Doorstop Interview
Brisbane
31 October 2010
SUBJECTS: Newspaper gossip; ASX; MYEFO; Queensland Rail; Tony Abbott's flat tax thought bubble; Jessica Watson's boat; clean energy corridor
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible). The allegations of alleged improper conduct by a Cabinet Minister. Do you think given the amount of focus has been on the Liberal Party this week and they're very destabilising (inaudible). Is it disappointing for you that this has come up at this time, when unity is so important?
TREASURER:
Well, I'm not going to comment on idle gossip. The comparison that you've made is not valid. There is a policy debate going on, and within the Liberal Party there is a profound disagreement about policy directions and there's a profound disunity over policy directions. All we're seeing today is some idle gossip which I don't intend to respond to at all, and the two are not directly comparable.
JOURNALIST:
Isn't the fact that someone within the Labor Party is out there talking to newspapers about things that are so far from important policy making that (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
Well as I said, what we have so far is just gossip and I don't intend to dignify or respond to it.
JOURNALIST:
Where's the ASX sale up to?
TREASURER:
Well, I think I've made my position on that very clear. As the Treasurer, as the person responsible for approval of foreign investment in this country, there's a very clear and methodical process that we go through. I outlined that process to the national parliament earlier in the week. I take that process seriously and we're going through that process right now. So I don't speculate about the outcome of that process because these matters are market sensitive. That's the way Treasurers for a very long period of time have responded to these sorts of questions and these sorts of investments.
JOURNALIST:
But haven't these sorts of questions and these sorts of investments basically been bipartisan in the Parliament up until now?
TREASURER:
I think that over the years there's always been a degree of controversy about particular foreign investment proposals and there is a degree of controversy about this one. My job as the Australian Treasurer is to take my responsibilities under the law seriously. I do that. And for that reason I went to the national parliament earlier last week and explained how I would handle it and I'm proceeding consistent with that today.
JOURNALIST:
Just going back to the article in the newspaper today. Were you aware of the allegations?
TREASURER:
No, it's gossip. I've not been aware of these matters at all and I don't intend to dignify them by responding to them.
JOURNALIST:
You said 'so far' (inaudible).
TREASURER:
No, I don't (inaudible). There's idle gossip in the paper. I don't intend to respond to that.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, the latest figures put the Budget $1 billion higher than it was anticipated at the past Budget.
TREASURER:
Sorry? Whose figures are they?
JOURNALIST:
Those would be the figures that were released on Friday afternoon.
TREASURER:
I don't think so. I'm not sure what the question relates to. But we provide our economic and budget update in the MYEFO – that's due out before Christmas – and that will be the appropriate place for any update on our Budget or overall economic conditions.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the float of the Queensland Rail (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
I'm not going to speculate about the float of Queensland Rail either. It's entirely a matter for the Queensland government and the Queensland Treasury. And I don't think there's been really a Treasurer in our history that has provided that sort of commentary.
JOURNALIST:
Tony Abbott's been looking at the flat tax (inaudible). This morning Joe Hockey was asked about it and didn't really comment. Do you think that he's backing away from the idea?
TREASURER:
Well, Tony Abbott's had a flat tax thought bubble, and if his flat tax thought bubble which will see a height in taxation for middle income earners to be a reality, then I think a lot of people would not be very happy with Tony Abbott. And you've got this morning; you've had Joe Hockey admit that Tony Abbott's flat tax thought bubble has got hairs all over it. I'd say it's more like a fur coat because his flat tax thought bubble basically provides a significant slug for middle income earners whilst providing someone like Tony Abbott with a tax cut of $4000 a year.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Joe Hockey's up to the job of Shadow Treasurer?
TREASURER:
I think what we've seen through a series of events is a lot of incompetence from Mr Hockey. It goes back to the fact that during the election campaign they got $9 out of every [$]10 wrong in terms of their net savings. He went public and said that their figures have been audited by an accounting firm. The accounting firm has subsequently repudiated that. And of course, we've seen him out there repudiating the independence of the Reserve Bank over the past week and a bit. We've seen a so-called plan for the banking sector which amounts to nothing more than a series of proposals which are either happening or in prospect of happening, with no original thought whatsoever. I think it is fair to say that the quality of the Liberal Party's economic team is the worst that we've seen in generations.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, on the subject of tax, are tax revenues on track to meet what was predicted in the Budget?
TREASURER:
Well as I said, we provide that update in the MYEFO which occurs before Christmas.
JOURNALIST:
So we are on track?
TREASURER:
No, I will be providing an update in the MYEFO which we'll see before Christmas.
JOURNALIST:
Do you recall what that update said?
TREASURER:
Sorry, the update is provided in MYEFO before Christmas. That's what has happened under Treasurers of both political persuasions. What I have said is we're on track to come back to surplus within the timeframe that we've outlined. That's the public commentary that I've made. The detailed commentary within that will come out in MYEFO.
JOURNALIST:
Are you able to give us an update on (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
Well, no I can't give you an update over and above what I said to the Parliament earlier in the week, that the number of regulatory approvals and analysis that has to take place, that's happening now, and will come to me in the normal course of events. I can't give you a timetable on that today.
JOURNALIST:
Has the Government thought about buying Jessica Watson's boat, why haven't they – if not? As we understand it, the family actually struggling to (inaudible). I guess the Government's now being accused of not helping her in her efforts to (inaudible).
TREASURER:
Well, I haven't seen any of those reports. What I've been dealing with is some very significant issues such as the investment from BG. Yesterday I was in Townsville looking at the prospects for a clean energy corridor and a transmission line between Townsville and Mt Isa. But I will take seriously your question and go away and have a look at the commentary. But I haven't seen it. I think all Australians have immense admiration for what Jessica has achieved, but I'll have to go away and have a look at it.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, the Darling Downs (inaudible). How does this investigation between LNG and solar power (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
Look, I think as Martin was saying before, the prospects for both those traditional energy sources plus renewable energy in this are simply fantastic. That's why I was in Townsville yesterday, talking with a whole host of mining companies that are mining traditional commodities in the area between Mt Isa and Townsville but also talking to a lot of renewable energy companies about what could be achieved in that region if we can get a transmission line in. If you get a transmission line in, not only would there be power for the traditional mining activities such as copper, lead and zinc and so on, we've got the capacity of then connecting renewable energy such as wind power and solar power and geothermal and so on, into a national grid.
The possibilities for Queensland in terms of supply and the power for natural gas as we've been talking about today, through renewable energy sources, is simply fantastic. I'm so optimistic about what can be achieved in this area. Not just for Queensland, but particularly in Queensland and around the country as we go forward. The renewable energy target is a very important part of that, and the Government is of course looking for the deployment of a number of funds to support some of these projects in the region as well.
There are just such exciting opportunities before all of us in Queensland and Australia in the years ahead on the back of the growth that is going on in the Asia-Pacific, and of course, the Asia-Pacific is going to supply a greater proportion of global growth in the global economy in the years ahead. It is going to be the Asian Century. Queensland and the Australian economies are so well positioned to maximise the opportunities that will flow from that.
