PM Transcripts

Subjects: campaign launch; economy; taxation; Telstra; older Australians; first home owners grant.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well welcome again to Eastwood. Ladies and gentlemen, I';ll be launching in a formal sense the Coalition';s campaign tomorrow in Sydney. I';ll be talking about the opening of doors of opportunity in the future for Australians across a wide range of their lives. I';ll be directing my remarks very much towards the plans we have to provide for the opening of more doors of opportunity in different aspects of Australian life.
This campaign is about many things, it';s about national security, it';s about economic capacity and they are the underpinning of everything we might hope to do in the future. And tomorrow amongst other things I will be talking about the future, about the plans we have to provide opportunity, to open doors for Australians as they go about their daily lives, as they seek to balance the many responsibilities they have in family life between work and family and many of the other challenges of which I';ve spoken over the past few years.
Just before I take your questions can I again remind you that the Labor Party has still not explained how it is that they don';t have a black hole, a big budget hole of $577 million. It';s not enough for Mr Beazley and Mr Richardson from ACCESS economics to say that the figures add up. We want to know how they add up, we want to know the assumptions on which the calculations made by ACCESS economics, what those assumptions are because it is very clear to us that the assumption on which it appears to have been made is at odds with the material contained in the budget papers.
The reality is that whether or not Telstra is sold in a particular time matters not because the budget costing difference doesn';t alter it, it';s about $11 million, the important thing is that Labor has made certain assumptions and they';ve got a hole, a mistake of $577 million and that strikes directly at the heart of Mr Beazley';s economic credibility.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister do families deserve tax cuts?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will be having something to say about taxation tomorrow. You all know that in the time that I've been Prime Minister I have introduced a number of reforms in the taxation area which have been of enormous benefit to Australian families. The NATSEM research that was covered extensively in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age recently demonstrates just how much we have already helped low and middle income Australian families and they';ve always been a section of the Australian community that I believe should be assisted. They are greatly assisted by low interest rates and those low interest rates will be under threat if Mr Beazley becomes the prime minister because he will once again take the budget into deficit, despite what he now says. Don';t listen to what he says about deficits, remember what he did when he was last in government with the deficit, he took it many billions of dollars into the red and he will do the same again and the principal victims of that will be Australian families because they will pay much higher interest rates.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister there';s speculation this morning that the tax relief may come via increased family payments, is that fair and accurate speculation?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';m not going to respond to speculation, I';m certainly not.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard your Treasurer';s laid out a timetable for the sale of the rest of Telstra, will that privatisation proceed regardless of service levels to the bush?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, our position in relation to further sales of Telstra is that we are not going to make further sales unless and until we';re satisfied that things in the bush are better, much better, and that';s our position and it really doesn';t alter the fiscal arguments because as Chris Murphy, that';s right they';re both Chris, pointed out the difference between a sale or not a sale over the period is only about $11 million.
JOURNALIST:
But has the Government built in that $12 billion…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the budget paper papers cover that issue but they don';t in any way contradict our policy. And our policy is that unless and until we are satisfied, after proper consultation that the Besley recommendations have been implemented then we don';t proceed further with sale.
JOURNALIST:
Is it damaging though at this stage of the campaign for the Nationals, for this issue to arise…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think the damaging part of this issue, I think the damaging part of this issue is for Labor because what we are now talking about is a $577 million hole in their budget figuring and they';ve now had 48 hours to explain it. And with great respect to ACCESS economics it';s not enough for them to stand and get up and say well we stand by our figures. Let us know the basis on which those figures are being calculated, let';s have the assumptions. Let';s find out how they';ve arrived at that assertion. I mean we have to do that, why shouldn';t they?
JOURNALIST:
.. based on your Telstra figure they';ll actually save about $100 million…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they';re wrong because they have admitted they calculated that on the basis of an instalment approach, and that is wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Ansett may have to repay its loan which potentially could ground it again in days, have you heard anything of this this morning?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I haven';t.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard have you been briefed on an illegal vessel heading for Australia with the crew thrown overboard, that the Indonesian Navy';s trying to track down?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';ve not been briefed on that no.
