ED:
Mate, we’re good. And we appreciate you coming on to talk Budget with people. And I’ve already been out. Joe, after you said that there was $20,000 we could write off for business expenses, I went shopping yesterday, my friend.
TREASURER:
Good man.
ED:
So I’ve had a go. Excellent work. I bought – well, I can’t say the shop I went to, but you can see it in 50 Shades of Grey. That’s all I’ll say [laughter]. Joe Hockey…
MICHELLE:
That’s uncomfortable. There’s your first question.
ED:
No. I’m kidding. I went and bought some sound equipment for that type of thing. So, Joe, we appreciate you coming on to talk to us. Marto.
MARTO:
And we know how happy you are. So we’re trying to upset that a little bit by getting our listeners to ask questions, because we’re not smart enough. But we’ll get some real questions for you. You’re okay with that?
TREASURER:
Yeah. Of course.
ED:
So Joe Hockey, meet Brendan from the Gold Coast. Brendan, you’re on with the Treasurer. And ask your question, mate.
CALLER:
Mr Hockey, how are you?
TREASURER:
Great, Brendan. How’s the Gold Coast today?
CALLER:
Beautiful, mate.
TREASURER:
It always is.
ED:
All right, excellent work Brendan.
MICHELLE:
Enough of this [inaudible].
ED:
Great job, mate. Yes. Really nice, Brendan. Great work.
MICHELLE:
He used his question with “how are you?”.
ED:
Get to your question, Brendan.
CALLER:
Yeah. Look, our family, right, me and my missus, we earn about $85 – $90,000 a year. And our child’s in day-care full time. How does that affect us?
TREASURER:
Well, it doesn’t affect you until such time as we introduce the new system in 2017. Now, you will be better off. You’ll get flexible, more affordable, more accessible childcare. We’ll be consolidating two childcare payments into one. And what you’ll be able to do is if the more – I don’t know your specific circumstances and the hours and so on that you work but – or your wife works – and how many hours your child is in childcare, but you’ll inevitably get more incentive, more government support to have your child in childcare for longer if that means you guys are working.
CALLER:
Yeah.
MARTO:
But not for two years. How come that’s going to take two years and yet the $20,000…
TREASURER:
Well, yeah. It has to go through. It is going to require some structural changes.
MARTO:
Yeah.
TREASURER:
And we are determined to get them through. It does require legislation through the Parliament.
ED:
That’s the key. It’s got to get through the Parliament.
MARTO:
I remember you said that last year. Anyway, next.
ED:
Yeah. Next we’ve got…
MICHELLE:
Gus from Carindale. You’re on with Mr Hockey. Gus, ask your question.
MARTO:
Gus?
ED:
Gussy?
MARTO:
Gus? Gus are you there, mate?
CALLER:
No. Gareth.
ED:
Oh, Gareth.
MICHELLE:
Oh, Gareth. Sorry, darling.
ED:
Gareth from Carindale, you’re on with the Treasurer, Joe Hockey. Ask your question.
CALLER:
Yeah. G’day, Mr Hockey.
TREASURER:
G’day.
CALLER:
Look, my question is that, okay, you’ve put in the Budget that we’re going to be $1,500 a year better off roughly for childcare with families that are, you know, working and need to put their children in childcare. But in the same reports I’m hearing that we’re going to be $6,000 – oh, up to $6,000 a year worse off with our Family Tax Benefit Part B. I mean, how does that help us as a young family when I’m going to lose possibly more money out of my FTB than I’m going to gain out of the childcare?
TREASURER:
Well, we’re trying to encourage people to participate in work. We’re giving them a choice. And under the Family Tax Benefit proposals, when your youngest child is going to school, which is, you know, inevitably paid for by tax payers, it’s very difficult for us to continue to pay the same amounts for people who choose to stay at home or choose not to work. We inevitably need every dollar we’ve got to go towards helping to grow the economy. That’s not to say that we don’t continue to give people Family Tax Benefit Part A. And the amount of money we’re spending on families through the Family Tax Benefit system is still going to be three times what we spend on childcare. But what we’re endeavouring to do is encourage mums when their youngest child turns six and goes to school, to start thinking about participating in work. And in doing so, we’ll still be providing support in certain cases under Family – other Family Tax Benefit payments.
ED:
All right. Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey taking your questions. We move on to Peter from Sunrise Beach. Peter, you’re on with Joe Hockey. Ask your question.
