Topics: Strong action from the Coalition to stamp out organised crime in the construction industry; income tax cuts; economic policies; federal budget; insurance

 

E&OE   

 

ALI MOORE:

The Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor, has been in the Victorian seats of Aston and Goldstein today. Peter Dutton has also been in Victoria. Angus Taylor, welcome to Drive.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Great to be with you, Ali.

 

ALI MOORE:

Can we start without … not, not talking economy, not talking budget, but can we start looking at the CFMEU? Because we know that there is this police investigation that the Premier announced today, called Operation Hawk. I'm now looking at reports that suggest that police have confirmed that, in fact, Operation Hawk has been running for some time. However, we now have this police investigation, but Peter Dutton says that if you are elected, you'll set up a whole lot of responses to the latest allegations, including legislation to de-register the construction division. So that would be on the table for you?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Absolutely it would be. And can I say I do think this is an economic issue because we're paying way more to build things, whether it's roads or schools or hospitals right across this country than we really need to because we've got a union with deep links to the criminal underworld. It is a criminal enterprise in the way it's been behaving, and that's been very clear in the reports we've been seeing in recent times, and another report last night with shocking footage, absolutely shocking footage of officials from an organisation that is out of control, should be deregistered, sits on the national executive of the ALP, has donated over $11 million to the ALP.

 

ALI MOORE:

Well it’s no longer donating and they are an administration. You've got a Federal Police investigation as well. How … I mean … you de-register, do you Royal Commission it? Do you go that far?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

You de-register it. I mean, we have to be rid of an organisation that is a criminal organisation, not a Worker’s Union. I have great respect for the union movement. At its very best it does incredibly important work. But that's not what's going on here. These are deep criminal links. We're seeing more and more about them as we see more press on it, and every Australian is paying a price for this.

 

ALI MOORE:

But de-registering is not going to, you know, not going to resolve the issues of corruption or answer the allegations or should I say, get to the people who are responsible for criminality.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

It's necessary but you're right in saying it's not sufficient. So we're also proposing re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission to make sure that this sort of lawlessness is taken out of the workplace.

 

ALI MOORE:

But didn’t this happen under that commission?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

Hang on. We'll keep going. We hadn't deregistered the CFMEU. So there's a whole series of layers to this, and new laws which will ensure that the AFP can take action against this criminal activity, in particular against the organisation and the kingpins.

 

ALI MOORE:

What are those laws? Where are the holes at the moment in terms of police ability to deal with the CFMEU?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Being able to take action against the organisation and the kingpins. This is the key. You have to take the head off the snake here and it is a snake. We have senior officials in this organisation with deep links, as I said, to the criminal underworld, and there need to be powers for the AFP to take serious action against them.

 

ALI MOORE:

So what are the powers they haven't got now?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, the powers to take on the leaders of the organisation and the organisation itself for the criminal behaviour it engages in.

 

ALI MOORE:

Don't we have laws that could be used should the investigator …

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

There are state laws but not commonwealth. And that's the point. We want to make sure that there's commonwealth laws in place to ensure that we can take action. We're all paying a price for this, Ali.  Everyone listening today, everyone in Australia, is paying a price for an organisation that is out of control, that the ALP won't challenge and take on, needs to be taken on, because every Australian taxpayer is paying for it and the personal stories here, some of which we saw last night, and some of which we've seen in recent months, of builders and others participating in the construction industry, the kind of bullying and intimidation we've seen is completely shocking and unacceptable.

 

ALI MOORE:

The stories that Angus Taylor has just referred to there were 60 Minutes last night on Channel Nine where they had further allegations and you know that the CFMEU has been part of a very long running investigation by both The Age newspaper and Network Nine. Is the budget for the Opposition a big opportunity, because, yes, it is a focus on government and government performance, but it also is a chance for you to detail policy and if you know, if you talk to some, they would say, well, we don't know a lot about what you're planning, should you win government?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we're planning to get the country back on track, and that means getting rid of the waste, getting red tape out of the way, backing small business, beating inflation, boosting growth and balancing immigration with our housing supply, making sure we've got enough new houses coming through to re-establish aspiration.

