Sabra Lane reported this story on Thursday, August 9, 2012 08:04:00

TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has argued the Prime Minister's attack on the states this week to rein in the cost of electricity assets was worthy of a gold medal in hypocrisy.



He argues that the national energy regulator signed off on the increased prices for poles and wires and that ultimately was Julia Gillard's fault.



Mr Abbott has discussed that issue - among others - with our chief political correspondent Sabra Lane.



SABRA LANE: Tony Abbott, thanks for talking to AM.



TONY ABBOTT: Thanks Sabra.



SABRA LANE: Do you believe the state governments have been gold plating their electricity infrastructure and raising revenue through power bills?



TONY ABBOTT: If they have, why hasn't the Federal Government been telling us this for years? We've now had this current Government in power for five years and why is this the first time they've ever raised this so-called problem?



SABRA LANE: Your energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane said on Tuesday that the states had been price gouging. He said that this was an issue and said the Prime Minister was a latecomer. The energy regulator himself has said prices are too high but his hands are tied. What would you do about it?



TONY ABBOTT: Well I'd abolish the carbon tax. That's what I'd do.



SABRA LANE: But specifically on the regulator and the fact that he also says his hands are tied.



TONY ABBOTT: Yeah but if we're worried about power prices Sabra, what is impacting on power prices now that wasn't impacting before is the carbon tax. So if we're serious about getting power prices down we would be dropping the carbon tax.



SABRA LANE: But a large percentage increase of power bills over the last five years have been apparently due to this gold plating of electricity assets. You'd do nothing about it?



TONY ABBOTT: Well the last thing you would want would be to see power black-outs or power brown-outs. We want certainly security of supply here.



But the point I make Sabra is that we've never heard about this for five years. Now the Prime Minister, she's in a desperate jam over her carbon tax and the carbon tax's impact on prices, she's blaming everyone but herself for this problem.



SABRA LANE: Well the regulator was set up under the Howard government with the states in 2006. It was a product of the Coalition government. What would you do about it? You're saying that you wouldn't touch it?



TONY ABBOTT: Well the problem is not the regulation of power prices. The problem is the carbon tax putting up power prices.



And you see Sabra the Prime Minister has a smile on her face every time the power bill goes up because the whole point of the carbon tax is to raise the price on power.



SABRA LANE: But by what you're saying here this morning, you're saying that this issue isn't a problem even though the regulator himself has pointed out that he's been in effect powerless to do anything about it even though he's known it's been a problem too for 14 months.



TONY ABBOTT: This is a fabrication by the Prime Minister. This is an absolute furphy from the Prime Minister. Why should we believe the Prime Minister now about so-called gold plating of power infrastructure when she's never talked about it for the last five years?



And why can we believe anything this Prime Minister says? Let's face it, she told us before the last election there would be no carbon tax and there is. She told us that prices wouldn't go up and they are going up.



Now she tells us that it's not the carbon tax. Well obviously it is the carbon tax which is driving up power prices.



SABRA LANE: Is the risk of an occasional brown-out acceptable in a first world country like Australia?



TONY ABBOTT: I think it's very important that we have security of energy supply and I don't think any rational power supplier would be overdoing it. They would be putting in as much investment as is needed to ensure that they properly do their job.



And look the Prime Minister it's worth pointing out is giving us a very different tune on investment in power supply to that which she gives us on investment in the national broadband network.



SABRA LANE: On that national broadband network, the company has revealed a blow-out in the cost of the NBN. But the company says that's because of the initial extra costs of a deal that it's done with Optus which will see an extra 500,000 customers connected.



TONY ABBOTT: Well the facts about the NBN are it's over cost, it's behind schedule and it's underutilised - all the things that the Coalition predicted about the NBN, the nationalised broadband network.



The last thing we need is a nationalised telecommunications monopoly. Sure we all want better broadband services but that's what we've been getting over time from the market. And this is plainly a massive over investment and it's massively inefficient.



SABRA LANE: Are you worried that a series of three-cornered contests, one possibly involving Angry Anderson, could derail much of the Coalition's federal election preparation in New South Wales?



TONY ABBOTT: Well at the moment we don't have any three-cornered contests. In the end this will be a matter for the party organisations.



I think that whatever happens all of our Coalition candidates will be fighting against a very bad government and doing their damnedest to replace a very bad government as soon as is humanly possible.



SABRA LANE: The Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has accused you this morning of dog whistling with your pledge to repeal a part of Australia's racial vilification laws. She says that that provision has been in existence for the entire time that you were in government and that you didn't change it then, that you are using it in a political way now. And she says it's legitimate to ask if this is being pursued for some dog-whistle purpose.



TONY ABBOTT: Well what's her evidence? This is just a cheap smear, a cheap smear from a government which specialises in cheap smears.



SABRA LANE: You've said that you'll amend the Racial Discrimination Act in order to enshrine the principles of free speech. Would those principles then extend to the publishing of Facebook pages like the one that was taken down yesterday which portrayed Aboriginal people in a negative way?



TONY ABBOTT: I certainly think that there are issues with social media which do need some looking at and we've got a task force working on the issue of social media. And one of the things that it's looking at is stronger take down powers for the regulator.



But what we're talking about with the Bolt case was effectively political censorship.



Now it was only with the Bolt case that Section 18C was used in this way. And it's a good conservative principle as well as a good liberal democratic principle that when you see a problem, then you address it.



Obviously Section 18C is a problem in the wake of the Bolt case. That's why it needs to be repealed in its present form.



SABRA LANE: You're off to Cape York this weekend to help in a working bee to restore Aurukun's library. Do you wish that more Australian workers and business leaders would follow your example, that would not only help living standards for Indigenous Australians but would be practical reconciliation?



TONY ABBOTT: Sabra thanks for raising that issue. I think it is important for everyone to do what he or she can in a practical way to help lift Indigenous standards and try to ensure that we really do have a reconciled nation.



As you might know I've been going up to Cape York now for a number of years as a volunteer. I'm delighted that a number of senior business leaders are joining me. They've achieved great things in Aurukun. Attendance has gone from below 30 per cent to about 90 per cent. Academic results have gone from abysmal to the top half of the state.



These are terrific achievements and this is a practical way of I guess Australian leaders in various fields showing their support.



TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott speaking to chief political correspondent Sabra Lane.