Topics: Donald Trump’s inauguration; anti-Semitism; small business food and entertainment tax deduction; Labor’s energy policy shambles

 

E&OE   

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

It’s time talk Federal politics with the Shadow Treasurer and Member for Hume Angus Taylor. Angus, good morning.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

G'day Stephen, good to be with you, and Happy New Year to you and your listeners.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

And to you too. The revolution of common sense. Will it come here as well?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, absolutely. It needs to. I mean, this is about getting back to basics and as you know, I've been talking about this for a long time now, and we need that. We need it in the United States. We need it here. Huge congratulations to Donald Trump, by the way, and I've seen a little bit of the ceremony. Its usual color and pomp and ceremony but most importantly, this is a new regime who we have to have a good relationship with, and the strength of that relationship, over a long period of time, has been an asset to both the United States and to Australia, of course.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

The thing that got … there was a couple of things he said to me. Firstly, he's going to legislate that there are only two genders. Now to the average person out there, Australian or American, they said, well, that's common sense. I mean, why do we need to legislate common sense? I mean, that's where we've come to in the world. But then he says, we're going to use the resources we've got. If you guys came out and said we're going to use coal, gas, oil and uranium tomorrow, you'd win in a landslide.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we are saying we're going to use our resources. I mean, gas, for instance, is hugely important to this country, as is our uranium, and making use of that, not only to sell it, but to actually use it for generating electricity, Stephen. I mean, I would have thought that is common sense. We've been mining uranium for many, many years, and we are good at it, and we should be using that uranium to generate electricity. So look, I think this stuff is common sense. It is back to basics, and that's what we're on about.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

Do you think because and I made the point and you would have heard my editorial, there's a lot of things that Donald Trump said that politicians here in Australia would be wary of saying using the same language he did. Do you think this emboldens people particularly on the conservative side, to come out and say, well enough of the political correctness, we're actually going to say what we mean from now on.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah, look, I think it does and I think this is important. I mean, you know, I've been fighting, for instance, on making sure we get gas out from under the ground for many, many years, from before politics in fact and I've been a strong supporter of our uranium industry as well and I mean these things, you're right, we've gone through a period where making those arguments has been looked down on by those who claim they're in the know and I do think there is a real opportunity now to get back to basics, to get back to the things we know from history have always worked well for us, and that's exactly what we'll do if elected to government.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

He also says that he's going to institute an external revenue service, and has talked about placing tariffs on foreign suppliers. Are you concerned about how our relationship, well, I won’t say survives that but how we weather that? Because, I mean, it could actually be detrimental to our economy.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah. Well, look, the truth is, whilst there's much to agree with Donald Trump and his new administration about, one area where we have to be cautious, of course, is making sure that we're not punished through trade sanctions and so having a strong relationship with the United States is important. Now, last time around, we got a good outcome on this, and we worked closely with Trump and his administration to achieve that. So the heat is on the Australian Government right now, Albanese, Kevin Rudd to get into that administration and make sure they get a good outcome for Australia on this crucial issue.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

With Kevin Rudd as Ambassador, if you were to win the next election on April 12 or March 17, or whenever it's going to … May 17, whenever it's going to be, does he continue his term or, I mean, how do those appointments work?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, they'll be made if we win the election, of course, and I'm not going to make ambassadorial appointments on your show today …

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

No, no but I mean because they're five-year terms aren’t they?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

The point I would make … the point I would make about this is a very simple one, which is, we need Australian bureaucrats, wherever they are in the world, doing the very best for Australia, and Kevin Rudd's job right now is to make sure we have a strong relationship with this new administration. We get the best possible outcomes on crucial issues like trade, which we were just talking about and that's, of course, what we expect of all public servants, and if they do their jobs well, of course, things go better for them and it's pretty simple.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Australia. There was one report last week suggesting that it's worse here than anywhere else in the Western world, which I think is frightening. Peter Dutton has announced harsh new penalties if you are elected to government. I mean, this is the kind of leadership we could have used 15 months ago.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I mean, you're right, and anti-Semitism has been on the rise. There's no doubt about that. The Jewish community feels under siege. They feel abandoned. There's a shocking rise in anti-Semitism across our country. It’s a national crisis. It needs a national response. We haven't seen that from Albanese and that's why we keep stepping up with sensible measures, mandatory minimum sentencing for acts of terrorism. I mean, this is stuff that the government should be doing, and we'll keep playing that leadership role from Opposition. Ultimately, though, the best way to play a leadership role is from government, and we're going to keep pushing hard in the lead up to this election.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

Small business is on its knees. We've had another report out to say that, particularly in hospitality, businesses going into administration and business failures are the highest they've been in a long, long time, particularly over the six months to December. The tax deduction that was announced yesterday for business lunches. I mean, the response to it's been ridiculous. You know, free lunches and taxpayers paying for their bosses and all that kind of rubbish. But does this go far enough? Why not just scrap Fringe Benefits Tax altogether and just allow things to go back to the way they were when governments got out of the way of business?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, you're absolutely right and you know, anyone who's claiming this is some kind of rorting mechanism ... it’s absolutely not. We need people getting out in their businesses, connecting for business purposes. That's what it's about, and supporting our small local businesses, our hospitality business, restaurants and cafes and pubs. And that's what this is about. We already have, by the way, this exemption for not-for-profits, and so it seems perfectly sensible to me to extend that to small businesses. There's appropriate safeguards around it. We have to be fiscally sensible here. We need to make sure that we're not adding to inflationary pressures. So this has been done in a measured way, but you're right. We've got small businesses failing around this country at an unprecedented rate, Stephen and so we are unashamedly going to make sure that we do everything we can to get government out of the way, as you say, for small business, so they can get on, invest, create jobs, take risks, all those things we know are good for our communities and good for the country over the longer term.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

Now we're going to talk about this a little bit more in detail later on, but Labor's tax credits for aluminum smelters. I mean, firstly, I talk to people in these industries all the time who say that you can't operate them on renewables. So, I mean, what does this actually achieve?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, yeah, that's a very good question. Labor has absolutely failed to deliver the lower electricity prices it promised before the last election so now it's going to start throwing subsidies around. That's not the way you make for a healthy aluminum sector or any industry in this country. I've worked in the aluminum smelter, Stephen for many years, and I tell you, subsidies are not the way to achieve it. We managed to save the Portland Smelter down in Victoria through good, commercial, sensible arrangements by putting downward pressure on electricity prices. It's straightforward. It is back to basics. It's common sense. It's an electricity-driven industry, and if your electricity prices are too high, then it fails and no government subsidy is going to solve that problem.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

Yeah, green aluminum. It’s a bit like green hydrogen as far as I can see. Angus good to talk to you. We'll catch up in a couple of weeks.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good on you, Stephen.

 

STEPHEN CENATIEMPO:

All the best. Angus Taylor, the Shadow Treasurer and Member for Hume.

 

ENDS.