 

ALI MOORE:

What we all want to hear is the detail.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, there’s details on all of those policies, Ali, and we can spend all day talking about them. I'm more than happy to but the point here is this: if you step back from this, what we've got is a situation right now where Australians have seen the biggest hit to their standard of living in history. Prices that have surged. We’ve seen grocery prices over 30% up since Labor came to power. Personal income taxes being paid going to the highest levels ever. $3,500 …

 

ALI MOORE:

Well I wanted to stop you at that … Okay, you mentioned personal income tax, and you need to fix that. So tax cuts under a Coalition Government?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well there will be tax cuts. We've already talked about accelerated depreciation and the importance of getting small business investing so that we get the jobs, the opportunities …

 

ALI MOORE:

You’re going to change the rules on that?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We absolutely are, and we've announced that some time, in fact, in the last Budget in Reply, we announced the importance of embedding a permanent accelerated depreciation arrangement for small business, because small business is the backbone … backbone of the community.

 

ALI MOORE:

What about on personal income taxes?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

On personal income taxes? Can I say I just wanted to finish that point and I'll come back to you your question. We've seen a $3,500 increase in personal income taxes being paid by the average Australian, substantially more in many, many cases, of course and we heard the Treasurer today not understanding that, debating that. Even after the stage three tax cuts, that's what the situation is.

 

ALI MOORE:

What’s your measuring point? Paying more from when?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

From when Labor came to power, from the final year we were in government, until the year we are in now. We've seen $3,500 increase in personal income taxes being paid, and the Treasurer, the Treasurer, had no idea, none at all. He's out of touch and out of his depth when it comes to what his government is doing to Australians’ standard living. So the key here is to is to restore our standard of living as quickly as possible. It's fallen 8% since Labor came to power. 7.9% to be exact, since Labor came to power and right now Labor's plan from the last budget and the RBA’s plan, forecast tell us we will not get back to where we were when Labor came to power until 2031.

 

ALI MOORE:

But can we talk about what you would do? How do you restore that? How do you restore that? You know the … essentially, it boils down to things like productivity.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Absolutely right.

 

ALI MOORE:

How do you … what are you going to do? Just saying you’re going to do it doesn’t make it …

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

And if you give me a chance, I'll go back to the depth of the answer that I was going into before. So if you look at the key sectors in our economy that are holding back productivity. We know the construction sector is central to this. It's been one of the worst performers in productivity in this country. There are some great people in that industry, but it hasn't performed as it should and we know part of that, an important part of that is the lawlessness of the CFMEU that's been holding the country to ransom. That's why de-registering the CFMEU is so crucial.

 

ALI MOORE:

But that's not going to help when it comes to building private homes, is it?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, actually the CFMEU does build private homes. Apartments are actually … they are well and truly in that market, make no mistake about it and that's an important part of the housing supply. Particularly for younger Australians trying to get into the housing market. Apartments are crucial, and the CFMEU is absolutely in that.

 

ALI MOORE:

So that's one way of doing it.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We've also said that we're not going to add extra red tape to building a house. We've seen Labor bring on red tape, which the building industry says has added $50,000 to building the cost per house.

 

ALI MOORE:

So what red tape are you getting rid of?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

… the National Construction Code. We've said that we will not, we will not progress that, and in fact, in appropriate circumstances, we'll look at where it can be rolled back because it's adding to the cost of building a home. We know, we know foreign ownership has been a part of the demand that we think there needs to be a pause for two years, and we've announced those policies. Then we move to energy, we need to get more supply into the system. That is absolutely crucial. That means taking red tape away from those trying to get more supply into the system. We know gas is crucial to that in the next couple of years, and that's why we'll continue to announce policies to get gas into our network. If you go to financial services, we know the regulators have meant that we haven't seen productivity in financial services. It's harder to get a loan, it's harder to get advice, it's harder to get insurance than it's ever been in recent times in this country and that means scrolling back that regulation. I gave a speech, just a couple of years ago, just a couple of weeks ago indeed (laughs) laying that out.

