Topics: Employment data, productivity, Medicare bulk billing, US tariffs

 

E&OE   

 

RON WILSON:

New employment data shows that Australia’s jobs market remains strong with a significant surge in full time jobs in January and a record high participation rate. It comes as businesses added an impressive 54,000 full-time jobs in January alone. We've also had the Reserve Bank of Australia's recent interest rate cut. Plenty to talk about with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor this morning.

Angus, good morning.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

G'day, Ron. Good to be with you.

RON WILSON:

Yeah, look, the government has pointed to strong wage growth and the creation of over 1.1 million jobs since it came to power. How do you respond to Labor's claims that their policies have got the economy right on track?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, except that it's not for the average Australian household, Ron. We've seen the biggest collapse in Australian’s standard of living in our history. We've never seen anything as big as this, substantially more than most other countries in the world. So, it's unprecedented. It's unparalleled and the essence of it is the purchasing power of people's incomes. What they can buy with their incomes has fallen dramatically. That's a combination of sharp price increases, we've, of course, seen interest rates much higher than they were when Labor came to power and people paying a lot more personal income tax as well. A 20% increase in personal income tax is being paid by Australians. All of that means their income buys less. They're having to work harder to be able to make ends meet and we saw more of that yesterday with core inflation, the underlying inflation numbers going up, and the price of everything continues to rise. Food up 13%, housing over 14%, rent 17%, gas 34%, insurance up 19% and we learned today Labor's been hiding private health insurance increases, which are going up substantially faster than inflation. So, all of this is adding to the pain that Australians are feeling with the biggest hit, as I say, to our standard of living in our history.

RON WILSON:

All right. Well, let's pull apart some of those issues because there are plenty of them. Well, the RBA is forecasting a decline in productivity across the economy. How do we go about addressing that? How do we boost productivity in the longer term?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we know the way to beat inflation, boost growth, and get productivity back on track is good economic management and that does mean that you have to manage the growth in spending, just as households are having to do that. Right now, they're doing all the hard work to try to get inflation and interest rates down. Government is not. Government needs to manage its pennies very, very carefully, just as households are. We know we also have to free up critical sectors in the economy, energy, get more supply into the marketplace, gas in the shorter term, and in the longer term, zero emissions, nuclear baseload power is crucial. Meanwhile, we've got to get our construction sector back on track, making sure that the CFMEU, with deep links to the criminal underworld, is not in control of our construction sector, making it more expensive to build everything in this country and we have to make sure we've got good access to financial services. And what we've seen in insurance costs just today is a result of regulators asking or adding more costs to the system and we don't need that at a time like this. So, there's a lot we can do to take pressure off inflation, take pressure off interest rates, get productivity moving, beat inflation and boost growth.

RON WILSON:

Just while we're talking on interest rates there, we're hearing from economists at the moment that the latest inflation figures will probably push out another rate cut to mid-year. Do you have any inkling of when we might get another rate cut?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Look, I'm not going to get into forecasting the Reserve Bank. Lots of other people are constantly doing that. What I will say is that it's taken longer for us to see reductions in interest rates than most of our peer countries around the world and we've had core inflation that's been higher than most of our peer countries around the world. It's been stickier and it's now going up. As of yesterday, data is saying we've got our core inflation going up. We are far from beating this problem. Australians are far from the standards of living they had when Labor came to power. In fact, on Labor's own plan, we'll only get back to where people's incomes can buy what they're able to buy when Labor came to power. We will only get back to that in 2030 or 2031. I mean, we're years away from getting back to where we were, which is just a completely hopeless situation we're seeing in the economy right now. And Australians are feeling it. The pain is very, very real every time they pay their energy bill, as they pay their insurance bills and so on.

RON WILSON:

Angus, both major parties have made huge promises, multi-billion dollar promises on bulk billing in the Medicare system. The Coalition have said that they would find the money by slashing 36,000 public service roles, which, of course, has raised concerns that we may see a similar Elon Musk Department of Efficiency coming to Australia. Is that even on the cards as far as you're concerned?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we're not America, but we do have a bloated public service. Labor has added 36,000 public servants at a time where small businesses around the country have been struggling to add any people at all. Government seems to be able to spend as much money as it wants to, and yet every Australian household is having to tighten its belt to do the hard work to get interest rates and inflation down. This is just the wrong priorities from a government that's been distracted. It spent the first 18 months focused on its divisive voice. It's wanting to talk about everything except the cost of living crisis that Australians are facing. It's bloated its public service, and we learned yesterday the degree to which they're politicising the public service. We've seen a Treasurer who is asking Treasury to act as a dirt unit, in the lead up to an election. I mean, that's not how you spend taxpayers’ money. It really is just a Labor Party that has lost its way, that's not focused on the right priorities, and is making bad decisions, and we're all paying a price for it.

RON WILSON:

Well, of course, speaking about dirty tricks, on Tuesday we saw the whole Senate Committee Hearing turn to chaos after Finance Minister Katie Gallagher levelled those allegations about what virtually was insider trading against Peter Dutton. Is that really just a smear campaign, or does Mr Dutton have some questions to answer here, and does it affect his credibility?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, it is a smear campaign. Of course it is, and that's what Labor does. I mean, they do dirt, they do politics. This is another example of the Labor Party focusing on things that are not the priority of the Australian people, which is how to beat this cost of living crisis. Peter Dutton had no access to any sensitive information on these matters, nor was he privy to government briefings on the Global Financial Crisis. You've got to remember, he was first of all in Opposition, and lord knows you don't get much sensitive information when you're in Opposition and secondly, he was the Shadow Health minister. I mean, this is just absolutely extraordinary allegations being made. It's the usual Labor dirt unit at work. They're now using the public service as a dirt unit as well, which is just extraordinary and it's because Labor has become desperate, they've failed to deal with the real issues, so now they're going to what they're most comfortable with, and what the Prime Minister is most comfortable with is going after the person and not the cause.

RON WILSON:

We're talking right now to Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Angus, Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, is right at this moment in Washington putting Australia's case to avoid those tariffs. Is that likely to happen, or are we going to be hit with some form of tariff?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, of course, when we were in government, we were able to get an exemption to the tariffs in the first Trump administration. It's a real test for the government as to whether they can achieve the same this time around. I can't answer that question, but what I can say is that we should be seeking to get those exemptions, and we should be getting the exemptions. And it shouldn't be just the United States, I mean, Europe is imposing tariffs as well from next year, and I don't see the government showing much focus on making sure we don't get hit with any of those through their so-called carbon border adjustments for their tariffs, that’s what they are. So, this has got to be a top priority for the government, because our farmers, our metals producers, miners, they need to get access to critical markets in the United States, particularly in some areas, is a really key market for us. So, this is the job for government, it's a test for him.

RON WILSON:

Angus, I've only got about 30 seconds left. Are we going to see another budget from the Albanese Government or do you have any inside information on this election and when it'll be called?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, look, I don't know. What I know is every budget they've done so far has been a flop and hasn't dealt with the real issue of Australia's cost of living. So, they can go ahead with another flop if they like or just get on with the election. I'd rather just get on with the election.

RON WILSON:

Let's do that.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I think it's time for Australians to actually have their say on a government that's truly lost its way.

RON WILSON:

I actually do think that voters are dying to get to the ballot box. I agree with you on that for sure. Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, thanks so much for being with us this morning, I appreciate it.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Thanks, Ron. Good to be with you

 

 

ENDS.