TRANSCRIPT

THE HON PETER COSTELLO MP

TREASURER

Interview with Steve Liebmann

Today

Wednesday, 8 September 2004
7.15 am

LIEBMANN:

And Federal Treasurer Peter Costello joins us this morning in his town,

nice to see you.

TREASURER:

Great to be here Steve, fantastic weather.

LIEBMANN:

Well it will improve. Now I notice that the metropolitan morning tabloids

are giving Labor’s package a fairly good reception this morning.

TREASURER:

Well it will take time for the journalists to actually work out the way

in which Mr Latham has fiddled the figures. But we are able to show even

last night that the claims he was making were quite wrong. He was claiming

that nine out of ten families were better off. By 7.30 pm last night he

said: ‘Oh sorry, it may only be seven out of ten, and once you add in the

superannuation, it is falling fast. By the time you look at this, most Australians

will be worse off under Mr Latham’s policy.

LIEBMANN:

And yet he is offering tax cuts for everyone, especially those on $52,000

or less. Why wouldn’t lower and middle income Australian families jump at

this?

TREASURER:

Again Steve, this is one of his hoaxes, that everyone gets an $8 tax cut.

If you are on $10,000 you get $3.48. If you are $15,000 you get $3.48. If

you are on $20,000 you get $3.48. If you are on $25,000, you get $6.10.

So again, that was the hoax, that was the line that got up – it is

not true. And as people go through this they are going to realise that a

lot of the claims that he made were just dishonest.

LIEBMANN:

So you are saying that it is all smoke and mirrors?

TREASURER:

Well, I am just saying that the claim that everybody gets a $8 tax cut

is false. That is false. You have just got to ask Mr Latham that, that is

false. The second claim that families will be better off he makes because

he says: ‘Well I don’t count $600 a year family payment that they are getting

at the moment which I intend to abolish.’ In other words, forget $600. If

you forget that $600, which I am taking away, you will be better off under

my policy. He got caught out on that last night. You know, this is really

dishonest stuff that is going on here and it has to be exposed.

LIEBMANN:

Some commentators are saying this morning that one of this policy’s strengths

is it tries to do something, something serious about entrenched poverty

and in nine years a Howard Government has made very little effort in that

area.

TREASURER:

Well I want to take that up, too, because the claim is made, I think, that

this will help create 70,000 jobs. Can I tell you, since 1996 we have created

in Australia 1.3 million jobs. Just get those two things in perspective.

Under the policy since 1996 there have been 1.3 million new jobs and he

says: ‘Oh I am going to do something,’ and he claims that he will create

70,000 – that is about 2 months worth of job creation at the current

level. So, again you know, you have got to look through all of this stuff,

this is clever manipulation of tables, this is the reciting of various pop

phrases, and at the end of day as I said last night, it is an attempt to

hoax the folks and the folks will see through it.

LIEBMANN:

So, is the Government going to match this? Are you going to offer your

own tax cuts between now and election day?

TREASURER:

Well one of the other big things that we are offering that Mr Latham forgot

to mention, is that we are offering a superannuation scheme for everybody

earning $58,000 or below, where by he said you have got to put $1,000 into

it. No you don’t. You can put $10 into it. You can put $100 into it. But

if you put any amount at all, the Government will match it at $1.50 for

every dollar.

That is a pretty good scheme and he is abolishing it. For some families

that will be worth something like $500.

LIEBMANN:

You very cleverly skirted my question though, is the Government going to

match this with more tax cuts?

TREASURER:

Well that is my answer. That is, that is better than a tax cut. That is

a long term bonus. Remember this, I said this last night, a tax cut only

minimises the amount the Government takes away from you. A co-contribution

maximises the amount the Government gives to you. It is much better than

a tax cut. It is 150 per cent for every dollar that you put in and Mr Latham

wants to abolish it.

LIEBMANN:

So nothing more between now and election day.

TREASURER:

I am going to…

LIEBMANN:

You are not going to suddenly find…

TREASURER:

…I am not ruling things in and out before election day because we

have got a lot more policy to announce. But on families and tax and savings,

our existing policy is much better than Mr Latham’s.

LIEBMANN:

Good to see you this morning.

TREASURER:

Good to be here Steve, thanks very much.