NEIL MITCHELL:
Good morning, Treasurer.
TREASURER:
Good morning, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
(inaudible)
TREASURER:
Well, we certainly want to get to surplus within five years but there is a lot of work to be done and quite frankly we need everyone to push in the right direction and that certainly is what we are working on in the Senate.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, you still think you can meet your targets of the surplus? We are talking about a $45 billion black hole the Senate has given you.
TREASURER:
Well, I think sooner or later Neil, many of our critics will have to realise that the reason why we are doing this is to strengthen the economy and help to create more jobs and greater prosperity and if the Government lives within its means, then it means that families have the capacity to live within their means.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But how do you do it? How do you actually deliver it if this Senate nonsense continues?
TREASURER:
Well, I think ultimately it comes down to the bigger picture; that is that if you don’t agree with our plan, what is yours? What is your plan to get the Budget back to surplus? That is the question I am asking of the Labor Party and the Greens and the Independents every day. Okay, you might disagree with what we are laying down as a plan, but what is your plan? Because ultimately, if we continue to borrow money, then it is going to lower the quality of life that we have in the future.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But that doesn’t explain how you deal with it if these blockages continue? If you have lost $45 billion here, how do you deal with it? You can’t do enough to make that up can you?
TREASURER:
Well, it is very difficult, it is very difficult and in the past, Labor has either borrowed money or imposed new, unexpected taxes and from our perspective we want to provide stability. We have laid down a plan, that’s what we’re focussed on delivering.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Deloitte are saying that we are looking at $300 billion debt over the next decade if something isn’t done now. Do you agree?
TREASURER:
Well, it is a huge amount of money, that is absolutely right. It is a huge amount of money but that is why there is an imperative for the Labor Party and the Greens in particular. I mean, we spend a lot of time talking about Clive Palmer and the PUP Party but they represent just three senators and…
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, yeah but if they were voting with you, you’d be okay.
TREASURER:
Well, that is right but if the Labor Party were voting with us, we would be okay or the Greens. I mean..
NEIL MITCHELL:
The point is, you are not okay so what do you do? $300 billion we are talking about over a decade. We are talking about a crisis here aren’t we?
TREASURER:
No,I never accept a crisis; I think the challenge is we have got to move on the Budget repair job now. We promised that at the last election, we started that process, if we can pass our Budget now, it means that decisions in the future will be much easier for whoever is in government. I mean, one day the Labor Party will be back in government. If they don’t help us to repair the Budget now, then the challenge will be far greater for them in the future.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay, but you are saying you will still meet the surplus target?
TREASURER:
We are determined to get there.
NEIL MITCHELL:
How?
TREASURER:
Well, that is the plan we have laid down now.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But it has been blocked, Treasurer.
TREASURER:
Well, there is still quite a bit of legislation to go to the Parliament. For example, the co-payment in relation to visits to the doctors.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, you are sticking by that unequivocally?
TREASURER:
Absolutely, absolutely because it makes Medicare sustainable, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, that won’t be negotiated?
TREASURER:
Well, no one is offering any alternatives.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, it won’t be negotiated back?
TREASURER:
Well, our doors are open for discussions. I mean, Christine Milne’s not returning our phone calls – the Leader of the Greens. We have endeavoured to have a discussion about fuel excise and a range of other things. But the Leader of the Greens doesn’t return our phone calls.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You mean that literally? She doesn’t call back?
TREASURER:
Yeah, yeah, which is a little surprising because it is actually Greens policy. I mean, the Labor Party is voting against their own election commitments.
NEIL MITCHELL:
What about the fuel excise? Are you totally committed to that?
TREASURER:
Well, we are Neil, because it is helping to pay for the new investments such as the East West Link in Melbourne. We need to have this new productive infrastructure to grow the economy and grow jobs and we have got to pay for it along the way and the change in fuel excise is part of that; helping to pay for things so that we can build a stronger economy.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay, so the fuel excise will happen eventually?
TREASURER:
Well, you know, I want it to, that is our plan. I mean, I am in the hands of others at the moment but we are determined to make sure that we deliver the things that strengthen the economy.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay, yesterday you were suggesting that there could be cuts you could find the money elsewhere without legislation. Where? How?
TREASURER:
Well, there are obviously a number of areas where you don’t have day-to-day legislation in the Parliament and you know, I mean, as I sighted, the biggest savings measures in the Budget is the reduction in foreign aid. That is a reduced appropriation and that was one area that didn’t need any specific legislation other than the appropriations bills which in fact, you know, no one is going to oppose.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, what else is on the list? Foreign aid is on the list. What else?
