Topics: Collapse in living standards under Labor, Labor’s tax on family cars and utes, Housing, BankWest

E&OE

OLIVER PETERSON:

The Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor is also in Perth today, and he's standing opposite me in the studios this afternoon. G'day Angus, it's good to see you.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

G'day. Great to be with you again.

OLIVER PETERSON:

I'll come to the BankWest closures in a moment. But the national accounts first. A GDP, yes we had growth that was weak, 0.2%. But do you agree with the assessment of the treasurer Jim Chalmers, that slow growth is still significant growth, given the challenging global conditions and the impact of higher interest rates?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, that's a lot of blah, isn't it? I mean, look, it was a shocker. And it was a shocker because our population grew by 670,000 people last year. And that's all that's growing, Olly. The economy per person is not growing, people are experiencing a recession, Australians are experiencing a recession. In fact, they've seen a sharp reduction in their standard of living - their disposable incomes in the little over 18 months that Labor's been in power, 7.5%. It's a big hit people have taken to their standard of living. And what we're seeing here is things getting worse, not better, the economy's essentially stopped for all practical purposes. And that means the opportunity and aspiration goes on hold. And that's bad news for all Australians. We are seeing them making adjustments. It's very clear that they're cutting back hard now. Australians are cutting back hard on their discretionary spending. And they're actually putting money back in the piggy bank. They're leaving money in the bank account because they're worried about what's coming next. And I can understand that we don't just have, in practical terms, an economic recession, we've got a confidence recession now starting to happen as well.

OLIVER PETERSON:

So is there some hope, though, that inflation may have now peaked, and the reserve will be cutting rates either in two weeks or in May?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we can all hope. But the truth is, inflation is still well above target. So here we are, we've got an economy that in practical terms, it's stopped. And inflation is still well above target. And that puts us amongst the worst major countries in the world. We've got very sticky inflation, it's been hard to squeeze it out of the system. People are still seeing it. You know, you're about to get it in your health insurance, Labor hid that before the Dunkley by election. And now it's becoming clear that we're going to see sharp increases in our health insurance. We're continuing to see increases in cost of housing right across the country. So inflation's not done. And yet the economy's stopped. There are better ways to get inflation out of the system than to crush the economy, Olly, too. And you know, we need to get back to common sense economics, making sure we've got productive competitive economy, making sure that government doesn't spend money it doesn't need to. Making sure our immigration rate is something that can be accommodated. And of course, Labor's not doing any of those things.

OLIVER PETERSON:

I'll come to some of that in a moment. You just mentioned Dunkley, the byelection, 3% swing away from the government. How do you reckon the reflection of that result is on the LNP? How do you reckon your party's tracking?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, it's over three, but what I would say is if we got that in a federal election, Labor would be in deep trouble. So you can debate where we'd end up but I'll tell you what, it would be a government in terrible trouble. So that's a good place for us to be at this point in the cycle. But ultimately, we've got to convince the Australian people that we can put forward those policies at the next election, that they can support policies on energy, for instance, making sure we can put downward pressure on prices, people see how important that is. Back to basics economics, making sure that we've got an economy where we can restore people's standard of living, they've lost a lot in their standard of living, it's got to be restored. Labor has no plan to do that. That we've got industrial relations that works for workers and employers, our businesses. That's the economy we all want to see. That's achievable and we know we've got to lay those policies out over the next 12 months.

OLIVER PETERSON:

Yeah there's a bit of work to do, because you say there about standard of living... I mean, in the end, your party supported the income tax changes, in the end, you're probably being drowned out by the Greens on housing. So is it just boats arriving and cars becoming more expensive and nuclear energy - is that how you're going to win over the electorate?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, cars are going to become more expensive, I should say. $14,500 for a Hilux, the most popular car in Australia. That's our family car...

OLIVER PETERSON:

I did see you with a sticker today at Toyota.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I was there at Toyota today. But look, the idea that you solve energy problems in this country by raising the price of a Hilux and a Ranger and the most popular cars in Australia, this is just nuts. So they will be important issues.

OLIVER PETERSON:

Well, there are some car manufacturers who may not exist in Australia, won't be selling anymore because they don't have the EVs available, the hybrids available. The Isuzu's of the world, they'd be looking at the Australian market thinking will we still be operating here.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Isuzu have two cars in the market and they're big cars which are very popular cars of course. But they're used by families and tradies and they're going to struggle to survive, and they've made that very clear. So look, that will be a major issue going into the next election.

