Topics:  National Accounts, Labor’s economic mismanagement, Labor’s homegrown inflation, NSW Liberal Party

 

E&OE   

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

Today there is a very important pointer into how the economy is performing. And this well could be an indication on the next direction of interest rates. We know that the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers is feeling the pressure, because the RBA is supposedly independent but he’s now pointing the finger at them. The economists and the markets are expecting, when the National Accounts are released today, that the economy only expands by 0.3%. That’s their prediction, we’ll see what happens this morning when these figures are released. Angus Taylor is the Shadow Treasurer and joins me on the program. Good morning Angus.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Good to be with you, Clinton.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

How do you think we’re going to fare today with the National Accounts?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, I think it’s going to show us what we’re seeing on the ground, which is growth is at best anemic across the economy. It’s substantially slower than immigration and population growth. It’ll be substantially lower than Treasury’s forecast. And it shows you the economy is in bad shape at exactly the same time as we’ve still got core inflation at one of the highest rates in the world. In fact, higher than any other major advanced country. It’s not moving, it’s not budging. So it’s the worst of both worlds. Anemic growth, in fact a household recession below the rate of growth of the population. And inflation that seems persistent and that’s why Australians are feeling so much pain right now. 

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

The indication on Tuesday afternoon was that it was probably most likely government spending, whether it’s federal government spending or spending in the states, it’s actually propping the economy up at the moment.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Yeah, I’d hardly say it’s propping it up because if you go talk to people in the private sector right across Australia, they’re really struggling right now. And they’re struggling with two fights. We should only be fighting one by now. We should've beaten inflation like most other countries in the world. Well, we haven’t. But they’re also fighting a slow economy. Meanwhile, the Treasurer seems to be fighting the Reserve Bank, fighting the Productivity Commission, he’s fighting his own mentor Paul Keating over the superannuation tax, and he seems also to be fighting the laws of economics. The one thing he isn’t fighting is an economy that’s shuddered to a halt and inflation that seems to be stuck.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

And he's obviously under a lot of pressure on this. The inflation issue - Is it the fault of the RBA or the federal government?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, the federal government has a lot of levers. There's no doubt about that. I mean, they have access to fiscal policy, which is spend and tax, and they're spending a lot of money. There's no doubt about that. Over $30,000 extra in spending since they came to power for every Australian household. They also have control of energy policy, of immigration policy, and we've seen immigration at a rate that we've never seen before in this country, and there's no doubt that's adding to inflationary pressures, particularly in the housing market. They have control over red tape and approvals, and all of these things make a big difference to whether you've got what we really want, which is a strong economy with low inflation. We're not getting that. The government's pulling the wrong levers. It promised a world of lower energy prices, lower cost of living, lower mortgage costs. We're seeing absolutely none of that. 

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

Just the last one on this one Angus, in terms of interest rates, if GDP is not growing as fast as what the RBA, sorry that the Treasury had been forecasting, that is going to lift some pressure on interest rates though, isn't it?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, there's no sign of interest rates coming down. We are seeing interest rates coming down in again, most other major advanced countries around the world. We've seen it in the UK. We've seen it in Canada. We're seeing it in Europe. We're likely to see it very soon in the United States, but not here, because our inflation is stuck. It's higher. Our core inflation is higher than any other major advanced country in the world, and it's at the same level it was at it January, and no other country has been stuck like that. You've seen a reduction since January for all major advanced countries across the world. So we are not where we need to be. We think there is a better way of getting back to basics. It's using all of those levers I've just gone through, to put downward pressure on inflation and get the economy back on track. We're not seeing that from the government, and we're paying a high price for it.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

If I could just ask your opinion on a couple of other issues. The Greens, and I know they want to fund this through their ridiculous corporate tax ideas, but they have flagged the idea for Medicare to cover dental care, and there's some news in the papers this morning that some Labor MPs are actually agitating behind the scenes for this to happen. What's your view? What's the Coalition's view on dentistry being part of Medicare?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, we've got a cost of living crisis right now, and we want to see alleviation of the cost of living crisis that Australians are facing. But the way to do that is to bite and beat inflation. As I said, that's got to be the top priority right now. There's lots of ideas around about all sorts of things, but Australians are suffering from a cost of living crisis and an economy that has ground to a halt... 

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

But with the cost of living crisis... 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

that has to be the first priority. And the way to do that is to focus on on what I've just described. If you start throwing a whole lot of money at the economy, you just make it worse.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

But if you've got a cost of living crisis, you've also got a lot of people and they can't afford to go to a dentist, which may well end up costing us more in the Medicare system, in hospitals down the track.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

But take pressure off the prices across the board. That's what inflation is. Inflation is when the price of everything is going up. We've got to take pressure off that. And that takes pressure off household budgets. It's the single most powerful way to put households and businesses in a better position. And this government is not focused on what really will make a difference right now.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

Now Angus, while you’re with me, you are the most senior Liberal MP in federal parliament, the news broke yesterday that there is federal intervention now into the state Liberal Party after the shemozzle that is the preselections for local council elections, which are now in two weeks. The president, Don Harwin is gone. The indication is that the federal Liberal Party is concerned that the state Liberal Party is not in a position to fight the federal election. Are you concerned that the New South Wales branch is not ready?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Yeah, absolutely. We absolutely owe it to our membership and supporters across the state to address the challenges we've had, we've seen in the New South Wales division, and we owe it to millions of Australians who are relying on the Liberal Party to return Australia to government, to get our house in order, and that's exactly what we're seeking to do here. We have to have a New South Wales division that is ready to fight and win a campaign at the federal election, and that's what we'll focus on.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

So with the intervention, the former state director is now back into the job, you've got a three man committee running the party. Is that going to be enough do you think?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, we've got to make sure it works. We have no choice but to get the New South Wales division back to where it needs to be. And that absolutely will be Peter Dutton's focus, my focus, and the focus of the whole, of all New South Wales Members of Parliament. It must be, and that's how we'll win the election. We'll make sure that we're campaign ready, but we'll also make sure that we're in a position to fight and beat inflation and the slow economy that we're going to see today.  

 

CLINTON MAYNARD: 

Big job ahead for the Liberals, and we'll be focused on those national accounts figures today. Thank you, Angus. 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Good on you. Good to be with you. 

 

ENDS.