TRANSCRIPT - Interview with John Mackenzie of 4CA in Cairns regarding Wild Rivers and the Liberal National Party

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TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON SEN. IAN MACDONALD
INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MACKENZIE, 4CA, CAIRNS

Subjects: Queensland LNP; Wild Rivers Legislation

John Mackenzie: I’m now introducing to the microphone the Liberal Party Senator for Queensland Ian Macdonald, hello Ian.

Senator Macdonald: Good afternoon John.

John Mackenzie: Where do you sit? (in Canberra)

Senator Macdonald: Well, I’m a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland which is the federal division of the Liberal Party of Australia - but in Canberra I sit with the Liberal Party whereas some of my LNP colleagues sit with the National Party - and that’s fine.

John Mackenzie: It can be confusing…

Senator Macdonald: It can be.

John Mackenzie: I want to talk to you about a different issue and its something you might have a view on, now Aidan McLindon has been on the program this morning, I believe his rattling of the cage in the LNP in Queensland was timely. What’s your view?

Senator Macdonald: Well look it is a state issue which I’m not really competent to comment on. I heard Warren (Entsch) say, and I agree with him, that in the Liberal Party we do have a right to an independent view. At the same time we have to be cautious that we are working as a united team. It’s very important that within our own party circles we do have very robust discussions and debates and even disagreements. In the public though - the public do often like to see that they are dealing with a united team. So it’s a double edged sword that one. Its good to be different, its good to have a different view, but the people really want to see the State Opposition speaking with one voice in a united approach.

John Mackenzie: (inaudible)

Senator Macdonald: They certainly want to do that, but…

John Mackenzie: (inaudible)

Senator Macdonald: Well indeed that’s also true, but John-Paul Langbroek is a great leader. He’s not on of these flashy, run-off at the mouth, promise everything type of politicians. I think the short time he has been there he has done well. I think they’re a good team together. We can all do better at times, there’s no doubt about that, but you know its something that has to be handled very carefully.

John Mackenzie: You’ve called on the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to debate Wild Rivers laws rather than that ETS global warming thing, I don’t like your chances, a snowflakes chance in hell.

Senator Macdonald: Well look John, there are a couple of very important issues around at the moment and what are we doing the first week we’re back in Parliament? We’ve got a string of legislation that needs to be addressed, and a couple of important issues I want to come on to, but instead Mr Rudd is going to waste the first week of Parliament debating a piece of legislation that has already been through the Parliament for about a total of seven or eight weeks of debate. Its been comprehensively rejected twice. At Copenhagen it became obvious it was all an absolute farce, that Mr Rudd was the only one ‘in-step’, that the rest of the world was apparently ‘out-of-step’. It’s become ridiculous. And yet we are going to waste the first week of valuable parliamentary time debating something that has already been rejected when we should be addressing the real issues. And there are two of them. One of them is this youth allowance - for country kids particularly - to be able to go ahead and start their university career knowing that they’ll be able to afford it and that they might be able to get a commonwealth scholarship. The government has dragged the chain on that. And the other one is the Wild Rivers Legislation, John, that I know you and your listeners have been incensed about for years. Tony Abbott has taken up on behalf of indigenous people and indeed on behalf of all of us in the North, taken up the baton on the Wild Rivers. He wants to introduce federal legislation to override Anna Bligh and Labor’s state legislation and get rid of that Wild Rivers legislation so that indigenous people can actually work their own land. He introduced that private members bill. If Mr Rudd is serious about helping indigenous people he should be actually supporting Tony Abbott. I’m hopeful that he will. It is as you say unlikely, but we live in hope.

John Mackenzie: Its also contentious because you may be setting a dangerous precedent in the view of others, I mean states rights even though you might not particularly agree with the direction the Bligh government might be taking if states get rolled by a federal government, I mean what sort of precedent is it establishing. Could it be done time and time again?

Senator Macdonald: John that’s generally a fair comment. In this case there has been so much comment about how indigenous people are not being helped, Mr Rudd himself talked about, if I can quote him, “unless the great symbolism of reconciliation is accompanied by an even greater substance it is little more than a clanging gong” and the International Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, to which Australia is a signatory, provides amongst other things the right to “own, use develop, and control their own lands”. Now Australia has signed up the that and yet a state Government has come in and passed legislation that prevents, the Australian Government, the Australian people and indigenous people from taking advantage of that Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, an international treaty, and one of those Australia has actually signed up to.

John Mackenzie: With the private members bill, with the numbers you see there at the moment in Canberra, what do you think the breakdown might end up being on this if you had to have a guess?

Senator Macdonald: Well, I would suspect at the moment John - I’m hopeful this would change - but I’d suspect that because it’s not Mr Rudd’s idea that he won’t support it, it doesn’t matter how good it is. So I think it will just – in the House of Representatives – fall along party lines and the Labor party obviously has a majority. But mind you we have the Senate. And in the Senate you do get genuine debate on serious topics like this. I’m hopeful that in the Senate we might be able to get the Bill actually passed, which would then put additional pressure on Mr Rudd to reconsider it in the lower house and I’m very hopeful that the politics can be pushed aside and that we can actually do something as a national Parliament that does genuinely assist indigenous people.

John Mackenzie: We all live in hope Ian.

Senator Macdonald: We certainly do and I’m forever optimistic. Look I’d like to see Jim Turnour come out and say something about this. I mean Jim currently represents those people. It’s clear they do not support the state legislation. There is a way around it, and I’d like to see Jim Turnour actually come out and demand that Mr Rudd support this bill, or, alternatively I’d be happy if Mr Rudd wants to take it over. If he says ‘look I won’t vote for Tony Abbott’s bill, but I’ll take the over the bill, make it my bill and we can all go forward’ I’d be happy with that and I’d like to see Jim Turnour in there fighting for his constituents.

John Mackenzie: My show will be being picked up in his office and will be in front of him in about five minutes…

Senator Macdonald: Well I hope so, and in all seriousness, you know Jim could do something really good for indigenous people, something practical on the ground that would help them get off the welfare gravy train, that’s what they want to do, what we all want to happen. Jim could help with that by getting involved in the argument and demanding publicly that Mr Rudd supports this bill.

John Mackenzie: Thanks Ian.

END

1 February 2010

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