Topics: ACCC report into supermarkets, nuclear power, immigration, Australia drops out of top 10 World Happiness Report

 

E&OE  

 

PETER FEGAN:

So here you go again, Angus Taylor standing up trying to deliver Australia a message and he's getting interrupted by a pest. He joins me on the line, Shadow Treasurer, thanks for your time this morning.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good to be with you Peter.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Hey, can I tell you this? I had one of them on the program here on, was it Wednesday, team? I think it was Wednesday and that was the bloke that had jumped on stage next to Jim Chalmers and I asked him, Angus, I said, have you got a job? And he said, oh no, no. And I said, okay, have you got a job or not? And he said, I'm on a gap year.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I tell you what, you know, it was exactly when I was talking to you about grocery prices by going up over 30%, which this guy clearly couldn't care less about, couldn't care less. He wanted to interrupt. I of course offered to have a chat with him afterwards. He wasn't interested in that. Look, everyone in this country has a right to free speech and to protest.  I believe that very strongly, but press conferences are an important part of our democratic process. It's how journalists get to ask me and other politicians questions, hold us to account, but they're radical activists like this bloke who just don't believe in that process. They clearly don't and that's bad for Australia. It's bad for Australians. It's bad for our democratic process.  And it's also clear these people are aligned with the Green/Teal and that's who want to govern the country after the next election if there's a hung parliament. We simply can't afford to have these people in charge because they don't believe in what I believe in and what I think the vast majority of Australians believe.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Let's not give them too much airtime, I think, Shadow Treasurer, let's move on. Can I ask you about the ACCC's report into supermarkets? What does the ACCC or what does the supermarkets have over the ACCC? Because to me, Angus, here we go again. You have the ACCC that's thrown a wet lettuce at our major supermarkets. I don't understand it. We didn't get anywhere.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, it's the government that doesn't want to do anything. I mean, let's be clear about that. We've seen grocery prices rise by over 30%. There is a history, we know of land banking in supermarkets and in the hardware sector and we've seen bad behaviour in the past. Look, most countries in the world, certainly peer countries to us, have divestiture powers, which are only a last resort, only to be used when the most extreme cases come in front of the government or the courts and it's quite right and proper that we have that in Australia and the idea that the supermarket shouldn't be subject to serious competition regulation when they do the wrong thing, I think is just wrong. I'm a big believer in business. We need to have strong business in this country. We need to have investment in businesses that get ahead and do well. But I tell you what, anti-competitive behaviour is unacceptable to the Australian population, and we will continue to fight hard for Australians, for those hardworking Australians who are struggling to get ahead and who are having to pay so much more for everything right now.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Now, at fear of bringing back up these protesters, I've got to say, out of everything I've learnt from these rising tide dopes, they do ask a pretty legitimate question. They asked one of Jim Chalmers, and they asked Jim Chalmers whether or not Labor would get rid of gas and coal projects. He couldn't answer it. I wanted to ask you this, though. You were asked yesterday by an activist that you claim nuclear power will drive energy costs. they say it will drive up. What's your response to that when someone says, okay, nuclear energy is going to drive the energy prices up? I mean, what's your response?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

They're wrong.  They're simply wrong and we know this for several reasons. One is most other peer countries in the world are doing this. They're not stupid. For some reason, Chris Bowen thinks he knows better than the rest of the world. He doesn't and his failure is clear for everyone to see when they look at their electricity bill on a regular basis. Secondly, we've done the work. We know that there will be cost reductions of over 40%. Key to this, key to this is if you have base load power in this country, supplying our base load needs like our aluminium smelters and our data centres, they don't need to be backed up. If you're trying to do it through renewables only, it's all got to be backed up. You don't need a whole lot of new transmission lines because you're doing it where you've already got transmission lines. That's the whole point and so you take a whole lot of cost out of the system.  It's not rocket science this stuff, but let's face it, these people are ideologically opposed to it. What's so bizarre about this?  

 

PETER FEGAN:

But why is it causing division though, Angus? Why is it causing division within the Liberal Party if it's so simple? There is a division within this.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I think the vast majority of the Liberal Party are strongly in favour of it.

 

PETER FEGAN:

The vast majority?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Absolutely. There's no question in my mind. Our party room is absolutely aligned behind this, and you know there'll always be some in any organisation who have a different view, and we believe in robust debate.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Now are you changing policies before this election campaign? The reason I ask is Peter Dutton was pretty firm on immigration numbers sticking at around that 140,000 I think the target was, I don't have the numbers in front of me. Then there's been a change to the targets in year one and two if elected to three and four. Why did Peter Dutton change his mind?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

He hasn't. What's happening is there's a change from what's actually planned by Labor to what's occurred in reality. In other words, they've completely missed their targets. We've seen numbers that are off the charts in terms of immigration, double what we'd seen, roughly double what we'd seen before, and we'll wait to see what the latest set of numbers are that come out of the government in the budget. But what we do know is every time they put out a new set of numbers, they're higher. They're higher and meanwhile, we haven't got the houses coming into the market to satisfy that growing population. This is an absolute utter disaster and the fear I have is that young Australians, like my four kids and so many other Australians across this country are losing hope that they will ever be able to buy and own their own home.  

 

PETER FEGAN:

It's scary thought, isn't it?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

It is. I mean, this is a country where I grew up believing you could buy and own your home if you work hard, if you do all the things that your parents encourage you to do, that you could start a business and grow a business over time and have a real crack at it. Those dreams are fading. The hope is going, and we have to re-establish that hope because that is very heart of what it is to be an Australian in my view.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Angus Taylor, before I let you go, I was shocked to learn this this morning. I know you've probably read this, that Australia has slipped out of the top 10 of the happiest places in the world and you know what? More broadly, I think that we should be a little concerned by it because I'm always happy and I think Australians are overwhelmingly happy. Why do you think we would be unhappy? I don't think there's a reason to be.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I think we're losing hope, Pete.  I love this country. I absolutely love it, and I think most Australians feel that way. It is a truly special place. Whenever I've travelled elsewhere in the world, I come back and I go, I am so lucky to live here.  But I think we're seeing Australians, particularly a lot of younger Australians, really losing hope. And it's for the reasons I just said.  We've got to get back to that aspirational Australia where if you have a go, you get a go. And that is the Australia I grew up in, I believe in, and I think it's the Australia that most Australians want to see back on the table again and that's what we've got to do.

 

PETER FEGAN:

Shadow Treasurer, you have a fantastic weekend. We'll chat very soon, no doubt.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good on you.

 

ENDS.