Topics:  Father’s Day, Payment surcharges, Labor’s homegrown inflation, Greens’ tax grab, Medicare, Businesses drowning in Labor’s red and green tape,  

 

E&OE   

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

We are broadcasting live from the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe. It's Friday Frothies for Father's Day. Spoil dad this Father's Day with their delicious set brunch menu for just $28. The Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor joins me here at the OBH. 28 bucks for brunch isn't too bad for Father's Day! 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Sounds fantastic. Sounds fantastic for Father's Day. I won't be here on Father's Day, but very tempting.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

But yeah, the number cruncher, 28 bucks is pretty good, but if you pay by credit card, there might be a surcharge. We've got to get rid of these surcharges.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Look the best way to get prices down is to get inflation down. That's the reality. And surcharges are all part of that. And whilst we've got inflation raging in this country, we're all paying too much. It's pretty unusual to be able to find something like that for 28 bucks, to be honest.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Oh, that's good value. 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

It's very good value.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Spend a bit more time in WA, Angus! On the surcharges though, and I see there's a backbench government MP, or Labor MP Jerome Laxale, he's going the bank bosses at the moment, he's had them before committee hearings this week, and it just doesn't add up, though, does it? There's no consistency with it. Is there, that $4 billion that Finder estimates that Australians are paying on surcharges every year, could they be absorbed? Could we get rid of surcharges? 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, the best way to get rid of surcharges, as I say, is to take pressure off inflation. I mean, what's been going on is inflationary pressures have been raging. Small businesses have been having to pass on costs, and one of the ways they do that is through surcharges. So the big fight here, the big war we have, is to beat inflation. We've got a government that hasn't had its eye on the ball, and it continues to rage, and surcharges are a really frustrating part of that. I know how annoyed people are about it, so it's got to be beaten.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Speaking of, inflation out this week, the Treasurer is saying what they're doing is working, but there's a bit of an asterisk in that, because they've given away lots of money so we can bring our electricity prices down. 7% roughly speaking, down the last month. That's artificial. They haven't actually gone down. In WA, we're getting 1000 bucks each electricity holder from both the state and the federal government.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

It's complete nonsense, to be frank. So core inflation in Australia is the same as it was at the beginning of the year, back in January. It hasn't moved. It's exactly where it was. We are the only one of the major advanced countries in the world where it hasn't come down, and it's the highest of any of those countries. So it's raging. And we've got a Treasurer who this week, is fighting everybody. He's fighting the Leader of the Opposition. He's fighting the Reserve Bank Governor. He's fighting his mentor, Paul Keating, over superannuation taxes. But the one thing he's not fighting is inflation, and that's what he needs to focus on, because it's not working. And as I say, we're at the back of the pack versus other countries around the world in dealing with it.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Adam Bandt this week has also indicated he wants to put some super profits onto Australian companies. I reckon you would've been licking your lips at this announcement by the Greens.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, there's nothing the Greens have ever seen they don't want to tax. Anything that moves, they tax it, and they want to be in coalition with Labor after the next election. And if we end up with a hung parliament, that's the likely outcome. The Greens and Labor in government and Adam Bandt is going to be looking to tax absolutely everything. So 28 bucks here, it'll be more than that.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

The dentists' idea of bringing dentistry under Medicare, though, that's got a little bit of merit. Are you exploring a way to bring dentistry under Medicare yourselves?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

Look, these are things that we'd love, over time, to be able to help people out with. The cost of dentistry, which is a big deal, but right now, the thing that's going to help people most is getting prices down of everything. I mean, we're paying more when we go to the supermarket. Fruit and veg up this week, we saw the numbers, I mean, absolutely extraordinary. When we pay our insurance bills, energy. Look, any short term reprieve is going to come back on as soon as those subsidies are gone. The cost of housing, I mean absolutely extraordinary. We're seeing this in the West. I mean, I was down in Busselton this morning, I mean, the cost of housing down there for everybody is through the roof, going through the roof. So we've got to attack prices on all fronts, or else we're not going to get the standard of living Australians deserve. And let's be clear, Australians' standard of living has collapsed in the last two years. It's got to be restored. That's got to be the focus.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

So how does Angus Taylor bring down inflation? If you, if you're the next Treasurer of Australia in a Dutton government, will you do a better job than Jim Chalmers?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

It's back to basics, and that's exactly what this government is not doing. So what does that mean? The government shouldn't spend money when it doesn't need to. Every household in Australia is having to tighten its belt, but the government's not doing it. It's added $315 billion of spending since it came to power, across three budgets. We have to make sure that immigration is in line with our housing supply, but it's been way out of whack, and we've seen an increase in population in Australia of over 1.2 million people in just two years. It's too high. We're a great immigrant nation, and Western Australia is a great immigrant state, but those numbers are out of whack with the houses we've got coming available. And we have to make sure that we have sensible discussions in our workplaces, which are good for both employers and employees. And that's not happening in the way it should at the moment. All of these are the sensible things. Getting rid of red tape, driving approvals. I mean, the way approvals are working in this country right now is just disastrous, and we've seen that again in the last couple of weeks. So this is getting back to basics, nothing fancy, but it's not what the Labor government's doing.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

And also the green and red tape that you speak of and the Liberal Party speak of at the moment that's tying up a lot of these projects to get approvals through in a timely manner. Can you simplify the process?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

You absolutely can. You absolutely can. And part of it, a lot of it, is about the minister saying to the bureaucrats, let's accelerate the pace at which we make decisions. But that's not happening. It's simply not happening. And we're seeing discretionary exercises of ministerial decision making power. I mean this gold mine in New South Wales just in the last little while, and I know that the chief executive and Chairman live not far from here, but this is disastrous. If you spent all of that money getting through the development processes, you've got all your approvals, and then unexpectedly, after all of that, you're told the mine can't go ahead, I mean, this is outrageous decision making by the government, and it costs Australians dearly.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Have you enjoyed your trip to WA?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Fantastic, always is. I've been spending time in Perth. I was this morning down Busselton, Bunbury, Mandurah, and always love it over here.  

 

OLIVER PETERSON: 

Yeah, well we appreciate you dropping by this afternoon, and we'll see you back here shortly.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Great to be with you. 

 

ENDS.