BENSON: Penny Wong, good morning.
WONG: Good morning, Marius.
BENSON: It was a bit embarrassing for the Government in the House of Reps yesterday when the Opposition managed to produce pamphlets published by the Treasurer and others, referring to the surplus you had achieved. It would have been better for those not to have gone to the printer in retrospect...
WONG: Look, the Governments been completely upfront about the reasons weve made the decision weve made, and thats about protecting jobs and growth. But if you want to talk about embarrassing, Marius, I think the person who should be embarrassed today is Tony Abbott with his plans to make Australians move north and to open up more foreign labour places in the north and to gold-plate infrastructure in the north of Australia while not being able to promise infrastructure in our major cities. I think thats far more embarrassing...
BENSON: Just to clarify what youre talking about there for those who havent read the Daily Telegraph and other News Limited papers, this is a bit of an Opposition kite being flown suggesting that the tropical north could become an economic powerhouse and the Opposition to achieve that end might provide tax incentives and direct payments. Not a goer in your mind?
WONG: Well, I think that its a little bit more than that. It very clearly breaches not only the Constitution, but Mr Abbotts essentially saying Lets take jobs out of western Sydney, Lets take jobs out of Melbourne, Lets force people to move north, Lets change our migration policy. I mean it sounds frankly like something Barnaby Joyce would have dreamed up.
BENSON: Alright, let me leave that there because its not an official Opposition policy as I say...
WONG: Hang on a sec. I mean, it is true that his Real Solutions document that was put out doesnt read a word of this but thats simply because Tony Abbot really doesnt want anybody to know what his plans are. But its quite clear from things that Opposition members have said that they do want to do things in the north; they do want to look at things like different taxation arrangements in the north. The issue here is we see what a policy lightweight Mr Abbott really is and this is simply a ridiculous set of propositions which are not only not implementable but they are also unfair.
BENSON: Well, let me ask you not about Opposition policies but Government policies, because you have made it pretty clear that the better off superannuation payers are going to be stung in the Budget because you have planned changes to wind back some of the concessions across $32 billion which is getting on to ten per cent of your budget; thats the cost of the current concessions. The Opposition says your conducting class warfare. Are you happy to wear that label?
WONG: I always find it interesting that whenever anything that might look like a bit of fairness in the system is proposed, Tony Abbott immediately uses the words class warfare. You might recall hes used that before. I think the class warfare thats being waged is things like increasing taxation on low income workers which the Coalition has pledged to do should they win government. They will wind back the tax breaks where were giving workers a third of Australias workers who are on low incomes were giving tax breaks on their superannuation and Tony Abbott made quite clear at the Press Club that hell wind that back. I think thats class warfare.
BENSON: So you think hes...
WONG: In terms of the propositions youve raised, obviously we dont get into rule in, rule out in pre-Budget periods and apparently thats started in February already.
BENSON: Thats okay, your intentions are fairly clear...
WONG: I dont get into what the Government may or may not do. What I would say is this on superannuation: Labor built the superannuation system. We want it to be strong, we want it to be sustainable, we want it to be fair, and we want to ensure it continues to enable working Australians to save for their retirement in the decades ahead. We built this system over the opposition of people like John Howard and Tony Abbott.
BENSON: But it sounds like you are in agreement with the Opposition, at least to the extent that you think theyre conducting class warfare, they think youre conducting class warfare; youre after the rich, theyre after the poor. Thats the line being put out by each side.
WONG: Well, Im not into warfare. Im into looking at the federal budget and working out what is the best way to ensure that prosperity is shared; whats the best mix of policies to ensure we have a fair and prosperous Australia in the years ahead. And the point Im making is I dont think there is either an economic nor other policy rationale for saying to a third of Australias workers were going to increase the taxes on your superannuation, and thats precisely what Tony Abbott is doing.
BENSON: Penny Wong, thank you very much.
WONG: Good to speak with you.
ENDS