Topics: Federal Budget 2025; increased personal income tax under Labor; Labor’s bloated bureaucracy; global uncertainty; Treasurer’s blame shifting

 

E&OE  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, budget out tonight, and we need a budget for the next five years and beyond, not just for the next five weeks. We need a budget for all Australians, not just a budget for an election campaign. Sadly, already, we're seeing the signs that what we're going to get is a budget that's for the Labor Party, for Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers, but not for hardworking Australian households who are trying to get ahead. The situation here is dire for Australian households. We've seen the biggest collapse in their standard of living in history. As long as we have data, we've never seen anything like what we've seen in the last two and a half years. We've got Australian families who are struggling to put food on the table, they're struggling to pay their electricity bills, they're struggling to pay for their insurance, they're struggling to get to see a doctor and pay to go to the doctor. This is an economy that is a complete and utter disaster for Australian households. It is not working for hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead. So we need to see a restoration of our standard of living in this budget. Right now, the plan for the budget, or the last budget, indeed, was that we wouldn't get back to the standard of living we had when we were we were in government, the Coalition was in government until 2030 or beyond. This will be a lost decade for Australian families, a lost decade for Australian families. So the first test for this budget is to restore our standard of living quickly and get back on the pathway to prosperity for Australians that we've been used to in this country.

 

Secondly, we've seen a loss of hope, an absolute loss of hope for Australians who want to buy a home, who are trying to pay off the mortgage, who want to start a building a business, who want to build a business over time, for hardworking Australians who are wanting to get ahead, they don't see the reward, they don't see the hope and we need to restore hope for Australians who work hard, who are able then to buy a home, are able to pay off the mortgage, able to start a business, able to build a business, and are able to get ahead if they work hard.

 

Thirdly, we've seen a government that has thrown out the fiscal guardrails, their budget integrity and honesty that has been central to our budgets in this country since Peter Costello was Treasurer. They threw out those fiscal rules. We need to see them re-established. We need to see a budget where the economy grows faster than spending. It's simple. When you do that, then you can bring down deficits, you can bring down debt, and you can get into the black. You can take pressure off, take pressure off inflation. You can boost growth in the economy. You can encourage the private sector to invest and we're seeing the exact opposite under Labor. This government has been an absolute disaster for Australian families. Not only have they seen sharply rising prices, they're paying way more tax and we see today reports that for an average Australian in New South Wales, by 28/29, they'll be paying an extra $10,000 in personal income tax versus when Labor came to power. This is a government that is grabbing from household budgets to support its own spending habits, and we unfortunately expect we will see more of that in a budget tonight that won't be for the next five years and beyond. it'll be for the next five weeks. Happy to take questions.

 

JOURNALIST:

Angus, will you then cut taxes if you become Treasurer?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we've been very clear. We'll re-establish the tax to GDP cap that was in place that Jim Chalmers threw away. He threw it away. He gave up the ghost. I mean this is a government that believes in government spending, big government, and that's why we've imposed over $100 billion of wasteful spending at a time like this. And we know if you want to beat inflation, if you want to boost growth, if you want to back small business, then you need to cut waste, you need to slash red tape and we know that because that's what's worked in the past. That's always been the formula for success when you've had an economic downturn like this. We've never seen a magnitude like this, but we've seen economic downturns in the past, and we know the answer and that’s what the answer is.

 

JOURNALIST:

The Treasurer says the budget is in much better shape than it would have been under the Coalition. What would you do if the Coalition was to form government to get the budget back into a surplus? How soon could that happen?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Can I say, all we hear from this Treasurer is nonsense. All we hear from this Treasurer is excuses. I mean, this bloke makes it up as he goes because he doesn't understand economics. He doesn't understand economics. He's barely worked outside of the public sector, outside of politics, and he hasn't got a clue. The truth is that we'll see tonight that this government has had a tax grab, made a tax grab on the private sector in this country, households and businesses of around $400 billion and he’s squandered that. He's absolutely squandered that. Now we know that a time like this, when Australian households are having to tighten their belts, having to work hard to make ends meet, to pay those bills that I talked about earlier, we've got to make it easier for Australian households, and one of the ways to do that is to make sure there's not government waste, there's not spending that we don't need to make and that's why we've opposed over $100 billion of spending since Labor came to power and we've said that the public service has got too big. It's got too big. I mean, small businesses are struggling to put another person on. You've got mum and dad small businesses out around this country. I see them wherever I go, where they can't pay the overtime. They can't pay to employ people at weekends, so they're having to do the work themselves, or bring the kids in to do the work as part of the family. And this government said, no, no, let's just keep going … public service. This is a disaster for Australians. They don't understand economics. They don't understand the economy. They don't understand that the private sector drives prosperity, enables us to pay for those essential services we all need, enables us to pay for the Defence of this country that we need. It's that strong private sector that's the key, and that's where this government has failed.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, Tom Ravlic, I write for the Mandarin, International Tax Review and Professional Planner. The Menzies Research Centre recently issued a report called “Stopping a Bloat”. In there, there are some issues, some measures related to benchmarking of public service to see whether things can be cut back and trimmed back. How much of that report is the Coalition going to adopt as part of policy?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, what we've said is the public service has got too big. We'll get it back to the levels it was at when we were last in government. I learnt in my private sector career, I had one unlike this hopeless Treasurer, in the real world, working with businesses across this country, I learnt that you don't need to have a bigger team to have a better team. You don't need to have a bigger team to have a better team. And I've got to say that this Treasurer seems to think the exact opposite. This Finance Minister seems to think the exact opposite. So we will get it back to a size that we think is appropriate for the times, given the pressures on the budget, and we think that that is absolutely essential at the time like this. Now, to give you a sense of how badly this government has failed, despite the huge growth in the public service, we're not seeing any improvement in public services. In fact, quite the opposite. So we've seen a 40% increase in the size of the Health Department meanwhile bulk billing has gone from 88% to 77%. Failure after failure from a government that is focused on itself. It's focused on its union official mates, and it’s not focused on hardworking Australians who are trying to ahead.

