JOURNALIST: Senator Wong, good morning.
WONG: Good morning Michael.
JOURNALIST: Well get onto those figures shortly but on the flood levy, how confident are you that will get through the Parliament?
WONG: Were introducing that legislation today. What were saying to the Opposition is lets get this money flowing. Lets get the certainty that Queenslanders and other Australians in other parts of Australia whove been affected by the floods deserve. Thats whats important. Its certainly much more important than some of the fighting weve seen between the Liberal Party in recent days. And its certainly more important than parliamentary procedure delaying it. I dont think Australians would want this legislation delayed. I think Australians want us to get on with the job.
JOURNALIST: Well somebodys vote you dearly need to the legislation through the lower house is Andrew Wilkie. Hes just told this program that he cant see why the Government wants to stay, or wants to reach that surplus target in 2012-13. Hes calling on the Government to let that surplus target drift for a year or two to enable you to cut back on some of those spending cuts youve announced. Will you take his concerns on board?
WONG: Weve announced a package we think is very sensible. It is a tough package. It does cut spending. Two thirds of our floods package is funded through spending cuts and a third through a modest levy. And what we have said is we are committed to bringing the budget back to surplus because its the economically sensible thing to do.
We know after we get over this issue in terms of the floods, in terms of the cyclones. After we get over these dreadful natural disasters, we know that we have a very strong pipeline of investment. We know the economy will continue to grow. And in those circumstances, we do need to bring the budget back to surplus.
So wed say to all members of the Parliament - this is a good package, a sensible package. Lets get on with it. Lets give Queenslanders, people in Victoria, New South Wales, the certainty they need to make sure they can rebuild their lives. Rebuild their homes and their communities after these dreadful events.
JOURNALIST: The flood levy has triggered renewed debate on insurance. Theres been a lot of concern raised, for instance, about the Queensland Government not properly insuring itself against natural disasters. Is that something youd like to see state governments are now prepared to look at to ensure that the Federal Government isnt forced to reach deep into its pocket to fund reconstruction efforts?
WONG: This issue has been raised in the discussions and that has been made public. Obviously governments have to make their own decisions about what is the best way to make sure they prepare for natural disasters. Sometimes insurance is appropriate, sometimes insurance isnt the most cost effective way and thats a decision that governments including the Federal Government as well as state governments need to make looking at the costs and at all the facts.
The fact is these are unprecedented natural disasters. We know that the floods are likely to be the most economically costly natural disaster Australia has seen. It would be unreasonable to think we could always insure for all of those losses. The fact is at times, the Australian community has to come together to rebuild parts of our country which are affected by extreme events.
JOURNALIST: Would you like to see a point raised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in a report this morning. They say a greater pressure put on individual home owners to take out for instance, compulsory home insurance in whatever state they lived.
WONG: Look I think Bill Shorten has been working with the insurance industry. There clearly are some issues associated with definitions and uncertainty and different products in the market. I think everybody would benefit if we could resolve some of those uncertainties so people can make a reasonable decision about the sort of cover that they need, at the sort of price that they can afford. And I think were working through those issues.
JOURNALIST: Now unemployment figures are due out later today and theyre expected to show another big jump in jobs but its good news of course that, but it will raise further concerns about the issues of skills shortages in Australia, wont it?
WONG: Well we have levels of unemployment that almost no other advanced economy could dream of at the moment. And weve seen a very large amount of job creation, since we came to Government. I think its about 716,000 jobs created since we came to Government. So that is good news.
As you say though, that brings with it some challenges. And one of those challenges is skills; its one of the capacity constraints the Government is very focused on. And were very clear about the importance of continuing to invest in skilling Australians so that our economy and our people have the skills they need.
JOURNALIST: And Penny Wong, youre looking at a very tough federal budget obviously. Youre potentially having to find more cuts to fund reconstruction efforts from Cyclone Yasi. As you well know finance ministers have never been the most popular amongst their frontbench colleagues. Are you prepared to hang tough to achieve the cuts you need?
WONG: I dont think being a minister is a popularity contest, is it?
JOURNALIST: Certainly being a Finance Minister isnt.
WONG: (laughs) And being a Finance Minister is probably the least so. Ive got a job to do. And that job is to do what I think all ministers need to do and the Government does. And that is to focus on the national interest. Thats what Ill do. Thats what well do when it comes to the Queensland floods package, and thats what we want the Parliament to do as this levy legislation is introduced.
JOURNALIST: OK, Penny Wong in Canberra, thank you.
WONG: Good to speak with you.