Transcript: ABC Breakfast with Michael Rowland, 15 April 2019
EO&E
Subjects: Election, wombat trail, Newspoll, NSW election, One Nation preferencing, The National Party, George Christensen
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Let's turn to Federal politics now. Whilst Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten are visiting marginal seats in Victoria. The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack is keeping an eye on events further north.
He joins us now from beautiful Tweed Heads just across the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Good morning to you, who do you have with you there?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I’ve got Mathew Fraser, The Nationals Candidate for Richmond and we are in Ebaneza Park which is the northern-most point of the Richmond electorate.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Dare I ask, what are you holding?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I'm holding the wombat. Now the wombat has been on The Nationals’ Wombat Trail every election, when we go on the hustings as the Nationals’ Leader we take the wombat with us so it's a real iconic mascot for The National Party. Every National Party leader for many years past right back to Ian Sinclair as I understand has taken this wooden animal with us but perhaps more importantly I’ve got Matthew Fraser with me, so he’s a little bit more important than the wombat this morning but certainly, it’s great to have the wombat. Better still, having Mathew Fraser with me.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
If he's a good luck charm, you'll certainly need it. The latest Newspoll has the Coalition losing 10 seats. How many of those do you fear will be National Party seats?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I’m sure if Gladys Berejiklian had have looked at the polling, if Steven Marshall in South Australia, if Will Hodgman had have looked at the polling in Tasmania, they would have given up the ghost but you know what, they all won and they all won majority government and they're doing a fantastic job. I don't worry about polling. There’s only one poll that matters and that’s the one on Election Day, May 18. Bring it on.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Taking your argument further, we all saw what happened on New South Wales Election Day. The National Party was whacked in seats like Barwon and Murray with voters there deeply disaffected and deeply unhappy at The National Party. Your party, many have felt, has taken them for granted for so long. Do you expect that to translate to the federal poll?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
National Party members never take their people for granted. Never take their seats for granted. I’ve got Matthew Fraser here with me who’s having his third crack at the seat of Richmond and I know how determined he is to win this seat and how determined he is to represent those 8,000 retirees who are going to be affected by Labor's unfair retiree tax here in Richmond. But right across the state, right across the nation, National Party members are getting in there, delivering the infrastructure that country people want, need, expect and deserve. And that’s what we always do. We always turn up. Yes, we’ve got big electorates. Yes we’ve got big challenges. Of course, the drought has taken a real terrible toll on our electorates and on our people. But we're standing side-by-side with them and we’ll help them through this.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
One Nation in this Newspoll, its popularity is falling. Why don't you follow the Prime Minister's lead and put One Nation last on how to vote cards in Queensland?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We've always at a local level, at an electorate level, seat by seat, been able to choose where our preferences should flow and where our preferences should go. I'm not intending for National Party preferences to actually even be counted. I would like to think that most National Party candidates, because they're such good candidates, they’ll finish first or second. But indeed, we’ve always chosen at a seat by seat local level, taking into account of course our state divisions, because we're a state-based party made up of local candidates, and so we'll be choosing our preferences at a local level and I believe that the Greens should be put last - always. They've always been last on my how to vote cards. They'll continue to be last on my how to vote cards because I believe they represent the greatest danger to the people I serve, that we serve. They want to shut down farming. They want to make sure our abattoirs can't process meat. They want to put unfair emission reduction targets in place. They want to stop farming, stop agriculture and shut down regional Australia. I won't stand for that. The Greens should go last and they certainly will in my seat and I know a Iot of my colleagues will put them there too, as they should.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Since the 2016 election your former leader Barnaby Joyce left his family for a staffer, with whom he had a baby. National Party MP Andrew Broad was caught out sending those salacious text messages on a Sugar Daddy site. Michael McCormack, you certainly can't market The National Party as a party for family values.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We can certainly market The National Party as a party that delivers. Delivers infrastructure, delivers better roads, dams, we’ve got half a billion dollar son the table for dams at the moment.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
But I'm asking about family parties - you can't sell yourself as the party that sells family values given those factors I've raised.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
The fact is I stand by strong family values. The fact is I stand by strong traditional values. I know my colleagues do too. We're getting on with the job of what people want us to do in country Australia and that's deliver for them. And yesterday I was with George Christensen and Michelle Landry announcing Urannah Dam. That’s been talked about since 1967 and you know what? We’re delivering it. That's what we do. We put the water storage infrastructure in place, better roads, lower taxes, better health services. That's what The National Party stands for. That’s our true values. That's what we'll always stand for.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
George Christensen, you mentioned there. Do you have any problem with him spending 300 days in the Philippines as opposed to his electorate of Dawson in a four-year period?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
He hasn't been overseas since July last year. I’ve had a chat to George. He's concentrating on his electorate. He’s concentrating on jobs on his electorate and that's what I want my members to be focused on, in their electorates concentrating on making sure there are jobs and I just tell you what, I put the challenge out there to Labor members in North and Central Queensland. Do they stick up for jobs? Do they stick up for the mining sector? I think not. I certainly know Ken O’Dowd, George Christensen and Michelle Landry and others LNP Members who sit with The National Party, they stick up for the mining sector, they stick up for those mining jobs. They always will.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
It isn't a good look for George Christensen though.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well he hasn't been overseas since mid-last year.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
I know but what does that say about the electorate over the last four years?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well let’s not worry about that. I'm not looking beyond that. I’m looking towards the here and now and the future and I know George Christensen is too. He’s a fierce fighter in his electorate. He will continue to be that and you know, he was there yesterday at Kinchant Dam talking about Urannah Dam, that's something that's been talked about for decades. We're delivering. The National Party once again achieving and delivering.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Michael McCormack, only two of your 22 National Party members and senators are women. Who are the women you've selected for winnable seats in the lower house?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Anne Webster in Mallee is certainly going to give a great account of herself down there. I know Susan McDonald, LNP in Queensland, she's going to be there. Katrina Hodgson in Gilmore, I know she’s in there with a fighting chance. We’ve got Diana Hutchinson down in Tassie. What a great candidate she is. We’ve got candidates in the Northern Territory. Jacinta’s up there. She’s going to be fighting hard for better representation. Sam McMahon. It’s going to be a whole new look National Party after the election. And of course Bridgette McKenzie and Michelle Landry. They’re both Ministers. They’re both doing a grand job. We’ve got many, many women who are going to make an outstanding, an outstanding job of getting elected and an outstanding contribution once they are elected. There’s more too. More women that are just that so I’m really looking forward to being with them after the election.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You and your wombat. Michael McCormack, thank you for joining us.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Pleasure.