Small and medium sized business tax cuts; Ruddock Review; Population and infrastructure
Prime Minister
KARL STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Karl, how you, mate?
STEFANOVIC: Boy oh boy, the Budget must be in very good shape, you are dropping it like it is hot.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what you know is that we weren't able to go ahead with the broader Enterprise Tax Plan and what we are doing is we’re taking the savings from that and we're pooling all of that into supporting small and medium sized businesses. So half of Australians, more than half of Australians that work every day, that work for businesses of less than $50 million in turnover and their taxes are coming to 25 per cent during the next parliamentary term. Labor will have them at 27.5 per cent. We will have them at 25. If you want lower taxes for small and medium-sized businesses, then our Government is the government that will deliver that and we will be looking to legislate it next week.
STEFANOVIC: It just seems like at the moment you have this really, really big lolly bag and you are trick or treating your way past Halloween to the next election.
PRIME MINISTER: No, we've been working on this for months. We had the previous Enterprise Tax Plan as you know. That was rejected by the Senate. We said at the time that we would be coming back with another plan. That is what I am doing now. That plan sees small and medium-sized businesses paying less tax sooner, bringing that forward by five years. Labor already said that they were going to reverse the tax cuts for small business to 25 per cent. That means small businesses from the smallest hairdresser up to mining-based businesses, servicing mining areas, they will all pay higher taxes under Labor. They will all pay lower taxes under our Government.
STEFANOVIC: This wasn't Malcolm's plan was it, before you unceremoniously executed him?
PRIME MINISTER: We'd been working on it. I was the Treasurer, as you will recall, and we’ve been working on this together for some period of time. It was always our plan in the event that the other tax cuts didn't pass the Parliament that we would come back with a new plan that was going to drive jobs, drive investment, support better wages for people working in these businesses because if you are paying less money to the government in tax, you are more able to support more of your own business, invest in your business, invest more in the training of your own staff, new markets. That is how small businesses and medium-sized businesses grow.
STEFANOVIC: He had some good ideas, Malcolm.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we worked together, Karl. We worked together. I was the Treasurer for three years. Our economic policies were policies we worked closely together on. I've been part of our Government for five years. I stopped the boats with Tony Abbott too. So these are all great achievements.
STEFANOVIC: They're all your ideas. You have done it all, PM.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: I've been part of the government for five years, Karl. I think people know that. It is no great secret.
STEFANOVIC: Ok.
PRIME MINISTER: We have been in office since 2013 and created more than a million jobs. Isn't that great news?
STEFANOVIC: So will you get these changes through or not?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe so. I mean, why would the Senate want to stand in the way of tax cuts for small and medium-sized businesses? They voted for them before and they voted for them for the right reasons. The only people standing in the way of lower taxes for small and medium-sized businesses is Bill Shorten. Bill Shorten's small business policy is about making larger businesses smaller by making them all pay higher taxes.
STEFANOVIC: Does it feel good to jam him?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it feels good to support small and medium-sized businesses and family businesses. I was on the Central Coast yesterday with family small businesses, people had left their jobs in Sydney and gone and created businesses up on the Central Coast. They've done that creating a lifestyle, they were employing people and that's what grows our economy. If you don't grow the economy, you don't have a strong Budget. You can't make promises about education and health like Bill Shorten is doing if you can't run a strong economy. When he says that, he just jacks your taxes up.
STEFANOVIC: Ok let's move on.
PRIME MINISTER: Tax, tax and tax.
STEFANOVIC: Let's move through. Are you going to protect the faithful by drafting laws to protect religious belief and activity? Do you believe in a school's rights to turn away gay students and teachers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well on the second point, that is the current law that was introduced by the Labor Party. Tanya Plibersek and Bill Shorten sat around the table that introduced the laws that currently provide that exact protection for religious schools. Now, what the report that has come to us has said is that needs to be tightened and there needs to be specific protections for children in those cases. That seems to me to be a pretty sensible suggestion. So we will be making that law more effective if we choose to go with that proposal. But we are going through that process, Karl. That hasn't come fully through Cabinet yet. We will consider those things carefully and respectfully.
STEFANOVIC: Ok, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants to halve migration numbers, so does the Opposition Leader Luke Foley in New South Wales. Whether you like it or not, there is an appetite for this is in the electorate, especially in Sydney. Are all those people wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: No I'm not saying they are. What I am simply saying is that in states like Western Australia, Tasmania, up in the Northern Territory and South Australia, they want more people. In states I agree, like NSW and Victoria, where you have had much stronger population growth, you have got to get the spread of that population growth much more effective. That is what our policies...
STEFANOVIC: So you're open to it?
PRIME MINISTER: What we are open to ensuring we back in the population plans that states want to pursue. So in Tasmania, they want more and we want to help them do that. In NSW, I think we have got to work with them to manage that more effectively. But you know, there are parts of NSW that are looking for more population, but in suburbs of Sydney and on the Central Coast, they are under a lot of pressure. We have to help manage that, I do agree with that. We have got to work together on how best we achieve it without tanking the economy.
STEFANOVIC: Ok the door is open. Finally, the Melbourne Cup Racing Committee will approach you today and want to broadcast the barrier draw on Parliament House in a couple of weeks. You open to that idea?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, last time I looked, the Melbourne Cup was run in Melbourne, not Canberra. I think the whole point about what was happening in Sydney…
STEFANOVIC: Is that a yes or no?
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if they want to run the Melbourne Cup in Canberra, you know, maybe we can think about it. But I don't think they want to do that down here. They're gearing up for what will be a tremendous event once again. I mean, these events, whether it is the Melbourne Cup, whether it is The Everest, whether it’s the big rugby and rugby league games, the AFL grand finals, these bring massive investments into our cities. They create thousands of jobs. I'm all for creating jobs, Karl.
STEFANOVIC: On big billboards.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m also supporting businesses that want to create jobs, you know.
STEFANOVIC: Alright PM, thanks for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: You always know what I think Karl, just like you mate. You will always know what we think.
STEFANOVIC: Rightly or wrongly. Thanks PM, good to talk to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you mate.