LYNDAL CURTIS:
Joe Hockey, welcome to Capital Hill. If I could start with a couple of domestic questions- you want to axe the Mining Tax and the spending associated with it, the Senate has not agreed to that. What are you going to do?
TREASURER:
We are going to sit down with individual Senators and try to understand some of their individual concerns. Obviously, there are individual Senators who don't like individual initiatives. The problem is, collectively, it costs the Budget $17 billion. We have taken this to two elections and we are asking the Senate to respect the mandate that we got from the Australian people to fix the Budget and get rid of the Mining Tax package. We went through the hard politics of being upfront with the Australian people about getting rid of things like the Schoolkids Bonus and yet the Senate is failing to respect the will of the Australian people.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Do you believe you can convince at least some of those Senators to change their minds?
TREASURER:
We're going to have to because ultimately the impact on the Budget is so significant of a failure to pass the repeal of the Mining Tax package that we need to get it through, we must get it through. Clearly the Labor Party and the Greens don't respect the mandate and the will of the Australian people but I'm hoping that independent Senators together with the Palmer United Party will.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Are you contemplating what you might do if the negotiation strategy does not work?
TREASURER:
We'll see, Lyndal, we'll see. We have endeavored to undertake discussions and we will do that over the course of the next few weeks.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Now, the draft Productivity Commission Report on options for more flexible childcare has been released. It talks about spending a little bit more on childcare than is being spent at the present and says some funds from your proposed Paid Parental Leave Scheme could be diverted to be spent on childcare. Are you prepared to have a look at that?
TREASURER:
It is a draft report Lyndal, that is a very important point, it is a draft report. There is going to be further community consultation on the report. Obviously childcare is a huge driver of workforce participation and we need to lift workforce participation from particularly mums in order to add to the productivity of the nation, to enhance our productivity capacity, our capacity to grow our economy stronger and so that you are prepared to invest if it does deliver an economic dividend. But, obviously there are some cost implications for the Budget.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
If the final Commission report does say that childcare is a greater driver of economic benefit than the proposed Paid Parental Leave Scheme, wouldn't it make sense to divert a bit of money from PPL into childcare?
TREASURER:
Lyndal, I'm very mindful again that we have in fact gone to two elections with a commitment to a Paid Parental Leave Scheme and, again, I say we are asking everyone to respect the mandate that we got from the Australian people to deliver our policies. It is not one election, it is two, so there is a pretty compelling argument for us to be very true to our word and deliver a Paid Parental Leave Scheme. I know the Labor Party hates paid parental leave but we are determined to deliver a fair scheme for Australia's working mothers.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
You've had talks with the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key today. He has recently been talking about the success he believes New Zealand has had moving people from welfare to work. Did you talk about the changes New Zealand has implemented?
TREASURER:
Well, there are many reforms New Zealand has implemented which have been of great benefit to their economy - there are lessons for Australia to learn. The starting point is to get on with the job of fixing your Budget. The New Zealanders did that when they were first elected. The benefits are flowing to New Zealand right now. For example, it now appears, for the first time, New Zealanders are returning home rather than travelling overseas for work and that's an indication that the New Zealand economy is strong and New Zealanders believe it is going to be stronger. Now, that isn't an accident. It's come about because of the reforms undertaken by the Key Government and if we're allowed to get on with our reforms in Australia, so too will we see the prosperity case built.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
They also have successfully twice raised their GST. Might you be able to take a lesson from that?
TREASURER:
They had tax reform. They've undertaken a genuine consultative process with the community, and taken the community with them on that tax reform agenda. They've got a very different tax system to us. Quite obviously, they haven't got things like payroll tax and they haven't got State Governments so there are lots of different challenges that we have that New Zealand doesn't have - so each to their own but the process of reform has been a very successful one here in New Zealand and there are some good lessons for us out of that.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
And one final question. You have visited Christchurch. At this time when this nation is mourning the deaths of 37 Australians and the families of those victims are just beginning to deal with the horrific news and the consequences. Was your visit to Christchurch a reminder at this time of the resilience of the human spirit?
TREASURER:
It is a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit. It is also the fact that you should never forget the tragic events that cost innocent lives no matter how much time passes. You can never forget that and one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Christchurch was to send a message to the people of New Zealand that Australia is their mate, we still stand by them and we are still prepared to do everything we can to help in the wake of a terrible, terrible tragedy that occurred a few years ago. We never forget and we want New Zealanders to know we never forget. The second thing is, just to remember, that the sky is always darkest before the dawn and even though there are terribly dark days now and for many years ahead for lot of families of the victims of the Ukrainian aviation disaster, there will be a dawn and things will, one day, change for the better.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Joe Hockey, thank you very much for your time.
TREASURER:
Thanks very much, Lyndal.