Subjects: ETS.
E&OE
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well next week is an important week in the history of the Liberal Party. We have the opportunity to honour the agreement we entered into with the Government – and we should do so. It was an agreement to pass the emissions trading scheme which has been amended at our request with very substantial concessions made by the Government which will protect tens of thousands of jobs. They were negotiated over a period of five weeks by Ian Macfarlane and Senator Wong. They will make the scheme more environmentally effective. So it will do a better job at cutting emissions and also it will protect, as I said, tens of thousands of jobs.
I recognise there are many people, particularly in my party, who do not believe that climate change is real and naturally do not see the need to do much about it. I respect their views and that of other climate change sceptics. But the fact is we should approach this issue from a risk management basis. Conservative leaders, centre-right leaders from around the world do that. I am not aware of any major political party in the world that has a do nothing approach to climate change, that has a policy of climate change denial.
Margaret Thatcher herself, back in 1990, nearly 20 years ago, said we should take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions as a matter of “risk management”, and of course, as Rupert Murdoch so famously said, “we should give the planet the benefit of the doubt.”
Because what we are talking about here is not just an issue of today, this is an issue for today, tomorrow and the years to come. It is about protecting our planet, protecting the future of our children and their children. It is a vital challenge for all Australians and everybody sharing this planet with us. We should move on. We have got a good agreement with the Government. We should honour it.
QUESTION:
Will you be leading your party to that decision though?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
I certainly will be.
QUESTION:
How do you know?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well I was reindorsed as the leader of the Liberal Party on Wednesday. It wasn’t very long ago. Now I recognise there are some people who are unhappy with the decision of the majority of the party room and immediately started to undermine it. But I respect the wishes of the party room. The party room overwhelmingly endorsed us taking our proposed amendments to the Government back in October. They endorsed the agreement that we had reached with the Government – the shadow cabinet recommended it – and then when those who were unhappy with that decision sought to overturn my leadership, we went back to the party room and they were beaten again. And now of course, unhappy with the decision of the majority, they want to have another go.
But at some point this undermining has got to stop. We have to be a party with a credible policy on climate change. We have to be a party that people will say is a party of integrity and integrity means that when you reach an agreement you stick to it.
QUESTION:
The LNP today in Queensland has got a motion before it to change the Coalition’s position on climate change. Is that a mistake?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well I don’t know what the motion is and the LNP is a branch or a division of the Liberal Party and in a way a division of the National Party as well. It is an amalgam, but they are free to pass what resolutions they wish. But the fact is policy is decided by the parliamentary party. That is the practice. We certainly take advice from and listen carefully to the views of the party organisation but the party policy is determined by the party room.
QUESTION:
Do you believe you are loosing support from key members in the party, have you had phone calls, have you been tapped on the shoulder this morning?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Certainly not.
QUESTION:
Joe Hockey today [inaudible] and refused to say that he supported you, does he support you?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
He certainly does. Joe Hockey has again and again and again endorsed the policy that I stand for and the shadow cabinet stands for. Joe Hockey is on the record more times than you could mention supporting this agreement, supporting the decision of shadow cabinet. He spoke strongly for it in the shadow cabinet. He and I have been absolutely at one on this. I cannot imagine Joe Hockey would allow himself to be a mouth piece for the climate change sceptics. That would be a denial of everything he has stood for, for many years.
QUESTION:
It is not as big as the Labor Party’s split, but I can’t recall a bigger split in the Liberal Party. Is this the lowest ebb?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well I will leave you to run the commentary. We have obviously got to unite. It is quite clear what we should do. We should honour our agreement with the Government. The emissions trading scheme should be passed with the amendments we secured. Remember this scheme we criticised, we put up amendments, the Government agreed to much of what we’d asked for, they made concessions that many thought were much greater than they’d expected. It was initially written up as a huge win the Coalition and I think it was. We should pass that scheme, the Senate should pass that scheme and then, having got that issue behind us, we should then focus on unity and working together and holding the Labor Government to account.
QUESTION:
How far away does your dream of being Australia’s next Prime Minister feel right now?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
I’ll leave you to speculate on that sort of introspective. Are there anymore substantive questions?
QUESTION:
What’s your message to your detractors?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well I have just given that message. My message to all members of the Liberal Party and indeed all Australians is that we have a duty to our country, to our planet, to our children to take effective action on climate change. I respect the views of those who believe we don’t need to. You know I respect Senator Minchin when he says that he does not believe the planet is warming, that he does not believe in human induced climate change. I respect his view, he is entitled to that view, but it is not responsible to proceed on the basis that there is nothing to be concerned about.
This is a risk management exercise. I mean I hope none of us imagine our house is going to be hit by lightening tonight but I am sure we have all got insurance. This is, as Margaret Thatcher said nearly 20 years ago, a question of taking out insurance, of risk management.
QUESTION:
The Government is pretty frustrated with how things have gone in the past week. Do you appreciate that considering you did cut a deal?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Well I can readily understand the Government’s frustration because there was an agreement reached and the negotiations were conducted in good faith. The Government made very substantial concessions and they did so on the basis that if agreement could be reached the legislation would be passed. That was the agreement.
Now what does it say about the character of the Liberal Party if having entered into an agreement we were to simply say, ‘oh we have changed our mind, we are going to renege on that deal’. How could you trust us? We have to be a party of integrity and that means when you make a deal, when you reach an agreement, you stick to it.
QUESTION:
Kevin Rudd is the big winner out of this week is he not?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Again, you can run the commentary. If the legislation is passed Australia will be a big winner, the world will be a big winner. It is important that we get on and take effective action. We have been talking about this for many years. Remember the first legislation to establish an emissions trading scheme was introduced in to the House of Representatives by me as John Howard’s environment minister. It was our policy. We were committed to an emissions trading scheme and while we have criticised aspects of the design of Mr Rudd’s scheme, and of course sought to remedy them with the amendments we presented, John Howard himself said that Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme is similar to the one he had and took to the 2007 election.
QUESTION:
What will you do if you are beaten on Tuesday, will you stay in Parliament?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
I will win. I will be confirmed as leader. Let’s just remember this, we had a vote in the party room on Wednesday, that is not very long ago, just a few days ago – an attempt to overturn my leadership and it was unsuccessful. I was confirmed as the Leader of the Liberal Party and I am confident that my colleagues will maintain their support for me, but it is of course up to them. The leadership of the Liberal Party, as every leader has said, from Menzies to Howard to me, everybody has said the same thing – the leadership is in the gift of the party room, to grant and withdraw as they wish.
QUESTION:
On that point how tight are the numbers, do you have any sense of what they are like?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
I’m not going to speculate on that. I am confident that the position of leader will not be changed on Tuesday morning.
QUESTION:
It seems pretty unrealistic at this stage though?
MALCOLM TURNBULL:
Any other questions? Okay, thank you.
[ends]