NEIL MITCHELL:
Good morning, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Neil, it’s good to be with you.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thanks for your time. The razor gang meets tonight. How deep will the cuts have to be in this Budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
The point that I made in my Press Club speech in January is that we did a lot of very good work last year when it comes to restoring the Budget and because we did so much heavy lifting last year, there’s a lot, lot less required this year and the pledge I gave to people at the Press Club was that we weren’t going to repair our Budget this year at the expense of your budget. So, yes, it will be prudent, it will be frugal, it will be responsible, but I think when it comes to savings, people will find it pretty dull and pretty routine.
NEIL MITCHELL:
That’s interesting. The Treasury is reported today as being concerned that tough and big decisions are needed and needed urgently on the basis that a lot of what you did last time didn’t get through the Senate.
PRIME MINISTER:
About 50 per cent did get through the Senate, including some $30 billion worth of savings over the forward estimates and some very big changes beyond the actual budgeted years. If you look at the Intergenerational Report, Neil, what it shows is that, under Labor, we were getting down to Greek levels of debt and deficit under Labor’s policies. Under the restructuring that we put forward last year, the Budget position would have been fixed for a generation and even under what this Parliament and what this Senate has so far approved, we get very close to budget balance in about five years and Labor’s debt and deficit are halved going forward.
So, the difference between the situation under Labor and the situation now: under Labor the Budget was completely out of control, under us it’s manageable. Now, there’s still more to do, but it’s a manageable situation and the pledge I made stands. Yes, we will continue to improve the budget, but we’re not going to fix our Budget at the expense of your budget.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So don’t look for a tough Budget this time?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it will be frugal, it will be prudent, it will be responsible, but it’s not going to involve anything like the kind of restructuring that we saw last year.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Could we perhaps look at spending freezes rather than spending cuts?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Neil, I’m not going to get into detailed Budget speculation. I know that’s every journalists’ favourite sport in the couple of months leading up to the Budget, but I think people will find the Budget almost dull compared to last year.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, what is the shortfall? How much in savings is stuck in the Senate? Josh Frydenberg was quoted saying $30 billion today. Is that right?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s right. Of the savings that we put forward last year, about $30 billion are still held up in the Senate, including $5 billion of savings which the Labor Party itself put forward when it was in government but now it’s opposing it in Opposition – because what you’ve got with the Labor Party, Neil, is a Party that was incompetent in government, wreckers in Opposition. They put us into this terrible position and now they’re refusing to help get us out of it.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But, Prime Minister, you’re saying there’s about $30 billion in savings through – there’s about $30 billion in savings not through – that’s half and half.
PRIME MINISTER:
And that’s right…
NEIL MITCHELL:
That’s not massively successful, is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you can take the glass half-empty approach or you can take the glass half-full approach and what I’m saying to you, Neil, is that Labor’s debt and deficit disaster has been halved as a result of the measures this Government has already been able to implement.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So you say back in surplus, or a balanced budget, within five years even without doing anything else?
PRIME MINISTER:
On the measures that have been successfully put through this Parliament, the Intergenerational Report shows that we get back to broad balance in about five years. Now, we’ve got a problem beyond that, nevertheless, Labor’s debt and deficit disaster has been roughly halved as a result of the measures that this Government has already put in place and the situation that was completely out of control under the former government is now well and truly manageable under this Government.
NEIL MITCHELL:
The university reform – the deregulation of university – will you re-present that and when?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it’s a good reform. It’s a good reform and there’s a whole host of Labor people – Peter Beattie, John Dawkins; the Nobel laureate Professor Brian Schmidt – have all lined up to say that this is a necessary and timely reform that will help make good universities even better and that’s what I want, Neil. I want our universities not just to be good, I want them to be great.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But it was blocked overnight. How do you get it through and how do you re-present it to get it through?
PRIME MINISTER:
We keep working with the Senate crossbench, maybe even the Labor Party will see sense here. Maybe even the Labor Party will suddenly work out that they’ve got to be part of the solution and not just the cause of the problem.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, will you renegotiate it or will you just resubmit it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we’ll resubmit the legislation and in the process we’ll talk again to Senators all around the Parliament and ask them what they need to pass this very important reform because surely, Neil, if there’s one institution which is capable of thinking and acting for itself, it should be a university.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, will you redraft it, will you redraw it or will it be the same put up again?
PRIME MINISTER:
We’re happy to talk to the crossbenchers and even the Labor Party about what further changes they might need. What we want to do, though, is to liberate our universities to be the very best they can be. At the moment we’ve got one university – Melbourne – which is in the top 50. Let’s try to get at least two of our Australian universities into the top 20 – that’s our goal.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Christopher Pyne says he’s the fixer. What’s he fixed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he’s already fixed a lot of things in the education area…
NEIL MITCHELL:
What about this one?
PRIME MINISTER:
…we’re moving towards a national curriculum.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, but he says he’s fixed this – he hasn’t quite, has he?
PRIME MINISTER:
He’s made extraordinary efforts to bring this about and for the first time in years, the vice-chancellors are speaking with an almost united voice on the need for an important structural reform. So, he’s been very good at mobilising support, including as I said, significant Labor people like the former education minister John Dawkins and the former Queensland premier Peter Beattie to say these are necessary and timely reforms.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, does he stay in charge of it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely – he’s doing a really, really good job.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Really?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course he is, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I’m looking at what he said. He said he was a fixer and he fixed this, but it’s not fixed. Is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
There are many other things in this area that are fixed and when you look at curriculum for instance, we’ve got a national curriculum on the way, when you look at reforms when you try to improve teacher quality, that’s on the way. So, there are a lot of very good things that this Government’s already achieved in this area.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Julie Bishop has said overnight that it will take a generation to overcome Islamic extremism. I wondered if that was a bit optimistic. What do you think?
