Prime Minister
Michael Rowland: PM, Good morning to you.
Prime Minister: Good morning, Michael. Those scenes in Lismore are very distressing. And once again, we've got over 3,200 defence forces are up there, obviously in place from the previous floods. But both the trauma of these events, just must be unbearable for people up there in and around Lismore today. And we'll be there with them, as we have been, and will continue to be.
Rowland: It certainly does put everything else into perspective, just several weeks after the last big flood there, you've talked about people on the ground there already. It is going to be potentially very serious. What more can the Federal Government do today to help the people of Lismore?
Prime Minister: Well having the defence forces in place, as I said 3,200 of our defence forces up there in Northern New South Wales, and they'll be working together with the State Emergency Services and providing what support they can. We've got the helicopters in place if there are rescues that are required, they'll be assisting in that respect, and the SES will be doing their job on that as well. But Australians will help each other again in Lismore, just like they did several weeks ago. We can't lose sight of the fact that in these circumstances, it's always, in addition to the support that is provided by state and federal governments and local governments, it is Australians helping each other, which is the great character. But already there has been hundreds of millions of dollars of support already delivered for the immediate assistance in cash support, but also the recovery assistance, which is run by the state government and run and funded 50:50 by us and them together. The rebuilding work will be important. But I'd also say, Michael, that the mental health support is going to be even more needed now, I think, because of the trauma of these events. And that is certainly already funded now and if that needs to be increased, then it certainly will be
Rowland: The trauma is just unimaginable. Hey, I want to get to the Budget in just a moment, but I want to, I really need to start with this extraordinary spray in the Senate last night by your outgoing Liberal colleague, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Here's a bit of what she had to say about you.
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Rowland: Well, here's your right of reply, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Oh well, look, I understand that Connie is disappointed that as 500 members of the Liberal Party came to select our candidates for the Senate at the next election that she was unsuccessful. They chose Senator Payne and Senator Molan, also great choices. And, you know, I congratulate them on their success at that selection. There are disappointments in politics. My predecessors, both of them, in fact, have also earned similar accusations. Maybe not exactly put like that, but you know, people get disappointed. But if there are serious issues that Connie would like to raise about these things, then we have processes in our party. We put them in place. Those lessons have been learned over a long time now, and they're there, and I would strongly encourage her to take any matters up with the party organisation. That's the right thing to do.
Rowland: But it's not just her, of course. You've got lots of fire from inside your own team over the years. Gladys Berejiklian, in those texts, described you as a horrible and untrustworthy person. A senior minister has described you as a fraud and a complete psycho. The Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, has called you a hypocrite and a liar. What should voters make of all of this?
Prime Minister: Oh, look, as Prime Minister, you make decisions that people don't always agree with you on. And particularly, I mean, Premier Berejiklian at the time and since has never confirmed any of those things. And so scuttlebutt goes around. But it is true that I will make decisions that not everyone will agree with. And when they don't, they'll be disappointed. But that goes with being Prime Minister. If you just want everybody to like you all the time, they won't be a good Prime Minister because you won't make the decisions that are necessary. And I've always prepared to do that. You know, I've earned similar replies when I decided that it wasn't the right decision to spend $90 billion of Australia's taxpayers’ money on building French submarines and that we needed to build nuclear powered submarines. I stood up for Australia then. If I believe what I'm doing is right, which is always, then I will stand up for that and occasionally people will be disappointed. And when they're disappointed, well, they'll make remarks like you've seen.
Rowland: OK, I want to look at the Budget and the fuel excise cut in particular. Just a month or so ago, you were pretty sceptical about a temporary cut in the fuel excise, saying, in your view, at that time, any cut would be overwhelmed by movements in the oil price. Prime Minister, what's changed?
Prime Minister: Well, we were talking then about very small changes to the excise. I mean, some were just talking about changing the indexation on fuel excise. That's not what we did last night. We halved it and we did it for six months and we carefully considered our response. And what we did as we prepared the Budget is we looked at the very real cost of living pressures that are emerging, the fuel price issue had become worse. And as you know, when fuel prices go up, it just doesn't affect the price of fuel at the bowser. It affects the cost of everything else, of food and groceries. And as that problem worsened, we noted we needed to have a more comprehensive package. Just tinkering with the fuel excise, that wasn't going to deal with the problem, that's what I was saying. That's why we took a more bold measure. But it's temporary and it's targeted and it's responsible. Just like when we did JobKeeper, it was needed, we did it, we knew when to start and we knew when to stop. And that's what limits the impact more broadly on the Budget. The Budget has turned around by some $100 billion, and that's by getting people off welfare and into work. The Budget has strengthened, the economy has strengthened. So last night we could give Australians a shield, whether they be pensioners or hard working families, those who are paying for prescription medicines, those filling up the car at the bowser. We gave them a shield against those cost of living increases that has been caused by what's occurring in Ukraine we all understand that, it makes it real and the package of support is real and it's needed now and it's responsible and it's targeted.
