Subjects: Opposition Budget Reply
E&OE................................
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard how comprehensive was Mr Beazley's guarantee of no tax rises?
PRIME MINISTER:
Totally to be disbelieved. Look the real Budget reply was delivered this morning by Stephen Conroy. He spoke the truth when he said that you can't seriously rollback the GST without cutting spending in a big way or increasing taxes. Tonight Mr Beazley insulted everybody's intelligence by saying rollback represented 75 cents for every Australian taxpayer. He promised rollback of $15 million a year out of the total GST take of $30 billion. That's not rollback, it's an insult to the Australian public. The true Labor agenda was revealed by Stephen Conroy this morning. Everyone knows, Mr Beazley knows, you know, I know, Mr Conroy knows that if you're really serious about rolling back the GST you have to either cut spending in a big way or increase other forms of taxation. And that was what Stephen Conroy exposed and that is the real Labor news out of today.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Beazley mentioned several times during his speech of the Government stealing his policies. Were there any policies there that you might want to pilfer?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what Mr Beazley has to do is to tell the Australian public how he intends to rollback the GST and to be honest enough to admit to the Australian people that he's been a fraud over the last two years in advocating rollback. The true position is that Mr Beazley knows that this country needs tax reform. The big difference between Kim Beazley and John Howard is that John Howard has been honest enough to introduce tax reform and Kim Beazley merely wants to benefit politically from our courage. I hope the Australian people will deny him that opportunity.
JOURNALIST:
Is today the turning point for the Coalition?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't make those sort of predictions, Alison. They are decisions to be made by the Australian public. We will have to fight very hard to win the next election. But I do know this, that we've seen over the last 24 hours a clear acknowledgment in what Stephen Conroy said, that you can't have rollback unless you're honest enough to identify the big spending cuts, or the other tax increases. You can't have it both ways. You can't say we're going to rollback the GST and not say how you're going to do it and tonight we saw Mr Beazley offering $15 million a year out of a $30 billion GST take. Well that is an insult to the Australian public.
JOURNALIST:
With them directing money away from private schools. What do you make of that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think that's the thin end of the wedge to rollback, or pull-back funding for a whole lot of independent schools. Australian parents want choice in education and we strongly support that choice.
JOURNALIST:
What did you think of the proposal to change government advertising regulation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, all I can say is that cutting government advertising is a poor man's way of reducing expenditure. We had some one-off advertising for the introduction of the new tax system. That is not a serious attempt at expenditure cutting. Look he's trying to have it both ways. If you're serious about rollback you really do have to cut spending in a big way or increase taxes.
JOURNALIST:
So there's still not enough detail about the Opposition's rollback policy after Mr Beazley's speech tonight? He hasn't provided enough detail?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well his rollback is $15 million a year out of $30 billion. That is 75 cents a head per year. That's an insult.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the July 14th Aston by-election does that now mean no Federal election mid-year.
PRIME MINISTER:
What do you mean now mean? I've never intended one.
JOURNALIST:
Sorry. No winter poll.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there's one in Aston. On Bastille Day.
Thank you.
[Ends]