Education Minister Christopher Pynes rocky week got worse on Wednesday morning when Today host Karl Stefanovic launched a fresh attack on the Abbott government. A day after a feisty exchange with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the presenter ramped up his criticism of the governments performance, telling Mr Pyne to man up. Mr Pyne appeared on the TV show in a bid to turn around some of the bad publicity from the defeat of higher university deregulation legislation and allegations of harassment. It didnt take long for Stefanovic to turn his attention to claims by Palmer United Party Senator Glenn Lazarus that Mr Pyne had harassed him via text message, labeling the fiasco like an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful. Mr Pyne jokingly dismissed the jibe. I havent sent any flowers or chocolates to Senator Lazarus so I hope nobody is sending them in my name, he said. Stefanovic then took aim at the governments inability to pass key budget measures. Heres the issue, Stefanovic said. You cant get your own policies through the Senate, but you cant even get it through your own people. Mr Pyne said he was confident a fresh attempt to pass university deregulation would be successful next year. Im not in the least bit dismayed. My view is thats democracy...this morning I am bouncing back and putting up a new reform bill, Mr Pyne said. On Wednesday, Mr Pyne introduced a new bill into the House of Representatives containing new concessions, including a five-year interest rate freeze for new parents, a $100 million structural fund for universities, new scholarships for disadvantaged students and fee price monitoring by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The bill will be considered by the Senate after Parliament resumes in February. Mr Pyne said he was confident he could convince the Senate to vote in favour of the reforms next year. This is good reform - its inevitable reform, he told reporters in Canberra. It will pass the Senate at some stage. I believe in it fervently.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 06:42:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015