Topics: Labor’s immigration detention chaos, Infrastructure chaos, Cost of living crisis 

E&OE  

KIERAN GILBERT: 

Joining us now is the Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Thanks for your time - a lot to get across. So let's start with what Clare O'Neil said today. Do you accept the government has made the best of a bad situation off the back of the High Court ruling on indefinite detention? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Good to be with you, Kieran. Absolutely not. This government has been asleep at the wheel. It's been distracted hasn't been focused on the main game, whether it’s cost of living or community safety. It was very clear this week they were caught on the backfoot. The legislation that ultimately went through was with strong amendments that came from us. We hear in that interview, some kind of recreation of history where Clare O'Neil is claiming that that was what the government was going to do anything anyway. Well, there was absolutely no sign of that, Kieran. She's now saying that she's absolutely sure she can't re-detain any of these people - child sex offenders, murderers, rapists. And, you know, the rationale for that is not at all clear. She keeps saying that they've got to obey the law. Well, the job of government is to change the law. And we've been very clear with the government that we'll work with them to change the law to make sure community safety is respected. That people are in a position where they don't have these terrible criminal offences and these offenders out in the community right now. And we're seeing people who were subjected to those crimes, deeply, deeply distressed, at what’s going on. We need to see a government that's on the front foot, that's acting - and it could have and it didn’t. 

KIERAN GILBERT: 

So the Coalition is adamant that a separate detention regime can be established in the wake of that High Court ruling that would stack up, that would get these people back behind bars, essentially back behind razor wire? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, Clare O'Neil didn't deny that, she didn't say she couldn't change the law. She just said you've got to obey the law. Well, the whole point of the parliament is we can change the law. And we did it this week. We'd like it to go further. Kieran. If she has advice, saying that the law can't be changed she should be clear about that advice. That's not what she said in the interview. And look, let's be clear. As we heard in that interview a moment ago, this case has been afoot for many months. We've had strong indications from the High Court as the direction of might go to. The transcripts and the submissions are all publicly available, all publicly available. And so legislation could have been worked up during that time period. It clearly wasn't. The Minister was on the backfoot, he had no idea what was going on. It was completely hopeless and hapless in the parliament this week and the Australian people pay the price when a government is not focused on the main game. 

KIERAN GILBERT:  

Let's look at some issues in the economy in the budget now - the government reining in some blowouts in infrastructure spending. You've been saying the government needs to be more prudent in terms of its spending right now to put downward pressure pressure on inflation. What haven't you welcomed this announcement from the government?  

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, because what you need to do when you're facing a cost of living crisis is take pressure off the least productive spending. Now let's put this in perspective. Infrastructure spending is 12 out of almost $600 billion of spending, it's a couple of percents - a tiny proportion of the total budget. It is amongst the most productive spending a government can make. And so  this is not where - roads and transport infrastructure in particular - this is not where you're going to find those sorts of savings. Now there are projects in the infrastructure budget that we think are not productive. The suburban rail loop in Melbourne, for instance, doesn't pass the pub test - certainly doesn't pass the cost benefit test Kieran to any real degree. And you know, they're the sort of projects which are unproductive which are not helping our economy, which are not growing the supply side of the economy, which are not going to take pressure off inflation. They're the projects you don't need to proceed with.  

KIERAN GILBERT: 

Jane Hume, your colleague said that the Prime Minister needs to bring his state colleagues with him to coordinate the timeline of when infrastructure projects come on, so you don't push up the cost and the price of construction as well. In response to that, isn't she almost endorsing the government's approach here saying that you can't just have a flood of money going into infrastructure spending right now, with inflation running hot? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Not at all Kieran. Let's put this in perspective. We're talking about a $12 billion budget. Now, in recent months, since Labor got into government, they've added $188 billion of spending. I mean, this is what Labor has done. It's no wonder we've got inflation running wild. It's no wonder we have amongst the highest levels of inflation of advanced countries. There's no wonder that The Economist says we've got the most entrenched inflation of any advanced country in the world. It's no wonder the net disposable income of Australians, a household's standard of living has gone backwards by over 5% in the last 12 months, the worst of any advanced country in the world. This is because we've got a government that simply doesn't understand these issues. Now what you need to do is focus on that productive spending. Be tighter on the less productive spending. That's the exact opposite of what this government is doing. And the truth of the matter is, Kieran, inflation is coming from Canberra. This is a government that hasn't been focused on the main game. It's been distracted. We see the impact of that on community safety. We see the impact of that on the cost of living crisis. You know, and the truth of the matter, I think is that what's been talked about around kitchen tables around this country is not being talked about around the Cabinet table. The government needs to get focused on the main game here. 

