GOVERNMENT MEDIA MONITORING UNIT DATE: JULY 29 TH , 2005 TIME: 1.35PM STATION: 6PR AFTERNOONS (MAUMILL) SUBJECT: MASON – SPOTLIGHT ON MATT BIRNEY This transcript is produced for information purposes only. Although all care is taken, no warranty as to its accuracy or completeness is given. It is your responsibility to ensure by independent verification that all information is correct before placing any reliance on it. MAUMILL Graham Mason is the political writer for The West Australian …(greetings not transcribed)… Mate, how’s Matt Birney going? How’s Matt going? Because I noticed that there was a ripple of discontent amongst backbenchers that’s been reported in the paper and also he’ll have to be looking around somewhere to find a seat other than Kalgoorlie. I just wonder… and he… I just wonder how he’s going. MASON Look, I think he’s finding it very difficult to still remain leader and do it out of Kalgoorlie. I mean, it’s all well and true saying you can do that sort of thing from the country, but I think the realities are you can’t. So, I mean, Bob, you’re spot on, as always, the tom toms are beating that he could be looking around for a seat closer to home or closer to Perth. There’s always been speculation that Colin Barnett might be moving on, Colin says he’s not. But there’s certainly a ribbon seat sitting there in Cottesloe. MAUMILL How would Matt fit with the Cottesloe electorate? MASON Well he is a boy from the bush who speaks first. He doesn’t go to the theatre, I think, a lot. Yeah, he’s got a rough edge to him, that’s for sure. I don’t quite know how well he’ll go down there. – 2 – MAUMILL How’s he handling the cut and thrust of Parliament? Because the other side have got some pretty good parliamentary performers with a lot of miles on the clock. And Matt has said a few things from time to time that would give them some very, very good ammunition to have a dip at him whenever he was on his feet. How does he handle it? MASON I think your code speak there, Bob, is for the Pope gaffe, which is very famous. He continually gets a hard time about it. But the problem is… Matt’s not bad in Parliament, but the problem is he doesn’t have a lot of allies. Like you say, this Labor team, they’ve been doing this for a fair while now, a lot of it in Opposition, sharpening their skills. Now they’re in the fifth year of government, I mean, they’re very good. And I feel that Matt’s a bit alone there. I’ve been, I guess, slightly disappointed in his performance. He’s got this terrible habit of when he’s being criticised, he just turns to the left and just has a chat with Paul Omodei and pretends to ignore the whole thing. I mean, I’d like to see him get fired up, get a bit of fire in his belly and give it back in spades. So, yeah, I’ve got to say his parliamentary performance is not as good as it has been. Maybe that’s got a little bit to do with the pressure of being leader. But, you know, I’d like to see a bit of the mongrel back, he used to be a bit of a cheeky chap in Parliament. And I think he’s stepped away from that a little, he’s trying to be a leader too much. MAUMILL What about back up? MASON Back up, well there’s not a lot there. Look, Paul Omodei’s always a good bit of fun, but the rest of them, it’s like… Bobby, it’s like being bashed with a limp bit of lettuce. I mean, you don’t exactly come away from the thing scarred, whereas the Labor boys, they can… and girls, I’m thinking of Michelle Roberts here, they really can sink the boots in. And I think the Liberals are a little bit too nice in Parliament at times. MAUMILL I think the Gallop Government at the moment have gone too far with some of their taxes, charges, levies and other ways of getting into the electorate’s pocket. And I think the electorate is in a sullen mood when it comes to the State Government. And if the Opposition could fire up a bit, I believe there’s an opportunity there to really get the Gallop Government on the back foot, because they have been demonstrably greedy. – 3 – MASON Yeah, look, you’re not wrong. I mean, look, and the other big issue… I mean, Parliament hasn’t been sitting, but the last couple of weeks there’s been a fair bit said in the media about terrorism and … anti-terrorism, for that matter, and it’s been very, very hard to get Matt Birney out talking about this issue. I mean, I don’t… I don’t know if he fears being seen as a redneck or for whatever reason, but try as we might, people in the media, we try and get Matt’s comments on this issue and he’s just been very reluctant to talk to us about it. MAUMILL I would imagine the powerbrokers are on the sidelines saying well, we’ll give him another 18 months and then… MASON Yeah, well that’s … the Liberals are like that. But, I mean, I’ve got to be honest, Bob, we’re looking around Parliament, and I don’t see who their next leader is, unless they went back and started recycling, and I think Colin’s made it clear he doesn’t want the job and think the people have … of Western Australia have made it clear, they don’t want him in the job either. But as the… we talked… mentioned Matt before, he has sold his house in Manning, Bob, he does have a house in Perth, that has been sold and I believe he is moving to South Perth. I don’t know if that tells us anything. MAUMILL Oh, well, of course South Perth is… the seat of South Perth is presently occupied by the very popular and capable John McGrath. MASON That’s right, one of my former colleagues here. And look, it’s a blue ribbon seat, so anyway, I’m just… maybe I’m playing devil’s advocate. MAUMILL Well there are a few of them. MASON That’s right. MAUMILL There are a few blue ribbon seats around the place, and, of course, as you’ve said, that Cottesloe, presently occupied by Colin Barnett, if Colin decides to move in with the private sector and away from… away from Parliament into the private sector, that would – 4 – be an ideal seat for the state’s leader. But you wonder if… what the fit would be like between Matt Birney and the good burgers of Cottesloe. MASON That’s right. And look, I think Colin’s actually enjoying himself in Parliament, he’s like a rejuvenated man at the moment. He’s commenting on what he likes, he hasn’t got the pressure of leadership. I spoke to him recently, and he said he even went to a coastal care meeting in Cottesloe, so he’s rediscovering the grassroots political nature of what he does, and I think he’s enjoying himself. I don’t think he’ll be moving on at least in the short term. MAUMILL Graham, thanks for joining us today. What are you doing? MASON What am I doing? MAUMILL Yeah, what are you doing now? MASON I’m just walking around outside the newspaper building. MAUMILL And… MASON … physically. MAUMILL I understand that you were chasing a story with Geoff Gallop. MASON Oh, yeah, he was down at the Perth Glory at the soccer, I’m speaking with him a bit later on today, just on a couple of issues. We always like to get the Premier’s opinions on a wide variety of matters. But the big… I guess the political stuff today is Telstra, sort of back in the news, and some of the stuff that Mark Vaile said, so we’re just trying to chase a bit of local reaction on that. MAUMILL – 5 – As usual, not a lot coming out of the Gallop Government. Thanks Graham,. That’s Graham Mason, political writer for The West Australian . I’ll tell you what, talk about dull political scene at the moment, but you reckon Matt’s got to life his game. Graham Mason is an apolitical writer, apolitical in terms of his own views never find their way into the stuff that he writes - and I don’t know what his views are. But when I first rang him to tee this interview up, I said mate, I need to talk to you about how the Opposition’s going. I said, this Gallop Government needs a few kicks up the arse, they’ve become appallingly greedy, in terms of the way they’re taxing people, at every level. I said you’ve got get into them a bit. And he said well, it’s up to the Opposition to get into them. And I said well how’s Matt Birney and the Opposition going? He said I’ll talk to you about it on air, and he said, not very well. We rely on the Opposition to keep the Government on their toes, otherwise governments get not only greedy, they get arrogant and sloppy and bad-tempered and think they’re born to rule.