PRESENTER:
David Bradbury, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, good morning.
BRADBURY:
Good morning Joseph, how are you.
PRESENTER:
We can't see any timeframes so far for the construction of the just-announced Albury-Wodonga Cancer Treatment Centre. When will funding begin?
BRADBURY:
Look I don't have details of when construction will begin, but certainly it is good news that the funding has been made available and confirmed in the Budget.
PRESENTER:
Can you tell us why the timeframe wasn't announced last night though?
BRADBURY:
As you can appreciate, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of projects that are announced in the context of the Budget. In terms of the specifics around timing of individual projects, it's not commonplace for that to be disclosed in the Budget documents themselves but certainly what is important is that the money is committed and made available and that is confirmed in the Budget documents. It's now a matter of progressing in the normal manner these things to ensure that the facility and the improvements in services are delivered.
PRESENTER:
Is the timeline, just to get a quick clarification on all that, is that likely to be released in coming weeks or months, or are we looking at the end of the year?
BRADBURY:
I don't know enough about the specific timetable of this project but typically what happens in these matters is that the funding is made available in response to applications that have already been made and then there are certain funding agreements that have to be entered in to and they have to have milestones as to when construction has to commence and the milestones have to be met. So I would expect it would be in the coming months, but that's observing how these matters generally work.
PRESENTER:
For people on welfare, you're extending the income management scheme to selected centres including Shepparton and Hume. Can you expand on that a little, what part of people's welfare payments do you manage and why have you targeted Shepparton and Hume?
BRADBURY:
You're right to say that there have been a number of areas that have been selected as pilot locations for extending the income management arrangements and Shepparton is of course one of them. These arrangements, and they have been trialled elsewhere in the country are largely about trying to manage the way in which income support, support provided by the Government, is expended.
PRESENTER:
But do you tell people how to spend it?
BRADBURY:
In certain respects, certain elements of income is quarantined for certain expenses. That is the case and that has been working well in those areas in which it has been trialled.
PRESENTER:
By certain expenses do you mean things like rent?
BRADBURY:
Things like rent, those necessities that form the basis of the household budget. It's not a case of total control of people's money being taken away from them but it is a case of saying that, to the extent that people are reliant upon Government payments and in particular where there are other dependents who rely on those payment recipients then there is an obligation to ensure that the basics are being made provision for.
PRESENTER:
How do you determine which people you're going to manage welfare payments to?
BRADBURY:
I can't take you through the specifics of the framework itself, I'll have to defer to the Minister on that but the basic principle behind the system is that where people are reliant on Government payments and have been so for a period then there is an expectation that portions of the Government assistance they receive will be quarantined for making provisions for those basics. In terms of how that operates on the ground, there will be a degree of flexibility in how that works in individual communities but the overall framework is something that the Minister is better able to speak on than I am.
PRESENTER:
Many local people were also looking for details on the carbon tax. When will you let us know what's going to happen?
BRADBURY:
We've made it clear that we are committed to a carbon price, and the important reason we are committed to a carbon price is to ensure that we send the right price signals to the major polluters...
PRESENTER:
We know all of that, we were expecting some detail about when it's going to start and how much it's going to be.
BRADBURY:
Well we've indicated when we want it to start, and we've said it's our intention, subject to securing passage of the Bill through the Parliament that it would start 1 July next year. In terms of the detail of the carbon price and the household assistance, which will be an essential part of the overall package, that will take some time to put together and we have made it clear from the outset that we're not going to be rushed into that because we want to make sure we get it right. I just make one point in relation to that, whenever the Government makes a decision it doesn't take the Opposition long to jump up and down and say this has been an ill-thought through policy announcement, often, I think, very unfairly that criticism has been levelled. On this one we have said this is a complex set of matters that we will work through, we will do it in time and due course and we will make sure the public have all of the information once we have made those key policy decisions and we expect we will have a lot more to say in the coming months on this.
PRESENTER:
You've announced changes to the way you're taxing company cars. Businesses travelling more than 25,000kms in their vehicles a year are going to be paying more tax, this is a tax increase that will affect many local regional small businesses, so can you explain what's changing and how much it's going to cost those impacted?
BRADBURY:
Fringe Benefits Tax on the motor vehicle has always depended on how many kilometres you end up using your motor vehicle for. I can't give you a specific figure for what it's going to mean for anyone who currently has a fringe benefit in the form of a car, but the arrangements that are currently in place and the arrangements that we are seeking to change essentially provide a tax incentive to clock up more kilometres on their fringe benefit tax-provided motor vehicle than to have less kilometres. In fact they pay more tax for the fewer kilometres they travel, less tax for more kilometres. Now from an environmental perspective this doens't make a lot of sense, I think that's been widely understood. Even those within the car industry, who will always have concerns when issues of these sort are raised, I think acknowledged that something had to be done. It is not right and I think many of us would know someone who has a company-provided motor vehicle and coming towards the end of the fringe benefits tax year people will do that extra bit of travelling in some cases because they know the fewer the kilometres the more they know they're going to get hit so they actually do a bit more travel. That's not leading to rational or environmentally sound outcomes and we are going to address that so those perverse incentives that are currently in the system are no longer there. But an important point I would make as well is that one of the things we have done that will greatly assist small business is that, in relation to fringe benefits tax many small businesses not many small businesses would pay fringe benefits tax to the extent that they are using their motor vehicle for income-producing purposes, but notwithstanding that one of the things we have done is with the instant tax write off provision, which allows small businesses to write off capital equipment to get an upfront one-off deduction on items of up to $5,000. We've now extended that. Obviously most motor vehicles will be more than $5,000 but we've extended that to allow people to get a $5,000 deduction in the first year in relation to a motor vehicle. That'll be a really big benefit, particularly to those tradespeople that have utes and other vehicles that they use.
PRESENTER:
Just before we wrap up, David Bradbury, what else is there specifically for the North East, Gouburn Murray and Riverina in this Budget?
BRADBURY:
In terms of what will be specifically available, we've commented briefly on the regional cancer centre, but I think that a lot of the benefits of the overall programs we've announced, and there'll be application processes so local communities right around the country will be able to tap into them, but I think some of the training opportunities, the Workforce Development Fund that we have, these will present enormous opportunities to ensure that there is training provided to people who need to upgrade their skills or to obtain the necessary skills to move into work or into higher paying jobs and I think that that will be something your region will be able to tap into.