Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey Doorstop

01/08/11

TRANSCRIPT

The Hon JULIE BISHOP MP, ACTING OPPOSITION LEADER,

The Hon JOE HOCKEY MP, SHADOW TREASURER.

DOORSTOP

SYDNEY

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………

JULIE BISHOP:

Good afternoon, I’m here with my colleague Joe Hockey and Sydney City Councillor Shayne Mallard. Every day there are reports of the negative impact of Julia Gillard’s Carbon Tax on the cost of living. From the moment people wake up in the morning, throughout their day, to the moment they go to sleep at night, this carbon tax will increase their costs of living. Schools will be hit hard, small businesses will be hit particularly hard, charities will also be affected and so will local councils.

According the government’s own figures, electricity costs will go up by 10% and that will increase the cost of living across the board. Local councils across Australia are already struggling to provide basic services and this carbon tax will hit them particularly hard. Electricity prices will go up year after year after year and local councils will have to bear that cost or cut services or increase rates. Now, electricity costs will go up and that will impact upon services across the board, water supply, sewerage and even rubbish collections.

There is confirmation today that landfills and waste dumps will be covered by the carbon tax so even the cost of collecting rubbish will be increased by this carbon tax. So local councils will be faced with cutting services or increasing rates and the cruel hoax is that Julia Gillard’s carbon tax will not reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. So if you care about the economy, this carbon tax will hit small businesses and families. If you care about the environment, this carbon tax will not decrease Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions which are set to increase by 2020. Joe.

JOE HOCKEY:

Thanks very much Julie, and thank you Shayne. What emerges today is yet another hidden cost that taxpayers will have to pick up. The carbon tax will hit landfill and waste disposal just as it will hit councils with their electricity and gas costs. The fundamental problem here is that the government isn’t providing any compensation. When they say that for business, the 500 largest emitters, the cost will be greater, they completely omit the hundreds of councils around Australia that are going to have increased costs for street lighting, increased costs for general electricity usage, gas usage, and of course waste disposal. Now, under the Government’s formula, business passes the carbon tax through to people who buy their goods. But in this case every ratepayer will have to pick up the bill. This is another example of the Government’s carbon tax promise being a broken promise when it comes to higher costs of living for everyday Australians. And Shayne’s going to give us a bit of an example here at Sydney City Council on the impact of the carbon tax.

SHAYNE MALLARD:

Thank you Joe, and thank you Julie. The City of Sydney invests around about $9 million a year on electricity costs, half of that on street lighting, half of that on our buildings, our swimming pools and community centres. Clearly this is going to flow through to the bottom line of our costs, another approximate $900,000 or a million dollars that we are going to have to pass on to the users of those facilities and also to the ratepayers. We also spend about $11 or $12 million on removing waste from our city and that’s clearly going to have an impact as well with the carbon tax. Our council is in the position where it has got a good rate base but most councils in Australia are doing it very tough, particularly in rural and regional areas and they will find it very hard to stretch the services to cover this extra cost. And I really think it is going to hit hard in those communities where people are really doing quite tough outside the metropolitan area of Sydney.

JOURNALIST:

So there’s no form of subsidy at all for local councils, I mean we hear about businesses being subsidised.

SHAYNE MALLARD:

No there is no subsidy that we have been made aware of, not at all. So we will have to absorb the cost or pass it on or reduce our services.

JULIE BISHOP:

Now I just had one other comment that I wanted to make about the Malaysia people swap. The Malaysia 5 for 1 asylum seeker swap is already under pressure. This deal negotiated by Julia Gillard will cost taxpayers $300 million, but already it’s evident that the people smuggling syndicates will put pressure on this deal by sending more boats.

In the last 12 weeks, over 621 people have arrived on boats. The asylum swap deal means 800 people are taken by Malaysia and 4000 are taken by Australia. Already in the past 12 weeks, over 620 people have arrived, so the Malaysia people swap deal will be exhausted. My fear is that like everything else the Government touches, this asylum seeker swap deal will unravel shortly. The Australian people will continue to be the losers in this deal.

