TRANSCRIPT

Of

THE HON PETER COSTELLO MP

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR HIGGINS

Doorstop

Malvern

10.20 am

E & OE

SUBJECTS:      Poker machines, local crime

JOURNALIST:

Mr Costello how big a scourge on Victoria are poker machines?

MR COSTELLO:

Poker machines are the most regressive form of taxation.  They are designed to take from the poor and give to the rich – the operators and the State Government which is engorging itself on poker machine revenue.  Now there is no need for the State Government to do this.  With the GST every single dollar of which goes to the State Labor Governments around Australia they have a booming revenue base.  They should be using that revenue base to reduce their reliance on poker machines rather than to heighten their reliance upon them.

JOURNALIST:

And the issue of violence in Chapel Street (inaudible)?

MR COSTELLO:

Look violence in Chapel Street is a very big concern not only to the residents of this area but to Victorians generally.  Now you can crack down on street violence if you want to.  It doesn’t cost that much money.  Closed circuit television cameras which everybody knows are there can capture incidents in real time as they are occurring and the police can come and break them up. 

Secondly it provides a video record which can be used as evidence in court to prosecute and punish the offenders.  During this campaign I made a big pledge for closed circuit television to crack down on the nightclub district of Chapel Street, Prahran.  I urge Mr Rudd and the Labor Government to deliver on that promise.  Put the cameras up.  Make sure that we can actually stop the violence before it begins and prosecute it afterwards.

JOURNALIST:

Mr Costello you spoke of renewal in your acceptance speech.  Should the Coalition have renewed itself going into the election with maybe you as Leader?

MR COSTELLO:

Well look I think it’s important that political parties renew themselves and if you don’t renew yourself then the electorate will renew you in its own way.  And that is what the electorate has done.  It has voted in a new government not because the Coalition was doing a bad job, in fact, in economic terms Australia is in its best economic state probably in its history.  But the electorate wanted a sense of renewal and they voted in a new government.  We had the opportunity to do renewal, we didn’t do it and the electorate did it for us.

JOURNALIST:

Will you stay Member for Higgins for the entirety of the term?

MR COSTELLO:

I intend to continue to serve the people of Higgins.  I have pledged myself to do that.  I have been out in the electorate over the last couple of weeks and it’s a great honour and a great privilege to do so.

JOURNALIST:

Some say you are going to stay on the backbench for a couple of years and then make another tilt at the leadership. What do you say to that?

MR COSTELLO:

Oh well look there are all sorts of wild theories floating around.  I am not going to comment on all of them.  But I said…

JOURNALIST:

You are not going to deny it then?

MR COSTELLO:

I said that I would continue to serve the people of Higgins and I will continue to serve the people of Higgins.

JOURNALIST:

For a full term.

MR COSTELLO:

Well I will continue to serve them.

JOURNALIST:

Are you missing the leadership role?

MR COSTELLO:

Actually this has given me the opportunity to spend more time in the electorate with my constituents and it is actually something I enjoyed very much being down at the local Solway Primary School opening their facilities, facilities funded by a programme which I introduced, talking to the shopkeepers about the importance of closed circuit televisions is actually very rewarding and very fulfilling.

JOURNALIST:

What is the state of the Libs at the moment?

MR COSTELLO:

Well I think it is very important that the Liberal Party get behind its new leadership of Brendan Nelson and Julie Bishop.  I think it is very important that the Liberal Party hold Labor accountable. 

Mr Rudd for example promised that he would ease pressure on petrol prices which I notice have gone up significantly.  He said he would ease pressure on grocery prices which I notice have gone up significantly.  I think it is very important that the Liberal Party hold Mr Rudd to all of his promises.  He won votes by promising to keep petrol prices down – hold him to that promise.  He won votes by promising to keep food prices down – hold him to that promise.

Make sure that as an Opposition you hold the Government accountable for all of the promises that it made during the election.

JOURNALIST:

How do you think he’s handling the issue of climate change and the Kyoto negotiations?

MR COSTELLO:

I think once you actually get into negotiating climate change treaties it is a lot more complicated than it looks from the outside and I think the new Government is finding that.  And it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try, of course we should try.  But it can’t be done overnight.  It can’t be done with the wave of a wand.  If it is going to be successful it is going to have to bring in the United States and China.  These are countries that we don’t control and that’s why it is going to be important that we have good negotiation, that we always have an eye for our own national interest:- let me tell you, every other country is going to have an eye for its national interest.  But if we work co-operatively it will be in the interests of the globe.

JOURNALIST:

Is it bittersweet today accepting the seat of Higgins without the added privilege of being Treasurer?

MR COSTELLO:

Well I am honoured to have been re-elected in Higgins.  There was a swing in Higgins of 1.6 per cent – with a national swing of 1.6 per cent we would have been re-elected but the national swing was 5.6 per cent and we were defeated.  And so I am honoured and I am privileged to have been re-elected but it is a disappointment to me that the Government was defeated.

JOURNALIST:

(inaudible) corporate Australia for yourself.  How are those opportunities going?

MR COSTELLO:

I will let you know in due course.

JOURNALIST:

You will stick around?

MR COSTELLO:

Thank you very much.