E&OE   
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Angus Taylor is the Shadow Treasurer. He joined me earlier. Angus Taylor, welcome to 7.30.
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Good to be with you, Sarah. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Given the world economic fallout from the tariffs, do you now anticipate cuts from the Reserve Bank? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, I don't get into predicting what the Reserve Bank does, Sarah, but I will say we are living in a deeply uncertain time. I think there's huge challenges for the economy globally and locally. I have asked the Treasury Secretary for daily updates to the Coalition because of the gravity of the crisis we're facing. I think there's a real prospect of a broader global trade war and what we know is that this will, in combination, put downward pressure on the growth of the economy, which has been sluggish at the best of times – seven consecutive quarters of negative GDP per capita – and also has the prospect of being inflationary, particularly because of our low exchange rate and this is a very dangerous time for our economy, for Australians, self-managed retirees, pensioners, people who have been saving a nest egg for their retirement, it's clear that they've seen a free fall in their asset values and young Australians who are saving up for a home, for instance, a very tough time for them. We need strong economic management at this time, a steady hand. That is the key as we look forward.
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Now after initially looking like he was showing you a path to victory, has the madness of Donald Trump now damaged your chances of winning? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, I don't get into commentary on other leaders around the world. I'll focus on what's good for Australia and what's right for Australia. We have long survived and done well on getting access to markets around the world, and we want to continue to do that and so we obviously think that what's going on in the US right now is bad for Australia, and we'll fight against it, and we should. Peter Dutton has said he will travel to the US if we win the election, immediately to have face to face meetings, to say to the Americans this is not good for one of their most trusted allies. We've fought with them in every war, and we do expect better, and we can do better. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Now I want to talk about your working from home back flip. This move has the whiff of desperation about it. Do you accept now that the policies were ill considered from the beginning. 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, we've obviously said they were wrong, and we've said … we've apologised for them, and we'll go forward in a different direction. But the one thing …
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Could they have … could they have cost you the election had you left them in place? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
You know, you're the commentator, Sarah, but what I will say is, is that making sure that government is the right size in this country is hard work, and this government has absolutely failed to do that. It's grown government spending to a level that we haven't seen in 40 years as a per cent of GDP and we know that that's inflationary. It always has been, always will be. The result is we've seen a collapse in our standard of living. Prices have gone up much faster than incomes.
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Why don't we just stay … Why don't we stay with the matter at hand, Angus Taylor, are voters going to mark down an alternative government that starts dumping key policies at this stage in the campaign? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, we haven't, we haven't dumped the key policy of making sure government is the right size in this country, and we've seen a growth of 41,000 in the public service and we want to see a better public service, not a bigger public service. We want public servants in this country being able to be their best. To serving their country in the best way they possibly can and that doesn't necessarily mean making for a bigger public service. So that's our focus. We accept now that work from home was the wrong policy. I will say, though, Sarah that it was also a very misleading campaign from Labor that has not helped the situation, because they were trying to claim that we were pursuing this across the entire economy. That was not the case, and sadly, that kind of misleading campaign, that scare campaign from Labor, is what we are seeing elsewhere, and will continue to see. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Nonetheless, you're the ones that decided to drop the policy. Had it become obvious to you that many working mothers reliant now on the flexibility of working from home, had decided to vote against you and against Peter Dutton as Prime Minister on this issue alone?
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, again, I'm not going to get into the commentary on polls and that sort of thing, but what I will say is, I think we accept that workplaces need flexibility, that flexibility is important. Now one of the challenges in making sure that we get enough people going to work, to the workplace is making sure young Australians actually get the mentoring that they deserve and we're going to have to find the right and appropriate way to do that. But what we want to see …
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Does that mean that you leave open the possibility of reintroducing a similar policy were you to come into government? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
No, not at all. You see at the end of the day, what you've got to make sure, Sarah is that you get the balance right between flexibility in the workplace and accountability for outcomes, including mentoring of young people, and, of course, in the public service outcomes for Australians. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Well, let's talk about the size of the public service because there's been a lot of confusion about how you're going to get to your target position, your desired public service. You're saying you're going to cut 41,000 jobs, not by sacking people, but through natural attritions, and not by attacking frontline services. So what is … help us … what is a frontline position according to you? 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, if someone's serving veterans, for instance, that's a frontline position. If someone's working in the military, that's a frontline position. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
So does that mean that a worker can't be doing a useful job if they're not sitting in a booth or on the phone, dealing directly with the public? That is the only threshold for a valuable job in the public service?
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Not at all. Sarah, and we haven't said that. What we've said is we need to get the public service to the size it was when we were last in government. We need to repair budget deficits that are costing Australians dearly. We're going to see around $125,000 of debt for every family and interest payments for every family in Australia in the next couple of years and so a responsible government would be doing everything it can to make sure the public service isn't bigger but is better. Look, there's incredible people working in our public service. I want to enable them to be their very, very best. 
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
So just quickly on the Federal Health and Education Departments, Peter Dutton questioned the value of those departments. What is your policy on cuts to the Federal Health Department and the Federal Education Department? What target do you have for those two?
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Well, it's exactly the same across the entire public service, which is we'll allow natural attrition to get back to the size we were at when we were last in government. There will be hiring freezes, and we'll be focusing on making sure that Australians working in our public service are able to do their very best every single day and I know the vast majority of public servants want to do exactly that, Sarah.
 
SARAH FERGUSON: 
Angus Taylor, thank you very much indeed for joining us. 
 
ANGUS TAYLOR: 
Good to be with you.
 
ENDS.