E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE
SUNDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2016
SUBJECT/S: Final week of parliament; Government division and dysfunction; Budget deterioration; Senate shambles; backpacker tax; Gold Pass; George Brandis; ABCC; 18C
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: We're heading back to Canberra for the last sitting week of the parliamentary year. The parliamentary week hasn't even begun yet and already it's shaping up as a disaster for Malcolm Turnbull on multiple fronts. You've got Tony Abbott kicking down the door of the Cabinet, criticising the Prime Minister's language on the economy and reviving the disastrous 2014 Budget, including the GP tax and even harsher pension cuts. You've got a shambles in the Senate; the backpacker tax in serious disarray; the Government unable to wrangle their agenda through the Senate and so their agenda is in tatters. You've got George Brandis, the walking scandal magnet, wandering around with yet another corruption cloud over his head and a Prime Minister who is far too weak to sack him.
You've got all of these issues going on at the same time as Australia's AAA credit rating is in serious jeopardy because of the Budget deterioration on the Government's watch; because of their failure to take responsibility for this problem and their failure to ditch that $50 billion multinational tax cut, which is doing more damage to the Australian Budget than anything else.
Malcolm Turnbull risks finishing the year exactly as he started it – as the leader-in-name-only of a deeply divided, dysfunctional and incompetent Government.
When it comes to the Budget, and that coveted AAA credit rating, it's long past time for the Government to take responsibility for the mess they've made of the Budget. Last year's deficit was eight times bigger than what the Government inherited. This year's deficit is shaping up as at least three times bigger than what the Government inherited. Debt has blown out by well over $100 billion on this Government's watch.
It's time for them to stop pointing the finger at others; stop blaming everyone but themselves for the mess they've made of the Budget; abandon that $50 billion gift to big multinational corporations; and pick up some of Labor's sensible Budget repair measures, including our reforms to negative gearing and capital gains.
When it comes to Tony Abbott, his extraordinary intervention today is important. Because we know when he says that the Government should revive the 2014 Budget – the GP tax and the harsher pension cuts – we know that when he and the other right-wing knuckle-draggers in the Liberal Party yanked on Malcolm Turnbull's leash, we know that the Prime Minister just meekly follows along. So Tony Abbott's intervention today is very important. Kicking at the door of the Cabinet, criticising openly the Prime Minister's language on the economy and calling for a rerun of that disastrous 2014 Budget, which will do so much damage to our country and its people.
JOURNALIST: You yourself have been quite privy to political infighting. What do you make of all of this?
CHALMERS: Labor finishes the year extraordinarily united. We've got a great policy agenda, we've got a great team and we finish the year very strongly. In contrast, Malcolm Turnbull does finish the year as he began it – the leader-in-name-only of a really divided Liberal and National Coalition. His agenda is in tatters. As he looks around, he sees a shambles on all fronts; division, dysfunction, incompetence as far as the eye can see.
JOURNALIST: Tony Abbott, you mentioned him, he also called his morning for reforming the Senate and even constitutional reform to have the Senate function better. Is that something Labor would consider?
CHALMERS: The double dissolution election from Malcolm Turnbull was supposed to be something that would clean up the Senate. Instead of cleaning up the Senate, Malcolm Turnbull has made a mess of that, as he's made a mess of everything else that he's touched in his short time as Prime Minister. The Senate is a shambles; the Government's agenda is in tatters in the Senate because of Malcolm Turnbull's efforts and because of that double dissolution election, which brought Pauline Hanson back into the Parliament with all of these other characters. Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott have nobody but themselves to blame for this mess.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned the backpacker tax. Is there any room for compromise on that?
CHALMERS: The important thing to know about the backpacker tax is that the 32.5 per cent rate, which was in the Government's own Budget, will come into force on 1 January if the Parliament doesn't act this week. The time has come for the Government to accept the very sensible proposal that Labor has put on the table for a 10.5 per cent backpacker tax rate, which is a fair rate, closely aligned with the New Zealand rate. We want the Government to fix up this mess of their own making. It's been a dog's breakfast since the beginning. The ball is in the Government's court when it comes to fixing up this mess they've made of the backpacker tax.
JOURNALIST: But will Labor budge on that?
CHALMERS: We've already put a very sensible proposal on the table for a 10.5 per cent backpacker tax rate. That is supported by others in the Senate as well. If the Government is serious about fixing this mess and ending the uncertainty for farmers and our regional economies, then they will do the right thing and support the rate that we put on the table.
JOURNALIST: So you're not prepared to compromise?
CHALMERS: We've already put on the table a very sensible, very responsible suggestion for the Government to pick up and run with. It's the Government's mess. It's incumbent on them to fix it. We'll play our part in that. We've done that already by putting this proposal on the table and seeking the support of other Senators. If the Government wants to give regional economies and our farmers some certainty, they'll pick up our proposal and run with it.
JOURNALIST: So that's no to compromise then?
