TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW WITH LAURA JAYS, FIRST EDITION ON SKY NEWS, 5 February 2020
E&EO
Subjects: Leadership, Ministerial appointments, Bushfires, Regional Development;
LAURA JAYES:
You’ve been given the support of the party room for a third time, what do you plan to do with it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Indeed, I put myself up for re-election to The National Party three times in less than two years and three times the party has endorsed me. And going forward, as has always been, what I've wanted to do is to make sure that regional Australians are the focus. Regional Australians don't want to have people who are sent here to Canberra being self-indulgent. They don’t want people who are sent here to Canberra talking about themselves. They want their issues addressed. That's always been my focus, whether it's the drought, whether it's the bushfires. Whatever the case is, making sure that the infrastructure is delivered, building dams, the Inland Rail, that has been my sole focus. I've never concentrated on the leadership speculation that has so fascinated some sections of the media and indeed, I appreciate that yesterday was probably necessary to take place, it's taken place. Barnaby has pledged his loyalty. He said he won’t re-challenge. We now need to draw a line under it and move on and make sure as members of The National Party, we concentrate on the people who matter most and that's the people we serve.
LAURA JAYES:
Do you believe him?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yep, absolutely. I take people, particularly country people. I take them on their word, you have to.
LAURA JAYES:
Have you been sent a message by your party room though, that things do dramatically need to change? And at the outset of this interview, I didn't hear anything new of what you weren't saying before yesterday's vote. So do you have any dramatic changes in mind?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, when you say dramatic last May, in the election, we returned every one of the 16 National Party seats, two of which – Cowper for Pat Conaghan and Mallee for Anne Webster – were seats which we transitioned from sitting incumbents and we retained those seats and we did that because I went round, each and every one of those seats. The National Party members who put their hands up spoke to people, more importantly, listened to people and worried and concentrated on what those people wanted. Not necessarily any other agendas, but just making sure that for each and every electorate because they're all different, that delivery was done for that particular electorate and you look at Ken O’Dowd and George Christensen and Michelle Landry, they now enjoy margins that they could once have only dreamt about. I think that comes also from the top, it starts at the top and I know that those electorates and people in those electorates were very pleased to see their National Party people returned. And I know that when I went to those electorates they were very pleased to see me turn up too, because we turned up and we listened to them about the things that were important to them. Not necessarily the things that were important maybe to the Canberra bubble, but the things that were important to them.
LAURA JAYES:
Mr McCormack, you cannot blame the Canberra bubble. Surely, you read the papers. You’ve seen what your colleagues have had to say about you both publicly and privately. There is – it's not just a media fiction, there is some frustration with the way you conduct yourself with your leadership. So what are you going to change? Is there anything policy wise you have in mind?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, when you say conduct yourself with your leadership – during the summer I visited just about every firefront from September right through. I didn't take a whole heap of television cameras with me and I got out there. I put my arms around people. I listened to what they wanted and when I went to South Arm, and Rebecca Beverley told me that she needed a counsellor, I made sure that I got straight on to Greg Hunt right there and then and we had one for that community. When I went to other areas and I needed a generator. I got that for them. I think that sort of delivery is very much appreciative and yes, none of us are perfect and of course as a politician and as a leader, I’m not perfect. We're all flawed. I never suggested that I was perfect. And yes, we can all take learnings from these sorts of experiences and I will but I can’t work any harder. I may be able to work a little bit smarter perhaps but I can't work any harder. I'm out there every day delivering for regional Australians whether that is the Inland Rail or whether it's Dungowan Dam or heightening the wall at Wyangala. Making sure that Emu Swamp Dam is going to be delivered in Stanthorpe. Making sure that those vital water infrastructure projects are delivered in the north of Queensland. That's the sort of leader that I'm going to be and continue to be.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay, is The National Party capable of mending these rifts? And I sense a bit of frustration about what I just put to you has anyone actually brought these things up with you personally in one to one meetings rather than doing it through the media?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, you're always going to get free, frank and unfiltered advice from colleagues from time to time and that's welcomed. I do get disappointed sometimes with some of the backgrounding that does get done and that’s not just National Party members doing it. I think a lot of politicians do it. I've never been one to when a journalist has said to me just on background. I've always put my name to everything I've ever said and that's always been my style. Maybe it's because I'm an ex-journalist, I don’t know and I think that if people are going to say something and have a view put your name to it, and whether you're National, Liberal, Labor, Greens, whatever the case might be, put your name to what you say. If you believe in it that much, put your name behind it.
LAURA JAYES:
There's a big schism in The National Party now where's the evidence that you as leader and your party is capable of mending this rift from the what we read this morning, you've only rewarded your backers.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I haven't rewarded anybody. I haven't even decided who is going to be in the ministry. I'm sorry that Matt Canavan has stood down. He has done an excellent job as the Resources Minister, I'm sorry, that Bridget McKenzie – that this has happened. She's done a great job as Australia's first female Agriculture Minister. I'm very, very pleased that I'm in The National Party, where we've got so much talent. So much talent and so much talent to draw upon when we do look at these ministry positions from time to time, but we can't all be in the ministry and those…
LAURA JAYES:
Well you didn’t mention Barnaby Joyce there. He is arguably one of your most well-known and talented backbenchers. Why didn't you consider or are you considering putting him on the front bench and back in the cabinet?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, I'm considering all of those who currently aren't in the ministry, except of course Matt Canavan who has himself tendered in his resignation of his commission and of course, Bridget McKenzie, who has done the same. But I haven't determined who is going to be in the ministry as yet. Yesterday, I had a number of important meetings and of course, yesterday the focus, as it quite rightly should have been on the bushfires and particularly those bushfire volunteers and firefighters who lost their lives.
