BEN FORDHAM:
Treasurer, good afternoon to you.
TREASURER:
Afternoon, Ben.
BEN FORDHAM:
Difficult week for you?
TREASURER:
We are out there trying to negotiate through a Budget that is going to deliver the sort of prosperity and jobs that Australians want and deserve. Now, there is going to be swings and roundabouts during the course of any discussion.
BEN FORDHAM:
As you know, words can be taken out of context slightly and you were talking about the poorest people in society and when you said the poorest – to be honest – when I was listening I was thinking well, the poorest people in society don’t have a house – don’t have a roof over their head let alone a car to drive but then that has been turned into poor people in general. Do you feel like your words have been misinterpreted or are they words that you shouldn’t have chosen in the first place?
TREASURER:
Well, look Ben, whether they have or they haven’t I am really genuinely sorry that there is any suggestion, any suggestion at all that I or the Government, does not care for the most disadvantaged in the community I’m sorry about the interpretation, I am sorry about the words. And why? All of my life as everyone who knows me knows, all of my life, I have fought for, and tried to help the most disadvantaged people in the community and for there to be some suggestion that I have evil in my heart when it comes to the most disadvantaged people in the community is upsetting but it is more upsetting for those people in the community. So, I want to make it perfectly clear to the community that if there is any suggestion that I don’t care about you, or that I have evil intent towards you, I want to say that couldn’t be further from the truth and I am sorry for the hurt.
BEN FORDHAM:
You are fired up; you are very passionate about this. You attended today your Community Awards, your Community Awards – I understand in North Sydney – which is an annual event you hold to recognize people in the community who do amazing things and there was something that washed over you while you were attending those awards today; you felt like you needed to say something?
TREASURER:
You know, I just told the story. As a local member it is a way of saying thank you to volunteers in the community and you know, I told the story of when I was a young kid about working with my parents in the local Lions Club to help raise money for local orphanages – in those days they had orphanages, and someone came up to me afterwards and said ‘why do we think you are different now?’ And I said, ‘I can’t control what is said about me,’ and she said, ‘just show what it is in your heart’; I am saying we are trying to deliver a plan for the nation that ensures that those most disadvantaged get the very best, the very best we as a community can offer into the future. I am trying to make healthcare sustainable, I am trying to make the welfare system sustainable and the education system the best it can be and you can only do that through what we are trying to do in the Budget, but it has been lost in the last few days and I am sorry for that.
BEN FORDHAM:
If this lady has said to you today at this community event in North Sydney, ‘show what’s in your heart’, let’s be honest here, I can tell from looking at you right now, you are hurting as a result of what is being said about you or what some people are thinking about you as a result of this (inaudible).
TREASURER:
My feelings don’t matter Ben. What matters is…
BEN FORDHAM:
They may not matter but I am interested for the sake of my audience in tapping into them because people are listening at the moment. This is not how we usually start our show; we have a different format for our show. I have changed it this afternoon in order for you to come on. Tell us what is going on inside your heart.
TREASURER:
No, no. My feelings on this don’t matter. I don’t want to be in a position where I am upsetting the most disadvantaged people in the community because I am trying to do everything I can, the Government is trying to do everything it can to help those people who need the most help, who deserve that help and in the case of the fuel excise, I am sorry the words came out the way they did but we are trying to lay down the best road program that helps families, that helps the most disadvantaged, that helps to lift the economy, to create jobs. We can only pay for that with an increase in the fuel excise of, on average, 40 cents a week - 40 cents a week - but it has been lost over the last few days and I am sorry about that but we are trying to do our best.
BEN FORDHAM:
Where did you go wrong in the communication of the whole thing or does that not really matter now?
TREASURER:
No, no. Look, I accept responsibility. I just - we want to get on with the job of trying to fix the Budget that we inherited. I want to get on with the job of explaining to Australians that we are about building a more prosperous nation, a more caring nation; a nation that has the capacity to help those that are most disadvantaged.
BEN FORDHAM:
So that there is no confusion at all, the comments that you made: were they insensitive? Were they stupid? Was it a brain explosion?
TREASURER:
They were obviously insensitive, obviously, but you know, what is said can’t be unsaid. I can only apologise for any hurt that I have caused and say that we are trying to do our very best for the most disadvantaged, trying to do our very best to build prosperity for people.
BEN FORDHAM:
Have you been asked to come into the studio this afternoon to make this…
TREASURER:
Not at all, not at all. No one has. Anyone suggesting that I was asked to do that or it was suggested to me as (inaudible). I thought about it this morning and I thought I don’t want to hurt people and the words were clearly hurting some people and I thought about it a lot and thought, you know, we have got to clear this up.
BEN FORDHAM:
You had the chance to think about it yesterday but on your mind was, ‘well, no what I am saying was this and the figures show that’, yet you could have cleared it up yesterday but the extra 24 hours has given you more time has it not to really consider (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
And it was the chance to – a lady at the lights at Cammeray had a chat to me when I was crossing the road.
BEN FORDHAM:
What did she say?
TREASURER:
Well she just said, ‘you have got to be yourself, you have got to be true to yourself,’ and you know I thought about it and thought a bit more, anyway.
BEN FORDHAM:
Did the lady at the lights say, ‘Hey Joe, you stuffed up?’
TREASURER:
No, no. She…
BEN FORDHAM:
But was that the vibe?
TREASURER:
Well, a bit of it.
BEN FORDHAM:
Is that the vibe you have been getting from the community?
TREASURER:
It’s not even that. It is about, you know, people want to know we are doing everything we can for the most disadvantaged in the community and by building a sustainable Budget, by ensuring that we can pay for our healthcare into the future, our welfare system into the future. By doing all that, we are going to make sure there is a better quality of life for all Australians but we have got to build the jobs, building the roads and we have to (inaudible) along the way with the fuel excise. But Ben, it is about focusing on what we can do to help everyone lift and that is what we are focused on.
BEN FORDHAM:
I am guessing that you have bigger fish to fry rather than worrying about, ‘oh, I said poorest not poor’, or ‘this is what I meant’, or I have got ‘these are the figures I have to back it up’; if you know that, in the community, that this has gone down like a lead balloon, it is more important for you to get people focused back on your Budget and the challenge you’ve got of getting it through the Senate, rather than arguing the toss over the definition or (inaudible).
TREASURER:
Ben, that is commentary. I am doing what I believe to be right. The Government is doing what it believes to be right to fix the mess that we inherited and that is what we are endeavouring to do.
BEN FORDHAM:
We appreciate your time, thank you for coming along.
TREASURER:
Thanks for having me on, Ben.