01-June-2010
Portfolio Media Releases, The Economy, Funding
Topics: Labor’s Government advertising hypocrisy, Labor’s mining tax grab, Kevin Rudd misleading Parliament.
E&OE
Ashleigh Gillon:
Andrew Robb thank you for your time. Is the Coalition considering backing the Greens Private members Bill which would see a real crackdown on Government advertising through legislation?
Andrew Robb:
Well, we’ll have a look at it, but I think our priority is to insist that the Prime Minister do what he promised to do, in fact he guaranteed to do it. He was yelling from the roof tops before the last campaign that under no circumstances would he engage in political advertising with taxpayers’ money.
So none of this would be a problem, there would be no suggestion of more regulation and all the rest if he had just abided by the absolute, cast iron promise that he made before the last election.
Ashleigh Gillon:
Well this is still a problem though, even if you take this case out, the Howard Government was under a lot of pressure over this very issue. Don’t you think more broadly this is something that does need legislation?
Andrew Robb
Well again, let’s not get away from the real issue, he had his own guidelines, he did put in place a whole lot of strictures and independent assessment of advertising and then removed that a few months ago.
I mean the cynicism in this is palpable.
Ashleigh Gillon:
So doesn’t that point out the need for legislation so that people can’t just …
Andrew Robb:
What it points out is the Government of the day can override, if there’s enough cynicism, even legislation; I think the real thing is there needs to be a commitment that taxpayers’ money is not used for political advertising and that the population will hold them to account.
I think on this occasion, with all the feedback I get back on the health advertising, which is just grossly political advertising, I suspect the mining advertising will be the same. This will blow-up in their face.
Ashleigh Gillon:
But I am curious, I know I keep coming back to the legislation, but I am curious as to whether the Coalition believes that legislation is necessary to make this a real crack down and one people can’t get around, because the Greens’ bill they are putting up would mean the Auditor General has to approve any spending that is over $250,000.
Isn’t that something that would be good for both sides of politics to have to adhere to?
Andrew Robb:
Well, I mean we’ll look at it, we’ll have to make sure that whatever is there does address …
Ashleigh Gillon:
So you broadly agree that legislation is necessary?
Andrew Robb:
Well if legislation is possible that can be effective, but I suppose my point is, let’s not turn this issue; the Prime Minister and the Labor Party are junking the economy, that’s what is going on at the present time. Now, to aid and abet that they are going to spend $38 million of taxpayers’ money for advertising.
But the real issue is that this great big new tax, which is starting to impact greatly on share markets and exchange rates and all the rest of it. Let’s not divert all that with three weeks’ of debate on a piece of legislation that may, or may not be effective sometime in the future.
There should be a commitment by all the parties, a strong commitment to not spend taxpayers’ money on political advertising. And Kevin Rudd himself should abide by the cast iron commitment he gave three years ago. You know he was almost hysterical about his opposition with this.
Ashleigh Gillon:
Is it a bit hypocritical of the Coalition though to go so hard on the Government over this political advertising, when John Howard spend $250 million on Government ads in his final year alone, he spent $120 million on the GST campaign, which was also before the GST legislation had passed through the Parliament, aren’t you both as bad as each other?
Andrew Robb:
We never stood up and promised hand on heart that we wouldn’t do any advertising, a lot of that advertising, the GST advertising, a lot of strong communication material in that.
I don’t think people at the time were criticising that as political advertising, but the point is, the real issue in all of this, the point that we are seeking to make, is the gross hypocrisy of the Prime Minister.
Sure, deal with advertising, but it’s the hypocrisy that is the centre of this issue and it goes to people’s trust of the Prime Minister, not just on this issue but a host of issues. He is really just showing that he is not fit to govern because on almost every important issue he is breaking people’s trust, he is going against promises and he is showing himself totally inconsistent.
Ashleigh Gillon:
The Coalition does want a Senate inquiry into the advertising issue, is that something you would be willing to have look at, the former government’s spending as well?
Andrew Robb:
We are trying to get to the bottom of why a Government Minister last week would hide all this from Senate Estimates, as I understand, the Treasury had commissioned $350,000 worth of market research before the Budget which extends through until yesterday. They won’t say what it’s for.
We now know that Mr Swan was talking about advertising right back at the time of the Budget, this has all the hallmarks of a conspiracy to grossly mislead the Australian people.
We are seeing a Prime Minister who last Thursday stood in the House and misled the Parliament, said in no way was this great big new tax affecting exchange rates or the market, yet at that very same time a letter on Monday, had gone from Mr Swan which said we need this advertising money because the market is being affected.
Now you can’t tell me that the Prime Minister, in fact he had a copy of that letter from the Monday, so they have been planning this I think for weeks, long before the miners arked up about the massive impact and I think we are seeing the cynicism again, they could well have been planning this before they even brought down the tax in my view.
Ashleigh Gillon:
So on political advertising then, doesn’t that bring us back to the main point and all those reasons that you just outlined, show why there is a need for actual legislation to go through this Parliament so that when you are in Opposition or in Government you have the same opinions so that when you are back in Government one day then you won’t be able to do exactly what Kevin Rudd has been doing with political advertising.
