28-June-2011
Portfolio Media Releases
Interview with David Speers, Sky News
Topics: Coalition Tax Cuts
E&OE…………………………
DAVID SPEERS:
The man who has the job of making sure the Coalition's policy do add up is the Shadow Finance Minister, Andrew Robb. Andrew Robb, thanks for your time.
I know the Coalition hasn't finalised the details of the tax cuts Tony Abbott promised at the weekend, but in principle will you aim to match the Government's tax cuts or are we talking about smaller tax cuts from the Coalition?
ANDREW ROBB:
We need to see what they're going to present, how they'll present it, what sort of compensation; at the moment Bob Brown was saying just yesterday that there they're still quite a way of finalising any of the details.
I don't know what the Government is up to, I suspect they're trying to create another diversion from all the many unresolved problems they're trying to deal with to the at moment
DAVID SPEERS:
Either way the Government is talking about several billions dollars worth of tax cuts Is that what you have in mind?
If it's going to be something meaningful it will involve several billion dollars worth of tax cuts won’t it?
ANDREW ROBB:
Several billion worth of tax cuts, David.
The thing is what's not being considered at any stage is the fact that there's hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, especially the manufacturing ones, who will not be able to pass on one cent of the tax because they're competing against the imported product or trying to compete on export markets.
They won't get a cent of compensation either, so there are a lot of jobs, a lot of businesses that will suffer and compensation won't go anywhere near those people.
DAVID SPEERS:
With your tax cuts the money will have to come from some where. The Government is saying you will be having to rip money out of either health, education or defence. Can you guarantee that those areas won't be targeted?
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, that's a nonsense, I mean they're areas that need strong support in this economy. It's the Government that is ripping money out of defence. They're pulling billions of dollars out of defence at the present time. Another hypocritical reflection from the Government, but the fact of the matter is, we will be running a far more prudent financial system in Australia, with a smaller government, a lot to those small and medium-sized businesses, hundreds and thousands who will face great pressure under a new carbon tax they can't pass on.
All of that will generate greater economic activity under a Coalition Government, there will be many ways in which we will be generate the income that will enable us to pay for tax cuts.
It is a great discipline on us as well if we have got the tax cut as a centrepiece of our economic management under our economic program in our first term of office if we get there, then it does mean that we will need be very prudent in the way in which we deal with other government expenditure, unlike this government which is spent like wounded bulls.
DAVID SPEERS:
But what does smaller government mean, Andrew Robb, it means cutting somewhere, doesn't it?
ANDREW ROBB:
Smaller government has a couple of dimensions, David.
It means one, we don't keep spending at the sort of rate that this government is doing, even this year, supposedly a tough budget, this government will be spending several billion dollars more than they will get in revenue. They'll be borrowing an extra $10 or $12 billion more than they even anticipated six months ago. The place in fiscal terms is just a joke. I mean, you can't rely on estimates from one month to the next. The other part of it is, with deregulation, that's a very important part of smaller government.
This government has over seen the greatest growth of government in our lives in terms of the explosion of regulation and the explosion of federal bureaucrats in terms of management of so much, an over sight of so many businesses.
We need to really tackle that in a very serious way. That will produce productivity gains, and it will reduce the level of government in all our lives, especially in the lives of business people who are trying to make their business work effectively and cost effectively.
DAVID SPEERS:
But when we look at the record of what we know the Coalition proposes to do you're also going to be spending $10.5 billion on your direct action climate change policy, that comes from the budget bottom line.
You won't have the $11 billion estimated revenue from the carbon tax, you won’t have the $7.5 billion from the mining tax, you’re also opposed to the means test on the private health insurance, $3 billion, your parental leave scheme will cost $3 billion, can you understand the scepticism of how you make all of this add up?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, I can't, the direct action is not 10.5 billion, it's in the order of 3 to 4 billion. It will be 10 billion or so over the live of the forward program through to 2020, as distinct from the Government's $140 billion, so the fundamental difference there, but secondly the absence a carbon tax, David, the absence of a carbon tax will in fact be an enormous help to many, many businesses growing their business again and starting to get out of the malaise that is currently hanging over so many parts of business across Australia.
DAVID SPEERS:
One of the other measures were you critical of in the budget process was the capping of the family benefits at the top end, the freeze on the increase in family benefits.
Tony Abbott said it was class warfare from the government. Yet last week in parliament Coalition waved the measures through, it didn't oppose it, Kevin Andrews said you couldn't find equivalent savings measures, that was why you had to pass it.
