Subjects: GST; tax cuts; fair go for tax reform
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………….
JOURNALIST:
The tour Mr Howard, personally for you, I mean easy but what about tomorrow for the rest of us?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it will go much better than the doomsayers have predicted. Australians are fair, they’re intelligent. They will give this a fair go I believe because they will make their own judgement. They’ll put aside the rhetoric and the charge and counter charge of the last few weeks, the last six months and they’ll just go in there and make their own mind up. And they will find after they give it a fair trial that not everything has gone up and certainly not gone up by 10%. A lot of items will remain the same; many will go up; a lot will come down and importantly every taxpayer will have a tax cut. And if you’ve got children that will be increased by the increases in family benefits.
So overall I believe very confidently that after a while people will see this for the genuine reform for the future of Australia that the Government’s always seen it as. But it’s a big undertaking. I’ve never underestimated the risk. It’s the biggest change to our tax system in our history. It’s certainly the biggest change that I’ve ever been involved in, in twenty-six years of public life but in the end you’ve got to have a go for the sake of Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to mix it with the masses tomorrow or lay low?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I’ll be around, I certainly will be, very much so. I wouldn’t miss it for quids.
JOURNALIST:
What about the service stations? All eyes on the price at the bowser? That’s been the big worry.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, the price of petrol bounces around a lot. I heard a radio program this morning telling us that it’s $2.14 a litre in England and $1.40 in France.
JOURNALIST:
You made a promise though.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you wait and have a look at the prices.
JOURNALIST:
You’re confident they’ll be…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I am confident that when the whole of this thing has been given a chance of operating people will see it is a fair change. And Australians will always support big changes if they think they’re good for Australia and they have a fair impact on their fellow Australians. And if this thing’s given a fair go and people give it time and don’t react to the first bill and take an overall look and have a look at what’s in the pay packet.
I mean those pay packets are going to be fatter over the weeks ahead because there’s going to be less tax taken out. Now that will take a few days, perhaps a week in some cases to filter through but when it does filter through the extra bulk in the pay packet has got to be put against the extra dollars you might pay. And I think most people will be very pleasantly surprised because in the nature of things you don’t tend to take on face value assurances about tax cuts, it’s only when you’ve got them in your hand that you really believe they’ve arrived. And I understand that.
Thank you.