JOURNALIST: Penny Wong, good morning.
WONG: Good morning to you.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong, can I ask you about the Budget which is being brought down tomorrow. And there is word out that Labor particularly wants this identified as a Labor budget. There are obviously some very Labor earmarked schemes like $300 million for pensioners so they can install free set-top boxes. But that's small change, even $300 million in a $400 billion or thereabouts Budget.
WONG: Well this is a Labor budget; it's very much focused on jobs, on spreading the opportunities of the mining boom and also getting us back into the black by 2012-13 as we committed to. Just as we focused on jobs in our response to the global financial crisis, now that we see this mining boom gathering pace in the years ahead, we need to leverage that opportunity, create more jobs and get more people into jobs and make sure we can continue to train people so they get better jobs.
JOURNALIST: But jobs is no Labor monopoly. As a policy, every government aims for that as probably the number one priority. And it was John Howard's proudest boast that he pushed unemployment down.
WONG: Marius, I think we should be aware that the Leader of the Opposition opposed the stimulus, opposed the Government putting money into the economy when the global financial crisis hit. His policies would have led to 200,000 more Australians being on the unemployment queue. So Tony Abbott can't hide behind John Howard for his jobs record. The fact is he made the wrong call then and he continues to make the wrong call.
JOURNALIST: Senator, the Government has been putting out quite a few little tidbits from tomorrow's budget. $5000 in instant tax deductions for small business vehicles, I think that's in the Fin Review today. The $300 million for pensioner's set top boxes, accelerated tax relief for the lower paid. All good news items that the Government wanted to draw attention to in the days before the Budget. It doesn't sound like the tough Budget that Labor was promising.
WONG: You'll have to look at what we present on Budget night. But the circumstances are very clear. We are going to see a hit on revenue in the early years. The Treasurer has made that clear. That makes our task more difficult because we have to look to the medium and longer term. We chose to bring the budget back to surplus because we know we have a very large wave of mining investment that's going to continue to put pressure on the economy in the years ahead.
And we have had to make some difficult decisions to ensure we meet that challenge. But budgets are ultimately about priorities and they're about making sure that you spend on the right things as well as making the right savings decisions.
JOURNALIST: As I said there's been a lot of good news over the past week. You've taken tough decisions, difficult decisions you say. Who'll feel the pain most?
WONG: We are a day before the Budget, Marius, and I'm sure that we'll have the opportunity to speak again afterwards because the Treasurer will be presenting the Budget tomorrow in the Parliament.
JOURNALIST: And your state Adelaide, the Adelaide Advertiser, your local paper says South Australia will be dealt a particularly bad financial blow with up to $600 million slashed from its share of GST earnings. With a South Australian Finance Minister, is South Australia actually going to do worse?
WONG: Well, arguments about the GST allocations between the states is not a new argument. If you're referring to the fact that revenues are lower in the earlier years than we had previously anticipated because of the high dollar, because consumers are very cautious. People are saving a lot more now than they previously were. That's not a new story. That is the fact of the patchwork economy. People have decided that they want to save more. That's a good thing but that's going to have a consequence in terms of revenues to Government.
JOURNALIST: Senator can I ask you in your capacity as a Cabinet Minister. The Australian newspaper is reporting this morning that the deal with Malaysia about asylum seekers was only announced to Cabinet Ministers two hours before it was announced publicly. Is that when you learnt about it?
WONG: Marius, you know I never discuss Cabinet processes but I will say the process around this was appropriate.
JOURNALIST: Well this is not a Cabinet process. This is when Cabinet was told about it rather than discussed it.
WONG: Look Marius that is a question about processes of Cabinet but I will say it was an appropriate process and this is a policy that is aimed at changing the incentives. We know that despite Tony Abbott saying hell just turn the boats back, that slogans won't do that. What you have to do is change the incentives. You have to change the business model. You have to give people the message that it is not worth them getting on that boat and that's what this policy is focused on.
JOURNALIST: Do you share the concern expressed by some other colleagues, specifically Senator Doug Cameron, that the refugees may face mistreatment if they're sent to Malaysia?
WONG: I saw Doug's comments and I think he says he wants to get more information at our caucus meeting today and he's entitled to do that. I would make the point about Malaysia that they've made a range of commitments to the Government, including that they would not return refugees to countries where they would face further persecution. And that they would treat these asylum seekers appropriately.
JOURNALIST: So your concerns are allayed by that?
WONG: I think that is a reasonable set of arrangements for the Government to enter into and we're pleased that the Malaysian Government has made those commitments. This is a very difficult policy problem; I don't think anybody pretends otherwise. What we do need is a regional approach because we know that no one country in our region can end this. We are focusing on regional cooperation and this is a very important step in that.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong thanks very much.
WONG: Good to speak with you.
ENDS