PRIME MINISTER:
This is going to be a long hard fight – no doubt about that – and what we’ve got is this death cult in the Middle East which is basically saying to everyone, submit or die and this is an extraordinary thing. It’s a throwback to apocalyptic, medieval fundamentalism – that’s what it is and they’re utilising modern technology, including all of the communications possibilities of the internet to spread this toxic message.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, do you agree with her – a generation to overcome?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s going to be a long, hard fight – a long, hard fight – but we’re well and truly up for it. It’s a fight we need to have.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Daniel Andrews said you wouldn’t meet him face-to-face over the East West Link and the money. Will you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course. And, if I may say so, I was rather verballed by the Premier there. We had a conversation a couple of weeks back on another subject, on the subject of medicinal marijuana – and he and I are rather like-minded on this issue – and at the end of that conversation he said happy to catch up next time you’re in Melbourne and I said, yep, let’s do it. So, I don’t know why I was accused of not wanting to meet because I’m happy to meet. But most of all, Neil, I just want to see the East West Link built. I absolutely want to see the East West Link built. This is a really important project and the craziness about the current Victorian Government is that they’re going to spend up to a billion dollars not to build a road, or even worse, tear up the contract through an act of parliament and put Victoria’s international reputation at risk.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I know the state government’s a bit concerned they could lose the $1.5 billion on the eve of their budget. Is that possible?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we’ve put $1.5 billion forward for stage one of the East West Link and we’ve put another $1.5 billion forward for stage two of East West Link. So, we’re absolutely committed to doing the right thing by the people of Victoria and by refusing to go ahead with East West Link, basically the Premier has said there’ll be no major construction projects of this type for a couple of years because that was the one that was absolutely shovel-ready and construction had already started.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, could they lose the money on the eve of the budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we’re happy to fund big economically significant road projects in Victoria, but this was the only one that was ready to go – that’s the problem.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But we’re not actually answering that. Could they lose it on the eve of the budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
We’re not going to rip off Victoria, Neil. We are absolutely not going to rip off Victoria. Unfortunately, the Victorian Government has cancelled the one really, really major road project that was shovel-ready. Now, we are there with our money, ready to support this.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But is that money at risk, Prime Minister, if they don’t build it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we want to spend the money. We absolutely want to spend the money and we are never going to rip off Victoria but there is nothing else to spend it on. That is the problem.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Some of the, I guess I would say better news today is unclaimed monies. What is your announcement on unclaimed monies which have been seized by government legislation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Neil, it’s terrific that we finally got to this subject because thanks to Bill Shorten who mounted a cash grab on peoples’ savings about a half a billion a year were being confiscated. This was money that we the people owned, the Government grabbed it, and we then had to go through a long and bureaucratic process to get it back. That has been ended – we are going to end that. We are going to go back to the situation that applied under the Howard Government and what this means is that Labor’s cash grab is gone and as I said it is so typical of the Labor Party: it sees a bank account that hasn’t been used for three years, it takes your money and then it makes you go through this bureaucratic process for six months to get it back. It is just a crazy system and it is going under this Government.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So, you will be going back to the seven year inactive period and then we go through the same hoops to get it back after seven years?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, in the old days about $70 million was transferred to ASIC. Under Labor’s system, more than half a billion was transferred to ASIC and that is 156,000 accounts.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Prime Minister, just wrapping up and this is probably my error but I had forgotten until today that we have in fact the Welcome Home Parade and Thank You Parade for Australian servicemen and others who have served in Afghanistan in Operation Slipper. That’s 34,000 people. It’s extraordinary.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that’s right, Neil. Australia had a very long and important commitment to Afghanistan. For the best part of a decade, we had about 1500 military personnel mostly in Tarin Kowt in Urozgan Province and when you think that they were rotated through mostly every six months it is not surprising that almost 30,000 Australians soldiers should have served in Afghanistan over that decade-long conflict and it is important that we acknowledge their efforts, we salute their service, we honour their sacrifice. Certainly, I will be at the Canberra Parade on Saturday and there will be parades in all of the capitals and I hope as many Australians as possible can be there.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I agree; 41 dead, 256 wounded – it’s awful. Look, before you go, your wife, in an interview today has suggested that she wouldn’t actually be heartbroken if you lost the Prime Ministership. Would you be?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Margie is not the politician, I am. I have a job to do and I was elected by the Party Room and then by the people to do it and I am determined to keep on doing it.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But, as she said, you could get back on the fire truck, you could be out there surf lifesaving again. There is life after Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, there is even life after being Melbourne’s most famous radio personality! I mean, there is life after all these things, Neil, but I am very honoured and exhilarated to have the life I do and I want to keep living it.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, I did say to you last time I interviewed you, you were in some strife. Do you think you have come out of that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah I think so, I think so. I think things have settled down and what you have noticed Neil is that just about every day since then we have had significant initiatives for the benefit of the Australian public – whether it be cracking down on illegal foreign purchases of residential land, trying to ensure that the public know what they are buying from the stores of their supermarkets through better labelling, whether it be ending Bill Shorten’s cash grab. I mean every day we are doing something for the Australian people.
NEIL MITCHELL:
And your wife did share with the world the fact that you like the spa with hot rocks. Is that right? Is that correct? A bit of masochist in there, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, all these family secrets – best left unsaid!
NEIL MITCHELL:
I think you better tell her that! Thank you so much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you, Neil.
[ends]