LEON BYNER: Lets talk with Shadow [Trade and Investment] Minister Penny Wong. Penny thanks for joining us and welcome back from your holiday.
SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Thank you very much Leon and it was because we had another baby, so thank you to the many South Australians who sent us good wishes.
BYNER: Yes, the Twitter was going berserk on your new arrival. Look I want to just clarify a couple of things. Youre a SA Senator and you, where you can represent the state, thats what were told Senators do. We had an announcement from Mathias Cormann, not a few minutes ago, that as of last night this state will get an extra $977 million more in Federal funding, $858 million which is more GST. Is that something you really welcome?
WONG: Well, I welcome any additional contribution to South Australia but I suspect whatever he gives South Australia wont make up for the cuts that weve seen. The cuts to our hospital system, the cuts to our schools, the cuts to our roads. As you might recall both Nick Minchin and I, as Finance Minister, continued a supplementation for South Australian Councils for local roads which was cut in the last Budget. Thats not been reversed.
BYNER: Well, no it hasnt, but again doesnt this update that criticism, in that now we are going to get nearly a billion dollars we werent expecting 24 hours ago?
WONG: As I said I always welcome any additional investment in South Australia, but you might remember nationally, we saw $80 billion in the last budget taken out from Australias public hospitals and Australians local schools that has been locked in again with this Budget. So they do want South Australians to look at a whole range of other programs, look over here, heres a bit of money, heres that, but fundamentally that core of unfairness remains.
BYNER: Well the CEO of Education was in this studio late last year telling us that there was more money for education. So what youre really saying is yes but its not as much as we were expecting?
WONG: Well before the last election, you might remember Christopher Pyne told voters across South Australia and the country that there was a unity ticket when it came to funding for our schools.
BYNER: Youre talking about Gonski?
WONG: Gonski reforms. Well, that clearly wasnt true and they walked away from those and that will mean the funding that should have flowed into schools to ensure every child in every school has the opportunity to be the best of who they are is not going to happen. Its not what Chris said before the last election.
BYNER: So no okay, but again if there is nearly a billion dollars this state is going to get today that they werent getting yesterday, youre discounting that?
WONG: No, Ive said a couple of times I reckon Leon, I welcome-
BYNER: -Im just trying to get a main point across here, we are actually getting more money?
WONG: Were getting, well I welcome any additional investment, but what I am saying to you is I dont think that makes up for the sorts of cuts South Australians had to their hospitals.
BYNER: Alright, now lets get two sides to this. First of all do you like the small business package?
WONG: Yes I do, I think its a positive reform; it includes essentially a Labor measure thats the tax deduction that youve been talking about, something that I have to say Mathias and Joe Hockey criticised and substantially reduced in their last budget. Were pleased they have seen the error of their ways and have reinstated what is a Labor reform.
BYNER: Now do you like the child care package?
WONG: We think that improvements to child care are a good thing; there are two things about this which are very bad.
One is that they have linked it to taking money off families, through the family tax cuts. We are not going to be held to ransom and I dont think voters should be held to ransom, to support a child care package that is basically predicated upon families having to have less income. The second thing is we dont agree with what they are doing on paid parental leave. So they are taking paid parental leave off people.
BYNER: Well hang on a minute the Government say they are stopping double dipping. Is it not the case that the Government are arguing that if you get it from one source you cant get it from another?
WONG: Well, we always saw paid parental leave as a base entitlement, if people want to negotiate higher entitlements over and above that with their employer thats a good thing. All that will happen if you refuse to pay it to people who have those higher entitlements is employers will reduce their scheme to the minimum and people will lose those additional entitlements.
So this is really a double cross message by the Government and this is kind of weird isnt it? A Prime Minister who wanted a rolled gold paid parental leave scheme now wants to abolish one.
BYNER: Well, I think he did because in his own party and I think everybody was saying well its not affordable.
WONG: Yeah, well I think thats true.
BYNER: Yeah okay, so tell me how much more do you like this Budget then last years.
WONG: Well, I think this Budget is a budget all about one mans job. You see, that because spending is up, which means also taxes are up and debt is up and the deficits bigger, but it does lock in much of the unfairness from last years Budget. It locks in, as I said, the cuts to schools and hospitals it locks in-
BYNER: -So you would have had the government spend more? Which would have meant a bigger deficit?
WONG: Well, we put on the table, I mean weve made it clear that we are up for sensible budget reform. Weve put on the table a couple of very significant saving measures in superannuation and also in multinational tax. A much bigger savings package than the government put up in both of those areas, and we are prepared to have a discussion about long term reform.
But I dont think, and I dont think Australians accept, that you deal with budget challenges by hoeing into the most vulnerable people in Australia. I mean, thank goodness they walked away from the pension cuts. But really what government thought it was a sensible thing to say to Australian pensioners, South Australian pensioners, you should have your pension reduced over time.
While I was on leave I did go down to a pensioner forum in the seat of Hindmarsh, talked to a whole range of pensioners there and these people do not live on a lot of money and the fact that this Government thought as a matter of principal that it was a good idea to take money off them, I think says a lot about them.
BYNER: Well I guess the question everybody wants to know, is whether Labor will this time pass the Budget that last year they didnt.
WONG: We passed those measures in last years Budget we thought were reasonable. We make no apology for not passing the cuts to the pension or not passing the six month wait, that I think you asked Mathias Cormann about, six months before you get income support, I dont think.
BYNER: Well that was crazy.
WONG: That was crazy and it just creates an underclass. In terms of some of these saving measures that are in the Budget, we have said we are open to some of them and we are willing to look at the detail. There are some measures about taxes for backpackers and workers who are here for a short period of time, there is some fly in fly out workers tax measures. We have said we are open to having a discussion about those.
BYNER: Okay so, and obviously you are in favour of the GST on the online trading thats going on, where at the moment people arent paying it?
WONG: Look I think Chris Bowen has said were willing to have a look at that. We understand the problem, it was raised with us in government. At the time I think we thought that the cost of implementing it was greater than the revenue that would be received so we want to have a look at what the government is proposing.
BYNER: Are you optimistic that the tax on these multinationals, international ones, that are apparently lucky to pay a percent where everyone else is paying a lot more, are you confident thats going to help trim the budget bottom line?
WONG: A well I think Joe Hockey has been very timid in how much he has done on that front. I mean we put out a policy some weeks ago, which set out our approach to multinational tax policy which was based on international work, the OECD work, and that was I think a quite a sensible approach.
Joe Hockey has taken a very timid approach. My recollection, and I might be wrong Leon, hes only looking at around $30 million worth of revenue and I think there is a lot more scope for reform in that area. Wed urge Joe Hockey to have a look at what Labor put up a couple of months ago.
BYNER: Penny Wong, thank you. Thats the Shadow Trade and Investment Minister.