TREASURER:
Hello, over to you.
JOURNALIST:
Is the co-payment dead?
TREASURER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Has it been shelved?
TREASURER:
No, it is our policy.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to use regulations to get it up?
TREASURER:
I’m not speculating.
JOURNALIST:
So, you’re still pursuing it through the Senate?
TREASURER:
We are.
JOURNALIST:
And are you confident that you will be able to convince cross-benchers to support it? Or are you looking at other options?
TREASURER:
Look, it is absolutely essential that we strengthen Medicare and ensure that it is sustainable into the future. What Peter Dutton said this morning is absolutely right.
JOURNALIST:
But why can’t you confirm the mechanism you’re now looking at?
TREASURER:
I can, we intend to take it to the Parliament.
JOURNALIST:
And take it in its current form or are you open to negotiations?
TREASURER:
Our policy stands.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to take it to the Parliament before Christmas?
TREASURER:
Our policy stands.
JOURNALIST:
Why was the Prime Minister’s office briefing that it was gone yesterday?
TREASURER:
I haven’t heard that.
JOURNALIST:
Will you take it, next week, to the Parliament?
TREASURER:
We will take it when we are able to take it. There’s lot of work before the Parliament at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
Are there a lot of different positions within Cabinet on this?
TREASURER:
[Inaudible]
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] down from $7 to $5?
TREASURER:
I am not speculating on discussions but, look, we have an obligation to strengthen Medicare and we have an obligation to do what we can to address the problems that were left to us by the Labor Party in government. We are doing that. We’re doing it carefully, methodically, we are working our way through all of the challenges and we’ll continue to do so. At the same time, the Australian economy is strengthening and that’s what we’re focused on as well.
JOURNALIST:
Last night it was dead and buried, you’re saying it’s alive and kicking?
TREASURER:
They’re your words, Lane.
JOURNALIST:
You’ve got crossbenchers threatening – sorry, backbenchers threatening to cross the floor on this; That can’t be helpful to your message?
TREASURER:
I haven’t heard that. Anything else, any other issues?
JOURNALIST:
What are the barnacles then, if it’s not the GP co-payment, what are the barnacles?
TREASURER:
Barnacle Bill, Barnacle Bowen, if they give me a chance I’ll talk about the barnacles in Parliament.
JOURNALIST:
So, there are no policy barnacles?
TREASURER:
The fact is that, you know, obviously the legacy that was left to us by the previous Government needs to be addressed. There are 28 billion barnacles on the Budget and they are the $28 billion of initiatives that Labor is blocking in the Senate. Let me point out, five billion of those are things that the Labor Party announced, including trying to keep R&D tax breaks for the 20 biggest companies in Australia. They said it was essential to pay for Gonski. Well, we are trying to use it to pay for Gonski but they won’t let us do that. It is time for the Labor Party to stump up and to front up to its problems and start working with the Government and the people of Australia to fix the legacy of debt and deficit that they left behind.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
TREASURER:
The irony is that this time last year, the Labor Party was criticising me, suggesting that I’d been incredibly conservative in relation to forecasts. Well, thank God I was and in the Budget, again, I took a more conservative approach to iron ore prices. Thank God I did. And now there’s been a significant drop in iron ore prices which represent one in five dollars of Australia’s export income. That is having an impact on the Budget. We are not going to chase the iron ore price down but we need to properly recognise its impact on the Budget. We also, also, want to ensure that Australia continues to build its growth story and that is going to be the dominant feature of the upcoming Mid-Year and Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
TREASURER:
I hope that Mr Scott isn’t using the savings plan as an excuse to undertake the sort of reform that he should have undertaken over the last few years. The leadership at the ABC should be focused on doing what’s right for the ABC at every point and not trying to get some sort of political cover for what should have happened years ago.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be paying the Defence Force more by next [inaudible]?
TREASURER:
I’m not speculating at what you’re asking about and we have no plans to change what the independent Remuneration Tribunal has decided is the appropriate increase. We’d love to pay the Defence Force more but you know, can’t - I mean, at some point I urge you to start asking our political opponents when they rail against cuts to foreign aid, when they rail against changes to Medicare, when they rail against changes in welfare, when they rail against the pay levels of Defence, OK, well, what is their plan? How are they going to pay for it? Because ultimately they’re the ones that are blocking savings measures, $28 billion of savings measures, in the Budget. They’re blocking them. They don’t apologise for that. They’re railing against everything we’re doing but they’re offering no alternative.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Hockey there is an enquiry out today, a finding on FIRB, from the Parliamentary Committee, very critical of the FIRB and of the Treasury for the scrutiny or lack thereof of foreign purchases. It’s recommendations if implemented would likely increase the red tape burden. Are you aware of the findings, do you have any initial reaction to them?
TREASURER:
Phil, I haven’t read the report. If FIRB needs to be fixed, we will fix it. There are lots of problems that were left to us and we are addressing them carefully and methodically. You’ll see over the next few months that we’ll have to make announcements about increased funding for essential infrastructure of Government. The infrastructure that was rundown by the previous Government, such as computer mainframes at Centrelink, computer mainframes at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and obviously resources for the Foreign Investment Review Board so it can better deal with some of the challenges that lay before it.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have full confidence in David Johnston in his current position?
TREASURER:
Yes, I do.
JOURNALIST:
What do you make of the comments he made yesterday and the day before?
TREASURER:
Obviously, he apologised. Thanks very much.