Transcript: ABC 702 Mornings with Linda Mottram

Journalist: Paul Fletcher is the member for Bradfield and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications – who, until he resigned yesterday, was Malcolm Turnbull. Paul Fletcher good to have you with us, I assume you voted for Mr Turnbull?

Paul Fletcher: Look I supported Malcolm as did 54 colleagues in the party room, so a pretty clear decision in support of the new style of government that Malcolm has talked about, a government where we seek to explain and persuade and make the case and respond to the economic challenges that we face as a nation. As Malcolm talked about last night, the fact that the world is becoming more and more competitive, there’s disruption from technology, and obviously Malcolm brings great expertise to bear in those perspectives.

I’ve worked with him over the last couple of years as Communications Minister, I’ve seen his passion for technology, but more importantly his passion for ensuring that Australia remains competitive – and that as the world changes, we play to our strengths. You know we have great capacities in this country, technology companies like Atlassian, for example over 1,000 people employed worth $4 billion after twelve years; or the extraordinary changes that are happening in agriculture as technology is applied.

Journalist: So a lot to deal with, but I wonder, looking back on the Labor days after their tumultuous leadership changes, whether the Liberal party might not be in for the same thing with a Prime Minister set aside in these dramatic circumstances whether there might be destabilisation in store?

Paul Fletcher: Look I think the issue is what Australia might be in store for if we allowed Bill Shorten and Labor to come back into government because Labor is simply not interested in having the serious economic reform discussions that we need to have to deal with the kinds of changes we are facing as a nation.

Journalist: But business was saying until recently, was the Coalition Government willing to have those discussions? A lot of things put on the shelf and not dealt with?

Paul Fletcher: And Malcolm has come forward saying that his approach to leadership and government will be a traditional cabinet government, but also seeking to make the case to the Australian people on the economic challenges we face and the approaches that the Liberal party is taking, in coalition with our National party colleagues, to respond to them.

As Malcolm said it’s an optimistic message, we have terrific opportunities in this country, we’re one of the most prosperous and successful democracies in the world, we’re well positioned in relation to the growing markets in Asia, some 2 billion people coming into the middle class, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement – a terrific opportunity – and yet Labor is not wanting to engage with that. Bill Shorten described it as a dud deal.

Malcolm Turnbull is offering a style of leadership where we seek to explain and persuade in relation to the economic message and the measures we need to take. Now I’ve worked with Malcolm for a couple of years as his Parliamentary Secretary, I’ve seen the very thorough, fact-based way he approaches issues, turning around the National Broadband Network has been a very  challenging exercise, Malcolm’s done a superb job there – a bit over 300,000 people could connect when we came into government – it’s now approaching 1.3 million. And so the fact-based analysis and the careful advocacy I think is a hallmark of Malcolm’s style and he’s said that that’s going to be, in turn, reflected in the ethos of the government that he leads.

Journalist: OK just on communications policy and on the NBN in particular there are a lot of critics that say the model, fibre to the node is not the best, we should have fibre to the home, is there scope to change that now that Malcolm Turnbull is the leader?

Paul Fletcher: Look the plan that Malcolm has laid out and has very successfully delivered on with now 1.3 million premises able to connect, or close to, is the plan that we will be continuing with because it reflects the careful analysis that Malcolm has done. And what we’ve seen in his approach to NBN, I think is the approach we’ll see more broadly across government.

For example, Malcolm has been championing the Digital Transformation Office, which looks to have government deliver digital services in the same efficient way that today we get services from our bank or from our airline, and I think as Malcolm becomes Prime Minister we can see that as a clear theme across government.

So I think what we’re going to see under a Turnbull-led government is an approach to putting in context the economic challenges and opportunities that we face as a nation, a recognition of the global forces operating on us, and identifying the opportunities and responding. And Malcolm has talked about for example the benchmark of the Key Government in New Zealand, a very successful centre-right government led again by somebody who is a former very successful businessman.

Journalist: More broadly some of the criticisms of the Abbott Government have been cutting science, cutting CSIRO – would you want to see those, in the interests of those pushes that are on Australia, to adapt to a new global environment, would you want to see those things re-funded under a Turnbull government?

Paul Fletcher: Look, it’s going to be up to Malcolm as Prime Minister and his Cabinet and Ministers once appointed, to identify the specific agenda and measures that will be pursued, but if you look to what Malcolm had to say last night he talked about the Australia of the future, it has to be a nation that is agile, that is innovative, this is creative.

Clearly the key elements of a knowledge economy, our university system, our great research agencies are terribly important to that. Just as one example, I went to visit yesterday the national computational infrastructure at the Australian National University, one of the two biggest supercomputers in Australia, it turned out that Malcolm had been there a year before me. So, an awareness of the technological opportunities and of course the opportunities across our economy. Ultimately this matters because we need to respond to these trends to maintain our prosperity, to ensure that our kids have jobs and the same opportunities and the same standard of living, if not better standard of living, as the current generation.

Journalist: So you’ll need to fund science as a priority if you’re going to do that, wouldn’t you?

Paul Fletcher: Well look I’ll leave it to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers when appointed, but what I can point you to is some of the themes that Malcolm has articulated in what he said yesterday, and can I say having worked with him over a couple of years those themes are very much consistent with what’s guided him for many, many years.

Journalist: Just finally Paul Fletcher do you want to be Communications Minister?

Paul Fletcher: Look this is not about me or any individual, it’s about Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister and it’s about a style of government which serves the Australian people, delivers them the economic management which in turn delivers the prosperity that we rightly expect and jobs for Australians and for the next generation. That’s what’s important – all of us are in a position where it’s up to the Prime Minster to decide who serves and in what role, and whatever role I’m asked to serve in I’ll be happy to do so.

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