CALLER:
Good morning, Mr Hockey.
TREASURER:
Good morning, Peter.
CALLER:
Look, I just wanted to ask you, initially coming into the election; Australia was in economic crisis according to yourself and your Party and when you came into power the country was an economic basket case. Your last Budget didn’t really make any changes. I don’t see that we’re any better. But according to yourself, we’re no longer in crisis. Can you explain that to me?
TREASURER:
Yeah. I can. We actually did make a lot of changes. You’re not paying a carbon tax. Businesses that are building mines around the country aren’t facing the prospect of a mining tax. We’re not writing out cheques to the car industry. And we didn’t write out a cheque to Qantas. We’ve abolished 50,000 pages of regulation. The economy is growing faster. Unemployment looks as though it’s around the point of peaking, which is very encouraging. At the same time we’ve negotiated new trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea, that’s opening up massive opportunities for a range of different industries from the wine industry right through to the beef industry which has got record prices. And…
ED:
Hey, Treasurer.
TREASURER:
Yes.
ED:
Treasurer, sorry to cut you off. I know there’s – but you’ve got a few out there. You’ve had a few good ones there. So but let me…
TREASURER:
Okay. No, no. I’m just pointing out what’s changed.
ED:
No, no. I know. But I think what Peter’s saying – and it is – and I think it’s fairly – it is true as well, is that it’s the way that the last Budget was much more severe. And also in the…
MARTO:
Doom and gloom.
ED:
Yeah. And also in the way that you guys sold it as well. You’ve got to say – you’d have to agree with that the reception that that Budget received and the way that you guys had to go around selling that message, that’s – surely that’s affected the way this Budget was put together so that you have opportunities to basically sell it in a nicer way, that’s got to be true?
TREASURER:
Well, no, no, no. Last Budget, we did what we had to do to fix the mess. We did a lot.
ED:
Yeah.
TREASURER:
We did a lot. I mean, you can see it. You know, massive cuts in foreign aid, for example, which were unpopular with some, but we did that. And now we’re starting to see the benefits flow through which allows us to give, in particular, small business back their own money. I mean, I’m not writing out cheques to small business. I’m saying, it’s your money, go out and have a go and you can get accelerated depreciation and a tax cut which will help your cash flow whether you’re a tradie, or a coffee shop, or a small manufacturer.
ED:
What about a website, Mr Hockey?
TREASURER:
Yeah. Website developers, sure.
ED:
Those costs are – you can claim those costs as well?
TREASURER:
Well, there’s a depreciation schedule for things relating to fixtures, effectively, and items, individual items.
ED:
Do websites count as ‑ ‑ ‑
TREASURER:
And if you were building a website ‑ ‑ ‑
ED:
Yeah.
TREASURER:
‑ ‑ ‑ that’s a service provided by someone else. Or it depends on the ‑ ‑ ‑
ED:
But I take money from it, it’s a fixture. I mean, that’s how I make my business.
TREASURER:
Well, if it is a fixture, it will probably be deductible. But if you pay someone ‑ ‑ ‑
ED:
That’s what I’ll be arguing in my – that’s what I’ll be arguing in my tax return, Mr Hockey.
TREASURER:
Well, that’s right. If you go and pay someone to build your website, that’s deductible at any rate.
ED:
Yeah.
MARTO:
Yeah. That’s right.
TREASURER:
As a business cost.
MARTO:
Well, mate, we’ve got to keep moving, Joe. Thank you, mate.
TREASURER:
Good on you, guys.
ED:
We appreciate you…
MARTO:
Well done.
TREASURER:
I miss the weather in Brisbane. I hope it’s okay.
MICHELLE:
Do you miss scrumming with Marto? That’s what happened last time you were here.
TREASURER:
I love Marto. I love Marto.
MARTO:
Yeah.
TREASURER:
He’s a good luck charm. The Reds aren’t doing too well though. But…
MARTO:
Don’t rub it in, mate.
ED:
Thanks, Treasurer, Joe…
TREASURER:
The [inaudible] aren’t much better, mate.
ED:
We will…
MARTO:
All right. That’s enough.
ED:
We’ll speak to you soon. Thanks, Treasurer.
TREASURER:
All right. See you, guys.
MARTO:
Cheers, mate.
MICHELLE:
Thank you.