20-May-2010
Portfolio Media Releases, The Economy, Funding
Topics: Coalition’s Budget savings plan, Labor’s reckless spending and borrowing
E&OE
STEVE PRICE:
The Shadow Finance Minister is Andrew Robb, he’s on the line. Thanks for your time.
ANDREW ROBB:
My pleasure Steve.
STEVE PRICE:
Bit of a PR disaster wasn’t it?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, some of the journalists got a bit agitated that Joe spent his speech primarily trying to map out a framework that we would take through government to approaching a lot of these financial and economic issues.
He did release the number and release the detail immediately after the speech and I gave a 45 minute press conference to take people through it.
STEVE PRICE:
We know your love of AFL, but that was a lovely hand pass from him.
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, as I say, I was quite comfortable, we are a team. I mean Tony Abbott last week announced several cuts.
STEVE PRICE:
You’re on the end of a chain of hand passes there.
ANDREW ROBB:
I was there to put it through the goals you see.
ANDREW BOLT:
Andrew honestly, I can’t believe the fuss made by precious journalists, about the fact that you’ve announced all these spending details, but you announced it not at exactly the hour of their choosing.
ANDREW ROBB:
That’s right.
ANDREW BOLT:
I mean talk about precious that this becomes the story. Get back to the point. Now here’s the criticism…
STEVE PRICE:
Well we’ve fallen in.
ANDREW BOLT:
Now here’s the real criticism of poor old Andrew Robb here. Did you read Andrew, that poor old Tony Wright at the Age is now criticising you for explaining all these cuts to them, boring everyone near to death.
ANDREW ROBB:
That’s right.
ANDREW BOLT:
Can you amp it up a bit please!
ANDREW ROBB:
Well I didn’t have a song and dance act I’m afraid. There were 45 minutes of questions which I sought to answer, and I don’t think anyone contradicted what I said.
STEVE PRICE:
Well, let’s get to sort of specifics, you have included the $12 billion that would be roped in by the resources tax. You’ve opposed that tax and it’s not going to be introduced for two years anyway. How can you put that in, when it doesn’t exist?
ANDREW ROBB:
This amazes me, some of them raised this issue yesterday, and Lindsay Tanner has sought to sort of pursue it. The fact of the matter is they are a series of programs, some of them quite attractive we just haven’t got the money to go ahead with that. The country hasn’t got the money.
STEVE PRICE:
But how can you call that a saving, Andrew?
ANDREW ROBB:
They are in the spending column, you know if you do any sort of spreadsheet on spending and expenditure for a company, or a country, you have a spending column.
STEVE PRICE:
But didn’t you claim that that column and those figures were based on a false assumption when you responded to the Budget in the Parliament?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, no, the bottom line is Steve, that all of those programs, the Government will go ahead with. If they get to year three and four and the resource rent tax, its commodity prices has come off, or the tax is modified to the point they get half the money, they won’t cut the programs in half, those programs are a fixture in their four year budget. Those programs have been announced and those programs will go ahead. So whatever we do with the tax, those programs are still there in the Government’s spending column, and there’s an expectation in the community that they will deliver them.
STEVE PRICE:
So you’re saying we should be putting more money into super but we can’t afford to.
ANDREW ROBB:
That’s right.
ANDREW BOLT:
This whole thing’s amazing mate, for the last two elections, you will know, the Liberals were attacked by the media for reckless spending at a time when we actually had a lot of money. Now that we’ve got a $40 billion deficit coming up next financial year courtesy of this Government, you’re being attacked by the same media, for announcing cuts. How does that compute?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well this is bizarre. The Labor Party at the last election made out that they had identified major cuts, huge cuts. They actually identified $10 billion worth of which $5 billion were offsets, in other words, they had alternate programs, and they went into the election with $5 billion unfunded.
We announced yesterday, in terms of capital and recurrent savings, nearly $50 billion. Now it beggars belief people can now start to criticise the fact we’ve got huge deficits, $57 billion this year, $40 billion next year, the Government’s borrowing $100 million a day and will do so for the next two years, then you’ve got fantasy assumptions being made about the year three and four. We are in a position where if there is another downturn of some consequence, this Government has made the economy very vulnerable.
ANDREW BOLT:
That downturn may well come with China apparently slowing and big questions over the European Union’s financial blows. Can I just say, I find it amusing, I find it refreshing, that you suddenly find it very easy to cut green funding, renewable energy projects, green cars, green, green, green, is suddenly a very yesterday colour. When are you going to be similarly now dismissive of middle class welfare, there’s not much attacking that yet?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well we’ve gone through programs that we identified within the Budget. We’ve got a lot more to come, I can assure you Andrew.
STEVE PRICE:
But you’ve left your maternity leave promise in there.
ANDREW BOLT:
Boy, wouldn’t you love to cut that one.
ANDREW ROBB:
We have… Well we see that…
ANDREW BOLT:
Let me just ask… I think you couldn’t hear that… there’s a problem with the mic… let me just say, wouldn’t you love to cut that one Andrew?
ANDREW ROBB:
I’m saying to you Andrew that is seen very much as a productivity measure.
ANDREW BOLT:
You believe that? Don’t do a Tony Abbott on me Andrew, do you believe that?
STEVE PRICE:
So you can afford to spend money on maternity leave but you can’t afford to spend money of kid’s computers?
ANDREW ROBB:
We have said in regard to a number of programs, including that one, that we will have an alternate off-setting measure. So in regard $3 billion of that $50 billion, we will have, and that’s certainly one of them, so we announce that in due course Steve.
ANDREW BOLT:
On this stupid paternal leave thing of Tony Abbott’s I mean nearly $3 billion worth of six months away from the workforce is a joke. Can’t you use the excuse, look we’ve got no cash and then get rid of this stupid…
STEVE PRICE:
Well that’s the excuse being used.
ANDREW BOLT:
Yeah exactly, why don’t you use that excuse Andrew? Can’t you drop it?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well the thing is Andrew, many businesses including Government’s around Australia already have a program in place, and…
ANDREW BOLT:
Then you don’t need it! Great!
ANDREW ROBB:
This will replace much of what they do and it will be paid for by business because we see it as a productivity measure. Many of them are already doing it. It will replace what they’re doing now.
ANDREW BOLT:
How can it be a productivity measure to take somebody out of the workforce for six months?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well the thing is, there’s a huge body of highly talent people, women that we have as a community, educated and they’ve got enormous experience. For many of them, this measure will ensure they stay in the workforce and at a time when we need to keep those that have got talents, experience and are highly educated, we keep them in the workforce where they might drift off and not…
ANDREW BOLT:
And have company, babies after six months, great idea.
STEVE PRICE:
Thanks for your time Andrew, look forward to getting you in the studio here sometime when you’re in Melbourne.
ANDREW ROBB:
I look forward to it Steve.
STEVE PRICE:
Good on you.