21 July 2013
Subjects: Election date, Kevin Rudd’s PNG solution, Australia-Indonesia relationship, gender war, regional FTAs, live cattle exports, Labor’s debt
E&OE…
MICHAEL MCCLAREN Good morning Julie.
JULIE BISHOP Hello, how are you today Michael?
MICHAEL MCCLAREN I’m fine thanks. How are you?
JULIE BISHOP Very well indeed.
MICHAEL MCCLAREN My mail is that the election will be August the 24th and we’ll probably see Kevin Rudd go to the Governor General on Monday to confirm that. Have you heard anything?
JULIE BISHOP Well according to Sportsbet the odds are shortening for the 24th of August or the 31st of August, but the Prime Minister should put us all out of our misery. Call an election so we can return certainty and stability to the heart of government by electing the Coalition.
MICHAEL MCCLAREN I don’t know if that’s exactly what he’s got in mind but I like the line.
Talking about certainty and stability, let’s look at a few issues this morning that people are uncertain about, that there certainly is a lack of stability about that there certainly is a lack of stability about, and I suppose it’s most poignant to start with the issue of asylum seekers.
Kevin Rudd’s had a number of positions on this, hasn’t he?
JULIE BISHOP Well I think this latest announcement about the Papua New Guinea ‘fix” is their seventh or eighth. You might recall that they had a processing freeze on Afghans and Sri Lankans back in 2010. Then there was the farcical East Timor solution. Then there was the Malaysian solution that was struck down by the High Court. Then I think they had another processing freeze. Then they had their Houston Panel and now they’ve got this deal with Papua New Guinea.