LAURA JAYES:
Will you be going to Question Time today with those positions still vacant?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, it depends on how much work I have to do this morning.
LAURA JAYES:
Is this not a priority?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I won’t be making any announcements before Question Time, I don't believe at this stage. I still have to talk to a few colleagues as I say, yesterday was a very busy day and we had very important meetings about Coronavirus and other issues and of course, I know the Prime Minister is going to be addressing National Suicide Prevention in the ADF very soon and these are important measures. These are the sorts of things that people, the voters, constituents, and people out there want us to be addressing and we are.
LAURA JAYES:
Apparently according to some of your colleagues, Nationals voters want you to talk more about what you're going to do to support coal. And we heard that from Matt Canavan. He suggested that you weren't doing enough to fight for coal. So what are you doing?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I've always, always made sure that that the importance of coal was recognised – $62 billion of exports that provide a lot for our state schools and state hospitals, 55,000 jobs, indeed two-thirds of our energy needs. I tell you, you can look at a lot of transcripts that I've said. You can look at a lot of interviews. I've never shied away from the fact that coal is important for Australia and I appreciate that Matt Canavan of course has talked a bit more about coal than I did because he was the Resources Minister, Minister for Northern Australia, where coal is such an important resource because it underpins the economies of so, so many communities. But there are lots of things as The National Party Leader, as the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Regional Development that I talk about, not least of which of course is coal, but importantly, Inland Rail, building more dams, they’re the sorts of things that I'm going to certainly continue to be focused on.
LAURA JAYES:
He and others want you to have a bigger fight with the Liberals. Perhaps it's a bit of product differentiation. Where have you differed from the Liberals in the last year on policy?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, those discussions will remain between Scott Morrison and I. I don't believe that airing dirty laundry…
LAURA JAYES:
[Interrupts] No, no, no, I am not asking for dirty laundry. I am asking for you to point to some outcomes as to where you differed and where you have been able to get your point of view actually put into place?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, indeed, since I came into this position the Rural Medical School for the Murray-Darling has been established. Now, that was never something that the Liberal Party, indeed that The Government was pushing for. But it certainly was a National Party policy going to benefit people who live in regional areas who have to sometimes wait a long time to see a GP or indeed, getting a car when they're ill and driving several hours to see a GP. Well, I brokered it. I brokered that. Previous leaders were not able to bring that about, but I did and I'm really proud of that and I was really so proud when I went to Orange recently where that first Rural Medical School is being built between Charles Sturt University and Western Sydney University. A very good collaboration there, which is going to benefit that community. And I know elsewhere that that Rural Medical School Network established in the Murray-Darling is going to make such a difference in the future for people who need to see a GP quicker than they can now. More doctors for the bush – trained in the bush.
LAURA JAYES:
Okay, last year, the Nats overwhelmingly wanted to have an extra $1 billion spent on drought. From what I can see in the end, you only got a fraction of that. Minimum milk prices, promise scoping study for the [inaudible], Murray-Darling water reallocation. Have you been too slow to act on these things?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
A lot of challenges, a lot of opportunities. I will just pick you up on one thing. A minimum milk price that does worry me a bit. Your floor price for milk – sometimes that becomes the accepted norm. When the industry – and it will pick up – but milk is something which I know Bridget McKenzie made sure the code of conduct and everything else that she did in this space was as it should be. And as the dairy industry itself wanted it to be. We've delivered that with that. We can't make it rain. But certainly we can build dams and certainly with even floods expected later this week, you know what a shame we haven't got some of those water infrastructure measures in place to actually capture that water when it falls because it will rain again and we will have good seasons return. What we need to do is make sure that we've got the water infrastructure in place. That's what I'm doing. Signed the three intergovernmental agreements. Not easy, particularly with two of the Labor states with the Inland Rail making such a difference for regional communities. There's been a lot we've ticked off in the last year and a lot we're going to be taking off in the next years to come.
LAURA JAYES:
Well fairly or unfairly in recent days you've been referred to as “Michael Who?”, “that guy” and even “boring” what would you prefer to be referred as going forward?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, it's funny because you know when you get up and have an argument in Parliament with Joel Fitzgibbon, you get accused of being shouty and angry. Sometimes you get accused of going too mild and I don't think there has been too many other Deputy Prime Ministers who have dressed up as Elvis to support a community affected by drought, such as Parkes which has 25,000 visitors for that festival. So I don't think you can accuse me of being too boring. Those who know me, they certainly don't say I'm too boring. I'm just happy to be Michael. I am who I am. I don't try to be Barnaby Joyce, I don't try to be Warren Truss. Every National Party leader has brought different things to the table but every National Party leader has always, always made sure that the important thing is not them. The important thing is regional Australians. Those people who we serve. Those people at the moment currently affected by drought. Those farmers who've lost everything through the bushfires all their businesses, in some cases their loved ones. That's my whole and sole focus.
LAURA JAYES:
Well, perhaps we’ll see a little bit more of Michael Elvis, who knows. Thanks so much for your time.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Maybe not, I think some people might not think that is such a good thing. Thanks, Laura. Thank you