JOURNALIST:
What are the budget papers indicating .. Telstra shares … $5.49 each … well under $5.00?
PRIME MINISTER:
But the point you seem to be missing is that everybody agrees that irrespective of the timing of any hypothetical sale the impact over the forward estimates is I think about $11 million.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, how big a focus will elderly Australians be in tomorrow';s package?
PRIME MINISTER:
They will receive a significant focus. They already have and we do have some more things to say in that area. I don';t want at this stage to go into any detail, more detail, but we have put a lot of extra resources into helping older Australians stay at home longer, which is their overwhelming desire. We have a much greater emphasis than Labor on that issue and there will be a number of further things that I will be saying about that section of the population tomorrow.
JOURNALIST:
Is this a turning point for the campaign - are domestic issues going to take number one priority rather than say terrorism, defence and national security?
PRIME MINISTER:
What';s going to happen is that we will continue to talk about the issues that are important to Australia';s future. They are a mixture of domestic issues, national security issues, and international issues. You have to talk about them all. We have a capacity to balance those things. They are all important. I';m not going to stop talking about national security issues, but I';m also going to at the same time talk extensively about our plans for the future, about, as I said in my introductory remarks, opening up new doors of opportunity for Australians in their daily lives and the various challenges that different generations of Australians have. But there seems to be, if I may say so, a curious belief on the part of some commentators that it is impossible to talk about domestic issues and national security issues at the same time. That somehow or other you';ve got to renounce discussion of one subject before you are able to start talking about the other. Now that is ridiculous. I';ve been talking about both and can I repeat what I said then to those who were with me in Perth when I addressed that business luncheon, I made the point and I repeat it again this morning, that in the end the two issues that dominate this election campaign are the twin issues of national security and economic management. You cannot achieve additional spending in health and education, you cannot expand the opportunities for older people unless you have a strong growing economy and everything of course is put at peril if you don';t have a strong network underpinning your national security. So, in the end, those two things overlay everything. But it is possible you know to talk in the campaign about our domestic future as well as our national security position.
JOURNALIST:
Victorian Treasurer John Brumby has accused you of mishandling the second half of the $7000 first home buyers'; grant saying that Victoria hasn';t received $9 million for the 3000….
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that just sounds like the normal bleating of a State Labor Treasurer in the middle of a federal election campaign.
JOURNALIST:
Do Australian families need or deserve more childcare relief and might they get it tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I';m not going to speculate about what they may or may not get tomorrow. I would remind you that we have already delivered a fantastic childcare deal for Australian families. We';ve not only massively increased the number of places but the cost of childcare in Australia has fallen by almost 9% - it';s fallen by almost 9% since the introduction of the GST.
JOURNALIST:
From tomorrow, can families expect to be better off under a Howard government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Families will always be better off under a Howard government. They';ve been better off under a Howard government since March of 1996 and they will continue to be better off if there is a Howard government.
I mean, I said earlier that we will be saying something about taxation. Everybody is aware that because of slowing world growth and changed economic conditions in prospect due overwhelming to international factors, the projected budget surpluses are going to be smaller. And that constrains us just as much as it should constrain the opposition, although the way they have been spending money and already driving their putative budgets into deficit, it is hard to see them having reacted to that reality. But as far as we are concerned, what we are able to say tomorrow, and what we are able to say in the rest of the campaign, is going to be governed by the budget situas going to be governed by the budget situation. Clearly there is no room for any kind of taxation relief in the current financial year, and obviously the prospective sizes of the surplus are going to have an impact on what can be said in that and other areas for the future. We have no intention of putting up a raft of promises that will put the budget surplus at risk and you won';t be finding any $577 million holes, mistakes, blunders, in our budget costings.
Thank you.
[ends]