Topics: 2025 Federal Budget

 

E&OE

 

SARAH FERGUSON: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton gives his full-blown reply to the budget on Thursday evening. Today, it's the Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor's role to deliver the first response. As recently as the weekend, he made it clear he was waiting to see the government's numbers before the opposition could commit to its policy. He joins me now. Angus Taylor, welcome.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Good to be with you, Sarah.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: Let's be clear on these tax cuts. Do you or don't you support them?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, this is a big spending, big taxing budget which is for the next five weeks, not for the next five years. And what we see in it is a promise of 70 cents a day in a year's time, which is going to do nothing to restore Australians standard of living to where it was when Labor came to power. There are better structural, fundamental solutions to the cost-of-living crisis. That's not what's being offered by Labor and so we won't support what they're doing here.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: You do not support the tax cuts?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: No. Well, look, let's be clear. They are a cruel hoax. I mean, they are not a genuine tax cut. 70 cents a day, 73 cents a day, in a year's time when for a typical Australian family with a mortgage, they're paying an extra $50,000 over and above what they expected. We need a pathway back to the standard of living that Australians had when Labor came to power. That's not what's being offered by this budget. We don't get there until the end of the decade and that's simply not good enough.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: Let's be clear because the Treasurer just now described them as top up tax cuts that went along with the previous tax relief that the government has offered during this term. So, should the tax cuts have gone further? Is that what you wanted to see?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: No, what we're saying is if you manage the economy, you don't see a collapse in people's standard of living.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: So, there's no requirement for tax cuts?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: What we think is there is a better way to make sure we restore prosperity in this country. We get back to the standard of living that we had when we were last in power and ahead of it. And that's what Australians are used to. That's not what Labor's offering in this Budget. We don't get back to the standard of living as I said that Australians had when Labor came to power until the end of the decade.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: Let's be absolutely clear, the opposition will not be offering tax cuts as part of its budget in reply as part of its election campaign policies?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: That's not what I said. I said we do not support what Labor is putting forward today. We have already announced important tax cuts. We've said that small businesses should be given accelerated depreciation.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: We're talking about Tax Cuts for every Australian. Just let's be absolutely clear. We're not talking about specific taxes related to-

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Sarah, can I challenge you on this? When a small business makes an investment, that raises the prosperity of all Australians over time. That's how you get productivity, that's how you make sure we're getting ahead. That's how you get a standard of living that's rising all the time. And that’s not what we’re seeing under Labor.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: I just wanted to get some clarity on personal income taxes. You're not in favour? You will not be offering personal income taxes as part of the election?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: That's not what I said. I said we will not be supporting what Labor has proposed in this budget and that's what we're responding to tonight.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: All right, let's go to the budget more broadly. How long will it take you, how long precisely, will it take you to bring this budget that you've seen today back to surplus?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, we'll make sure that the economy grows faster than spending. That's rule one. And the most important rule, when we reestablish the fiscal guardrails that were thrown out by Labor. That ensures, Sarah, that over time you get back to budget balance. What we see in this budget, $170 billion of deficits, an extra $400 billion or so of spending and taxing since Labor came to power. And no pathway back to prosperity. That’s simply not good enough. So, the fiscal rules that were put in place by Peter Costello all those years ago, will reestablish that makes sure and ensures that we've got an economy that grows faster than spending. And that way you can manage the economy, provide prosperity and help Australians to get ahead.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: But no timeframe on that. But let me ask you another question. You said on Insiders this weekend with my colleague David Speers that you'd wait until you saw the budget to decide how many public servants you're going to sack. You've seen the budget. What are the numbers?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, it's gone up again. So, we're now at 41,000 additional public servants. We have said that we will get to where we were pre-Labor Government, when we were last in power and of course that was 41,000 less. So, that's what we're aiming to get back to. We've seen quite a substantial increase in the numbers tonight and of course that is adding to the costs that all Australians are having to pay and it's one of the reasons why we've got red ink as far as the eye can see in this budget.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: So, to be clear, you're saying that you're going to bring forward a policy that will result in 41,000 public servants losing their jobs?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: We'll be looking to get back to where we were when we were last in government.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: You were also waiting to see headroom in what headroom there was in the budget to determine how much the opposition can afford to spend on defence. What is the number?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, I'm not going to preempt announcements that are going to be made over the coming weeks, including in the budget reply.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: You did suggest on Sunday that you would be able to do that.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, I didn't say I was going to on your program tonight, Sarah.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: No, but you did on Sunday. So, you've seen the budget now. What's the answer?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: I didn't say I was going to do it on your program and I'm not going to do it on your program. I'll leave these announcements to the appropriate people at the appropriate time. What I will say, though, is that you will see us in the coming weeks, focus on economic management, restoring our standard of living, delivering affordable and reliable energy, fixing housing supply, balancing that with immigration, and making sure that we keep Australians safe and secure in a world which is increasingly challenging. And it's as uncertain a world as we have seen since World War II.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: I'm short on time, but I want to ask you this. David Littleproud says that the Coalition will deliver cheaper gas prices within a year. Can you commit to the same thing?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: We will absolutely be putting downward pressure on gas prices. I won't say more about that today, other than to say that they were lower when I was Energy Minister and the reason they were lower is we pushed, made sure there was supply coming out of the ground and going into the Australian network. Australian gas working for Australians. It's not complicated. This Labor government has absolutely failed to deliver that. And the problem with that is not only higher gas prices, but higher electricity prices because the gas price plays such an important role in setting the electricity price.

 

SARAH FERGUSON: Thank you, Angus Taylor, very much indeed for joining us and bringing us your first response to the government's new tax policy. Thank you.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Good to be with you.

 

ENDS