TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

ROCKLEA MARKETS, BRISBANE

Subjects: Visit to the Rocklea Markets; flood recovery; Warren Rodwell; industrial relations; Julia Gillard's carbon tax.

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

TONY ABBOTT:

It's good to be here at the Brisbane Markets this morning. I want to thank everyone associated with the Brisbane Markets for making me so welcome. This is my ... fourth visit to the Brisbane Markets; my third since last year's floods. About a year ago, this spot where we are standing was under about a metre of water. The water did enormous damage to these markets as it did to so many homes and businesses throughout Brisbane and of course there were floods and cyclones that did enormous damage in other parts of Queensland, too.

It has been a long and arduous recovery. You look at these markets, you'd think they are fully recovered but lots of businesses lost hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions of dollars, most of which was not covered by insurance. So, it's important to appreciate on this anniversary of the floods just what an important role businesses like this, markets like this, serve in our community. We have a normal life because the people who work in these markets work very long hours, very unsocial hours, so that we can have the normal life that we take for granted. I think it's very important that Australians remember, at about the anniversary of the floods, just how tough the people of Brisbane, the Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and other parts of Queensland have had it over the last twelve months. It's very important that all levels of government, that all institutions, be conscious of the trauma suffered by the people of Queensland, particularly the people who were directly affected in places like this.

Of course, one of the things that the floods have done is impacted on confidence. It's important that wherever possible, all levels of government create the sort of stability and certainty which is necessary for confidence and which, in turn, is necessary for prosperity to grow. Stability breeds confidence. Confidence breeds prosperity. That is the sort of thing that the Opposition wants to promote as far as is humanly possible and that's the kind of message that you'll be getting from me over the year ahead. Stability breeds confidence which breeds prosperity. Any questions?

QUESTION:

Mr Abbott, the Australian man in the Philippines, Warren Rodwell, has released a proof of life video pleading for help from the Ambassador. Should the Government be doing more to help?

TONY ABBOTT:

This is a delicate and dangerous situation with a human life in the balance. I believe the Government is doing everything it reasonably can and it naturally in these circumstances has the full support of the Opposition.

QUESTION:

Do you support the Government helping to raise a ransom?

TONY ABBOTT:

I'm just not going to comment on the details of this situation. I'm not going to comment on particular demands that may have been made, particular measures that may be in contemplation. It's a very difficult, delicate, dangerous situation. A human life is in the balance and I think the less public commentary the better.

QUESTION:

On another topic, the DP World Port in Melbourne is locking out workers. Should the Government intervene?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think that it's important to try to ensure that we have as far as is humanly possibly a strife-free workplace and one of the things that I was very proud of as a minister in the former government, was our record in getting industrial disputation down to historic lows. When I was the Workplace Relations Minister, workplace disputes were at an historic low. My successors in the Howard Government in that role got the dispute rate down even further. Now, unfortunately, since the Government changed and the new Act was brought in, the rate of industrial disputation has increased. In some cases it's increased quite sharply and I think it is important for Government to address these problems and I hope that the review of the Fair Work Act which the Government is undertaking will look at all of the areas where it seems that the Act is deficient: productivity, flexibility and militancy. These are all areas where the Act appears to be deficient and I hope the review will address them.

QUESTION:

Should the Government get involved in this particular incident, though?

TONY ABBOTT:

I think that it's very important that the Government do whatever it reasonably can to ensure that we have a stable and harmonious workplace environment and increasingly that's not the case. Now, I said twelve months ago that it was very important for people in the community to come forward and explain what they thought were the problems with the Government's industrial regime. Increasingly, people are highlighting the difficulties. I think that's a very good thing and the Opposition will in good time respond to the kind of practical problems that we see in our economy as a result of this Act.

QUESTION:

You spoke about businesses needing stability and certainty. Some people within industry have said it might be difficult and awkward to roll back the carbon tax. So, would you listen to concerns and possibly keep that in if you did gain power?

TONY ABBOTT:

The best certainty is the certainty of no carbon tax and that's the certainty that the Coalition promises. The carbon tax will be rescinded in its entirety by an incoming Coalition Government. The first order of business for an incoming Coalition Government will be the scrapping of the carbon tax and everything associated with it. Now, this carbon tax is going to impact in every nook and cranny of our economy. I've spent the last day with Nolan's Transport. Nolan's is just one transport company. The fuel bill alone of Nolan's will go up by over a million dollars a year as a result of the carbon tax. That's going to make it harder for the growers. It's going to make it harder for the market sellers. It's going to make it harder for the retailers, for the wholesalers. Every transaction in this country is going to be impacted by the carbon tax. Everything that people do or buy is going to be impacted by the carbon tax. That's why the best thing we can do to promote certainty and stability is to stop Labor's big new taxes starting with the carbon tax.

QUESTION:

So, if you do get a lot of concerns from business groups saying maybe once it's in it should stay in, you'll ignore it?

TONY ABBOTT:

Have you ever met anyone who says, "I want to keep a tax?" I mean, the thing that everyone wants to do is get taxes down, get taxes off. Lower, simpler, fairer, fewer taxes - that's what the Coalition is on about.

Thanks very much.