JOURNALIST: In the studio now with me, the Finance Minister, Penny Wong. Senator Wong, thanks for your time.
WONG: Good to be with you.
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister conceded this is a very tough time, things could get worse. The Prime Minister said, well this is obviously all over the carbon tax, really. Her support has declined over the last couple of months. She said this morning seven million Australian households wont see a cent lost through carbon pricing. Thats not right, is it?
WONG: What weve announced is that we will ensure, through the carbon price package, that people do get tax cuts and do get increases in payments. And weve said nine out of ten households will receive assistance through those means thats tax cuts, and/or increased payments.
Weve also set our priorities obviously those on lower incomes. Now, all of these details will be made clear when we make the announcement. It will be very clear what our policy is, and how we will fund those increases in payments, and those tax cuts.
Which puts us, I think, in stark contrast to Tony Abbott, who talks about tax cuts, but is not prepared to tell Australians how on earth he will fund them.
JOURNALIST: But that was an exaggeration from the Prime Minister when she said in an interview that seven million Australian households wont see a cent lost through carbon pricing.
WONG: Look, nine out of ten households is around seven
JOURNALIST: Will be compensated, but youre saying they wont have a cent lost.
WONG: Nine out of ten households does equate to around seven million Australians. But all of these matters will be made clear when we put out the detail of our package. And
JOURNALIST: But theyre not going to receive total compensation, are they, nine out of ten. Theyll receive some compensation.
WONG: But remember in all of this, youre looking at average costs, and that is how these things are calculated. But well have a lot more to say about that in due course.
JOURNALIST: So what will the vast majority receive? Are we talking tax cuts, family payments
WONG: Kieran, really, weve made clear the broad parameters, and weve said, look, we will ensure at least 50 per cent of the revenue will go to Australian households. So lets remember that what we will be doing is taxing big polluters. Taxing polluters, and well ensure that at least half of the money raised goes to Australian households.
And then obviously the remainder has to deal with a number of the transitional issues, like how we manage industry transition, and those things.
JOURNALIST: But thats the problem, isnt it, that the detail is still not out there, so you cant give us the exact nature of this compensation.
WONG: I agree. I agree that it is understandable that people want to know the detail, and I understand that people are concerned about that. And Julia, the Prime Minister, has said she understands that. But we will provide that.
Can I say, we accept that obligation. The alternative prime minister, Tony Abbott, the man who wants to be the prime minister, doesnt accept his obligation, if he has an alternative plan to put that forward.
And I think its been interesting this week that weve seen Tony Abbott say floating tax cuts, but not been prepared to fund them, not been prepared to say how he will fund them. Weve said, well, well give you the resources of Treasury to do that. But he hasnt been willing to say to the Australian people, OK, I will make sure you understand how I fund this. Thats an obligation, I would have thought, on the alternative prime minister.
JOURNALIST: But its a bit rich for you, and the government, to be calling for more detail, when theres a clear vacuum here, and youre yet to finalise the detail with your Multi-Party Committee.
WONG: But we accept the obligation to make sure that all the detail comes forward. I mean, thats precisely why were working through the Multi-Party Committee, working through the wheels of government to ensure we do get this detail right.
This is a big reform. This is a difficult reform. And remember, this is a reform that probably played a role in Prime Minister Howard not being re-elected. It certainly played a role in Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull no longer being leaders of the Opposition. It is a difficult and tough
JOURNALIST: And Kevin Rudd losing the prime ministership.
WONG: And lots has been written about that, the point you just made. By my point is this, what we do have is a Prime Minister who says, I know this is a difficult reform, I know what the history has been, I know that this will be vehemently opposed by an Opposition that simply wants to oppose. But I believe this is the right thing to do. And thats what shes doing.
JOURNALIST: Well, if shes still, and if the Government is still on track for completion of these talks in July, as initially promised.
WONG: Well we said that we wanted to ensure that this was announced in the middle of the year, and thats still what were working to. Obviously theres a lot of work to be done, and that is being done. But we are very focused on it.
JOURNALIST: Is the fight still pretty much over the compensation for generators, the power generators, for compensation for coal miners and also the complementary measures are they the three stumbling blocks?
WONG: Im not going to add to what is already in the public arena about peoples different positions, but self-evidently this is a difficult and a tough reform and its a reform that the Prime Minister has said, quite rightly, that this is the right thing to do for the nations future.
This is the right thing to do for the next generation of Australians. We dont want to get to five, 10, 15, 20 years time and say, gee, we squibbed it, it was too hard. We didnt want to move to a clean energy economy, we didnt want to price carbon, we didnt want to tackle climate change. We want to be able to say we did and weve done well.
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister this poll today is awful. Tony Abbott is now the preferred Prime Minister. He was asked about the opinion poll and he said he thinks its about the carbon tax, its about the fact that Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard dont talk to each other, the fact that Bob Brown seems to be setting the agenda. Thats a fair assessment, isnt it?
WONG: No I dont think it is.
JOURNALIST: Well its obviously about the carbon tax, the relationship between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard is hardly warm and there is a perception that Bob Brown is running the show.
WONG: Well I dont agree with the propositions that are in your question, which are the propositions that Tony Abbott put forward. I dont think anybody would suggest that the Labor Party has not been clear about the need to price carbon. We have been very clear about that. So to suggest were pricing carbon just because Bob Brown decides its a good idea is simply wrong. Its a
JOURNALIST: Theres a perception of that though.
WONG: And Im saying to you that that perception is wrong.
JOURNALIST: OK, lets talk about the poll more generally. I dont want you to dissect the poll; youre obviously not going to do that. But is there a risk here that people have stopped listening to Prime Minister Gillard?
WONG: I think the Prime Minister and other ministers today have said the same thing. This is tough reform; we understand this is going to be tough going. And tough reforms arent necessarily popular, but this remains the right thing to do. We understand that this is a difficult time for the Government, we understand the many Australians do quite rightly want to know more about the detail of what our package would include. How we are going to price carbon, how are going to assist them. What sort of tax cuts? What sort of increases in payments? And well make sure all of that is made clear to people.
JOURNALIST: OK, just one final issue, Peter Reith wants a renewed debate within Liberal ranks on industrial relations. Its not enough for Labor to simply resort to simplistic WorkChoices scare campaigns, is it? Particularly when the Australian Industry Group, the mainstream industry group, this afternoon has released a news release Ive got it here it says three years on from the implementation of the Fair Work Act, there is an increasingly strong view that amendments are vital. That there are significant problems with the Act.
WONG: Well on Peter Reith, I certainly look forward to your interview with your next guest and the story of the inside machinations of the Liberal Party and what happened with Mr Reith and what happened with Tony Abbott. So that will be interesting. But our view is productivity is important. I understand the AIGs the Australian Industry Group focus on productivity and thats why in the last Budget we focused so much on skills and participation.
JOURNALIST: So should the Government have a look two years on or do you think that this Act is infallible?
WONG: What we have said previously is that we dont see increased productivity coming from the approach that John Howard took and Tony Abbott took, which is driving down wages and conditions. But of course Senator Evans, who is the Minister, is in dialogue with all parties about the Act but our focus in the Budget was on improving the skills of Australians and that was very much because we do understand the need to lift productivity.
JOURNALIST: Finance Minister, thanks for your time.
WONG: Good to speak with you.
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