THE HON ANGUS TAYLOR MP

SHADOW TREASURER

 

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH JAMES GLENDAY, ABC NEWS BREAKFAST

Wednesday 7 December 2022

 

 

Topics: RBA Governor, RBA review, energy prices, Indonesia sex laws 

E&OE

JAMES GLENDAY:

The Shadow Treasurer is Angus Taylor and he joins me now from Canberra. Good morning, Angus, thanks for your time.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good morning, James. Thanks for having me.

JAMES GLENDAY:

First of all, I wanted to ask about interest rates. Should the RBA Governor still be in his job?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, can I say that certainly the interest rate increase yesterday and these eight consecutive interest rate increases, James will dampen the Christmas cheer for three million Australian families with a mortgage. As for the Reserve Bank, it's an independent Reserve Bank. That's as it should be. There's a review going on and that's something we strongly support to make sure we have the strongest, most credible, capable Reserve Bank we can have. I'll leave personal decisions to others. That's not the role of the Opposition. But what I will say is we do need to have a strong Reserve Bank but we also need a government that makes it easier for the Reserve Bank to do its job and sadly, this last budget was a missed opportunity for the government to take pressure off the Reserve Bank with a senior Labor economist saying it’s left the Reserve Bank carrying the can and I think that missed opportunity by the government is enormously important. All Australians pay the price.

JAMES GLENDAY:

I just to take you back, Angus, to the Reserve Bank. Obviously, it's an independent institution, but its reputation has taken a massive battering and I think that's probably being rammed home right now on the verge of Christmas. Does it need an overhaul to restore trust? Does something need to be done to prove to the public that what it actually says can be relied upon?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I think that's why the review is so important, James and it’s something that we when we were in government before the election argued for strongly. Happily both sides of politics have agreed on the need to have this review. There's no question that there were errors in guidance and people have paid a heavy toll and you mentioned this a couple of minutes ago that people who entered into a mortgage on the back of an understanding that interest rates would stay low for an extended period of time, clearly that was wrong and that guidance for some has been a very, very expensive.

JAMES GLENDAY:

Should there be more oversight of the RBA? Do you think more parliamentary hearings maybe press conferences to actually explain to journalists can kind of pick apart some of the thinking that the bank has?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well I think there's a lot of oversight going on now and that's as it should be. They do come to parliamentary hearings. The Governor was at a parliamentary hearing only a couple of weeks ago. That's absolutely appropriate. But this review is enormously important. We've remained very engaged in it. I've been discussing and working with the Treasurer on it, we've been having good discussions on the importance of this review and we’ll seek to work with the government to make sure we get a good outcome from the review but we do want to have a credible, capable, coherent Reserve Bank that is so important if we're going to manage inflation, if we're going to take pressure off Australians but as I say, the government is part of this too and they need to play their role and this is why we were so disappointed in the budget.

JAMES GLENDAY:

I think you've made that point. Onto energy prices. I did want to ask you about this. Obviously, you were the energy minister not that long ago. They're a key driver of inflation. When you reflect on the coalition's period in office, do you have any regrets about maybe not carving out some gas for an East Coast gas reservation that could have been pretty useful right now potentially?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we saw a very sharp reductions in gas prices in the last few years when we were in government, James and that was a combination of working with the gas producers to get more gas into the domestic network to make sure there's enough supply to put downward pressure on prices and so we've got prices that peaked at around $20 a gigajoule down to $5 to $6 a gigajoule. That was a lot of hard work over an extended period of time. I saw the importance as Energy Minister of having enough gas in our domestic network and I think every one of the gas producers could tell you how much pressure I continually put on them to make sure they were doing the right thing. They did and we got the outcomes. Now clearly this government doesn't have that same kind of working framework at the moment.

JAMES GLENDAY:

The war surely in Ukraine and other things, though, is the reason for the high prices at the moment or a huge driver of them. Do you support caps for gas and coal?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I have no idea what's being proposed, James. This is the problem. We're seeing a new idea being leaked to the media on an almost daily basis and, you know, even the states are confused as to what's being proposed here as I've spoken to them in recent days. So it's very hard to comment on something that is as amorphous and chaotic as what we’ve seen in recent weeks from the government. Every minister is running in a different direction and so trying to comment on it is difficult. What is clear to me is we do need to put downward pressure on prices. We need to do it in a way that's actually going to work and as yet I certainly haven't …

JAMES GLENDAY:

Would caps – sorry to interrupt because we're running a little tight for time but would caps for gas and coal work? A good idea, yes or no?

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

Well, again, there's a lot of questions that you've got to answer if you're going to put forward a policy like that. Most important, where's the supply going to come from? I mean, ultimately, you do end up with this question of where is the supply going to come from to provide that affordable, reliable gas and energy and that is always the most important issue. I certainly found that when we were in government.  That's the thing you have to focus on and whatever else you do, you have to have an answer to that question and I certainly haven't seen the answer to that question from anything I've seen.

JAMES GLENDAY:

Finally, Mr Taylor, we asked the Treasurer about this as well. I wanted to ask, do you have any concerns about these new laws in Indonesia, which will deal with sexual relationships out of marriage and do you have any concerns that Australian tourists might get caught up in that?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Look, James, I haven't seen any detail on this as yet. So it's very hard for me to comment. Certainly we will take a look at it. The safety of Australians as they travel overseas is of paramount importance and we do need to make sure that all Australians are safe and well advised when they take trips overseas, go on holidays and no doubt some will be doing that over the Christmas period.

JAMES GLENDAY:

It is outside your portfolio so I appreciate you at least trying to answer that one. Angus Taylor, thank you very much for your time this morning.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good on you. Thanks, James.

ENDS.