Subjects: Federal Budget 2002
E&OE...........
REASON:
Mr Howard, good morning to you, thanks for joining us on Sunrise.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
REASON:
You promised further surpluses last year and you've often criticised the Labor Party for their budget deficits, do you regret those comments?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, because that was the advice we had. We went to the election with an independently compiled estimate of a small surplus for this financial year. As the numbers have come in, we're now told by the same agencies that there could be a small deficit but we're budgeting for a surplus of $2.1 billion for the financial year starting on the 1st of July. And I just remind you that in the time that we have been in Government we have repaid about $61 billion of the debt that we inherited from the former Labor government and we've repaid that because we have run some very large surpluses. So you have to see that figure for the current financial year in that context.
DOYLE:
Well, many of the papers today are saying that this budget is about making Australia a fortress. Is the threat that significant that this is how we have to go? I mean, there's no claim of over-reaction here?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, it's not an over-reaction, it's proper caution. This budget is really about the three S's. It's about our security, it's about our safety and it's about our future economic strength. And we do have to put more money into defence. I said that at the Liberal Party Federal Council meeting only a few weeks ago. We had a defence White Paper, we have 1200 defence personnel overseas, they've got to be properly supported. They've got to be provided with the materials they need. We need more domestic security. We need to make absolutely certain that the measures we have taken over the last year or two to protect our borders are not only reinforced but continue to be successful and they are top priority for this Government and we make no apology for the fact that we have to put more resources into it, and those things have taken pride of place. We've also implemented our election commitments in full, on time and on budget. You search back through the election, the baby bonus, superannuation breaks for children and for families generally, all of those things have been implemented by this budget.
REASON:
Mr Howard, if it is deemed necessary then to create 'fortress Australia', as some are calling it this morning, then why is it the underprivileged have to pay for it, why do we slug them in this budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it's not correct to say that they're paying for it. Everybody pays for defence expenditure. They pay for it through the taxes that the Government collects and we're all part of that process.
REASON:
But the two groups do receive a lot of the hit, if you like, in this budget are the ones that have been…well, I've just explained there, the patients, the people who need the PBS and the underprivileged on the disability pensions.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, at various stages all of us, you and myself included, have to fill a prescription at a pharmacy. I mean, the idea that there's just a small, very vulnerable section over there that don't make any contribution to this…and the people who use medicines a lot we have a safety net arrangement so that once you've gone beyond a certain number of prescriptions a year, in the case of people who have the concession - and that's the senior cardholders and the pensioners - it's 52 scripts a year and once you go beyond that there is no additional cost. So you've also got to bear in mind that the cost of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is rising steeply every year and unless we build in some kind of break, some kind of price signal, some kind of incentive for some lifestyle changes by people rather than an automatic resort to drugs, to pharmaceutical prescriptions, then we are going to continue as a nation to find it increasingly difficult to fund. And the intergenerational report the Treasurer put down last night said that without some remedial measure the fastest growing component of the health budget in the years ahead was the PBS scheme.
DOYLE:
Prime Minister, if I can ask you just while you do touch on that intergenerational report that was put down, what do you want to happen with that? Do people now walk away and talk about it and think about it for the next few years, where do you want to go with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I want it to be part of a big debate in the community about longer term things we need to do as we adjust to a society that is growing older. The good news is that we are more fortunate than most other countries because we have very low debt. The ageing process is not as great. We already have within our social welfare system a check and a balance in that people don't automatically get the pension, they only get it if they are qualified under a means test and an income test. And on top of that we have growing superannuation which provides people with their own retirement nest egg. It still has a way to go but that is a preferable alternative to just relying entirely on a pension. So we are better suited but like every western society we're ageing, we have a falling fertility rate and we need to have a debate in this community about different ways of tackling the fertility rate. There's no easy solution to that. It's been falling now for a long time and there's no one simple answer but we do need to have a debate about these issues and that's the reason why the report's been tabled and I hope it does initiate a vigorous debate over the years ahead about the sort of things we need as a society to do over the medium to long-term to address these challenges.
REASON:
Prime Minister, we're seeing a lot of money spent on new counter-terrorist squads on the East Coast. We're spending $11 million on a vaccine stockpile, $17 million training in bio-terrorism. It sounds as though our intelligence community has pinpointed a threat which hasn't been made public yet. I mean, I'm just raising the possibility here. What can you tell us?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I can tell you that in the changed circumstances after the 11th of September last year these things are possibilities.
REASON:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, no, I'm not suggesting something is going to happen tomorrow and I'm not holding anything back on that but equally what I'm saying to you is it might. And as a government we have a responsibility to prepare and if we didn't stockpile vaccines, for example, we'd be rightly criticised if something occurred. It is a foolish assumption to believe that there can't be a terror attack in Australia. It is a foolish assumption to believe that and I have been saying that repeatedly since September of last year. I hope it doesn't happen. The risk is less here than, for example, in the United States but it is still a risk and it's my responsibility and that of the Treasurer to take the steps necessary to reasonably guard and protect this country against that possibility and that is really what is at the heart of this budget and that's our first responsibility. If we don't do that we're not worthy to occupy the jobs we have.
DOYLE:
Mr Howard, just briefly, there's an interesting editorial in The Australian newspaper this morning. It says that this budget could have stamped Peter Costello as a forward-looking go-getter to replace you but he failed on that count. Do you have a view on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I can say this, I think Peter Costello's been an outstanding Treasurer and any suggestion by The Australian or, indeed, any other editorial writer that this budget represents anything negative about Peter I reject totally. I think he's done an outstanding job in a difficult situation. So of course I dismiss that editorial as I do many editorials I read.
REASON:
Now, Mr Howard, we couldn't possibly let you go without getting your response to the news you may have heard before you came into do the cross.
PRIME MINISTER:
I have.
REASON:
The Australian Cricket Team have done it again for us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think it's fantastic news and congratulations to all the boys. They're a great combination, they really are. And to beat all that competition, the French Davis Cup and all the other teams, it is a great, great feather in their cap. I mean, bear in mind you're up against soccer, basketball, tennis, the whole shooting match, so I couldn't be prouder as Prime Minister of this country and as a bit of a fanatic about cricket, as you all know, say congratulations. It's a great world accolade to a group of great competitors who represented this country magnificently.
REASON:
Mr Howard, thank you so much for your time this morning, good to have you back on Sunrise.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]