RIMINTON: Good to talk to you, Senator.
WONG: Good to be here.
RIMINTON: This stuff about revenue being down that the Grattan Institute are talking about, thats nothing new. Youve been talking about revenue being down for a long time, havent you?
WONG: But its got much more difficult. Lets understand whats happening at the moment, Hugh. Weve got a very high Australian dollar. The prices of the things Australias selling to the rest of the world have come off. All of those things add up to business making less profit, and when businesses make less profit, government gets less money in tax. And thats one of the challenges the Governments confronting as we put the Budget together.
RIMINTON: So, is there any prospect of a new, big tax to block these revenue holes?
WONG: Oh, look, I think thats a rule-in, rule-out for the Budget. But I would say this: were a lower taxing government than John Howard and Peter Costellos.
RIMINTON: Someone watching this might think that were actually on the threshold of a certain time, and that is that, if were not extremely careful at this point, were going to get used to deficits essentially forever ... way beyond the point where we can forecast.
WONG: Look, youre absolutely right this is a time for responsible decisions. Its a time for decisions that look to the future and for political parties and governments to say: what can we afford and how can we afford it. What is the priority, and how do we find the money to make space to fund it?
I think things like the investment in our schools is a critical investment for the nations future. Its critical for our children. And its actually critical for our economy if were going to be competitive in the future, so that means
RIMINTON: Is it deficit funded or is it savings funded?
WONG: It means you have to find the savings to ensure you can fund that. The Prime Ministers made that clear.
RIMINTON: Well see all that on Budget night, no doubt.
WONG: We will.
RIMINTON: Good to talk to you
WONG: And you.
ENDS