E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
LOGAN
MONDAY, 22 APRIL 2019

SUBJECTS: Sri Lanka attack; LNP Candidate proposing another tax handout for multinationals and attacking early childhood education; penalty rates
 
JIM CHALMERS, LABOR CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: First of all, obviously I'd like to join the worldwide condemnation of the despicable and disgraceful attacks that we saw in Sri Lanka and say to the Sri Lankan people, to Australians of Sri Lankan descent and indeed all Australians who want to stand with people affected by these despicable attacks as they work through their grief: an attack on any religion is an attack on all religions and we need to stand together to stamp out these kinds of disgraceful and despicable attacks.
 
Here in the election campaign we've had some pretty extraordinary revelations from a key LNP candidate called Gerard Rennick who says that the company tax rate should be 12 per cent, remembering that it's 30 per cent now for big business, and that early childhood education is some kind of conspiracy.
 
This key LNP candidate has let the cat out of the bag. If Scott Morrison and the LNP are re-elected at this election, there will be even bigger tax breaks for the big banks and foreign multinationals paid for by bigger cuts to hospitals and schools. The LNP under Scott Morrison want Australians to pay more for health and education so that big business can pay less. This new tax policy announced by a key LNP Senate Candidate would cost the Budget approximately $50 billion a year, which could only come from deeper and harsher cuts to our hospitals and schools.
 
Now we know why the Liberal Party, already under Scott Morrison, is cutting funding for preschool for four-year-olds from the end of next year onwards. And that's because they think that early childhood education is some kind of con. Gerard Rennick has said that investing in early education is not the best investment in the future. Only a Liberal politician could think that investing in our kids and educating our kids is a bad idea. 
 
This mob has been a circus of cuts and chaos for the past six years and now the clowns are lining up to audition for another three years in Government. Malcolm Turnbull was right - the right-wing lunatics in the Liberal Party have taken over and made what should be extreme views the mainstream views of the Liberal Party under Scott Morrison. It says it all about the LNP under Scott Morrison that they want to take money off our kids and give it to the big banks and foreign multinationals. 
 
That's what's at stake in this election. That's why Scott Morrison is known as Captain Cutter. He cuts our early education, he cuts our hospitals and schools, and he's also cutting penalty rates for hundreds of thousands of Australian workers. 
 
If the LNP win this election, workers on penalty rates can be up to $26,000 worse off over the term of the next Government. Scott Morrison was given the opportunity eight times to reverse his cuts to penalty rates. He voted against penalty rates every one of those eight times. If you are working today on Easter Monday and you have lost your penalty rates, you have Scott Morrison to thank for that. He's cut your penalty rates in the same way that he's cut funding to early education, schools and hospitals, and right across the board.
 
These are the issues at stake in this election. A Liberal Party which always sides with the top end of town against the interests of Australian workers, versus a steady and stable and united Labor team ready to deliver a fair go for all Australians.
 
JOURNALIST: Just a few questions on tax and early education of course. How can you claim that Mr Rennick wants tax handouts for the top end of town when he says he wants to put Australian companies first and on an equal playing field?
 
CHALMERS: This key LNP candidate has cited as his inspiration the 12 per cent rate that he claims for other countries. If his policy was implemented, it would be available to big multinationals and the four big banks here in this country. That would be a devastating blow not just to the Budget - $50 billion or thereabouts each year - but a devastating blow for hospitals and schools and the people in middle Australia who rely on those services. This says it all about the Liberal Party under Scott Morrison. They have this plan which has now been revealed to give even bigger tax breaks to the top end of town, funded by hospitals and schools and cuts to early education, which one of their key candidates has described as a conspiracy.
 
JOURNALIST: Why wouldn't increasing withholding tax prevent multinational tax avoidance?
 
CHALMERS: It says it all about these characters that they think the way to deal with multinational tax avoidance is to dramatically cut the taxes paid by multinationals in this country and the four big banks in this country. These guys are from another planet. They are so spectacularly out-of-touch that their two highest priorities of their LNP Senate candidate is to dramatically cut taxes for the top end of town and to pay for that by further cutting early education, which they have described as a conspiracy against the parents and kids of this country.
 
