Ben Fordham:
The Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar is on the line for us this morning. Good morning to you, Michael.
Minister Sukkar:
Morning, Ben. Great to be with you.
Ben Fordham:
Are you happy with how the budget has been received so far?
Minister Sukkar:
Look, of course, Ben. I’ve been with the Treasurer, we’ve been on the road following the budget last week and it seems to me that certainly people in small business, in fact all businesses have seen that we’ve put a huge emphasis on supporting and enabling them to plough on and get through these difficult times and in fact grow their businesses. So that’s been encouraging and of course all Australians that I’ve spoken to have welcomed the tax cuts to over 11 million people so I’d say that overall it’s been very warmly welcomed but we never take these things for granted and there’s obviously a lot of work to be done.
Ben Fordham:
Now doubt about it, we love the sound of the tax cuts but the Labor Party’s policy on childcare seems to have resonated right around Australia. Would you acknowledge that?
Minister Sukkar:
Well they seem to have really adopted a Bill Shorten policy which is, in essence, to almost do a review, if they’re elected. And we should note that the last productivity commission review into childcare took 18 months so they are in essence saying that we should have a review into childcare. I mean what we have done…interrupted.
Ben Fordham:
They’re also saying that they want childcare to be more affordable and they want people to have access to childcare without picking up the bill and that’s gone down really well. I know that it might be expensive, it might be even unaffordable but it’s very popular.
Minister Sukkar:
Yeah look ultimately someone pays for childcare somewhere along the line. We all pay for it in our taxes including the parents who utilise childcare. What we have done, our reforms are a bit over 12 months old. We’ve got now 72 per cent of Australians who are paying less than $5 an hour in out-of-pocket expenses which is much better situation than it was previously. Those reforms, I think have led to record participation of women in the workforce. Before the pandemic hit, we had record female participation so they seem to be working. I don’t think childcare policy is one of those things that should change every five minutes particularly when you’ve got significant reforms with significant additional money which was put in last year. So look the Labor Party have flailed around in the wake of the budget. Yes, in a budget-reply speech you can pick the eyes out of one thing or another but Anthony Albanese didn’t talk about business, he didn’t talk about jobs, he didn’t talk about fuelling the economy and in the end, often people – in nearly all cases – need childcare because they’re working. We have focussed our energies on getting Australians back to work and if you look at what Anthony Albanese spoke about, there was precious little on how he would refuel the economy and get jobs back so I don’t think his budget reply past that test at all.
Ben Fordham:
Okay we’re speaking to Michael Sukkar, the Assistant Treasurer. You’re in the news today, Michael Sukkar. An independent investigator has cleared you of using taxpayer-funded resources for branch stacking in the Victorian Liberal Party. Your reaction please?
Minister Sukkar:
Well in the interests of transparency, Ben, and to remove any doubt after allegations were made, I immediately referred the matter to the Department of Finance who have undertaken a very thorough and independent review. Obviously I’ve always maintained that I’ve done nothing wrong and whilst I was obviously pleased with the outcome of the review, I wasn’t surprised by it. So we draw a line through that, my focus is on Australians, getting them back to work and doing everything we need to do to ensure that we can get back to a prosperous society that we had pre-pandemic.
Ben Fordham:
Just a quick one. Gladys Berejiklian is under some pressure. You are the Assistant Treasurer. If New South Wales was a business, would you be replacing the CEO in Gladys Berejiklian at the moment?
Minister Sukkar:
No, if New South Wales was a business I’d be buying as many shares as I possible can and I don’t say that flippantly, I say that to you as a Victorian. I’ve been here for the last day, I was out at Schofields talking to some first home buyers and people who are using our HomeBuilder grant, yesterday and I must say that as a Victorian, I looked at New South Wales with fresh eyes. I must say I am very envious of the way that you and your State Government has stewarded you through this pandemic. So to be quite frank, I think that all Victorians but also many Australians are very jealous of the extraordinarily competent Premier and Government that you’ve got here and it’s testament to the fact that yesterday, I was able to pretty freely – yes of course with social distancing but pretty freely – be able to get about my business whereas all my friends and extended family in Melbourne are still effectively in lockdown. So, in short, Ben, if New South Wales was a business, I’d be buying shares in it.
Ben Fordham:
Lovely to talk to you and welcome to our neck of the woods. We’ll talk to you again soon.
Minister Sukkar:
Good on you, Ben. Thank you so much.
Ben Fordham:
Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar.