Subjects: Third time unlucky for Australians: the Albanese Government’s big-taxing and big-spending budget; Labor’s homegrown inflation crisis; Labor’s cost of living and energy crisis; Labor’s Big Australia policy.
E&OE.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Joining me now is the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.
Mr Dutton, good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Thanks for joining us.
PETER DUTTON:
My pleasure.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
I want to talk about the key measure unveiled last night by the Treasurer: the promise of energy bill relief – $300 a year for each household. Will the Coalition support that?
PETER DUTTON:
We will, but we need to be very honest about it. The fact is that families and small businesses have faced thousands of dollars worth of increases in their energy bills, and this will be welcomed by some, but it won’t compensate for the effect of the ‘renewables only’ policy that the Government’s implemented. I think there are a lot of businesses at the moment who are really doing it tough, and they’re passing those costs onto consumers, which is why we’re seeing a problem with inflation. Yes, the Government wants to buy itself an interest rate reduction coming up to the election, but really, as most credible economic journalists have pointed out, this is an inflationary budget and it is going to make it harder for interest rates to come back, and it’s going to make it more difficult for families and small businesses for longer.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Are you happy this rebate is not means-tested? Every Australian, no matter how rich or poor, get it?
PETER DUTTON:
I don’t think so. I don’t understand why you and I, on high incomes, need to get that assistance. Frankly, I think the money would be better provided by way of support to those more in need. But the Government – as was the case for Labor in Queensland facing an election – they are splashing out cash because they know that they’ve got a huge problem on their hands. For the average household in Australia, they’re $35,000 worse off under this Government and people are paying thousands of more each month for their mortgage in many cases. I think this is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, and the Government’s made a really bad situation for Australian families over two budgets, and last night they made it worse.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You’re talking about the Government, in your view, wanting to buy an interest rate cut. Isn’t it a good thing to move towards a lower inflation environment and perhaps encourage the RBA Board to start cutting rates?
PETER DUTTON:
But Michael, I just don’t think that’s the case. I mean, on the one hand, you’ve got the Reserve Bank Governor saying that there is an inflation problem and that it’s ‘homegrown’ – which means that, I mean, that’s code for saying in the last two budgets Labor policies have driven up inflation and therefore interest rates. You’ve got every credible economic commentator overnight saying that this is a disastrous budget, that they’ve panned the budget. On the other hand, you’ve got Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers telling you that ‘everything’s okay, there’s nothing to see here’ and that ‘inflation’s going to come down’, which is contrary to the Reserve Bank predictions.
I don’t think it’s credible. I mean, they trumpet the fact that they’ve got a surplus in this budget, but that’s just what they’ve been bequeathed from the Coalition management of the economy. They get the first two years in surplus and then every year after that, under Labor management, you end up with huge deficits and additional debt – ultimately, that Australian taxpayers will have to pay.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Government says a lot of that is due to what it describes as unavoidable spending – health, aged care, pensions, the NDIS…
PETER DUTTON:
Fifteen billion for billionaires to dig minerals out of the ground. That money as well, so…
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
…So that’s the production tax credits announced last night for green hydrogen and critical minerals. Why is that a bad thing?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we don’t support it because I think we should be helping, frankly, Australians who are struggling at the moment to find a house. We’ve got people living in cars and in tents. The Prime Minister had nothing to say about that yesterday. The Treasurer had nothing to say about it last night. You’ve got 1.67 million people coming in over a five year period under this Government. It’s unprecedented, not under any previous Liberal or Labor Government have you seen the immigration levels this high, and that means that with an 11 year low in building starts, you are seeing people lining up 30-or-40 deep to find a rental property, people can’t buy a house at an auction for love, nor money and this Government’s spent $315 billion more, which has driven up inflation, and, therefore interest rates.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Government has moved to halve the migration rate next year to effectively 260,000. That’s a pretty good step?
PETER DUTTON:
But Michael, they predicted that in MYEFO and Clare O’Neil is out there every other week saying it’s going to come down – it goes up. The fact is that you’ve had almost a million people over two years, and that is what has created a housing emergency in our country. The Prime Minister at the moment is giving billions and billions of dollars to billionaires, and we’ve got families living in tents and cars.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
I’ll go back to that – the green hydrogen and critical minerals tax incentives – I mean, why is it a bad thing to give a leg-up to Australian companies wanting to advance our interests in that area?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I just think people like Clive Palmer and people like Twiggy Forrest and others at the moment are great business people, they know how to milk a pretty weak Government, and I think that’s what they’re doing at the moment. I actually think we would be better off providing for arrangements and an environment which is conducive to business investment. Those projects should be able to stand alone and we support them, but not with taxpayers’ money, splashing billions of dollars at a time when the Government has created an economic crisis for families and a housing crisis for millions of Australians.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
On energy, when are we going to see the Coalition’s nuclear plans?
PETER DUTTON:
Not too far away. There’s a lot of work that we’ve been doing…
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
What do you mean by not too far away?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we won’t give you the scoop this morning, but I…
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Feel free to! By mid-point of this year? Next week?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll make it in due course. But I think the important point here is that we have the ability to bring interest into the transition for our energy market. I think if we do that, we can bring prices down, as we see in Ontario, where prices for electricity are half the price because of the nuclear power that firms up the renewables. We can have greener electricity because we have zero emissions from nuclear, and we can have reliable energy. At the moment, we’re telling businesses to stop production or ramp down production because there’s not enough energy on the network.
So, we’ll have a balanced approach to it – which will include renewables, which are very important – but it won’t include giving billions of dollars to billionaires, at a time when most Australian families are struggling to pay their grocery bill.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Peter Dutton, appreciate your time this morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure, Michael. Thank you.
[ends]