 

JOURNALIST:

If I get to reiterate, how much of an inspiration for your thinking will the Menzies Research census report released over the weekend be as you think about how to cut back aspects of the public service?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

The Menzies Research Centre does lots of good work. I'm inspired by many, many people around this country who do amazing work, particularly hardworking Australians who are trying to get ahead in small businesses, who are trying to get ahead in their careers. I'm inspired by all of them.

 

JOURNALIST:

[Interrupts] So you will completely ignore the Menzies Research Centre report will you?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

You asked me what I was inspired by, and I'll tell you. I'm inspired by Australians who are out there despite an economy that's not working for them. Despite an economy that's broken for them under this Labor Government, I'm inspired by their resilience and their hard work, but I tell you what. We can make it better for them. We can get this country back on track, but I tell you what we can't afford is another three years of Labor.

 

JOURNALIST:

The treasurer says that tonight's budget will boost resilience against global uncertainty. What measures do you think need to be included to safeguard against more potential tariffs from the US?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

The only resilience this bloke wants is at the election. That's all he cares about. This is a budget for the next five weeks. And I tell you, if he was really serious about making sure our economy had resilience, he would have made sure we've got shock absorbers in our economic settings. He would have stuck with the budget integrity that Peter Costello put in place. He threw it out. He threw it out. He gave up the ghost on productivity goals. He gave up the ghost on that and this is a Treasurer that is completely hopeless when it comes to the economy. It's not surprising. He's never actually worked out in the private sector, beyond a few months, which he hated by his own admission. He simply has no idea what it means to make sure that a business or an economy or a household is in a position where they can weather storms and our economy is far more fragile than it was two and a half years ago and you know, the metric of that is really simple, our standard of living has dropped almost 8% in two and a half years. Australian households don't have … there's no resilience left. There's no spare room left. They're done. Under a government that has absolutely failed them. Any further questions?

 

JOURNALIST:

Angus, you've complained about bracket creep hitting young people. Will you look at that? Will you look at indexing the tax brackets?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, you know, it's a good question and can I say, the single most important thing you can do to beat bracket creep, which is costing young Australians and all Australians a lot, is to beat inflation. You've got to beat inflation. That is the number one priority that we have, beating inflation, boosting growth. That means you've got to back small business to invest. That's why we've got accelerated depreciation policy permanently part of our policy framework. You've got to fix housing. That means you've got to break those infrastructure bottlenecks so we've got more housing supply moving. You've got to slash red tape. That's why we've laid out in the construction sector, in the energy sector and the financial services sector, how we can slash red tape to make sure that in those sectors we can build things again, we can finance things again, and we can power things again. That's how you make sure inflation comes down and that that beats bracket creep. That's got to be the first priority of every government. We’ll see, we'll see what physical headroom there is in the budget. Every indication is there won't be much, sadly. But let's see. Let's see because this Treasurer loves to spend other people's money. He loves to take other people's money through the increased tax take. We'll be approaching or beating $400 billion tonight, I suspect and we'll see how much is left.

 

JOURNALIST:

So maybe a stage four tax cuts?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

(Laughs)

 

JOURNALIST:

Just one for our colleagues at NBN, if that's okay? We've spoken about some global uncertainties. But what about uncertainties here at home? How much do you expect weather events like Ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred to weigh on the budget, and do you expect any further support for residents in regional areas?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, look, it'll definitely add to the Treasurer's excuses. I mean, he's found a lot of excuses. Putin was an excuse. Xi was an excuse. Trump's an excuse. Alfred's an excuse. The list will keep going. It'll be another one of his excuses for his absolute, utter failure to deliver for hardworking Australians. We need a budget that delivers for hardworking Australians. We can do better, but we can't afford another three years of Labor. There is a better way to get things back on track, and that's what we'll continue to fight for in the coming weeks. Thank you very much.

 

ENDS.