BENSON: Penny Wong, good morning.
WONG: Good to be with you again Marius.
BENSON: Disappointing news for you as a Government, but also as a Minister from South Australia.
WONG: Its a very disappointing decision for South Australia. Obviously, we wouldve preferred the investment to proceed immediately. Im pleased that BHP have said they will continue to look at ways they can expand Olympic Dam, but it is a very disappointing decision.
BENSON: Does BHP deserve any criticism? Tony Maher from the miners union, the CFMEU, says theyre still minting money; theyre getting a 23 per cent return on capital, theyre just stalling this until a time when theyll get even more money out of whats in the ground.
WONG: Well, the companys made a commercial decision and thats what companies do they make commercial decisions based on what they think is best for their shareholders. It is disappointing for my home state of South Australia and for all South Australians. But, as the Premier said, the resources are still there. Theyre still valuable and they can still be developed and I hope that BHP can find a way to make the expansion more viable.
BENSON: Whats the Governments reading of the resources picture more broadly? Has the biggest boom the biggest resources boom in our history peaked?
WONG: Weve still got a long way to run when it comes to this investment boom. Weve got over half a trillion dollars of investment, and over half of that, over half of that, is at the advanced stage. So I think the doom and gloom that some are putting about isnt appropriate. And I do think that the worst thing about this is weve seen such a dishonest, self-interested fear campaign from the Leader of the Opposition, who is asking Australians to do what hes done, which is completely ignore and not read the BHP statement giving the reasons for this decision.
BENSON: Now, there is actually an argument that this is not a bad thing that this project has been deferred. Other projects are also being deferred by BHP. In the Governments view, could a slower resources boom be a good thing in terms of rebalancing the economy, a lower dollar, less pressure on interest rates?
WONG: As a Government we want investment to be realised. We want these projects to come to fruition and we wanted Olympic Dam to expand. Thats the Governments view. Of course, you have to plan for beyond the boom and thats what the Government is doing with our investment in schools, our investment in skills, our investment in universities, and our investment in productive infrastructure like the National Broadband Network.
BENSON: But in terms of the resources boom itself, are you saying that a boom is good and a bigger boom is better, and any deceleration in the boom is not a good thing?
WONG: Im saying that I would have preferred, as would the Government have preferred, Olympic Dam to proceed. Im saying that the Government has always been conscious that you have to plan for beyond the boom as well, and thats why were investing in Australias people. And Im also saying, Marius, that I do think the way in which the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has sought to use this decision, which is disappointing, to fuel a fear campaign, is dishonest in the extreme.
BENSON: Everything depends on exports obviously with resources China above everything else. How does the Government read the Chinese economy? Because theres an official growth rate over 7 per cent, but analysts say maybe the real growth rate is half that. Whats the Governments view?
WONG: We anticipated, as the international institutions did, that China would not keep growing at the levels it was growing, and we factored that into the Budget. But I think the reality is we know theres a lot of momentum in the Chinese economy. We also know that the Chinese authorities have a lot of room to move when it comes to economic policy to stimulate their economy or to fine tune their economy. So, again, Im not one of those that sees doom and gloom on the Chinese front. I think that is an economy over this coming decade which will continue to grow, and obviously that creates enormous opportunities for our country.
BENSON: Penny Wong, thank you very much.
WONG: Good to speak with you.
ENDS