JOURNALIST: Before we get to the early education side of things, if the tax rate for shipping money off-shore was higher, why wouldn't that incentivise money staying in Australia? 
 
CHALMERS: We have to look at all of what this candidate is saying today. The combination of the policies that he is proposing would see a dramatic cut in taxes for multinationals and the big four banks at the same time as cutting funding to key services. That is the net impact of what he is proposing today as part of this LNP policy announcement. I think if you ask people around Australia, whether a higher priority should be investing in our kids or giving bigger tax breaks and bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town, I'm confident that Labor is on the right side of that argument. I'm confident that people will understand the Liberals under Scott Morrison are spectacularly out-of-touch when it comes to these issues.
 
JOURNALIST: How well thought out is that policy?
 
CHALMERS: You never quite know with these characters. As I said, we have had six years of cuts and chaos. This circus that has been the Liberal Government under three Prime Ministers and three Treasurers, and now clowns like this guy are lining up to audition for another three years. Another three years of Scott Morrison and the LNP with these sorts of policy ideas becoming the mainstream of an extreme party, that would be incredibly damaging for Australian workers and pensioners, for families, for kids. And the election on 18 May gives people the opportunity to reject this kind of scorched Earth ideology, the trickle-down economics which hasn't worked the last six years and won't work in the next three.
 
JOURNALIST: Just a couple more, Jim, if you have got time.
 
CHALMERS: Sure.
 
JOURNALIST: Incentivising the idea of money staying in Australia is important to a lot of Aussies. How is Labor going to be doing that, if not cutting withholding tax?
 
CHALMERS: The absolute best way to ensure that Australian companies, all companies, are investing in Australia is via what we call the Australian Investment Guarantee. We have had a policy on the table from Chris Bowen and Bill Shorten for some months now which would incentivise investment onshore in Australian companies, in Australian jobs, by allowing them to depreciate their investments faster than the current schedule. What that will mean is when we have a tight Budget and when debt doubled over the six years of the life of this Government, we need to work out where we can get the most bang for buck and in business taxes that means incentivising investment in Australian companies, Australian jobs, Australian plant and equipment. That's why we have had this policy on the table. The Liberal Party when they bring back these big tax cuts for foreign multinationals and the big banks, a lot of that money will spray around off-shore. A lot of that will become share buybacks and puffed-up executive pay. We think there is a better way to go about it which properly invests in Australian jobs, which properly invests onshore here in this country, so we can get the inclusive economic growth that we need.
 
JOURNALIST: Just touching on kindy and childcare, is Labor's three-year-old childcare policy aimed at increasing state control over the way Aussies are looking after their kids?
 
CHALMERS: (Laughs) Of course not. The sort of cloud cuckoo stuff that comes from the Liberal Party about early childhood education is laughable. Labor is very proud of our policy, which invests in three and four-year-olds, kindy and preschool, subsidising 15 hours. All of the expert studies show, when you invest properly in kids as early as possible and in their education, their kindy and their preschool, it pays massive dividends, not just for the child, not just for the family, but for the community and the economy as well. That's why the work done by Amanda Rishworth with Bill Shorten and others in our team has been so important to prioritise investment in our kids. It's only the Liberal Party that thinks investing in our kids is a bad idea. It's only the Liberal Party that wants to take money off our kids and their education and give it to the top end of town. I'm confident the Australian community understands the value of what we're proposing to get that investment into our young people, to give them a proper start in life; the start in life that they need and deserve so they can get the opportunities they need to prosper.
 
JOURNALIST: How do you feel about the fact that Mr Rennick could spend six years in the Upper House with the ideas he's put forward recently?
 
CHALMERS: That's the key point. This isn't some fringe character in the Liberal Party. This is a guy who is in a winnable position on the Senate ticket. This is a key LNP candidate. And again, Malcolm Turnbull was absolutely right to say that the extreme right-wing of the Liberal Party has taken over. The extremists are now mainstream in the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party has become the party of massive tax breaks to the top end of town; the party that describes early childhood education, kindy and preschool as a con. This is not some fringe dweller in the Liberal Party and if he is elected or indeed, if Scott Morrison and the Liberals are elected at this election on 18 May, in less than four weeks' time, we can expect to see more of this kind of crazy stuff, not less. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS