They aren‟t covered by insurance and they are finding it very difficult to
access government assistance.

I think that there is a real issue with the speed of these payments from government. There are the $25,000
recovery grants which seem to be flowing very slowly, if at all. There are the $250,000 concessional loans
which seem extremely hard to get.

Now, I call on the Government to unblock the process, to cut the red tape and to try to ensure that the money
flows swiftly to the people who need it. The Government was very good at getting the $1,000 payments out
by Centrelink but it now has to get the money to the small businesses that need it because if these small
businesses don‟t survive, communities will not survive. You can‟t have a flourishing community without a
strong economy and these small businesses are vital to the economies of Brisbane and the rest of flood-
affected Queensland.

I should also call on the Government to adopt the Coalition‟s position which is that there should be a three
month tax holiday for flood-impacted small business. There should be concessional loans available to small
businesses which were not physically damaged but were commercially damaged by these floods.

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Finally I say that after Cyclone Larry the Howard Government made concessional loans available to small
businesses with up to 100 staff. I think the Government should have followed the Howard Government
precedent and made these concessional loans available to businesses of up to that size. Instead – and this is a
real problem – these concessional loans are only available to businesses employing less than 25 people.
There are vast numbers of small businesses, including the gourmet supermarket that we‟re in now, which are
in that situation.

Now, I just want to say something about the carbon tax before asking Jane and Bruce to add anything they
wish.

Look, this carbon tax is a total betrayal of the Australian people who were promised up hill and down dale
before the election by the Prime Minister that there would be no carbon tax under any government that she
leads.

If a carbon tax were to go ahead in this parliament it would amount to a conspiracy by the parliament against
the people. Only one member of the current parliament was elected promising a carbon tax. Every other
member of the parliament promised, in effect, that there would be no carbon tax.

So, the Prime Minister doesn‟t have a skerrick of a mandate. If she really does think that it is important to
have a carbon tax she should seek a mandate for it at the next election.

For this parliament to try to introduce a carbon tax in this term it would be a blatant denial of democracy.
So, I think that the Australian public are entitled to feel absolutely and utterly ripped off by this. I think if
the Prime Minister wants to make, politically speaking, an honest woman of herself, she needs to seek a
mandate for a carbon tax and she should do that at the next election. That would be the honest and the decent
thing to do.

Jane?

JANE PRENTICE:

On the flood issue, I‟d just like to say we‟re very fortunate here to have a great community. We‟ve all
worked hard, we‟ve all worked to try and put everyone back together to get on with business as usual and
they‟re now being blocked by red tape. So, I call on the Government to help small businesses like Glenn‟s
here at Simon‟s Gourmet Gallery, where because he did the right thing, because he kept on the staff, he‟s
now being penalised because he‟s got more than 25 staff. So, we really need to look at some of these issues
and help small businesses to get on with the job.

TONY ABBOTT:

Bruce?

BRUCE FLEGG:

The local community here did a magnificent job, an unbelievably magnificent job. They‟re now being let
down by bureaucracy and red tape and the Premier‟s Disaster Relief Appeal is dragging its heels in helping
people that are trying to get back on its feet. People are having a lot of difficulty negotiating the red tape.
The bureaucrats need to do the sort of magnificent effort that this local community did.

TONY ABBOTT:

Ok, are there any questions?

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QUESTION:

Julia Gillard made it clear in a number of speeches during the election campaign that it was necessary to put
a price on carbon. Isn‟t that mandate enough? To set a price, not a tax.

TONY ABBOTT:

She said repeatedly: “I rule out a carbon tax”. The Treasurer, Wayne Swan even denounced suggestions that
there would be a carbon tax after the election as “hysterical” allegations. Well, what was a hysterical
allegation before the election has turned out to be cold hard fact, cold hard betrayal after the election.

QUESTION:

[inaudible]

TONY ABBOTT:

Look, this is the mother of all taxes. In the first instance this tax will hit your power bills, it will hit your
petrol bills but eventually this tax hits every price in the economy. You turn on the lights, you pay the tax.
You put petrol in your car, you pay the tax. You open your wallet, you pay the tax. This really is the mother
of all taxes and it should not be introduced without a mandate. That‟s why it should not be introduced in this
term of parliament.

QUESTION:

Julia Gillard has quoted you as saying a carbon tax would be the simplest way to reduce emissions before
you became Opposition Leader. How can you not support it now?

TONY ABBOTT:

I never said one thing before an election and a totally different thing afterwards.

QUESTION:

The opinion polls say that the people want [inaudible].

TONY ABBOTT:

The opinion polls say that people want action to preserve the environment and the Coalition will take action
to preserve the environment. We took a policy to the election to spend $1 billion a year on more trees, on
better soil and smarter technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. That is the right way to go but, I tell
you, you don‟t help the environment by taxing turning on the lights, by taxing filling up the car, by taxing
every time you open up your wallet.

QUESTION:

Have you spoken to Malcolm Turnbull?

TONY ABBOTT:

The short answer is I talk to all of my colleagues all of the time about these issues and what all of us
absolutely understand is that this is the greatest breach of faith by a government at least since Paul Keating‟s
„L.A.W law‟ tax betrayal.

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QUESTION:

If the opinion polls are saying that people are for it, which is how they‟re going, then how are you going to
persuade them otherwise?

TONY ABBOTT:

You‟ve got to understand that this is a government which is totally addicted to taxes. This is the year of
three new taxes: the flood tax, the mining tax and the carbon tax. Now, the problem with this government is
whenever it sees a problem it grabs for a tax. Julia Gillard has never seen a tax she didn‟t like, she‟s never
had a tax she wouldn‟t hike, and that‟s the problem with this carbon tax. It might start at one figure but it
will rapidly go up and up and up as we are told that ever-increasing price hikes are necessary and this is just
the beginning of a sustained assault on every Australian‟s cost of living.

QUESTION:

You‟ve said there‟ll be a people‟s revolt. Are you planning to lead that?

TONY ABBOTT:

I will devote every waking moment between now and the next election to fighting this unnecessary, unfair
and dishonest new tax and I would say to every Australian who woke up this morning feeling betrayed and
let down by a government which lied to them before the election, please don‟t just fume in private. Take
your concerns to your local Labor or independent member of parliament. Ring their office, bombard their
emails, because they must know that there is a fundamental dishonesty in saying one thing before the
election and another thing afterwards.

[ends]