MOTTRAM: Thank you for coming in. Now the mining tax to start with; big headlines, no tax take yet again. Can you confirm that that is in fact the case?
WONG: Well what I can say is that the mining tax was always designed to be a profit-based tax and so when profits are high, when commodities prices are very high, it obviously provides returns to government or returns to the taxpayer. But if commodity prices are down and profits are down and we are seeing company profitability being hit for a range of reasons then obviously it returns much less or no revenue.
In terms of the tax take, I release monthly financial statements. They do include a resources rent tax line item and we release them every month. We are constrained in terms of what we can provide on the MRRT by what the privacy provisions within the Tax Act say and what the ATO says in terms of preserving the confidentiality of taxpayers, but as I said I do release these monthly financial statements.
MOTTRAM: Because there are calls from the Greens, your coalition partners of course, the Opposition and Rob Oakeshott today saying voters have a right to expect transparency on this. Is there not more you can give people?
WONG: We are not going to be doing anything which breaches the confidentiality provisions of the Tax Act. What we can do is what we are doing, which is the monthly statements that I release.
MOTTRAM: Commodity prices are rising; do you expect mining companies will be paying the mining tax in the coming quarter?
WONG: I often get questions about commodity prices and they move, well they move all the time
MOTTRAM: They are volatile.
WONG: They are volatile, and we have seen a period of pretty significant volatility. There was a big drop in the September quarter last year and they have come back but I dont try to look at our Budget from the day-to-day movement of the iron ore price. You have to take a longer term perspective than that.
MOTTRAM: Still, you do need the revenue and as you say its been down across the board. You have got some very big promises to deliver on, multi-billion dollar promises particularly the NDIS, education reform. How are you going to find the money?
WONG: Its going to mean some hard decisions as the Prime Minister said. Ultimately you have to decide what are the best investments for the future of the country. We have a lot of opportunities as a nation with the growth in Asia, but to grasp those we have to make some decisions about where we think the best investments are.
I think it is the right thing for example to invest in our education system across the country. But that is going to require some of the sorts of decisions we have already seen the Government take. We have for example our Private Health Insurance changes. They were controversial but they have yielded savings to the budget. We have made other changes in terms of different tax breaks and they are the sorts of things you will see us continue to the sort of approach youll see us continue to take.
MOTTRAM: But to deliver multi-billion dollar projects you need big savings, not just a little bit of salami here and a little bit of salami there, dont you?
WONG: I am not sure that I would call them a bit of salami. I mean, absent our changes on private health that would have consumed about three-quarters of the Medical Benefits budget by mid-century, that was actually a pretty big saving long-term. We have to think long-term on all of these policies, and as the PM said, you will see more detail about how we will resource these policies in the Budget and certainly prior to the election.
MOTTRAM: There is pressure on for a rise in Newstart, do you agree that its too low?
WONG: I have no doubt its a very tough payment to live on. I think the question is: what is the best way to assist people looking for work? Newstart is designed as a payment for the short-term while people are looking for work, and we have certainly made pretty big investments as a Government on getting more people into work and there has been over 800,000 jobs created since we came to Government.
MOTTRAM: OK, but, still, people having to live on Newstart and even businesses are saying it is too low, it needs to go up. Will you do that?
WONG: There are always legitimate demands of Government for expenditure.
MOTTRAM: Is this one of them?
WONG: Of course there are legitimate demands and this is one of them. The question is how you prioritise those demands and there are legitimate demands for spending on education, there are legitimate demands for a National Disability Insurance Scheme. I dont think anybody who either is an Australian with a disability or is a friend of or family member of someone with a disability would argue against anything other than a pretty substantial investment into a disability scheme.
MOTTRAM: There was a letter from the Treasurer to ministers to find more cuts late last year. Just back on that question of how you fund things what sort of cuts are you looking for? Whats the size?
WONG: Well I know its never popular to be the Treasurer or the Finance Minister because you are the people that have to say, we have to find the space for this. But the reason we have to find the space for these sorts of programs is because you have to put the economy and jobs first and finding space for them and making sure you have a fiscally responsible that is you actually can fund these policies an economically and fiscally responsible approach is key to securing the future of the country.
So I know that savings measures are never popular and Im sure after the Budget you and I can have a chat, or prior to that, about some of the decisions weve made. I mean, Private Health Insurance was pretty bitterly opposed by the Opposition, but these are the sorts of decisions you have to make to fund your priorities.
