Subjects: Meeting with local growers and producers in Bundaberg; water supply; the Government’s broken promise on a $275 cut to your power bills; Labor’s crab walking away from legislated tax cuts; road trip from Bundaberg to Rockhampton.
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
DANIEL BREWER:
The Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Mr Dutton, good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning Daniel.
DANIEL BREWER:
In Bundaberg yesterday, a productive day. What was the visit about?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it was about catching up with local growers and just talking with some of the producers around issues that they’ve got. Keith Pitt was very keen to conduct that meeting and just talk about issues that are coming down the pipeline or that they’re experiencing now and what we can do as the Opposition, in terms of our policy, that we make up between now and the next election – that we put that together in a way that’s going to be of benefit and to support small businesses and families in the Bundaberg region, but across the country as well.
DANIEL BREWER:
Now, what concerns were farmers expressing to you yesterday in the meetings?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, a few concerns, obviously water is always a number one concern, particularly for farmers of avocados, macadamias and cane and whatever else people have got in the ground, it’s going to require a good season weather wise, and if not, then they’ve got to draw on that storage.
So the issue of Paradise Dam was discussed and Keith Pitt obviously worked hard with a lot of local growers and business people to get that $600 million commitment and I hope that that can proceed as quickly as possible because whilst the allocations is an issue, and they want to work through how all of that water is dispatched out to the farms, and what the allocation will be; the most important thing is to get the work underway. I hope that that can happen sooner rather than later.
The other issue, which is not just an issue for farmers, but for households now is just the cost of electricity and gas and it continues to go up. The Prime Minister promised on 97 occasions before the election, power prices would go down by $275 and yet we’re seeing that the policies now that Labor is putting in place, that will have a 35 per cent increase in electricity prices this time next year and I just don’t think families or businesses can afford that.
DANIEL BREWER:
Well, that was going to be my next question Mr Dutton, was about the electricity, you know, 35 per cent, and you mentioned yesterday in the press conference, people are either going to be thinking about putting the lights on or having a meal on the table.
PETER DUTTON:
I think that’s the reality. In Europe at the moment they’re going to have a pretty harsh winter and there is this talk about people heating or eating and that’s a terrible situation for people to be put in.
Families don’t want to be put in a situation where they just can’t afford to feed their families and I don’t want us heading down that path in our country. I want to make sure that that we can have a policy that’s sensible and I want to reduce emissions, but equally, I want us to be able to allow manufacturing to continue because there’ll be a lot of businesses who just say, ‘well, it’s just too expensive to do business in Australia now’ and ‘we’re not going to have a situation where we continue with those Australian jobs, we’ll take them offshore.’ It won’t be any net benefit to the environment, but it will be a situation where you’ve got a loss of those Aussie jobs and I just don’t think that’s good enough.
I want to see affordable, reliable energy; I want to see us reduce emissions – that’s why we’ve started the debate about the small modular reactor, which is the latest new age technology in nuclear which is being adopted by Canada and France and United States and China and even Germany – where they’ve got Greens government that are looking at this at the moment.
So, there’s a lot of difficulty in the mix, but the fact is that the solar panels that work during the daytime when the sun’s shining, don’t work at night. You’ve got to be able to firm up that power and Labor’s obsession with putting 100 per cent renewables into the market means you just can’t firm it up. If you don’t want coal and gas, then what is the answer? This is the great dilemma and whilst you’ve got that uncertainty and that cost that continues to go up and up, it’s families and small businesses that will suffer.
DANIEL BREWER:
Finally Mr Dutton, if you wouldn’t mind, of course to talk about the stage three tax cuts expected in 2024. Is it still the right policy?
PETER DUTTON:
It’s absolutely the right policy because I think during the course of the next 12 months we’re going to see the United States and the United Kingdom go into recession. The Australian economy is very strong. Over the last nine years of Coalition management we’ve made a number of decisions which have strengthened the economy and it would take a lot for Labor to plunge us into recession here. So, we’ll see what happens in the Budget, but I do think we want that economic stimulus, particularly in ‘24.
The tax cuts don’t start until July of ’24, but they’re targeted at people on incomes between $45,000 and $200,000. It reduces the 32.5 per cent tax margin down to 30 cents and it abolishes the 37 cent tax bracket altogether. So, it means that people who work a few extra hours of overtime or they’re studying or they applied for a new job or got promoted, it means that they’re keeping more of their own money. For 95 per cent of people, they’ll pay no more than 30 cents in the dollar and higher income earners will move onto that top marginal tax rate and it provides incentive for people who are aspirational, who want to work hard and buy a rental property so that they can support themselves in retirement, or help their kids out.
It’s important policy and the Prime Minister’s sort of ‘ummed and ahed’ about whether they would keep it or not. He still hasn’t come out to this very day and said definitively whether they will support the tax cuts or not. But I think it’s good economic policy and I certainly hope it can be installed.
Now Daniel, I’ve got one final question for you mate. We’re on a on a road trip now from Bundy up to Rocky this morning. Is there a favorite roadhouse or somewhere I can stop for a crumbed sausage?
DANIEL BREWER:
There’s so many to choose from, it depends whereabouts you are.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’re just heading up towards Gin Gin now, so we might find somewhere up there, but we’ll see how we go mate.
DANIEL BREWER:
I really do appreciate your time this morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Alright mate, I appreciate you having us on.
DANIEL BREWER:
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time.
[ends]