HOST:
And on the eve of what promises to be a very intense two Parliamentary weeks I'm joined from Canberra by the Assistant Treasurer and Member for Lindsay David Bradbury. David, welcome to the program.
BRADBURY:
Good evening Ticky, good to be with you.
HOST:
Now, when I spoke to you back, I think it was during the 2010 campaign, you had a six per cent margin there and you said, 'The seat of Lindsay is a litmus test in many respects for the mood of the nation.' Just listening to that piece from Andrew, the mood of Lindsay seems pretty hostile to you fellows, and also in a very nebulous way. It must be challenging to know what to do out there?
BRADBURY:
Well look, of course Ticky there will always be a range of views in any community and there are a range of views in my community, some have been expressed there in a package that I had a moment to hear some of, I didn't hear the entire package. But what I can say is the reality is that right across the world, the global economy has undergone a dramatic transformation, and here we are, post-GFC, in a very different environment. For many people right around the country, they can look at all of the economic indicators and the bottom line is that they are all very strong for our country, whether it be strong growth, whether it be strong employment, whether it be contained inflation, low interest rates – interest rates are always a key consideration in parts of the world such as my electorate. If people are looking at that and feeling as though perhaps they're not as well-off as they may have been a couple of years ago, then it may be they want to blame the Government. I think that what we need to try and communicate, and it's important that this is part of the story we're telling people here, is that the whole world has changed. The days, pre-GFC, where there was easy credit, where there was easy money –
HOST:
Yes, you're argument about your management of the financial crisis is one that Labor has hung onto, but in a way the management, the fiscal mantle that you've always had, has slipped slightly because of the Budget and last week was a watershed, really, when the BCA came out and said, and we've got headlines like, 'the budget is broken'. Really, you're working now on the Budget, I'd imagine, coming up in May, how are you going to fix this problem of a deficit now?
BRADBURY:
The deficit, whether it's a deficit or surplus, the Budget is an important indicator but it's not the only indicator. Our economy is triple A-rated by the three global ratings agencies. Our growth is second to none.
HOST:
But you're spending now, looking at your spending, this Deloitte's report of the economy as we go through the year is seriously under question. I mean the Deloitte's report is now saying $49 billion in new expenditure since the 2009 Budget, we have the Treasurer recently seen to take $500 million out of the Reserve Bank as a dividend; about $15 billion, half of your $28 billion in savings from the Budget are now, we hear, through tiny differences, things like business paying the tax monthly now and we've got an estimated cost of $17 billion in new funding for Gonski and NDIS.
BRADBURY:
Well you've just put a more articulate case than I hear from most of those in the Opposition, but if you let me respond, I'll explain exactly what we are doing. We are running one of the strongest economies in the world. That's why our economy is almost 14 per cent larger today than it was before the GFC. Countries like the United Kingdom are still in negative territory and they had the Olympics and all the stimulus that came with that. Now, if you want to look at the structural position of our Budget, we have taken a number of significant structural savings over the last couple of years and never forget this Ticky: every time we've taken one of those important structural savings, which are politically very difficult to do, we've had to do it without the support of the Opposition. In addition to that, the key reason why the Budget is not returning to surplus as early as we would have liked is because of downgrades in revenues. Now, you mention the BCA, and it's all good and well for the BCA – the armchair Budget framers – it's all good and well for them to say that, but let me just remind you Ticky, that the BCA want it all. They were the people that wanted tax cuts for business but then they weren't prepared to stand up to the Liberal Party to –
HOST:
But they didn't –
BRADBURY:
No, just let me finish Ticky. They were the ones that said they wanted tax cuts and when we brought that into Parliament, the Liberals opposed and they said very little. They're the ones whose members have –
HOST:
But with respect, they didn't actually get the tax cuts because of the way the mining tax got reframed.
BRADBURY:
Well, two points. Small business tax relief delivered – we needed the support of the Greens to do that, now if you want to talk about –
HOST:
That's small business tax cuts that are now unfunded, basically, because of what you're earning from the mining tax. And again, the carbon tax, you've got a carbon price in now of, what is it, $29 in 2015. Is it going to stay like that?
BRADBURY:
Ticky, I've got a really good idea. Let's repeal the mining tax and the carbon price and leave the compensation in there and see what a structural deficit will look like. That's what our opponents are proposing to do. Now they're either proposing to do that, or they're proposing to repeal those taxes and in doing so, to rip away the compensation. Now what that means for people in electorates like mine is that they will pay more tax because we have cut taxes. We've cut personal taxes.
HOST:
Alright –
BRADBURY:
No, Ticky, it means that pensions will be cut and family assistance will be ripped off people. So if people want to look at the structural position of the Budget, if they think that it's not good at the moment, then elect a Coalition Opposition into Government and see what damage they can do.
HOST:
Alright, let me move on to something that Bill Shorten announced on Friday, which is changes now to the Fair Work Act, changes which the BCA's Tony Shepherd describes as breaking two promises by the Government on arbitration and on entry rights of union officials. Indeed, Julia Gillard promised herself in 2007 on this, on right of entry laws, she said she pledged to resign, sign a contract in blood, take a polygraph, bet my house on it, take my mother as a hostage, whatever you like, and now these changes are planned to come in before the next election.
BRADBURY:
We have made a number of changes. If you want to go back to 2007, then I welcome the opportunity to do that because we came into Government with a clear mission and a clear plan to repeal WorkChoices and we did that. And indeed, the latest round of changes that have been proposed are further enhancements to the regime that's in place. Now, if the suggestion here is that once you make a set of changes that the law will have to stay in concrete for the rest of eternity, then clearly that doesn't make any sense at all. We are refining the law in order to make sure that we get the balance right and we strike an appropriate balance for workplace laws that allows for some collaboration in the workplace.
HOST:
David Bradbury, thank you very much for joining me.
BRADBURY:
Thank you Ticky.