MOTTRAM: Penny Wong, the Federal Finance Minister, is with us this morning. Its coming up to 8:45am on 702 ABC Sydney Mornings. In an election year a lot of the detail is going to be demanded, around the Budget in particular, Penny Wong of course in the firing line for all of that.
Youve written an op ed piece this week. You say that basically the commentary around federal politics is out of line with the facts. But both sides of politics are at fault here, arent they? Havent both sides really ratcheted up rhetoric over the kind of policy detail that people want to know?
WONG: Im not sure I agree with that. Im sure you can be critical of me or of other Labor people at times but I think we have sought to focus on the policies for the future. I mean you said in your intro it was a pretty bruising year last year. Ive been in politics for ten years. I thought it was the most bruising year Id seen and been part of. Certainly it was the most aggressive and most negative debate Id seen. I think the distance between what was the subject of debate in the Parliament and what people want us talking about was greater than Id ever seen.
So when I talk to people in the community, theyre over it. What they want us to talk about is things like what Im trying to talk to you about today. Things like the Disability Scheme and our plans for that, things like education and our plans for that. And how do you secure prosperity in a century where we see economic power shift from West to East, and the rise of Asia and what that means for Australia these are the things people want to talk about.
Now Im happy for you to look through my transcripts, Im sure there are times Ive been critical of the Opposition and I wont step back from it because I think they dont have plans for the future. But I think it would be good if all of you held us to account and demanded that both sides of politics actually talk about what their plans are. Im happy to do that.
MOTTRAM: Is that likely in a hung parliament though? Isnt that the single most debilitating
WONG: I actually think its up to people like you, Linda, and the people listening to this program. People should rightly expect of their politicians that of course theres always politics and theres always going to be a bit of argy-bargy but you should rightly expect of us that we stand before you and say, this is what we want to do for the country.
MOTTRAM: A lot of people I speak to and this is the classic case of anecdotes, on the train station in the morning, or I was at the fuel station trying to fill up with diesel the other day and there hasnt been any diesel delivered up where I live for ages, to many places. The guy behind the counter was blaming Julia Gillard and the carbon tax. Theres a lot of anger out there towards your Government too, isnt there, and thats one of the really big challenges for you this year and how do you counter that anger?
WONG: Thats true and this is what I mean lets get to a factual debate. Because you can decide the future of the country and who can run the country on the basis of things which arent true or you can decide on the basis of facts and people can make a legitimate decision. But I think its a pretty long stretch to say that diesel not being delivered to your petrol station is because of a carbon price.
MOTTRAM: It may be, but people maintain those views.
WONG: And in part, that is because we have seen, I think, the most dishonest fear campaign that I can recall in federal politics from the Leader of the Opposition. This is a guy who said, Im sorry but remember he said that whole towns and industries would be destroyed as a result. Now, people do respond to that.
MOTTRAM: But what about the campaign that your side has run, against Tony Abbott, the painting of Tony Abbott as a misogynist. I mean that really was a classic example, wasnt it, of playing the man not the ball. This is a man with a wife and daughters and a long history of community service.
WONG: I dont have anything to say about Tony Abbotts behaviour as a father or a husband. That is private, that is not something I would comment on. But I think were entitled to comment, after a long period, on somebody who has expressed publicly the views about women that he has expressed.
I dont think it is in keeping with todays Australia to suggest that women are somehow less able to exercise power than men; I dont think it is in keeping with todays Australia to suggest to people that abortion is the easy way out, no matter what your views are on that issue. And I think to use phrases such as demanding that the Prime Minister make an honest woman of herself; these arent things I think that are appropriate to say in todays Australia. I think that the Prime Minister took a very long time before she actually responded to a long period of these sorts of comments by Mr Abbott.
MOTTRAM: Penny Wong is with us, the Federal Finance Minister. I just want to have one more go on the mining tax if I can?
WONG: Sure.
MOTTRAM: Did it or did it not deliver up any dollars to the coffers this last quarter?
WONG: Im not in a position to as the ATO has advised to be disclosing what individual taxpayers might or might not have paid. What I can say is Ive released monthly statements and I released one in December and Ill be releasing one in due course for January.
MOTTRAM: Okay, Penny Wong, theres a Newspoll out today, a bit of a bounce for you, but Im suspecting that people are so sick of talking about polls that we might just let that one slide!
WONG: (laughs) Look theres only one poll that counts, isnt there Linda, and thats decided on issues
MOTTRAM: Well, we can only hope
WONG: ...I hope itll be decided on issues and plans for the future.
MOTTRAM: Good of you to come in today, Penny. Thanks so much, good to see you.
WONG: Great to be here.
ENDS