If you couldn't find it last week, how can you now find them for the tax cuts?
ANDREW ROBB:
We're dealing with the here and now, we reluctantly passed that legislation. We made our point. We sought to seek amendments, but in the end we can't fight on a thousand fronts, David.
It's not our job to govern the country at the moment; it's the Government's job. Our job is to, one, keep them accountable, to point to the great weaknesses in so much of what they're doing, the second thing over the next two years to progressively develop a body of policy that will get Australia back on track.
That's what we're doing at the centre of that will be a tax cut which is not paid for by a carbon tax, we won't have a carbon tax, we will have a range of policies that we will release over the next two years which will breathe the life back into this economy, not just the mining area but the rest of the economy.
We will be able to demonstrate very clearly, well ahead of time, what we will do, how will we fund it, how we will get this economy back on track.
DAVID SPEERS:
The Government, as you know, Andrew Robb, has offered the assistance of treasury to help the Coalition cost its tax cuts. Wayne Swan this afternoon has written to Joe hockey released the letter publicly, in it he says if you fail to take up this offer Australians will be entitled to view this announcement as a stunt that will inflict serious budget damage or both.
What do you say to that?
ANDREW ROBB:
Look this is a nonsense, the fact is that what the Government does in mismanaging the economy over the next two years, is in itself very material to the sort of, you know, program that we will need to put together to fund these cuts, and to fund other measures that we will put to the next election, so you can't take a point in time now and look at each policy in isolation.
There is a whole complex mix of policies. We have started and done extensive work already, we can see that we can manage a tax cut and also do many of the other things that need to be done, but we fundamentally need to improve productivity in this economy, bring in a great big new tax which the rest of the world is not doing, we heard over night that senior people from both sides of politics in the US said that the carbon tax is dead in the United States.
Here we are going alone unilaterally. It will cost thousand of jobs, the effect on morale in this country alone will be enormous, and it will create even more sovereign risk and lack of investment.
All of these issues are going to eat away at our economy over the next two years, we need to factor all of those things in, in terms of the final package that we put to people well ahead of the next election.
We will do that, but we won't be - won't play the Government's tune.
The only reason we have come up with this pathetic stunt toss divert attention from the really major issues, not just the carbon tax, the mining tax, the live cattle exports, the Malaysian issue, they're drowning in unresolved issues at the present time.
This would have to be certainly the worst government in my life time, I expect for many of the last century.
DAVID SPEERS:
Well, alright, if this offer to have treasury cost your policies is a stunt would you submit the tax cuts and also the Direct Action climate policy to a parliamentary budget office, an independent body that the Government as part of its deal with the independents to form government promise today set up, in fact in the recent budget last month committed funds to set this up, $26 million.
Would you take up that sort of body?
ANDREW ROBB:
It was our initiative, you might recall David in the first place, really the Government got forced into it by the Greens, despite as you say allocating $26 million to run it, we have seen no action to date.
In fact Joe Hockey wrote to Wayne Swan two weeks ago said if you're not going to act we will put a bill up ourselves, shortly, to get things moving.
We want to see both sides of politics having some independent assessment of not only our campaign policies, but other budgetary items that the Government - the Government's record on forecasting is just abysmal.
We have got to stop the situation where the Government continues to politicise the public service, and use them as a political arm of government.
That is what has been happening. That has to stop so we can have a genuine and sensible debate on the relative policies being put forward by both parties at the next election.
DAVID SPEERS:
Okay, if they set up this independent parliamentary budget office, will you use it; will you submit your tax cuts and your direct action policy to it?
ANDREW ROBB:
That was our intention the whole way through, bear in mind the Government will have to put its policies up to that same office.
That's the reason, if you look back two years ago when Malcolm Turnbull announced the need for such an office, one that's worked very effectively in the United States, and for the first time wheel start to see some transparency.
Wayne Swan said this morning he will release all the modelling leaving the impression he will release all the assumptions and the detail.
I bet in a few weeks time they will give a few outcomes but we won’t see the detail. This will keep them honest rather than the nonsense that goes on, the lack of transparency, the politicisation of the process.
This Government knows a lot about playing politics, but it doesn’t know about running an economy.
DAVID SPEERS:
Alright Andrew Robb, we will have to leave it there, thanks for joining us.
ANDREW ROBB:
Thanks David.
Media Contact: Cameron Hill on 03 9557 4644
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