Topics: Labor’s broken promise on stage three tax cuts, CPI, Labor’s cost of living crisis, RBA, DP World  

E&OE  

KIERAN GILBERT:

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, thanks for your time. We've got a big week at Parliament looming, tax will dominate. When will the Shadow Cabinet finalise its response?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We'll go through our normal processes Kieran. Thanks by the way for having me on, good to see you. But we'll go through our normal processes. We obviously haven't seen the legislation yet. We know the Greens will get their grimy hands on it, Labor will no doubt have to do some ugly negotiation on that. But we will go through our normal processes. But the principles are clear here, Kieran, we support lower simpler, fairer taxes. It's very clear that Australians' standard of living has collapsed under this government. 18 months and they're far poorer than they were 18 months ago. And Labor's completely failed to deliver Australians what they expect, which is a rising standard of living. Standard of living has been going back with $8,000 for the average Australian, substantially more for those with a mortgage. And we understand people are feeling that pain. But as I say, we'll go through our processes. Labor clearly spent a long time working on this broken promise. And we'll make sure we get our response absolutely right, but he principles are very clear.

KIERAN GILBERT:

The Opposition Leader had this to say I'll play that to you and then get your thoughts on it. This was Peter Dutton on the Nine Network:

[AUDIO OF PETER DUTTON ON TODAY]

Peter Dutton there this morning. And it's being seen, those comments, as basically confirming that you won't seek to revoke or withdraw any tax relief afforded to low and middle income earners. So therefore, if you do have any change, it would be at the upper end. Commitments to be made in addition to what Labor's done

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Kieran, I know you'd love me to make an announcement on your wonderful show, but I'm not going to do it. I'll reiterate the principle though, which is the principle that of course Peter Dutton just articulated, which is that we are the party for lower taxes, Labor clearly isn't. Labor loves to raise taxes. We've seen a 27% increase in personal income taxes being paid by Australians in the last 18 month since Labor came to power, alongside prices rising faster than wages, alongside 12 interest rate increases under Labor. Australians are poorer than they were 18 months ago. We recognise that Labor's failure means that the answer is to put a bandaid on the bullet wound and we are the party for lower taxes. So we'll go through our normal processes Kieran and then then I can come on to the show and talk about that announcement.

KIERAN GILBERT: 

I look forward to that. Do the fiscal implications, though of say, going ahead with the rest of stage three, in addition to what Labor's doing, that's obviously going to weigh on you too. I've seen suggestions that it could cost 39 billion over the forward estimates, if you were to follow that path.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I'll tell you something about fiscal implications Kieran. This Labor Government has added $209 billion in spending since they came to government. That's over $20,000 of extra spending for every household, and they believe in big government, they believe in spending more money. When we were last in government in the lead up to the pandemic we ensured that the economy grew faster than spending and we will do exactly the same when we get back into government. We'll take policies forward to the next election, which are absolutely in line with that. But we also believe in lower, simpler, fairer taxes. And the way you square those two things is you manage the finances of government. Well, Labor doesn't do that. They've been on a spending spree including $450 million dollars on their failed referendum last year. 10,000 new public servants. You name it, they love to spend money on it, that's what Labor Governments always do. We will manage our spending so that lower, simpler, fairer taxes are achievable for the Australian people.

KIERAN GILBERT:

Do you accept the Treasurer's argument that when it comes to bracket creep, it doesn't have to be dealt with just at the top end. That by reducing that lowest rate of tax at the lowest threshold, that you can also make a change there that flows through every tax paying bracket.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

You know, this Treasurer just wants more money and bracket creep is the thief in the night which benefits only big government. So it benefits Labor governments, they love bracket creep Kieran, that's why they're getting rid of the stage three tax cuts. So they can get bracket creep back. The thief in the night is the tool of every Labor Treasurer. They want it to continue. Now, we know, we know bracket creep is running rampant right now. That's a big part of the reason why we've seen a 27% increase in personal income taxes being paid in just 18 months. People without even knowing it are seeing the purchasing power of their pay packet go down, but more of their pay packet go to the government in tax. That's what bracket creep does. This Treasurer is not interested in getting rid of bracket creep, he wants bracket creep so that he can pay the burgeoning bills that this Labor government wants to spend money on.

KIERAN GILBERT:

You encouraged by that CPI number this week, that rates will remain on hold, and hopefully the next move is down later in the year?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, of course we want to see low inflation and low interest rates. But the ultimate test for this government is whether Australians are going to see the collapse in their standard of living, the collapse in their real disposable incomes that we've seen in the last 18 months, whether that's going to be reversed, and they've got no plan to reverse that, there's no sign of it reversing. And that's because this government simply has no idea how to manage the economy, Kieran. That's what you get with Labor governments, they can't manage the economy. And every Australian pays a high price for that. There's no sign of the $8,000 that's been lost for the average Australian, substantially more for those with a mortgage in terms of their disposable incomes. There's no sign of that reversing. There's no sign of that coming back. And Australians are having to make enormous adjustments to their household budgets to deal with this because quite simply, this Labor government can manage the economy around the Cabinet table, so households are having to do it around the kitchen table.

KIERAN GILBERT:

Is it reasonable for the State Premiers to chime in with their thoughts? It's hard to imagine the RBA board would be influenced by Premier Miles for example?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

You know, these State Labor Premiers would be better targeting their comments at a failed Treasurer and a failed Prime Minister. It's true, they are hearing from their constituents, from the people in their states that they're hurting. They're hearing that they're poorer than they were 18 months ago, and they want something done about it. But the right person to do something about it is the Treasurer and the Prime Minister who have simply failed to deal with this issue. So direct your venom from these Labor Premiers at the people who can actually act on it, the Reserve Bank is independent, it has to do what it has to do. But the real player here that can do more, to get people's disposable incomes back to where they were when we were in government is the Treasurer and the Prime Minister, and they should get on with the job. They're failing. And that's why they're putting a band aid on a bullet wound with their latest proposal.

KIERAN GILBERT:

We're almost out of time. Just quickly, there's been a compromise between DP World and the Maritime Union. The deal done, four year agreement. Do you welcome that?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we welcome settling industrial disputes. Obviously, we don't want to see industrial disputes. What we don't welcome is an industrial relations environment, which is going to take our economy backwards. And that's exactly what Labor's doing right now. I was over in Perth for the last few days, Kieran, hearing from business people particularly about industrial relations. And the one thing that I'm hearing absolutely consistently is this Labor government with its industrial relations policies is going to take us backwards because it's putting union officials in charge of the workplace. Now ,what we want is workers and bosses working together to make for a more productive workplaces where people can be paid more. That's what we want to see. Sticking union officials in the middle is not solving the problem.

KIERAN GILBERT:

Angus Taylor, we'll see you next week. Thanks.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Thanks, Kieran. 

 

ENDS.