JOURNALIST:

Have you got concerns that the 72 hours processing time doesn’t look like being met, the Government says it is quite impossible because of some complexities among these asylum seekers.

JULIE BISHOP:

The Australian Government always has an excuse when it fails to meet the standards or the promises that it makes and I believe the Malaysia people swap deal is already unravelling. It’s likely to be exhausted in a very short time if recent evidence can be focused upon. Over 620 people arriving in the last 12 weeks and the deal is at an end after 800 people are received by Malaysia.

QUESTION:

Mr Hockey, it appears as if a deal has been reached between the two sides in the US. [inaudible] Can we ask for your reaction?

JOE HOCKEY:

Certainly it appears as if a deal has been done. There’s a salient lesson here for governments right around the world and particularly the Australian Government. Don’t keep spending too much money. Don’t accrue that debt. You don’t have to get to a position like the United States to realize that government debt is an ongoing sore that is going to come back and bite governments that waste too much money.

The fact that the Gillard Government said that net debt would peak at $94 billion and in the last three months alone it is now up at $110 billion illustrates that the Gillard Government does not understand the message. Unless you start getting government debt under control, unless you start reducing government debt, then we can end up in a position where Australia refuses to increase its debt ceiling.

The Australian Government has just come to the parliament to ask to increase the debt ceiling here to $250 billion. They did that without any fanfare, but the bottom line is sooner or later the Australian people are going to get jack of the Government’s debt program and that’s when the hard yards needs to be taken.

So there’s a salient lesson here for Wayne Swan. Stop spending the money, stop wasting the money and we hopefully will never get to the position of the United States. It also reinforces the fact that we’re now facing a weaker US dollar overall and that’s going to have huge implications for Australian exporters and Australian manufacturers who are competing in international markets. The very worst thing you can do to Australian manufacturers and exporters at the moment is increase the cost of production with a carbon tax.

If I can touch on one other issue. Of course the Reserve Bank should not be increasing interest rates tomorrow, but if they do then it will be Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan’s interest rate increase because they have done nothing to address core underlying inflation pressures.

The fact of the matter is, the only reason why the Reserve Bank would increase interest rates tomorrow is because they’re worried about underlying inflation and they’re concerned about underlying inflation because this government has done everything it possibly can to waste money which puts upward pressure on inflation and therefore upward pressure on interest rates.

So whilst the Government keeps spending recklessly, it’s going to continue to put upwards pressure on inflation and upward pressure on interest rates.

QUESTION:

What do you say to the remarks by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer that the Australian economy can withstand shocks. Do you see that as an argument for an increase in interest rates tomorrow?

JULIE BISHOP:

Could I make a comment first and then hand over to Joe. The Australian economy is resilient, but business and consumer confidence has taken a massive hit and is fragile and that is because of the carbon tax and also the wasteful spending of this Government. So the message from the United States and the message from Europe is that Julia Gillard must stop her addiction to wasteful spending, to borrowing and taxing.

JOE HOCKEY:

To put it plainly, if the Government keeps driving through pot hole after pot hole, then sooner or later the suspension in the car is weakened. The fact is they keep creating crises. You’ve got a crisis of consumer confidence, you’ve got building dwelling construction down, you’ve got business confidence down, you’ve got retail down. All of those factors mean that the Australian economy is less shock proof today that it was 12 months ago. And why? Because the Government just makes the matter worse – a carbon tax, a mining tax, a flood tax. All of these things make it worse, together with a deteriorating budget deficit and larger government debt.

Can I just ask you whether you have any thoughts or well wishes for Kevin Rudd?

JULIE BISHOP:

I wish Kevin all the very best. I hope it’s a successful operation and knowing Kevin he will be back up out and about as energetic as ever.

QUESTION:

Mr Hockey?

JOE HOCKEY:

That’s a good question. I think Julie summarized it quite neatly. I don’t think an operation would have any impact on Kevin Rudd’s determination to make life difficult for Julia Gillard. I think you should be asking Julia Gillard whether she wishes him all the very best. I’m sure she does. We all do.

QUESTION:

What about you? Have you wished him all the best?

JOE HOCKEY:

You don’t wish ill health on anyone.