| Subjects: Murray-Darling Basin Plan; Preferences
EO&E…………………………………………………………
DAVID PENBERTHY:
20 minutes after seven, breaking news yesterday on FIVEaa Breakfast, detailed the pickle that the South Australian Liberal Party find themselves in, with their Federal counterparts, striking up a deal with Clive Palmer for a preference exchange, even as, Clive Palmer is running ads interstate on radio stations such as ours saying that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan should be ripped up. Senator Simon Birmingham, joins us on the line. Why does ripping up the Murray Darling Basin Plan an idea worth giving life to Senator?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Hey guys, well it’s not, and we won’t – never will we step away from our policy commitment which is to fully implement the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. We have been doing that, that’s why there’s more than 2,100 billion litres of water licenses that have been recovered to help deliver that Basin Plan and that means there’s more water flowing to environmental sites right across the river system as a result and we will stick to that plan.
WILL GOODINGS:
Do the South Australian Liberals have any influence into the preference deal? I mean you’re the campaign spokesman Senator Birmingham for the Prime Minister as he gets about the nation. Clearly Clive Palmer is saying one thing to one group of people and one to another. None of these ads saying the Murray Darling scheme should be shredded have been running on our station here in Adelaide or in any of the local media so does it worry you, hand on heart, that a deal’s been done with someone who’s such a potentially dangerous view about this?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Well it’s a bit a Hobsons choice really, I mean, you work your way through it and clearly we are going to put Fraser Anning last and even though I know the Labor Party hasn’t done that in the Prime Minister’s own seat, then we have to make sure that we put Pauline Hanson right down the bottom – now we’re not going to support the Greens because they’d drive the economy into the ground and they’re also against national security legislation and they want to tear up our defence industry – I mean, let’s note, Greens policy is to reduce national spending on defence…
DAVID PENBERTHY:
So, you’re saying it’s like a least bad a bad scenario?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Well it is a least bad scenario. I’d like to make the point, the Labor Party has a preference deal with the Greens, does that mean that the naval shipbuilding activity at Osborn is under threat? Because Greens policy is to reduce spending on defence and will threaten the ship building activities down there in Port Adelaide.
WILL GOODINGS:
So, you had to way a whole group of scenarios where people had unpalatable policy positions but at the end of the day you went you know what the least unpalatable is ripping up the Murray-Darling Basin?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Well, no I’m not saying that’s the least unpalatable, we won’t go near that policy position, but Clive Palmer and his party, we think is more likely to support us in terms of lowering taxes, more likely to support us in terms of our policies to create more jobs. Now ultimately, I don’t urge people to vote for them at all. I think that South Australians should roundly reject Clive Palmer’s party in part because of his position on the Murray-Darling and they should vote one for us.
WILL GOODINGS:
Why wouldn’t they put Centre Alliance next? Why wouldn’t you direct them to put Centre Alliance next if the Murray matters because it’s a big part of their policy platform?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Well we’re going to work to form a government as well, we want to have a strong majority government that can allow us to be able to deliver policies that are projected to create 1.25 million more jobs over the next five years, another 250,000 jobs for young people. Last year we created a record number of jobs for young Australians ever generated in this country. We want to keep that momentum going and so we’re working hard to make sure that, in terms of our policies, we sell the choice that is here at this election, and it’s not a choice between Clive Palmer and the Liberal Party, it’s a choice between Bill Shorten and the Liberal Party.
DAVID PENBERTHY:
The old Ronald Reagan quote though Birmo: you’ve got to dance with the ones who you brung ya. I mean you’ve said this deal is about forming a government, can you guarantee that if you guys are returned that Clive Palmer when the negotiations inevitably arise in the Senate over things like the passage of tax cuts, that something like the Murray-Darling does not become contingent on his support for the Government’s economic agenda?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM:
Absolutely because the South Australian Liberal’s would never allow that to occur. We’ve stood up before when it comes to the Murray-Darling Basin, internal debate in the parliament about different issues on this and because of the strength, the representation out of SA, the position has always been rock solid in support for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Let’s remember the water act that established this was put in place by John Howard, he was the Prime Minister that actually started this process. So this is a great Liberal Party legacy and we won’t step away from it at all and the Prime Minister has been crystal clear, Scott Morrison has made it clear, there’s been no policy horse trading as part of any of the preference discussions. Yep we’ve had to make a least-worst decision and we’re not going to back Labor’s $387 billion in higher taxes, we’re not going to back the crazy Greens, we’re not going to back the racists of Fraser Anning or One Nation, we’re going to tell these people not to vote for Clive Palmer either and they should vote for the Liberal Party, who are the only party who’ve shown, we’ve balanced the budget, create more jobs…
DAVID PENBERTHY:
Yeah we get the campaign lines. Good on you, thank you Simon Birmingham.
WILL GOODINGS:
Thank you, Senator.
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