 

ALI MOORE:

It feels like years ago, possibly (laughs)

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah it does (laughs) laying that out. So you know, Ali, there's a whole series of pushes here for us on freeing up the economy, on allowing businesses to invest and get on and create those opportunities for Australians.

 

ALI MOORE:

So that’s encouraging business. That's one side of things, that's encouraging growth and encouraging business. On the other how do you deal with the deficit? We played a little of the Federal Treasurer earlier. Where are you going to cut? You've talked about public sector job cuts, but you haven't said where. Where are you going to cut?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We've been very clear that we have opposed, because we've voted on it in the Parliament, in most instances, we've opposed over $100 billion of Labor spending, which we think is inappropriate at the time. That's not in essential services. It's in other areas where we think Labor has been spending money that is not going to add to getting Australians’ standard of living back to where it needs to be.

 

ALI MOORE:

And where is that?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

And those are areas like their so-called manufacturing policies that have been putting money into American companies focused on quantum. I mean, this is just completely inappropriate spending.

 

ALI MOORE:

But that’s really not going to help you deal with a big deficit, is it? I mean, you need something much more than that.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

$100 billion we've opposed. $100 billion. Power lines that are not necessary if we build the grid the right way, housing policies that haven't delivered a house, Ali. We're not even close to Labor's housing targets because they've taken the wrong approach to housing and I started to talk about the right approach. That's why we've said getting a Housing Infrastructure Fund that de-bottlenecks the critical pieces of infrastructure that get more supply so these …

 

ALI MOORE:

But you’ve talked about … let's stay on housing. You talked about investing $5 billion to fund the essential infrastructure, things like the water and the power and the sewage at housing development sites. Where does that $5 billion come from?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

By not spending the $100 billion that we've opposed from Labor. This is the point: you've got to spend your money well at a time like this. Every household and business in this country right now is squeezing hard to make ends meet, and so should the government. That doesn't mean squeezing essential services, but it does mean looking at dollars that aren't core to those essential services that we can avoid for now, because we need to take pressure off inflation, grow the economy, encourage investment, get things moving, back small business, make sure we've got new housing supply coming into the market. These are the policies that will move the dial and most importantly restore hope to Australians, and I have to say that hope has been disappearing in front of our eyes.

 

ALI MOORE:

When you have businesses that aren't doing the right thing, you talk a lot about the monopoly power in the supermarket sector, for example, and wanting the ability to break up the big supermarket players. Insurance. Do you want to break up the big insurance companies or don't you?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We've been really clear about this.

 

ALI MOORE:

Well, have you?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well if you let me answer the question, I’ve got a chance to Ali, but we have been clear about this. We will take on sectors where there's evidence of abuse of market power or anti-competitive behaviour. When I was Energy Minister, I took on the energy companies.

 

ALI MOORE:

But taking them on and threatening to break them up are very different things.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah if you just let me finish. We've been prepared to do that. I did it when I was Energy Minister. I have also done it as Shadow Treasurer, put together legislation which is thoughtfully put together to say to the supermarkets, we expect you to use your market position – it's a privileged market position – in the interests of customers.

 

ALI MOORE:

So will you do the same?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We will do what is necessary. Now we have said we're prepared to do it in every sector, if necessary, but the truth is, the focus has been on the insurance sector because of the increase in rates.

 

ALI MOORE:

So it is necessary to have that power in the insurance sector?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Hang on. If you just let me finish, be patient. We have said we don't see that we're in a position where we'll do that. Now, that's not part of our plans.

 

ALI MOORE:

Well that’s not exactly what Peter Dutton said.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, no, that is exactly what Peter Dutton has said. That is exactly what Peter Dutton has said and the point about this is we're prepared to act if necessary. We've acted on energy in the past. We've acted in recent times on supermarkets and hardware, and we will act if we get into government. We don't have a plan to do that in insurance, but if we see, if we see evidence of abuse of market power or anti-competitive powers, anti-competitive behaviour, then we will do it. Angus Taylor, good to talk to you. Thank you for coming in.

 

ENDS.