TREASURER:
No, no. I am not (inaudible) Neil. It is not a shopping list.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Give us a general idea. You are talking about trying to find as much as $45 billion without legislation. Where?
TREASURER:
Well, I am not saying that because I still remain hopeful that common sense will prevail.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, have you got a plan B?
TREASURER:
Well, the plan we have is what we laid down in the Budget.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, but that is plan A and that has been blocked.
TREASURER:
Well, maybe we can have plan A with a small variation. You know, I am not accepting that we need to get to plan B. You know Neil, you and I share a good memory on these sorts of things. It took Peter Costello sometimes, quite some time to get some of his Budgets through the Parliament and it took even Wayne Swan sometime but the bottom line was, in the case of the Labor Party in government, we supported 80 per cent of their savings and we offered up a huge amount of savings to make up the shortfall that we opposed.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, you reckon Labor will come on side and help you do you?
TREASURER:
Well, I don’t know. I mean, they are even voting against their own savings which is bizarre. I mean, sometimes, I think to myself I have seen everything that is bizarre in politics but the fact that the Labor Party is voting against things that they announced in last year’s Budget to try and fix the Budget is bizarre and they took to the last election. They went through the electoral pain of saying that they were going to reduce funding to universities and a few other things. They went through that electoral pain and now they are now breaking their own promise.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, what is this uncertainty doing to the Country? I hear some complaints from business but in real terms, is everyone taking this sort of fairly relaxed approach you are and saying ‘no, no we are going to sort it out?’ Or is this creating an uncertainty for the whole Country?
TREASURER:
Well, at the end of the day, there is a cost associated with uncertainty but I want to emphasis this: I am confident that we can see common sense prevail here. Look, for example Neil, I am very hopeful that today the Senate will pass the abolition of the Carbon Tax. Now, that is part of our economic plan. It is going to reduce the cost of living pressures on families. That is the first step and that is a significant step.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I wanted to ask you about that quickly. If the Carbon Tax comes off, where will the average person first notice a difference? I mean, already the Councils are saying, ‘no we won’t take down council rates’.
TREASURER:
Well, it varies from place to place and product to product. In some cases electricity prices will come down immediately and it varies from state to state – as you know there is state regulation of these things. But certainly we have given the ACCC – the consumer watchdog, all the powers it needs to make sure that where prices went up as a result of the Carbon Tax, prices will come down.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, it is going to be messy isn’t it though, inevitably?
TREASURER:
What’s that?
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, when the Carbon Tax comes off, working out what does come off and where. As I said, the councils say ‘no we are not going to reduce it’.
TREASURER:
Well, yeah look there will be – you know obviously – name and shame associated with businesses that do not or councils, in the case of councils that do not reduce their prices as a result of the reduction of the Carbon Tax.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Name and shame.
TREASURER:
And, if necessary, certainly there is the power for the ACCC to do what it must. Now, ultimately we have all got to be vigilant on this and in some cases for example, the airlines, initially, have absorbed the impact of the Carbon Tax but they have been making financial losses (inaudible). So, if the Carbon Tax continued forever, they would be passing it on with interest. So, there will be variations around the place, you are right but the bottom line is, we expect on average, Australian households will be $550 a year better off.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Are you frustrated by all this?
TREASURER:
It’s the way it goes, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Wouldn’t you like to take Clive Palmer away and punch him on the noise?
TREASURER:
I am not a violent person.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, lock him in a room and convince him, I mean, how do you deal with him, really?
TREASURER:
We have discussions but Clive Palmer is only in this position because you know, the 35 Greens and Labor Senators are voting against everything we do.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Have you seen that Rupert Murdoch is about to run the world? Attempting to take over Warner?
TREASURER:
I don’t know that he is going to run the world.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But he is going to be huge if he takes over Warner isn’t he?
TREASURER:
Well, I think we as a nation should be very proud of Rupert Murdoch. I mean, certainly in my life time, I haven’t seen a business entrepreneur of his scale that has been so incredibly successful and the fact that he is Australian is, I think, a source of great pride.
NEIL MITCHELL:
He’s an American isn’t he?
TREASURER:
Well, he is Australian at heart, I mean.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Don’t tell the Americans.
TREASURER:
Well I have told them, I have told them.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thank you for your time.
TREASURER:
Anytime Neil, thanks very much.