Topics: Cost of living, Labor’s broken promise on stage three tax cuts, WPI, Energy

E&OE

PETER GLEESON:

No bigger or more pressing issue right now than the cost of living crisis. So today, I'm very happy to say I'm being joined in the 4BC Drive studios by the Federal Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Angus, thanks for your time.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Thanks for having me Pete. Good to be with you.

PETER GLEESON:

Now, I want to start with the Albanese government's stage three tax cuts. Now, I said earlier in the show, this is a Houdini act by the Prime Minister. You know, he has essentially lied to the Australian public about what he was going to do with the stage three tax cuts. But we've got fresh polling this week, which shows that 54% of voters want the money. What are your thoughts? And I've had this debate on the show with our listeners. Do you forgive him for telling porkies leading into an election because he's put more money in your pocket? Or do you penalise him for misleading and deceptive behavior leading into an election?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, his porky was in raising taxes for many Australians not reducing them. It's easy to confuse two things here. We strongly support reducing taxes. We are the party of lower, simpler, fairer taxes and the stage one and two parts of the tax reforms that we advocated are already in place and people are benefiting from those. Stage three was the next piece of that. And the point here is that we support the tax relief. What we don't support is how it was funded, which is by getting rid of the stage three tax cuts. In other words, raising taxes for what will become 4 million Australians. That's what we don't support. That's where the porkies were. And that's where I think, there's every reason to say Anthony Albanese has lied to the Australian people - on multiple fronts by the way. $275 reduction in your electricity bills, cheaper mortgages, all these things, you know, the boats weren't going to re-arrive, well they're arriving. Pete, on many, many fronts he has told lies to the Australian people and we think that is absolutely wrong. Now, we will take to the next election tax reforms that deal with some of these issues.

PETER GLEESON:

Tell us about that.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, the important point here is that Australians have been crushed by rising inflation on many fronts. Rising interest rates, 12 interest rate increases, we've seen almost 10% increases in prices for Australians over the last 18 months, and a 27% increase in personal income tax that's being paid. So if your listeners are sitting there saying I can't understand why there's less money in my bank account than I thought there would be, it's all three of those things at work for so many households, and inflation in particular results in people paying more personal income tax.

PETER GLEESON:

I'm interested in your thoughts on the departure today of Woolies boss, Brad Banducci. Now, of course, we've seen allegations, very strong allegations that both Coles and Woolies are engaged in price gouging and cartel like behavior, the ACCC, Rod Sims the former boss, has said that. What are your thoughts on Brad Banducci essentially falling on his sword today after a pretty ordinary performance on Four Corners the other night? Do you have any empathy for him? Or do you think that, you know Woolies sort of got a bit too big for their boots over the last few years?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we can get lost in the personality piece of this and character assassination. I'm more interested in the cost of living issues relating to all of this, Pete, which is that people are paying a lot more for their groceries and everything else, by the way, insurance, cars, you name it, than they were 18 months ago. And it's on government to pull every possible lever to take those pressures off. And that includes competition policy. The best way to put the customer in charge and get a good deal for customers and suppliers for that matter, which is the farmers supplying Woolworths and Coles, is to have a competitive sector. And we've taken Labor kicking and screaming to review the code of conduct and try and strengthen the competitive pressures in that industry. And we're going to continue to do that. Now, Brad Banducci didn't have great answers on that issue. And I think it's on chief executives of these companies to make sure they're delivering the middle Australia at a really tough time.

PETER GLEESON:

You mentioned cost of living. Now, one of the big cost of living pressures for Australians is power prices, electricity prices, and the Labor Party in this country refused to have a debate around nuclear energy. And I know Peter Dutton and I know Ted O'Brien, and I know you have a great passion for the energy sector. How important is at least having the debate about nuclear energy leading into the next election?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

You know, the crucial thing is to have every option on the table. And this is the point about Labor is they take things off the table, at a time when our energy sector needs every option. And if someone wants to put solar on their roof, knock yourself out, it's great. But we've got to have gas in the short to medium term. And we've got to make sure nuclear is an option in the longer term. And that is how we're going to get the reliable, affordable sustainable energy sector that we need, Pete. So I've long been an advocate for having every option on the table. And that extends to nuclear. And I think it is important we have a sensible debate in this country, we're going to have nuclear submarines on our coastlines in hopefully the near future. That should be the goal. And it's right and proper then, that we have a sensible debate about nuclear electricity generation.

PETER GLEESON:

Today's wages data, up 0.9% In the December quarter, 4.2% for the year, heading in the right direction, thoughts?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, the only thing that matters is what your wages buy. The purchasing power of your pay packet, the purchasing power of what's in your bank account. And sadly, for working families, it's still going backwards. Backwards 0.2% in the quarter, backwards point - 2.7% in the year. And since Labor came to power backwards a whopping 7.6%. So many of your listeners will be saying, well, Jim Chalmers is telling me I'm better off but I don't feel better off and the real fact of the matter is you're not. People are still going - working families are still going backwards. We're getting spin from Labor because they're using the wrong numbers. What you got to look at is how the cost of living is going up for working families and it's going up faster than wages still, Pete, and that's got to change.

PETER GLEESON:

Angus I mentioned the leaked text from the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Tim Gartrell earlier. Do you think Albanese was being truthful today when he refuted claims that we could be heading to an election in 2024?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I never know what to believe when Anthony Albanese says it. I have no idea.

PETER GLEESON:

It's going to be a problem for the Prime Minister.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

But I tell you what I can guess is that he'll do whatever's good for him, not what's good for Australia. And I don't know when that's going to be, Pete, but I'll tell you what, we're ready to go. Because we think it's right and proper now that we have a serious debate about the future of our country. The collapse of standards of living that we've seen, the loss of control over our borders we're seeing of detainees. It is time that the country have its say on what's happening under this government.

PETER GLEESON:

Angus Taylor, great to have you in the studio.

ENDS.