04-August-2011
Portfolio Media Releases, The Economy
INTERVIEW WITH MARIUS BENSON ABC NEWS RADIO
Thursday, 4 August 2011
CLICK HERE TO PLAY INTERVIEW
Topics: Economic uncertainty, crisis of confidence, Labor’s debt.
E&OE………………………………………………………………………
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb it looks like a shaky old financial world out there between the international markets and the retail figures locally, but the Treasurer says the fundamentals are strong, you disagree?
ANDREW ROBB:
The trouble with the economy is there is no leadership, there’s no direction, in fact I would say there is a crisis of confidence that’s what’s killing retail. That’s what’s worrying the business sector, that’s what’s creating a real problem for manufacturing. There is no investment there is no spending and it is because people do not see that the country has got any leadership.
MARIUS BENSON:
When you say there is no investment I heard a report yesterday saying investment in Australia is running at a 50-year high.
ANDREW ROBB:
The investment in the mining sector is, but really we’ve got the retail sector is now in recession and you’ve got many parts of the manufacturing sector under enormous pressure.
MARIUS BENSON:
But investment is firing.
ANDREW ROBB:
Investment is driven by the resources sector, so you have got a boom in the resources sector, but the trouble is we’ve got other parts of the economy almost or literally in recession. Now if there is a double-dip recession around the world then of course the first thing that will come off is commodity prices as it did in the GFC and we are left as an economy highly exposed.
MARIUS BENSON:
Do you think part of the crisis of confidence is because you are making remarks like that saying that the future is uncertain and very threatening?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, not at all, Wayne Swan is making this accusation, but of course Wayne Swan if you listen to him finds an excuse for everything that goes wrong in the economy …
MARIUS BENSON:
But can I just ask you about the opposition’s point of view, ordinarily an opposition, certainly in the first half of a new government can rely on being ignored, but it’s different this time, the opposition’s voice is much louder because of the minority government set up.
ANDREW ROBB:
The opposition’s concern and probably it’s being listened to far more because Australia has got an enormous opportunity with China and India, but in many respects is wasting the mining boom.
The government should be taking strong measures to ensure that we do restore our economic resilience, we reduce our debt, we get ourselves back into shape to weather any other unforseen economic circumstances ahead.
MARIUS BENSON:
Could I ask you about debt because you are critical of the level of debt that the Labor government has at the moment, but Australia’s debt as a per centage of GDP 22 per cent compares to the United States 97 per cent, a global average of 59 per cent, it is a figure that visitors like Tony Blair and John Keys say, all our figures are the envy of the world and that includes debt.
ANDREW ROBB:
It’s not a question of resting on our laurels, the reason we got through the last global financial crisis much better than all those other economies is because we had no debt in fact we had tens and tens of billions of dollars of surplus and reserves and no debt.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb, the Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey says the department of Climate Change is producing unreliable figures. He says it would be disbanded under a Coalition government is that opposition policy to disband the climate change department?
ANDREW ROBB:
We haven’t made any final decisions, but certainly the expenditure that’s going into literally hundreds and hundreds of bureaucrats in that area, if we remove the carbon tax we will remove the need for six new regulatory bodies that are being created; the hundreds of millions of dollars of new expenditure that is being incurred. And there is every reason why that department should be folded back in as part of the Department of Environment. And all of the excessive expenditure with new buildings and all of the rest is then avoided.
MARIUS BENSON:
So every reason to get rid of it, but you haven’t decided to do so yet is that what you are saying?
ANDREW ROBB:
We are making a range of decisions and options as we go forward, but that’s certainly one we are seriously considering.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb, thank you very much.
Media Contact: Cameron Hill on 0408 239 521.