PM Transcripts

Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia

Howard, John

Period of Service: 11/03/1996 - 03/12/2007
Release Date:
07/10/2001
Release Type:
Media Release
Transcript ID:
12266
Released by:
  • Howard, John Winston
Sunday Telegraph Wrong on Rollback

Today’s edition of the Sunday Telegraph contains an incorrect quote attributed to me, stating that the government had rolled the GST back.

This quote is wrong.

A check of the tape recording of the interview conducted by the Sunday Telegraph shows that the quote should read as follows:

“Agreeing to alter the BAS is not going from one side to the other on illegal immigration, on border protection. They were described as backflips, but they were really just fine tuning. We didn’t alter the direction of the GST, we haven’t rolled the GST back, we haven’t altered its incidence, but of course we made some fine tuning.”

Rollback is the flawed policy of the Australian Labor Party, not the Government. Rollback will mean added complexity for small business and will mean income taxes must be higher than would otherwise be the case.

7 October 2001

12266