JOURNALIST: Good morning, Minister Wong.
WONG: Good morning.
JOURNALIST: And good morning, Christopher Pyne.
PYNE: Good morning.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong, the leadership issues will not leave the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, alone. And theres now been some discussion about when she was planning to depose Kevin Rudd, whether her staff had prepared an acceptance speech for the leadership, and even some polling may have been shown around. Can you tell us, when did you know that Julia Gillard was going to challenge Kevin Rudd for the leadership?
WONG: Im really not going to get into speculation, and commentary on commentary, Matt and Dave, but I
JOURNALIST: Its not speculation, its
WONG: But what I will say to you is that those events are firmly in the past. I understand theres a lot of interest from some quarters about what occurred. But my view is, the job that I have is, to look at what we have to do to support working Australians at a time of great economic change. And as Minister for Finance thats what Im doing.
JOURNALIST: Does this sort of thing hamper that, though? Because, if it feeds into the real problem is not when she knew, when she didnt know, but it feeds into this perception that shes tricky, that you cant take her word. So, does that make it difficult for you to deliver an agenda for working Australians?
WONG: Of course it makes it difficult to speak to people about whats more important when theres a lot of media speculation about other issues. I can tell you Ive known Julia for over 20 years now. And she is a woman of principle, a woman who is extremely tough and very focused on doing what she thinks is right. And she has got a pretty tough job at the moment. But, as Ive said, I think shes the right person to lead the country and the party because shes always focused on doing whats right for the future.
JOURNALIST: Chris Pyne, do you accept that it is a distraction to some of the main game, here? And the Opposition is happy to exploit that, thats your job.
PYNE: Well, Matthew, the problem at the moment in Canberra is that the Government resembles a soap opera like The Bold and the Beautiful, with all the different players. Theyre just not all quite as attractive as The Bold and the Beautiful. And were seeing the Labor party utterly internally focused, dysfunctional and divided. Penny Wong wont tell you when she knew Julia Gillard that was going to challenge Kevin Rudd, but we know that Hillary Clinton knew a fortnight before the day it happened, we know Kim Beazley knew, we know Graham Richardson knew. We know that the Prime Ministers office was preparing an acceptance speech for her two weeks before it occurred. And unfortunately, here in Canberra, the Government is hopelessly focused on things that the public arent focused on. Theyre more concerned about their jobs than they are about the peoples jobs, and its time to put an end to this soap opera. We have the parade of the crossbenchers across our television screens every night, coquettishly saying will we, wont we, and then ending up voting with the Government. We have the Government hopelessly focused on themselves, rather than the day-to-day concerns
JOURNALIST: And we have the Coalition saying no a lot, do we not?
PYNE: No, not really.
JOURNALIST: Well, what about the issue of
JOURNALIST: (laughs) You just said no
WONG: (laughs) Its become such a habit, Chris.
JOURNALIST: Christopher Pyne, can you explain why the Coalition is opposed to means testing the private health insurance rebate? The Health Minister was out on the hustings yesterday saying youve got to explain why people who are very well off perhaps a quarter of a million dollars income are not, under your scheme, paying for private health fully?
PYNE: Well, theres a couple of reasons for that, David. The first reason, of course, is that the Labor party promised the Australian people, and Julia Gillard herself, over and over again, that they would not touch the private health insurance rebate. So one reason we want to hold them to account for that is because its another broken promise, along with the carbon tax, along with gambling reform. So thats very important. Governments should be required to keep the promises they make. Julia Gillard made that promise on so many occasions that she eventually said Im tired of saying it, the Labor party will not change the private health insurance rebate.
JOURNALIST: Is it good policy though that people on a quarter of a million dollars receive a taxpayer funded rebate?
PYNE: Well its never good policy for governments to break their promises. And this Government has made an art of it.
JOURNALIST: But Im asking you, do you think
PYNE: There are 11 million
JOURNALIST: But do you think its a good idea that somebody on a quarter of a million dollars should receive a taxpayer funded rebate?
PYNE: I think that the private health insurance rebate, regardless of peoples income, is very important in ensuring that the burden of health isnt entirely carried by the public health sector. I think its very important that families should be able to plan their spending.
JOURNALIST: You could do your own carrying on a quarter of a million, couldnt you?
PYNE: Hang on, I think its very important that families can plan their spending without the uncertainty that Labor constantly creates by doing things like breaking their promise. I think that the private health insurance will drop because of the rebate. And its a massive hit to families cost of living. Now youve chosen one particular income stream. But in my electorate in Sturt where 72% of people in my electorate have private health insurance, 72% of my electorate dont have incomes over $250,000, I can tell you that. Pensioners, self-funded retirees -
JOURNALIST: But they wont be affected then, is that correct?
WONG: Pensioners wont be affected
PYNE: Pensioners will be affected because as more people
JOURNALIST: Well, youve had a good go here. Penny
PYNE: You asked me a question. And as more people leave the private health insurance system, it will force up premiums for all the eleven million Australians who have private health insurance.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong?
WONG: A number of things. The first is that the Labor Party went to the 2010 election with a very clear policy that we would means test this rebate. Secondly -
PYNE: Its not in the policy.
WONG: I did actually listen very patiently to you saying a whole range of things
PYNE: But what you said wasnt true
WONG: which are not true. The next thing. I think this is not a good use of public funds. Why should somebody who is a cleaner or a factory worker subsidise my private health insurance? I should have to pay for it.
JOURNALIST: But will they end up paying by the fork if premiums go up as a result of a mass exit?
WONG: That is not what the modelling says. And can I make this point we looked out to 2050, and it is important to do that, to think how do we set the health budget so its sustainable, and on current growth patterns, the private health insurance would take up 75% of Medicare outlays by 2050. Now, how is that a good use of public money? To spend three-quarters of your Medicare budget in a number of decades, on subsidising peoples private health insurance.
JOURNALIST: Well
WONG: And the final point Id make is one last point. Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne are railing about this. They will not give people an indication that they would repeal it in Government. So, theyre going on about it, but they dont have the guts to say we will repeal it. And the reason is
JOURNALIST: One last question
WONG: because of the budget position theyve got.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong
PYNE: Why not let the interviewers ask the question Penny?
JOURNALIST: Thank you Chris Pyne. (laughs) Why not means test Medicare then? If youre going to means test the rebate, why not means test Medicare? Because why should rich people get free Medicare?
WONG: No, no. We have a universal public health system in this country.
JOURNALIST: But why?
WONG: Because it is a very long standing principle. One that Labor has fought for over many governments
JOURNALIST: So youve fought to have Medicare for rich people?
WONG: I think there is a place for a universal public health system in this society. Its one of the things that Australians are deeply supportive of, and I think it is the right thing to do. The question is, to what extent do public funds, taxpayer funds, taxes paid by low-income Australians to what extent should they be used to subsidise private health insurance for wealthier Australians? And my view is this is a good policy, and one which will enable us to ensure we can continue to invest in growing health costs in other areas.
JOURNALIST: Minister, thank you for joining us.
WONG: Good to speak to you.
JOURNALIST: And well look forward to talking to you next Wednesday. Minister Penny Wong, Minister for Finance and South Australian Labor Senator, and South Australian Liberal MP for Sturt, and Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Reps, Christopher Pyne. Thank you, Christopher Pyne.
PYNE: Pleasure.
JOURNALIST: On 891 Breakfast, Matthew Abraham and David Bevan with you.
ENDS