TONY BURKE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE

MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR WATSON
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SYDNEY
SATURDAY, 24 MAY 2014
SUBJECT/S: Tony Abbotts Budget of broken promises.
TONY BURKE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Today there is no doubt from
what weve seen in the papers that the Governments approach to the Budget is
unravelling. Even their own members of Parliament, even their own Ministers, have
realised this Budget is one that ustralia doesn!t want and it is one that hurts people
who can least afford to be hurt.
The whole conte"t of the Budget is about a Budget emergency that doesnt e"ist.
The whole conte"t of the budget is simply Tony bbott wanting put his own priorities
forward, and those priorities are wrong. Those priorities will hurt ustralians in so
many ways. #ne thing we need to remember today$ it doesnt matter at one level
what sort of compromises they now try to put on the table, because forever more
ustralians now %now what Tony bbotts priorities are. This Budget is a set of
values that Tony bbott will never be able to wal% away from.
This Budget presents Tony bbott as the opposite of what he told people he would
be at the time of the election. nd no matter what sorts of arguments happen within
the &iberal party and 'ational party themselves, no matter in what way this Budget
unravels internally, Tony bbott forever more is %nown as somebody who wants to
cuts pensions, as somebody who wants to cut family payments, increase the price of
petrol, put tertiary education out of peoples reach, and ma%e massive cuts to health
and education, including destroying Medicare as we %now it.
REPORTER: (hristopher Pyne has hinted at some are of compromise on the higher
education reforms, flagging a bac%ing down on some of the )E(* debt repayments
thresholds, and interest rates. +oes that bring you any closer to bac%ing them,
BURKE: -rom my understanding of what (hristopher Pyne said, it still involves
putting education out of reach for a whole lot of students. The values that we will put
forward to anything that the Government comes up with . and its clear theyre in
disarray at the moment . but the values we will put forward, and theyre the same
values we flagged before the Budget. /e will ta%e into account the cost to the
bottom line, election promises, whether it is fair, and what impact it has on wor%force
participation. Theyre the four things we said wed apply to the Budget, weve applied
that test and its resulted in whole lot of issues that weve said well vote against.
0f they want to %eep changing the Budget because theyre in disarray and chaos, we
will %eep applying the same principles.
REPORTER: /hat about the GP co1payments, is there any room for compromise on
them,
BURKE: #ur principle is simple$ we will defend Medicare, and Medicare means that
you have a system in ustralia where people loo% after each other!s health, 2ust li%e
you do in a family where the health of one person matters to all of us. /here
the decision on whether or not you go to the doctor needs to be based on whether or
not you are sic%, not on how much money you have.
REPORTER: 0s there any indication as to whether &abor will support the deficit levy,
BURKE: &et!s ma%e clear what is proposed there is an increase in income ta".
0t!s not something we would have done and we have made that clear. /hen it was
originally being slated at 345,555, there was very clear argument for us that we
would vote against that. 0n terms of where it!s now at, at 3645,555, it!s simply not the
priority issue that it was for us. That!s why we haven!t focused on the debate for it.
#bviously as the debate gets closer we!ll have more to say about it.
REPORTER: *hould the Government hand out income ta" cuts before the ne"t
election,
BURKE: The first thing the Government should do is stop hurting people.
*top hurting people. ustralia is not in a budget emergency. (ountries with triple
credit ratings from all ma2or credit rating agencies are not having a deficit crisis.
Every Budget involves tough decisions, we respect that. nd we were involved in our
time in Government of 3645 billion worth of savings. /e don!t wal% away from the
need to ma%e tough decisions at Budget time. But the whole conte"t of this Budget is
wrong, and e"actly where the Government now ta%es it, 0 dont even thin% they %now
the answer to that.
REPORTER: The (oalition says that young people should be open to doing any 2ob,
even if its one they dont li%e. 0s that fair,
BURKE: /ell, let!s 2ust thin% first of all of how these issues apply differently, if you
are in the city or in a more remote area or regional area. &et!s also 2ust thin% of this 1
if someone hasn!t been able to find wor%, and all benefits stop for them, and this is
somebody 1 you could have a 741year1old who hasn!t been able to find a 2ob.
/hat are they meant to live on, /hat are they actually meant to live on, 0f
the Government!s answer is they have to live on nothing, what do they then do,
The focus of the public debate understandably will go to lower and middle income
people and go to a whole lot of family situations. But we can!t ignore the situation for
under 85s. 0f you haven!t been able to find a 2ob for si" months, what are you then
meant to live on when Tony bbott!s answer is nothing, and when faced with that,
what!s the ne"t step that people ta%e, Than%s for your time.
ENDS