26-September-2011
Portfolio Media Releases
Monday, 26 September 2011
Transcript: ABC News Radio with Marius Benson
Topic: Australia’s economic vulnerability
E&OE………………………………………………………
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb, there does seem to be some area of agreement between you and the Treasurer, Wayne Swan. You both think the world is a dangerous place financially, economically, now; and heading for deeper danger.
ANDREW ROBB:
Yes, there is certainly in our view, the world has not solved its problem of borrowing too much; the world has been living beyond its means in many respects for too long, and we expect the adjustment to continue.
MARIUS BENSON:
There is one specific thing you are calling for; you want the Reserve Bank to cut rates.
ANDREW ROBB:
Well, there’s two or three things that should happen: the Government should start to live within its means; it should certainly scrap the carbon tax, which is in many respects killing confidence across the economy and would materially add to costs, we’ve got to get on top of costs when we face the prospect of further weakening of the world economy.
And as part of that: there can be a very strong case now made for the Reserve Bank to start to lower interest rates because we are seeing a significant softening of the economy outside of the mining area; in a very material way, there is a softening of jobs, a softening in inflation; and these things suggest that the bank could and should start to think about reducing interest rates.
MARIUS BENSON:
Let me go to another topic, which is rugby league and Aussie rules leaders are meeting today to work on ways of supporting clubs in their fight against Andrew Wilkie and the Government’s Pokies Machine Restrictions Legislation that they plan. Eddie McGuire, the Collingwood President, calls the restrictions, those pre-commitment requirements; he’s calling it a ‘footy tax’. Is that a fair description?
ANDREW ROBB:
Yes, yes it is. It is a footy tax; it’s a club tax; it’s going to, in a very material and serious way undermine the revenue of so many community organisations.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Wilkie says it’ll only cut revenue that now comes from problem gamblers.
ANDREW ROBB:
No no that’s not true. That it is not true. In many cases, this pre-commitment card will discourage casual gamblers. This card will not work; it will be hugely expensive; it will be a massive cost on these clubs as well as a revenue loss.
MARIUS BENSON:
Let me go to a story on News Limited papers this morning, Mr Robb. There are reports of a showdown between Tony Abbott and senior colleagues Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey criticising Tony Abbott for his declaration last week that the Coalition would not reintroduce individual workplace contracts. Have there been confrontations like that?
ANDREW ROBB:
Nothing to my knowledge. Tony Abbott was saying, and quite clearly, what we’ve all been saying is that with the re-regulation of the labour market – which has been a very significant and costly move by the Government – that we need to see where that is impacting; and we will spend time waiting for business to start to articulate where the hotspots are in this re-regulation of the labour market.
What needs to be changed so that when we do make decisions about industrial relations, ultimately and well before the election, it will be based on solving real problems, not just based on ideology.
MARIUS BENSON:
You have been saying that industrial relations policy would only be detailed at the election, but Tony Abbott did declare last week “no return to individual contracts”; was that an agreed position in the Opposition, or was that as in Tony Abbott’s phrase “a leader’s call”?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, it was consistent with the analysis that we have undertaken. We are making … [interruption]
MARIUS BENSON:
But was it a joint decision in the Opposition or was it Tony Abbott’s call?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, it has been our joint decision; we will over the next year or so, we will gather the problems that are inherit in the Fair Work Act and that we will attack and deal with the Fair Work Act. We will make the amendments within that act that solves the real problems that might be emerging in the economy.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb, thanks again.
ANDREW ROBB:
Good on you, thanks Marius.