RADIO 6PR DRIVE WITH OLLIE PETERSON

SUBJECT/S: Labor delivering for Australians when it comes to the cost of living; North West Shelf Decision.

OLLIE PETERSON, HOST: Let’s go to Canberra now and be joined by the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles live on 6PR Deputy PM, thank you very much for your time.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Ollie, how are you?

PETERSON: I’m very well, thank you. What do you reckon your budget’s going to be remembered for?

MARLES: Well, I think it’s a budget which is very much focused on helping people with the cost of living during a period where that’s been a real pressure on everyone around the country. The tax cut that we put in place for is modest on its own, it’s a top up. But in combination with the tax cuts that we’ve delivered whilst we’ve been in government over this term, it really ultimately will then deliver for an average income earner a cut of $50 on their tax per week, which is a significant contribution to people’s cost of living. So, that is an example. There is obviously example in relation to the energy rebates, what we’ve done in terms of capping PBS medicines at $25 and the last time PBS medicines were at that price was back in 2004. But all of that has been done at the same time as delivering now the fourth budget in this term where cumulatively we are $207 billion better off in terms of the bottom line than what we inherited from the Liberal Party, which in turn is going to save the country $60 billion worth of interest payments over the decades. So, managing the budget prudently whilst delivering cost of living relief is really the needle that we’ve been trying to thread throughout the last four years and I think we’ve successfully done that. There’s, you know, people are under pressure and you know, the economy is starting to turn around, but, but we get that there’s still more work to be done and this budget should be seen in that context.

PETERSON: We’ve had a lot of feedback on it today. A lot of people accusing you of buying votes with the five bucks. I mean, let’s be honest, you don’t need it. I don’t need it. Why not means test it?

MARLES: Well, I don’t accept the proposition of that, but if you look at the three tax cuts that we’ve done in combination, I mean, that has delivered a proportionately a much better result across the tax scales. More people have got a tax cut as a result of what we have done. And it’s really in the context of the series of tax cuts that we’ve done that this should be judged. And as I said, what that’s doing is meaning that for an average income earner, ultimately they’ll be $50 better off a week. And that’s a much better situation than the process of tax cuts that we inherited from the former Morrison Government. I mean, it’s much fairer and many more Australians get it. And in that sense it’s a much better result.

PETERSON: $5 for another $17 billion of debt, though, do we just not need to worry about debt any more Richard Marles?

MARLES: Well, we’ve been absolutely worried about debt and it’s worth telling that story as well. I mean, framing a budget is a balance and we’ve wanted to have cost of living relief in the budget, but we’ve also wanted to manage the budget in a way which is prudent and which ultimately goes to dealing with the root cause of what cost of living pressures have been, and that’s inflation. But what we’ve seen across the four budgets that we’ve delivered is over the seven years that we’re responsible. So, it’s the three years we’re in government plus the four years of the forward estimates, a saving across the bottom line of the budget of $207 billion. That’s the most significant contribution to the budget bottom line that has ever occurred in a single term of government. So, we couldn’t be more focused on the question of debt. We’ve delivered two surpluses in that time, something that the Liberals never did, despite promising that they were going to do it each and every year. And as I say, we’re saving something like $60 billion worth of interest payments that the Commonwealth would have otherwise incurred over the decade. So, we are very, very focused on prudent financial management. And from an inflation point of view, what the consequence of all of that is that when we came to government we were experiencing 6.1% inflation and it was going up. Now it’s 2.4% and it’s going down. And that has given the space for the Reserve Bank to do the interest rate cut, which has really helped Australians as well. So, we’ve tried to manage the economy through this period, do it in a way which has seen the economy continue to grow. Not every country, by any means, has been able to say that, to keep unemployment low, which has been a real feature of the Australian response relative to other countries, and to be in a situation where on this day we now have real wages growing again after a decade of wage stagnation under the former Coalition Government. So, we’re very focused on all of it and it’s about getting the balance right and we believe we have.

PETERSON: Well, speaking of wages, they’re only expected to increase by about 3% over the next five years, according to your budget papers, but expenses increasing over 17%. So, I mean, that means money isn’t going to new programs, is it, Richard? It’s going to tax cuts and welfare payments?

MARLES: Well, there is money in the budget for a range of things and there is money in the budget for tax cuts and there is money in the budget in relation to the welfare payment system. But that’s not the totality of the budget. I mean, in my area, for example, the budget also includes a record increase in defence spending, which is really important for the security of the nation, but will make a really significant contribution to defence industry in Australia. And we’ll see the creation of thousands of jobs, not least of which in Western Australia. So, I mean, the budget absolutely contains other elements to it, but we are focused on a budget which delivers appropriate support for Australian families, whilst at the same time tackling the root cause of what has been the major challenge whilst we’ve been in government and that’s the experience of global inflation.

PETERSON: Well, look, I had a call from Marie earlier, who’s a pensioner, and she said her pension payments are going up less than five bucks a fortnight. Obviously, this is five bucks a week for tax cuts, so there’s no significant help for pensioners. You know, why not let them work? Why not broaden the tax base? Why do your budgets continue to ignore older Australians?

MARLES: Well, I don’t accept that.

PETERSON: Well, that’s how they feel, Richard.

MARLES: Yeah, well, I don’t accept that in terms of how you’d characterise the budget. I mean, obviously there’s a range of measures that are in place for older Australians, and again, not least of which is what we’ve done in relation to aged care, which is, you know, a very significant generational change in respect of aged care. But we are focused on trying to make sure that people across the workforce at every age are able to meet the challenges as best they can. And we get the challenges are there in relation to cost of living, but that’s why we focused on cost of dealing with delivering cost of living relief.

PETERSON. So, there’s no plans to change the allowances of what pensioners are able to work and how many hours they’re able to work a week and not be affecting their pension. I mean, we’ve clearly got more jobs available at the moment in Australia than people willing, capable and able to work. You’ve got a whole cohort of people who are saying, just let me be and they’ll provide you more tax. Isn’t it a win win?

MARLES: Well, absolutely. And in that sense, you know, balancing those questions is important in relation to how much pensioners can work and the effect that it has on their pension. And it’s, you know, an area that, you know, we’ve made the decisions in that space that we have and it is an area that we constantly look at and we do want to encourage people to remain in the workforce for as long as they can. But again, you know, a key part of that is delivering income tax relief across the full spectrum of those in the workforce.

PETERSON: Why has the Government pushed out a decision on the North West Shelf extension until the end of May?

MARLES: Well, firstly, we are, you know, resource projects matter and we want to see resource projects go ahead and we really get the importance of that, not just for the West Australian economy, but for the national economy. It’s also important, though, that these processes are done right at the outset and that, you know, the full consideration in relation to all of these happen. To kind of not do that right at the start invites problems down the track. And so, you know, this is about making sure that there is the due space for those processes, sorry, those processes to take place. But let me be clear we get the significance of the resources industry for both Western Australia and the nation and we want to see resource projects proceed.

PETERSON: Then don’t you hope to West Australians to be upfront before the election about what you’re going to?

MARLES: Well, as I say, we want to see resource projects go forward. It matters that the processes in respect of the approval of any given resource project goes through the full process. To cut corners on that invites problems down the track and that’s fundamentally the issue here.

PETERSON: The Prime Minister told me yesterday he’s pro WA. So, if he’s, and I know you are, you’ll say yes to the extension, won’t you all?

MARLES: Well, I’m not sure I could be clearer than I have been. Resource projects matter and we want to see resource projects. Go ahead.

PETERSON: Richard Marles. Thanks for your time.

MARLES: Thank you.

 

ENDS