ABC Insiders interview
23rd August, 2009
BARRIE CASSIDY: Warren Truss, good morning, welcome.WARREN TRUSS, NATIONAL PARTY LEADER: Good morning.
BARRIE CASSIDY: What did you make of those comments that he's certainly not actively seeking your job?
WARREN TRUSS: Well I'm pleased that there are people like Barnaby in the party who are interested in taking on leadership in the future.
I think it's an important part for, role for every leader to make sure there are succession plans in place. And we're very fortunate in the National Party to have quite a number of people coming through who one day can be leader.
BARRIE CASSIDY: And when you say you have a succession plan, do you presume that Barnaby Joyce will succeed you?
WARREN TRUSS: Well Barnaby is certainly a very able Senator, a very able representative, very able member of the party; but there are others and I think that when the time comes we'll have a good field to choose from.
BARRIE CASSIDY: You do seem to be remarkably sanguine though about the fact that Barnaby Joyce does have a very high profile.
A lot of people I think would judge that Barnaby Joyce is in fact that leader of the National Party because of the profile that he adopts.
WARREN TRUSS: Well Barnaby certainly is in the media regularly. He has a colourful way of expressing things. He can cut through with lines in the way that few people can and that makes him an attractive figure for the media but also a great asset for the Nationals.
BARRIE CASSIDY: But the two of you will need to speak with one voice. Do you think that will always remain the case?
WARREN TRUSS: Well occasionally we may have different views on issues. That happens within a political party. But generally we get on exceptionally well together and I think we make a great team.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Well on the leadership on the other side of the Coalition with Malcolm Turnbull does it worry you that he once lobbied to be a member of the Labor Party?
WARREN TRUSS: Well this story has been around for ages. Malcolm says he was approached by the Labor Party. At the time he was involved in the Republican Movement and all sorts of other causes and frankly I think Malcolm's version of the events is more believable.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Is Malcolm Turnbull a good fit as Leader of the Liberal Party to be in Coalition with the Nationals?
WARREN TRUSS: Well Malcolm is the choice of the Liberal Party and so we don't get involved in the Liberal Party leadership issues.
But let me say that Malcolm has particular skills in economics and that's the key issue confronting the nation at the present time. We've got huge debt as a country. We've got to start addressing those issues.
Labor is talking about a whole range of new taxes - taxes on fuel, on capital gains tax on the house. They're talking about a whole set of new taxes which will put a huge burden on the Australian people and of course they're going to have to have new taxes because somehow or other we've got to pay off $315 billion worth of debt.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Now Barnaby Joyce says that Warren Truss is his leader but given that you're in Coalition do you in any sense regard Malcolm Turnbull as your leader?
WARREN TRUSS: Well Malcolm Turnbull is the Leader of the Opposition and so he's certainly a leader of the Opposition tactics and we play a constructive role as a team.
The Nationals are a separate party. We have different views on some issues. We express those. But in government for nearly 60 years and in opposition we've been able to work constructively together to give the people of Australia a credible alternative to Labor.
And I think the Australian people are going to continue to want this Coalition to work together seamlessly and as cooperatively as possible whilst respecting the fact that from time to time we will differ.
BARRIE CASSIDY: And yet there was talk during the week of a split with the Liberals. What's the mood at the conference? Is there any appetite for going your own way?
WARREN TRUSS: Well we've had a fantastic conference. It's been emphasising the development of policy.
The next stage in our review of our party following the election defeat has been to start developing our own new branding for the future, our own, a revision of our policy platform and that's gone very well over recent days.
We are a different party. We are emphasising particularly into the future our particular role as a representative of people who live in regional Australia.
We will be standing up for regional communities. We want them to have a fair share of our nation's growth and prosperity. We want to ensure that regional jobs are protected in the context of emissions trading or whatever other issue is on the agenda.
And we have a particular interest in the potential for the imposition of a whole range of taxes on productive industry because a lot of that is in regional Australia.
BARRIE CASSIDY: But far from splitting with the Coalition, John Anderson for one argues that you thought to be thinking about an amalgamation. But where do you sit on this? Are you firmly in favour of the status quo?
WARREN TRUSS: Well we went through all of that process immediately following the election. John Anderson and Michael Priebe did a review for us on our organisational structures. We settled that at our last Federal Council meeting.
We're moving on from that now. The structures are settled. And now we want to get on with the business of winning the next election.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Now you talk about being the party for the regions but how can you appeal to the regions and have the Liberal Party appeal to the city vote presumably and yet as one present yourself to the electorate?
WARREN TRUSS: Well we are the only party that dedicates itself really exclusively to representing the regions. So that is our specific interest. And we're going to focus on the regional perspective on whatever item is on the agenda.
The Liberal Party, other parties will be looking at a broader approach. But there are seven million people who live outside the capital cities and we don't think they've always got a fair go.
If you look at health services in regional areas, if you look at education in regional areas, the shift in road and infrastructure expenditure under Labor away from the regions and into the cities, it is clear there has to be a strong voice for the regions and the Nationals intend to fill that role.
BARRIE CASSIDY: But having a voice is one thing. How do you have influence? How do you actually have your policies implemented?
The Liberals for a start don't seem to be listening to you on climate change. Under the rules of the Coalition you will never provide a Prime Minister. So where is the influence?
WARREN TRUSS: Well we have influence in the setting of the policy agenda. Our partners in Coalition respect the fact that there are, sometimes that there are issues for the minor party that are so important that they have to be respected.
We don't decide things in the party room on a straight vote of the numbers. We have to address the issues on their merits. We have to concede on occasions to the Liberal Party view. They have to concede on occasions to our view.