OLIVER PETERSON:

So that sticker was "Albo get your hands off my ute." Are you going to put one on your car?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Absolutely. Well, I've got, our family car is a Hilux. So yeah, we'll absolutely be putting it on our car.

OLIVER PETERSON:

So on the income tax changes, and obviously your party end up supporting it, would you look to index bracket creep?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Can I just clarify that for a second. We absolutely supported the lower tax part of what Labor was doing, what we didn't support was the way it was funded. It was supported - it was funded through a lie, a lie that was made by the Prime Minister and Treasurer over 100 times. That's not how you fund a tax cut. That's how they did it. We support the tax cut. We don't support the lie. We've been very clear about that Olly and it's incredibly important. And that means we will go to the next election with a tax relief package, a tax reform package, that can take pressure off Australians and most importantly, set us up for the future, for aspiration, for opportunity.

OLIVER PETERSON:

You want to reveal any details this afternoon?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, what I would say is it'll be in keeping with the stage three tax cuts. But we've already announced elements of our tax package, we will be taking accelerated depreciation back to where it was when we were in government, before the pandemic, where small businesses can write off those capital investments they make that are crucial for the businesses, but also make them more productive, more competitive and more capable of employing people and paying people well. So they're the sorts of initiatives you will see from us on tax.

OLIVER PETERSON:

And bracket creep?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Look, bracket creep is a big deal. It's the thief in the night. You know, Olly, we've seen in the data today, a 23% increase in personal income taxes being paid by Australians in the last 18 months. It's an absolutely extraordinary number. 23%. It had been higher, except people are reticent to lodge their tax documents at the moment because they don't know how they're going to pay their tax. That's an extraordinary number. And a big slice of that is bracket creep, people's nominal incomes going up in dollar terms, but they're buying, that income's buying less because of inflation. And so you end up paying a lot more tax. What that means is Jim Chalmers bolsters his budget by raiding your budget. That's what he's doing. That's what bracket creep does. And yes, we will, we will be as part of that package, working towards taking the pressure off bracket creep.

OLIVER PETERSON:

I want to get to a couple of other things before our time expires. Housing and migration. Do you see those two issues linked? And will you be developing policies that address those in the lead up to the election?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah, they're absolutely linked because your migration policy has to be consistent with your housing supply. And this is where we're at now. Population growth, primarily driven by immigration, of 670,000 in the last year, that's an extraordinary number when you think of it. 670,000. Of course, we haven't got the housing to support that kind of growth. And the result of that is we're seeing the price of housing going up. And Labor's been happy to have that kind of immigration rate. But Australians are suffering for it. So getting your immigration rate and your housing supply in line. That's the key. This is not anti immigration, but it is about sustainable immigration levels. And we don't have that right now.

OLIVER PETERSON:

Coming to BankWest closing all of its branches, does it disappoint you?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Of course, it disappoints me if, particularly if there is going to be big impacts on customers and employees and my thoughts go to customers and employees that might be impacted. Now, we've had assurances from the bank, that they will be looking after customers and employees. We'll be holding them to account on that, Olly, and we'll be watching very closely to make sure they do as they say they're going to do.

OLIVER PETERSON:

Is this sort of an insight of the future though? Do you think we're all going to buckle up for digital banking?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

No, I think cash is going to be around for a long while. And you know, I'm a great believer that cash is an important part of our monetary system and will be for a long, long time. I know there's some who would like to get rid of cash, some in government who would like to get rid of the cash. And this is a good question for the current government. But I think cash has an important role to play and will for a long time. Now not every bank, it's not compulsory for a bank to have cash. But I'll tell you what, I think there's going to be demand for banks to have cash for a long time yet.

OLIVER PETERSON:

BankWest isn't the only one obviously shutting branches, a lot of them are doing it and WA's a big place as you know. I just floated the idea with David Littleproud of the post office bank. Is that something you would consider as well - do we need another public bank?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah I mean it's an idea that's been around for a long while. I want to see more competition in the banking sector. I think we are finding now that there are problems particularly for small business lending, it's getting harder. There's no question about that and there'll be small business people listening today who have found it hard to get loans. I think it has gotten harder than it should and we need competition in the banking sector to make sure small business people can get loans.

OLIVER PETERSON:

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor thanks for stopping by the 6PR studios today.

ENDS.