23-November-2011
Portfolio Media Releases
Topics: Mining tax, need for a mini-budget, Coalition party room.
E&OE
PRESENTER:
The Coalition remains staunchly opposed. One of the Opposition members who was in the House of Reps for the vote early this morning was the Shadow Finance Minister, speaking here with Marius Benson.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb that was a long, long night for parliamentarians. You voted at just before three Canberra time, but the deal is now done on the mining tax, it will clearly go through the Senate early next year, is the Opposition still maintaining it will be rescinded, if you win government?
ANDREW ROBB:
There is absolutely no doubt that we will rescind this tax. It’s a bad tax, just like the carbon tax, and if we win government, it will be one of the first things that we seek to do is rescind this tax.
MARIUS BENSON:
Unlike the carbon tax though, it has public support according to all the polls, and the big miners themselves say, “Okay, we’ll cop it”.
ANDREW ROBB:
Well yes, but the big miners, I would say, have done all that with a gun at their head, plus I think they’ve struck a fairly sweet deal, and it’s a bit odd really, it is supposedly the party of the worker, and yes, they’ve done a deal with the three big miners, as I say, with a gun at their head, and yet, all the smaller miners are going to be severely affected.
MARIUS BENSON:
The parliamentary year is almost at an end, but there is more business still to be done, the mid-year economic figures will be released by the Treasurer next week. You say you want that moment to be used as a mini-budget, because you argue the economic settings in Australia are not as healthy as people claim.
ANDREW ROBB:
Well clearly, the government has already foreshadowed that it will need to, in this mid-year outlook it will need to introduce more savings initiatives, so there is need for a crisis mini-budget in a sense, and we think that mini-budget should be presented before the parliament.
MARIUS BENSON:
A point the Finance Minister Penny Wong was making yesterday was if the Opposition believes the economy is in such bad shape, it needs a crisis mini-budget, why was Tony Abbott telling international politicians just a few days ago in London that, on the face of this comparative performance, Australia had “serious bragging rights” compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are “enviable”, he said.
ANDREW ROBB:
We are the envy of the world because of the opportunity that China has presented. But the bottom line is, Marius, Australia’s structural deficit is, on a percentage of GDP, it is twice as bad as Germany’s, and it is thirty percent worse than Italy’s, would you believe. We are vulnerable.
MARIUS BENSON:
The parties had their, perhaps, final meeting for the year yesterday, the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, and the joint Coalitions all had meetings, and there were briefings afterwards, as there always are, and there were reports from the joint party meeting in particular that Tony Abbott was challenged about making leadership calls, that Mr Abbott became angry and testy with challenges to his decisions as leader without consulting the party room. Is that accurate?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, it’s not accurate. He was asked some straightforward questions about the decisions. He’s answered the question about the decisions that have been taken in regard, in particular, to superannuation; he gave the rationale, and that was it.
MARIUS BENSON:
But is there concern in Liberal ranks about the leaders making decisions without consulting the party room?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, I don’t think, there was a request for an explanation on decisions, but in the end, there are a lot of decisions, they do reside with the leadership group, but of course, as Tony Abbott pointed out, it is always the prerogative of the party room to, in the end, have the final say, if they wish, on any decision.
MARIUS BENSON:
Did Tony Abbott close down debate on that point, and was he angry and testy, as was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald?
ANDREW ROBB:
No, he did suggest that he would prefer to move on to other business, but in that instance, anyone would still have the opportunity, as one or two did take the opportunity, to make another point or two, so it was a normal meeting as far as I was concerned, the way in which it was conducted, and everyone is honest, at the end of the year where the Government has been on its knees and exposed for what it is. The party room finished in a very strong frame of mind for this year.
MARIUS BENSON:
Andrew Robb, thanks very much.
ANDREW ROBB:
Thanks Marius.
ENDS