Rowland: It is real, but it is temporary, as you say. What won't be temporary are these cost of living pressures, which will increase in May, in June, in July. Why should not voters see this close to $9 billion in temporary one-off payments, one-off excise cuts, as nothing short of one big, massive pre-election bribe?
Prime Minister: Well, I've heard those critics and you've made those claims now, and the Labor Party have made those claims, and what, you don't think these cost of living pressures are real? I know they're real. And I know that the oil price is going to come down, and that's what the forecast is.
Rowland: I know they're real, but if the government is serious [inaudible], excuse the interruption, extend the cost of living measures beyond May, June and July.
Prime Minister: Well they do. The excise cut goes for six months. In New Zealand they did it for three months. We've done it for six months, at which time the forecasts that have been done by Treasury show oil prices returning to more normal levels. And so there is a problem we have to deal with right now. You have to deal with it now. So it begins with a fuel excise cut, so that's just basically a tax cut so people can keep more of their own money. And that's important. They need their own money and they need to be able to keep it through lower taxes on fuel. Pensioners and others who depend on those payments get the $250 in the next couple of weeks. But the fuel excise cut goes for six months. The tax relief is ongoing in, particularly we've got the one off support that happens in July, when people can receive those rebates on their tax. So that's them keeping more of what they earn. We're not making a payment to them. We're saying you should keep more of what you earn to deal with these cost of living pressures. But then our ongoing tax cuts, I mean, the tax cuts we've put in place as a government, if you're earning $90,000 right now, if we kept Labor's old taxes, you'd be paying $50 a week and more extra every week on tax. Now they are tax cuts that will deliver into the future. And in the next term we've already legislated to ensure that if you're earning between $45,000 all the way up to $200,000, you will pay no more than a marginal rate of 30 cents in the dollar. And now that's transformational. I said I wanted Australians to keep more of what they earn. I delivered on that promise.
I also delivered on ensuring we get more Australians into housing, in owning their own homes. 300,000 Australians, including single mums who've never been able to even dream about having their own home, have now bought their own home directly as a result of the Home Guarantee Scheme that we put in place, HomeBuilder, all of these. Labor opposed us on HomeBuilder. They said it was wrong. Well, they were wrong. They said we were wrong to stop JobKeeper when we did. Well, I'm glad we did. It was the right decision because if we'd spent the extra $81 billion on all the things they said we had to keep spending it on, we wouldn't have been able to deliver the cost of living relief that we did last night. We know when to start. We know when to stop. That's what responsible, targeted budgeting is all about.
Rowland: When does the election campaign start?
Prime Minister: Well, the election will be held in the middle of May which is when it's due. I don't play games with these things. I've been very upfront about that. I've always said we've had a term to do. We were elected to do that work in that term and we've been delivering on that.
Unemployment is down to four per cent. I mean, the Labor Party themselves said that the key test of the Budget is what happens with jobs. And for once I agree with them. And the proof is in the jobless rate now going down to four per cent. Youth unemployment is a single digit unemployment rate now. Women's unemployment rate is down to the lowest level since 1974. We're getting Australians into jobs, and in this Budget we're investing in their skills for the future. 120 per cent tax deduction for businesses that invest more in the training and skills of their employees. $5,000 for apprentices to go and be apprentices. $15,000 to the employers to help with their wages to help them stay in trades. We've got 220,000 Australians in trade training right now. That is a record. It's the highest level since records were kept in 1963. So getting Australians in training, getting them into work and investing in the infrastructure, the dams in particular, but also the ports and the regions and unlocking their wealth. That's the long term plan for driving Australia's wealth.
Rowland: Prime Minister, have to leave it there, I know you've got other engagements. We hope to see you back on the show during the election campaign, whenever it is.
Prime Minister: Thanks a lot, Michael. Good to be with you.