WONG: Last week the Government outlined our budget. A budget that dealt with todays challenges and built opportunities for today and tomorrow. A budget about jobs, about getting more Australians into jobs. A budget that kept us on track to get back in the black. Laying out our path to return to surplus. A budget that included $22 billion of tough savings decisions.
Today weve seen Joe Hockeys response to the Budget. And if anyone ever thought that Joe Hockey was up to the job, today put an end to that. I mean you cant let a man like that near a trillion dollar plus economy.
This is a man who under pressure couldnt explain his own numbers. Couldnt explain his own flawed savings package, which is full of double counting. And a black hole that hes never accounted for. The fact is, if youre going to be Treasurer of the country, you have to be financially accountable. You cant just keep saying we stand by our numbers in the face of the flaws and think youre going to get away with it.
Mr Hockey showed he doesnt understand the economy. I mean he extraordinarily referred to the Global Financial Crisis as a hiccup. The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression thats caused high unemployment across the advanced economies of the world, thats had a $130 billion hit on Australian Government revenues. And he referred to it as a hiccup. It just shows he does not know what hes talking about.
One thing he did do was own up to the past history of the Howard Government spend-a-thon when he said in his answer to a question: Yes we did spend a lot. So at least he acknowledged that. But this is a man who said, I think just a couple of weeks ago, he was going to bring the budget back to surplus a year early. And then he turns up to the National Press Club before the nation, as the shadow treasurer, and does not outline a single savings measure, not a single savings measure.
Well when youre the alternative government, you do need an alternative plan for the economy and for the federal budget. But what is the Coalition offering? Theyre offering an Opposition Leader who thinks that economics is boring and a shadow treasurer who doesnt want to use a calculator. The Opposition has no economic plan. Their only economic plan appears to be to wreck the budget surplus and we all know what that would mean. More costs of living pressures for Australian families. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Will petrol be exempt from the carbon tax?
WONG: Obviously the design of a carbon price is something the Government is working through and well make those announcements after weve worked through that design process.
But I will say this: its been interesting today to see that the shadow minister for climate change, Mr Hunt, has outlined Tony Abbotts secret plan for a carbon tax. He said their carbon price would be about $15 a tonne. Thats what the cost of Mr Abbotts policy would be. We know what hes going to do is take $30 billion out of taxpayers pockets and give it to big polluters in the hope that they might do something, without any assistance for households.
Were not going to do something that reckless. What we will do is work through the details of a carbon price and well put them before the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: A report said that you would have to have around $40 a tonne to cause a switch from coal to gas-fired electricity. Is the Government going to be looking at $40 a tonne?
WONG: I think Minister Combet has already made clear yesterday our position on that and Id refer you to his comments yesterday and today.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hockey also said that the Government hadnt cut enough out of the budget and that they were poorly directed cuts. Whats your response?
WONG: Well Mr Hockey says that, he then turns up to the National Press Club, spends more but doesnt outline any savings measures. Mr Hockey talks about his savings plan from the election. We know that is no savings plan. We know that what that is an $11 billion black hole found by the Department of the Treasury.
JOURNALIST: Hes also said that hell cut 12,000 jobs from the public service. Is that something that the Government could also look at?
WONG: Weve made a lot of efficiencies in the public service. Some of those decisions have been hard. And if you look over at the Government, we have put in place an efficiency dividend. I announced that prior to the budget. But what were not going to do is to cut front line services to Australians and thats what Mr Hockeys approach would be.
JOURNALIST: Joe Hockey kept mentioning as well that the NBN wasnt included in the Governments spending. Should it have been included in the spending?
WONG: This just shows how little Mr Hockey knows about budgets. The NBN is an equity investment in the largest infrastructure project in the nations history. And on a day when were switching on the NBN in Armidale, weve got the Opposition not knowing how to respond other than to say, oh well you should account for it differently.
This is a project which is about connecting Australia. Its the infrastructure of this century. And the accounting treatment of it that we use is precisely the same as the Coalition used in government. Nothing further? Thank you.
ENDS