E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW

CANBERRA AIRPORT
MONDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

 

SUBJECT/S: Liberal Party’s chaos and division

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull at the next election?

BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: I just wish the Liberal Party would get on with doing their day job of running the Australian economy well. It’s not which salesman the Liberal Party pick that matters to Australia, it’s what they’re trying to sell Australians. Growth is down, unemployment is up, confidence is down and all we see is this ugly spectacle of Mr Abbott trying to save his job and other people in his own party, the Liberal Party, tearing Mr Abbott down. It is long overdue for the Liberal Party of Australia to start focussing on the jobs of ordinary Australians, not just their own jobs.

JOURNALIST: How realistic is the prospect of an early election?

SHORTEN: Again, this is the terrible dysfunction at the heart of the Liberal Government. We see that unemployment – as I said – is up, we know that there are $100,000 degrees proposed by the Liberal Party, there are terrible cuts to our schools and our hospitals, and most importantly Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull and the rest of them seem to have no plan for Australia, they’re just worried about their own jobs. It’s not good enough.

Thank you.

ENDS

 

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