CHALMERS: We are always prepared to talk in the Senate, as we have been, on this 10.5 per cent rate, as we've been talking to other Senators. It's for the Government to come to Labor's proposal. It's a mess of their making. It's up to them to fix it.
JOURNALIST: The axing of the free lifetime business class travel, what's Labor's position on that?
CHALMERS: It's long past time for the Government to end the Gold Pass. We proposed ending the Gold Pass some years ago and the Government has been dragging its feet on it. We are ready to vote to end that scheme. It's time for Government to get on with it and end the Gold Pass, as Labor suggested all those years ago. It's up to Malcolm Turnbull to put it on the table. I personally – and our team – would be very happy to vote to end the Gold Pass in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Is Parliament too busy? I mean, is that a poor excuse?
CHALMERS: It's a horrific excuse. All of the stuff that is holding up the Parliament is a mess of the Government's own making. If you look at the logjam in the Senate, the shambles they've made of the backpacker tax; the shambles on their anti-worker legislation; all of these issues are messes of the Government's own making. The senate agenda is full at the end because they haven't gotten on with the job and they haven't fixed all of these shambles on multiple fronts. This issue of the Gold Pass should have already been sorted. We are ready to do the right thing and if the Government puts it on the table, we'll vote for it. It's long past due.
JOURNALIST: And will you support any other changes to save money on the entitlements that MPs receive?
CHALMERS: We've played a very constructive role when it comes to so-called entitlements for politicians, including on this one. This was our proposal to end this free lifetime travel. We are always up for a sensible conversation about how we match up those entitlements with the expectations of the Australian community. Whether it's in that area or when it comes to donations reform and we have a whole set of proposals on the table for donations as well.
JOURNALIST: Last week the Government got changes through on superannuation. They got ROC through. Isn't this proof that the Government are actually making this Senate work better than Tony Abbott could with the last Senate?
CHALMERS: (laughter)
JOURNALIST: It looks like they'll get ABCC through this week. How are they not making it work?
CHALMERS: I just think that's laughable. No objective observer would look at what's happening in the Senate and at what's happening with Malcolm Turnbull and think that any of that is working. It's been a shambles all year. He will finish the year as he started – as the leader-in-name-only of a shambolic Government and I don't think anyone can conclude that it's working. From time to time, when they get an issue through the Senate, they want to celebrate. But that's their job, that's what they're supposed to be doing. Superannuation was a mess. That was one of the examples that you raised. I don't think anyone would describe that as a functional process.
JOURNALIST: And what should the Government do with George Brandis?
CHALMERS: The Prime Minister should sack George Brandis. George Brandis is a walking scandal magnet. If these latest very serious allegations are true, then they amount to at least moral bankruptcy and probably corruption. The Prime Minister is too weak internally in his own party to sack George Brandis. Every time George Brandis comes up with a sackable offence – and there have been many – excuses have been made for him because the Prime Minister is too weak to sack him, which is the only responsible course for the Prime Minister to take.
Thanks very much everyone.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) at the start there, but did you comment on the Government's troubles with the ABCC legislation?
CHALMERS: I'm happy to have another dig at that if you like.
JOURNALIST: And also the MP who's being sued for calling someone racist as well?
CHALMERS: When it comes to the ABCC, the Government's anti-worker legislation is in serious strife in the Senate because Barnaby Joyce has intervened and torn up the Murray Darling Basin plan. The ABCC, the anti-worker legislation that the Government is trying to inflict on Australian workers is nothing but another piece of the Abbott agenda, which Malcolm Turnbull is inflicting on the workforce of this country. Remember, when the ABCC was last in place, productivity was down and workplace deaths were up. When it was abolished, productivity went up and workplace deaths went down. This is just part and parcel of an anti-worker agenda. It's now yet another shambles in the Senate, because Barnaby Joyce has intervened. We now have Senators like Nick Xenophon and David Leyonhjelm saying they will question their support for the legislation. This is just another one of those shambles on multiple fronts that Malcolm Turnbull faces as he finishes the year as he started.
When it comes to the possible court case involving my terrific colleague Terri Butler, I'll leave you in her hands to explain the ins and outs of that. I'm very wary of intervening in any sort of legal matter that might be in prospect, so I'm happy to leave it at that.
JOURNALIST: Away from the court side though, do you think that people are simply fed up with being called racist?
CHALMERS: This is a very serious conversation for Australians to have but I think when it comes to reforming the so-called Section 18C of the anti-discrimination laws, I think this is an obsession of the far right in this country; people like George Christensen and others who think that this is the most important thing. At a time like this, I would have thought that we need more respectful language and more understanding between us, not less. And so that's why I don't support changing the arrangements. I think we do need to be careful about the kind of labels we affix to people in all directions. But at the same time, we shouldn't be messing with legislation that does its best to protect people from being hurt by hate speech which has no place in this country.
Thanks very much.