Andrew Robb:
Well again, sure, look at the advertising but that fact of advertising itself, which I think will be counter productive anyway, is not the critical point it’s another example of the hypocrisy and the cynicism and in a way, the sneakiness of this Government, which I think for crass political purposes, it is risking our reputation as a safe haven for investment around the world for their own political skin, to save their own political skin.
This is all about orchestrating a fight with they say the big end of town, ignoring thousands of quarries and small mines and all the rest, it’s not just for the big end of town, but they’re orchestrating a fight for political purposes. They want to go to an election where they are seen to be embarking on the class warfare, now this is politics at its grubbiest level.
Ashleigh Gillon:
On the substance of the mining tax, Treasury modelling shows that the Coalition’s levy on business to fund your Paid Parental Leave scheme would have an adverse effect on the economy whereas the Government’s mining tax would help grow the economy, is that Treasury modelling wrong?
Andrew Robb:
Well who would know, we never see the modelling?
Ashleigh Gillon:
I’ve got it right here.
Andrew Robb:
Have you seen the assumptions? I mean we see the outcomes. They’ll have pages of assumption in a model. I did years of this stuff and I know how you could alter two or three assumptions and you get an outcome you want, I understand the Econtech modelling for the great big new tax.
One of the assumptions was that it had to show the economy growing, well ipso facto you get an outcome you want, it’s like Yes Minister this. I mean the episode last week, you’ve got a Government Minister straight out of Yes Minister, you’ve got a Government Minister writing to another Government Minister requesting permission to overrule their own rules and shock horror they agreed.
Ashleigh Gillon:
Of course the RSPT is being used to help pay for the drop in company tax so that is presumably a measure that would help grow the economy.
Andrew Robb:
Well again, what it didn’t assess was the impact on growth. In my view if we stop 150, 200 new mining projects over the next three years, and they are stopping already, there are people already losing jobs, contractors, geologists, small business; people all those who service the mining sector already losing jobs because of the threat of this new tax.
Lose 150 projects, growth will be stunted, we will not get the growth they talk about in three years time.
Ashleigh Gillon:
Do you have any examples of the jobs that have gone already?
Andrew Robb:
Yes there are people, I can’t cite them here but they have been told to me and colleagues this morning in a meeting, out of Cairns, out of Townsville, out of Brisbane, out of Melbourne, there are so many, hundreds of thousands of people who service the mining industry and those cutbacks are occurring around the country as we speak.
Ashleigh Gillon:
Just to clarify, there has been some confusion about what the position is in the Coalition as to whether or not the mining industry is paying enough tax. Is the industry as a whole paying enough tax right now?
Andrew Robb:
Well, what the Government has never really explained is that the mining industry currently pays 33 per cent more tax than every other industry. The rest of industry pays 30 cents or less in the dollar, the mining industry pays 41cents in the dollar, 33 percent more. What the Government wants to do, I think that’s a fair share, they want to take it to 100 percent more than all. They want to take it to 60.
Ashleigh Gillon:
So when Barnaby Joyce says there is room for movement at a federal level on mining taxes, he was wrong?
Andrew Robb:
We think what they are currently paying is a fair share, you want to talk about fair share, and they’ve got a fair share.
The point is the Government is trying to totally profiteer, this is a tax grab, if they are talking another 2 or 3 per cent there probably wouldn’t be a debate. What they are talking about is taking it from 41 cents to nearly 60 cents in the dollar. It’s a mile ahead of any other of our competitors, so we will lose investment in spadefuls…
Ashleigh Gillon:
Do you have your own modelling backing up those claims that it would be 60 cents in the dollar?
Andrew Robb:
Well treasury have actually confirmed it if you look at the paper by Ken Henry his tax would’ve been 58 cents in the dollar.
Ashleigh Gillon:
But he did say he wouldn’t expect most mining companies to pay anywhere near that.
Andrew Robb:
Well, again his model was fundamentally different to the one the Government has put up. You can’t assume that big licks of money, but the point is the fact that a Government is prepared, mid project, for lots of these projects, to change the rules – retrospective taxation I mean it would send shock waves, it is sending shockwaves through the investment markets overseas and it won’t just affect our mining sector.
They will be reluctant when mining companies are short to put serious money into banking or any other sector in Australia from overseas and we are dependent so much on overseas capital. It’s just lunacy. They are trashing this economy and you know he is not fit to govern the way he is carrying on.
Ashleigh Gillon:
I am sure we’ll hear more about that in question time this afternoon, just finally before you go, young LNP members are planning to celebrate Gough Whitlam’s birthday this year ‘because he is old and nearly dead’. Is that the way you expect young members of your party to behave, do you think they should have their membership withdrawn?
Andrew Robb:
No, they shouldn’t behave like that. I don’t know this young fellow that put this up, it was totally out of whack, out of court. They should not conduct themselves in this way and identify themselves with the party and they should be censured.
Ashleigh Gillon:
OK Andrew Robb, thanks for you time.
Andrew Robb:
My pleasure. Thanks Ashleigh.