KIERAN GILBERT: 

Hasn't inflation here, though, peaked later and lower than other advanced economies? And don't you take a bit of heart from seeing inflation come down in Europe and particularly in the United States? Isn't that encouraging for our outlook heading into 2024? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

What it tells us is we're in almost the worst position in the world. We're amongst the very highest - we see another article out yesterday in the Financial Review saying we are amongst the very highest of any advanced country in terms of inflation. The Economist tells us that we've got the most entrenched inflation of any advanced economy. We've got net disposable income going backwards over 5%. We've got real wages for a working family back 5% in the last 12 months. I mean, these are disastrous circumstances and they're at the wrong end of the spectrum compared to our peer countries. You know, this is a government that likes to say this is all international. Well, why is it that we're worse, Kieran? And why is it that we are in a worse position than all our peers? As I say, it's a government that's asleep at the wheel is distracted has been focused on all the wrong issues and I think the Australian people have seen the result of that right now, whether it's community safety or cost of living.  

KIERAN GILBERT: 

You don't think they get some credit for real wages starting to look more promising? It's still been falling with inflation higher but wages growth has been evident. Won't they get some credit for that and also unemployment, the rate not getting worse right now - it's up a little bit ticked up a bit - but it's still within sort of historically very impressive areas. Isn't the government holding the economy up despite the international pressures? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, there's a couple of pieces to this. The first in terms of real wages, real wages have gone backwards in the last 12 months. And you don't need to ask me that you just need to - Australians will tell you. They don't need to see the data. They know. They know the purchasing power of their pay packets has gone backwards in the last 12 months. It's not your pay packet that counts, it's the purchasing power of that pay packet - what it can buy. And it's gone sharply backwards, particularly for working families Kieran and that's an enormous amount of pain. In terms of the economy, the second part of your question, the truth is the only thing that is keeping our economy afloat right now is immigration. It's population growth. That's it. GDP per person has gone backwards, two quarters in a row, that's a GDP per person recession. And jobs growth is consistent with that immigration rate. That's it. I mean, if you're only creating jobs because more people are coming to the country, that's not the economy you want to have. And again, Australians are feeling this. They're seeing it. They're going backwards. We've got an extraordinarily high rate of inflation... 

KIERAN GILBERT: 

It was going backwards through...in June 2022, it was negative 3.4%. That's at the end of your time in office. September 23, negative 1.4%. That's a significant improvement. 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Kieran for working family, real wages have gone back by 5%. Net disposable income the worst of any advanced country in the world - backwards. 5.1% in the last year. We are absolutely at the wrong end of where you want to be. We're back at the pack here. We are absolutely back of the pack. The government likes to say this is all international. Well, I'll tell you what, if it was all international we'd be in a better position than we are today. They've got their priorities wrong. We've had a Prime Minister obsessed with his failed referendum. A Prime Minister who's obsessed with his overseas trips- you should be able to balance overseas trips with dealing with these issues. But trouble with this Prime Minister is he simply can't. He seems incapable of it. And Australians, as I say, they're paying a very high price whether it's community safety, cost of living crisis. They're going backwards fast. And as I say, you don't need to see the data to know this. You just need to talk to Australians and we're hearing it -  any politician out on the ground listening to their constituents, we hear it every day. 

KIERAN GILBERT: 

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor joining us live from Goulburn this Sunday. Thanks. 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Good to be with you, Kieran. 

ENDS.