E&OE..................................................................................................
CAMERON:
Mr Howard, thanks for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
CAMERON:
Now, this is obviously a budget you're very proud of. I note
the Treasurer last night spoke of what could be a very special decade
ahead for Australia. But how much of that rosy vision depends on what
happens in the rest of the world, can we really prosper independently?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, we are influenced by what happens in the rest of the world but
as we've demonstrated with the Asian economic downturn, if we
do things well domestically we can dramatically reduce the impact
of bad events overseas. So whilst we can never say the rest of the
world doesn't matter, the extent to which the rest of the world
does matter depends crucially on how we run our own economy. And if
we keep our own economy running well, if we keep the will to reform
things like the taxation system and industrial relations, then we're
better placed, if things go wrong overseas, to keep out the bad developments
and the nasty tides.
CAMERON:
Yes, you're suggesting that if you do run the economy well, so
well in fact, we could be debt free by 2003 and as a consequence of
that the Treasurer's even suggested we might have tax cuts. Could
you foreshadow the extent of those cuts...?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. I think what the Treasurer is saying there is that if you get
rid of debt your capacity to do other things is greatly increased.
There are tax cuts promised by this Government, $13 billion of them,
80 per cent of Australian taxpayers on a top marginal rate of 30 cents
in the dollar. And they are part of our tax reform plan and if only
the Senate will pass it Australians, from the 1st of July
next year, can have $13 billion of personal tax cuts and a top marginal
rate of 30 cents in the dollar for 80 per cent of taxpayers.
CAMERON:
Now, Mr Howard, since the budget was delivered last night commentators
and other interest groups have had time to digest its contents and
the fine print. Youth allowance has emerged as an important issue.
Senator Harradine, you'll note, is very angry. He says he's
ashamed for supporting your bill last year because last night you
failed to adequately compensate families who lost the allowance. What's
your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, anything I'd say in response to that to Senator Harradine
I'd prefer to say to him personally. It's not been my habit
to conduct a dialogue with him or, indeed, anybody else over a television
programme.
CAMERON:
Well, what about the figures themselves, Mr Howard, $18.75 a week
is a long way short of $153?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, if I could just finish. We haven't broken any promises.
We've kept faith with all of our promises to everybody. But,
again, this is in an area where, frankly, I'll prefer to talk
directly to the Senator.
CAMERON:
Well, apart from your dialogue with the Senator, what about addressing
the figures the $18 a week that you put on the table last night
in a year from now is a long way short of what you took away, anywhere
from $88 to $133?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I'm not going to get into a debate on that because it is
germane to the observation made by the Senator and I'm simply
not going to engage in a dialogue on it. I've said that and I've
made that very clear and I don't intend to depart from that approach.
CAMERON:
Just finally on jobs, Mr Howard. Treasury's predicting unemployment
will stay at 7.5 per cent despite another year of growth, what will
it take to move it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it will take two things. It will take continued strong economic
growth, which we've got a real prospect of enjoying. It will
also take further reforms to the labour market, the Senate passing
our unfair dismissal law, the Senate passing our law to entrench youth
wages and the Senate embracing the further reforms to the labour market
which the Government will be putting forward. The onus is now very
much on the Labor Party and the Democrats in the Senate. We can make
further inroads into unemployment but only if we attack it on two
fronts reform to the labour market as well as strong economic
growth. We've delivered the strong economic growth. We have put
up the reforms to the labour market. We now need them to be changed
to be passed through the Senate.
CAMERON:
Prime Minister, thank you for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]