Treasurer

Los Angeles Time

SUBJECTS: “Say G’Day in LA” promotion, child care, interest

rates

JOURNALIST:

G’Day LA, what (inaudible)?

TREASURER:

Well this is probably one of the best promotions that Australia ever does.

Making sure we promote our sport, our culture, our entertainment industry, our

food, our wine, our exports into the world’s largest market – the

United States. And G’Day LA has been a very, very successful promotion

of Australia, It is going to go on for a week. It involves not just fashion

and entertainment and sport but also serious economic presentations about the

Australian economy.

JOURNALIST:

You think we’ll see AFL football rival American football in the United

States?

TREASURER:

Well I think it would take a long time for the AFL to displace gridiron but

let’s look forward to a day when an American team that competes in the

AFL, that’d really make things interesting. We could have a World Series

then.

JOURNALIST:

Maybe Essendon could be Premiers then?

TREASURER:

Well, it would be nice to see not only national Premiers, but World Premiers.

And I think I could seriously say that if there were a World Series of AFL,

Australia is likely to become the world champion.

JOURNALIST:

If we could move onto politics, the call for a 50 percent increase in child

care in the next Budget. What do you say to that?

TREASURER:

Well we have increased funding on child care very, very substantially in recent

years — more places and we have introduced a rebate of 30 per cent on the cost

so there has been a very, very significant increase. That’s not to say

that everything that can be done has been done. We have always got to make sure

that we get the best system available, We want to encourage mothers to get the

best child care for their children, to seek out work opportunities if that’s

what they want. But these things are always under review and if we can do things

to improve the situations for families over the course of the next year, we

will.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think it’s a realistic call?

TREASURER:

Well you have got to hold together demands for increased spending on child

care, on defence, national security, health. There is a legitimate interest

at the same time at keeping taxes as low as possible. All of these difficult

and contradictory demands come on a Government. The thing I say is we won’t

be letting the Budget go into deficit and we won’t be putting up interest

rates as a consequence. The important thing is that we’re careful with

Australia’s money. That’s what’s kept interest rates low.

That’s what’s kept the Budget balanced. That’s what we will

be doing in the future.

JOURNALIST:

Doesn’t the Reserve Bank set interest rates?

TREASURER:

Interest rates are set under an agreement between the Government and the Reserve

Bank where we target low inflation and we want to keep inflation low. Unrestrained

spending would put pressure on inflation and that is why it is important that

Government fiscal policy be also directed at keeping pressure off inflation

just like all other arms of policy. Okay, thanks.