Press Conference

Treasury Place, Melbourne

Friday, 10 June 2005

11.30 am

 

SUBJECTS: Tax Cuts, Mountain Cattlemen, Telstra, Petro Georgiou, Four Pillars

Policy

TREASURER:

In 20 days time every Australian should be getting a tax cut, and there is

no reason why every Australian should have that tax cut delayed for a single

day.

The Labor Party cannot defeat tax cuts for every Australian, they can only

delay tax cuts for every Australian.

Seven million Australians deserve that tax cut. Eight hundred and fifty thousand

employers need to know which tax schedules to apply on the 1^st of

July.

We are now a month after the Federal Budget, Kim Beazley can not tell you today

whether or not he will disallow the schedules which provide for these tax cuts.

There has been speculation in the press this morning that the Australian Democrats

will make Mr Beazley irrelevant and allow those schedules to pass the Senate.

I hope they do. Every Australian can then have their tax cut.

I have written to the Leader of the Australian Democrats today and asked her

whether she can make a statement indicating her Party will not disallow the

schedules. If she can make that statement I believe that the tax cuts can go

ahead on the 1^st of July.

I will release the letter that I have sent to Senator Allison and look forward

to a reply. We can not waste any more time. These tax cuts are due in 20 days.

Kim Beazley cannot defeat these tax cuts he can only delay them and if the Australian

Democrats step up to the plate his delaying tactics will be rendered useless.

I say to Mr Beazley, the best thing you can do for Australia is get out of

the way, stop the confusion and let Australians have their tax cuts. If you

can not do it let us hope the Australian Democrats can.

JOURNALIST:

Is there any way that Mr Beazley could let this through in an honourable fashion

or do you think it’s too late for that?

TREASURER:

I think he could let them through in a very honourable fashion. All he has

got to do is make this statement – I will not disallow the schedules. That is

all he has to do. He does not have to actually vote, he has just got to make

a statement. And then seven million Australians will get their tax cut on the

1^st of July, 850,000 employers will know what to do. That is all

he has got to do. The problem here is, he cannot make a statement apparently.

It is not as if, see he has not even told us which statement he intends to make.

He has not actually said he will disallow, he has not actually said he won’t

disallow. He cannot make up his mind. All we need is a statement of which way

he is going to go. This is not leadership being incapable of making a statement

and this is going to be in the Senate on Tuesday, he must have thought about

it by now as to which way he is going to jump. But he cannot tell you.

JOURNALIST:

Mr Beazley thinks that $6 a week isn’t enough for somebody. Isn’t

that fair enough?

TREASURER:

Mr Beazley is opposed to any tax cut – I think we have got to be clear about

this – he is opposed to any tax cut on the 1^st of July. Mr Beazley

thinks people should get nothing on the 1^st of July. That is his

policy. That is why he is prepared to delay these tax cuts. The Labor policy

is for no tax cut for people on the 1^st of July. Now, they then say

oh but in 2006 we would like to do this, that or the other. Labor is not in

Government. Labor will not deliver anything to anybody in this term of Government.

We all know – and the Labor Party knows – this is a stunt, Mr Beazley made the

wrong call when he decided to oppose the Government’s tax cuts and he

has been backing and filling and scurrying from scrutiny ever since. Now, it

would not matter if seven million people did not rely on this and 850,000 employers,

but they do. That is why the scurrying has got to stop.

JOURNALIST:

But do you think that $12 a week regardless of what, Mr Beazley was in power

or not, the $12 a week he put up for people, and your offer of $6 a week, is

a lot more and people would like the $12 rather than the $6?

TREASURER:

He did not put up anything. The Labor Party did not put up a policy at the

last election. They did not put it up before the Budget. What happened was,

when the Government announced tax cuts, he said he was opposed to it. And when

he was cornered he said, oh well, actually I have got a new idea for next year.

It is a stunt. It is an absolute stunt. Australians know that. You either support

these tax cuts on the 1^st of July or you do not. He does not. Well

he will wear that. But I say to the seven million Australians, they deserve

some certainty. We are going to fight to give them a tax cut on the 1^st

of July. Kim Beazley will not defeat this tax cut. Mr Beazley you will not defeat

tax cuts. The best you can do is delay them.

JOURNALIST:

Treasurer, on the issue of Alpine grazing, as a senior Victorian, do you associate

well with the mountain men who do want this saved?

TREASURER:

I reckon the mountain men are fantastic people, and I do believe that they

care for the high country, and I do believe that grazing has gone on for many,

many years, and that the country is still as beautiful as it ever was. So I

do associate with them, yes.

JOURNALIST:

The decision today to add it to the heritage list, is that pretty much just

capitalising on community sentiment on this issue?

TREASURER:

Well, I think most Australians support the mountain cattlemen. They are a big

part of our history. They are a big part of our mythology. They care for the

high country, and I do not think they can understand why they are being closed

down, and that is my view. Why close the cattlemen down? I would have thought

that there were bigger evils in society than the mountain cattlemen in the high

country.

JOURNALIST:

Treasurer, on the issue of the new Telstra boss, it is reported that he could

be remunerated as much as $10 million a year. Do you think that is right for

an organisation that is still Government controlled?

TREASURER:

Well as I understand it, his base salary is a lot less than that. There are

then incentives which come into play, which the Board will put in place, I guess,

to try and improve returns for shareholders. I am not aware of the full details

of those. I think that an incentive programme is right. I do not think you should

get an incentive just because the company follows the rest of the market. I

think the only time you should get an incentive is when you beat the rest of

the market, but I am not familiar enough with all of the details to pass final

judgement on that.

JOURNALIST:

Does this help pave the way for the full privatisation of Telstra?

TREASURER:

I do not know that it is connected frankly. The ownership of Telstra will have

to be resolved, regardless of whom the Chief Executive is. It would have had

to been resolved if it was Ziggy Switkowski, or the new appointee. I not sure

the two are connected.

JOURNALIST:

On another matter Treasurer, Petro Georgiou is meeting with the Prime Minister

this afternoon, do you think there will be changes to Government policy regarding

immigration detention?

TREASURER:

I think there have been significant changes already. We now have a visa which

allows people who cannot be repatriated to be released under certain conditions.

I think that has been a great step forward. We now have very few, if any, children

in detention on mainland Australia who arrived by boat. They are nearly all

people who have come in by aeroplane with visas and overstayed, or whose parents

have come and overstayed, so I think we have made significant changes already.

JOURNALIST:

Treasurer, this week the head of the Bank of Queensland, David Liddy, said

the four pillars policy was a disaster for the nation’s banks. Is there

any increase in pressure to change this, or revisit this policy at all?

TREASURER:

No.

JOURNALIST:

Is it a disaster for nation’s banks?

TREASURER:

No.

JOURNALIST:

Is that equivocal?

TREASURER:

No. Thank you very much for your time.