When there are times - and they happen occasionally - where there can be no reconciliation then we'll vote separately. We've done that in the past. From time to time we may have to do it in the future.
BARRIE CASSIDY: And you'll do that on the ETS no doubt?
WARREN TRUSS: Well that depends on how the debate progresses. We've indicated we will never support a scheme that looks anything like Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). It will destroy thousands and thousands of jobs mainly in regional Australia but it won't deliver anything for the environment.
This week we had the first announcement of a plant closing largely because of Labor's CPRS. It was a cement mill in Rockhampton. Other cement mills will also be under pressure because of the CPRS because cement is a significant emitter.
But as a result of the closure of that mill and potentially in the future other mills we'll start importing cement from China where the Chinese cement mills emit a whole lot more CO2 gas than Australian mills! So in effect we've cost Australian jobs but world emissions will actually go up.
BARRIE CASSIDY: So based on that conference resolution then you're not really interested in amendments are you? You just simply do not want an ETS.
WARREN TRUSS: Well if there are amendments that make improvements well we'll obviously be prepared to look at them. But we will not accept a scheme that destroys Australian jobs and doesn't deliver anything for the environment. And that's what Labor's scheme does.
We need to look very closely at what comes out of Copenhagen. If there is in fact a world agreement to adopt a particular approach to addressing climate change issues, clearly Australia has to be a part of that and we would accept that.
But for Australia with our little 1.25 per cent of world emissions thinking that if we take suicidal action in relation to our own industry, that everybody else in the world is going to follow suit, it's simply delusions of grandeur.
I know Kevin Rudd likes to strut on the world scene but no-one will be listening when Australia imposes a CPRS on our industry that they're not prepared to follow.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Many people would argue that this is perhaps the biggest policy decision facing the Federal Parliament in a very long time. And yet if you split with the Liberals on that policy you don't feel that that will damage the Coalition and the whole concept of a coalition?
WARREN TRUSS: Well this is a very important decision and that's why we need to stand up. We need to make sure that the people of regional Australia know that we care about their jobs.
We care about the environment but there are much, much better ways of dealing with climate change and reducing our CO2 emissions than through churning money through a new trading system and for that matter collecting a whole lot of tax for the government.
We need to take constructive steps and we've suggested a lot of those to actually get about the business of reducing CO2 emissions rather than inventing a new money churn.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Now on the Gorgon gas deal do you accept that it's unarguably a big deal for the country and especially for Western Australia?
WARREN TRUSS: Oh yes it is a big deal. It's a big trade deal and we welcome it enthusiastically.
But you do need to keep it in perspective. Over this same period we'll export almost twice as many pharmaceuticals, twice as much wheat, twice as much beef.
So we do have a lot of other very important export sectors and they need to be encouraged and supported as well. And I wish our Government would talk as enthusiastically about our agricultural exports and our industrial exports as they have about this project.
BARRIE CASSIDY: And does it underline the fact that we can have a two track relationship with China; we can have a business economic relationship on the one hand and a sort of political diplomatic relationship on the other?
WARREN TRUSS: Yes we can although there will obviously be risks. There is a risk that if the diplomatic relationship deteriorates too much further that it will have an impact also on our negotiations.
It will certainly also have an impact on our capacity to extend our objectives in China. For instance we've been wanting China to break down its foreign investment rules, give more opportunities for Australian banks etc. And in this current environment it's unlikely that we'll achieve those sorts of objectives.
When you get to a stage where our Prime Minister won't have his calls answered by his counterparts in other parts of the world, when our trade deal, our proposed FTA with China hasn't had any meetings for six months we do have some serious problems and that will have its implications.
But that doesn't mean that we won't continue to be able to make some good deals where there is an imperative on both sides for that deal to proceed and that's clearly the case in this instance.
China wants our gas. This project needs a major customer if it is to get off the ground and those two elements have moved together to enable this big deal to be agreed to.
BARRIE CASSIDY: We've heard a variety of opinions from the Opposition this week. Which school of thought do you support? Is Kevin Rudd being too tough on China or too soft on China?
WARREN TRUSS: Well I think he's just bungled the relationship altogether...
BARRIE CASSIDY: But in which way?
WARREN TRUSS: At one stage...
BARRIE CASSIDY: In what way?
WARREN TRUSS: Well on one hand he tells the Australian people he's got a special friendship with China but clearly he's managed to offend the Chinese by his hot and cold approach, his lack of consistency on issues.
There has been a failure to focus on things that really matter also for Australia such as the free trade agreement. So that relationship is in poor shape.
And what concerns me...
BARRIE CASSIDY: But sorry just back on that point though, do you think that he should be more careful and not offend China? Is that what our political leaders should do?
WARREN TRUSS: Well of course we stand up for Australia. Australia's interests are what our Prime Minister should be standing up for.
But overseas he has been championing Chinese causes on occasions and so it's been this inconsistency of message that I think has worried the Chinese.
Now we, I'm also concerned that his neglect of Japan over the years - and bear in mind Japan is still our number one export customer - that that has also been a serious error of judgment.
We need our relationship with Japan. We need to have a number of countries for which we have strong trading relationships. We should not become unduly tied to China as though it is our only customer and the only place where we can trade.
We need to be strongly supporting our relationship with Japan, maintaining that, a 50-year agreement. We need to be looking at the new opportunities in India and other parts of Asia and not become just too China-centric.
BARRIE CASSIDY: Warren Truss thanks for your time this morning.
WARREN TRUSS: You're very welcome.
