BEN FORDHAM
The Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury is on the line, David Bradbury good afternoon.
DAVID BRADBURY
Good afternoon Ben, how are you?
FORDHAM
I'm well. How is your budget sell going?
BRADBURY
Yeah look it's been a busy period but we've been getting out there explaining the details of the budget. It's a budget that returns to surplus, but obviously there have been some very difficult decisions that we've had to take there but we've tried to do it in a way that ensures that we are also looking after families and small businesses. So I think that our desire to spread the benefits of the boom is something that we've talked about a lot. We wanted to deliver that through a cut in the company tax rate, we weren't able to do that but certainly through the budget we've been able to redirect some of the revenue that will be collected from the mining tax and spread the benefits on to families. Indeed there will be many families...
FORDHAM
Okay the take from Terry McCrann in News Limited newspapers today, Terry McCrann says that you're taking from the well off like the superannuation hit to high income earners and also abandoning the company tax cut as you just mentioned so that you can redirect money to families and the disadvantaged. Is that fair?
BRADBURY
It's fair to acknowledge that there are many families out there on low and middle incomes that are doing it tough so we should be...
FORDHAM
Sure but what about the businesses that provide the work for these people?
BRADBURY
Well I think the first point to make is that we do believe it is important to cut company tax and that is what we've wanted...
FORDHAM
But you didn't do it last night.
BRADBURY
No but we weren't going to get it through the Parliament because Mr Abbott was very clear that...
FORDHAM
Yeah but David there is no point in using these precious minutes to say what we really want to do is something we promised we were going to do and decided not to do last night. What about the businesses that employ these people, what can you say to them? Because without them there aren't any jobs in the first place.
BRADBURY
Well what I can say to them is that we have introduced, amongst other things, an instant asset write off which will be of great benefit to many businesses. That will give them a cash flow benefit with an upfront deduction on assets that small businesses purchase below $6,500. Some of that can be used in purchasing a car or a ute and in addition to we've also introduced new measures that will assist business with our loss carry back arrangements which allow businesses to get some benefit where they run in to difficult times but they've previously paid tax.
FORDHAM
Alright in terms of the school bonuses, is this a bribe in the lead up to the carbon tax?
BRADBURY
Well it's not a bribe. The first point to make is that when we came to office we introduced the Education Tax Refund which I always thought was great idea but there have been some limitations with that. The biggest limitation has been that the money has not been provided when you need it most. You have to wait until the end of the year and put in the receipts with your tax return. So what we're doing is we're bringing that forward to give that to people in an automatic way. One other point of course is that for many families it is really difficult in the hustle and bustle of getting kids dressed and off to school and getting the kids ready for the school year, you don't always have the ability to keep those receipts and that has been a big barrier for people as well.
FORDHAM
Okay, sorry we're so short on time but a really quick one, only a yes/no. I know that you're Sister Natalie Bradbury as an Assistant Secretary in the HSU; did you have a tip off about what was coming in the Fair Work Australia report?
BRADBURY
No.
FORDHAM
David Bradbury, thank you for your time.
BRADBURY
Okay, thank you.