Budget 2004 Mark Latham - Leader of the Opposition

Radio Interview with Howard Sattler & Louise Rowe

Transcript - Radio 6PR - 12 May 2004

SATTLER: Let's talk with the father of a couple of youngsters, Oliver 3, and Isaac 1. The man's name is Mark Latham, who happens to be the Opposition Leader. Hello, Mark.

LATHAM: Good morning, Howard and Louise. How are you going?

ROWE: Good thank you.

SATTLER: Did you go home and procreate last night?

LATHAM: No, my wife and children were in Campbelltown up in Sydney last night. They are coming down today. So considering the duty to be done; it obviously gives me a better chance tonight!

ROWE: There's a lovely thought.

SATTLER: Have you spoken to your good wife about this?

LATHAM: I think some of these things are taken as a given.

ROWE: Would $3,000 for a new baby be enough for you to have another child, Mark?

LATHAM: Oh, well. We have got no plans in that area at the moment. Our two little boys are going well. But I am glad to see the Government has introduced that $3,000 payment because I announced it as Labor policy two months ago. When they copy our policy and bring it into reality that is a really good thing for the country so when good ideas are acted on, whether they are Labor or Liberal, I'm glad to see that support for the mums who need that financial assistance to cover the costs of a new bub in the home.

SATTLER: Have you worked out with Mrs Latham, over the phone at least, how much more money Peter Costello is going to give you?

LATHAM: I don't think we get anything. We are part of the 60 per cent that has been forgotten in the budget. There are over six million Australian families and singles that don't get a single cent in tax cuts or increased family benefits. We don't need it but I am worried about the people on less than $52,000 a year who don't get any tax relief whatsoever – the sales reps, the shop assistants, the labourers, the technicians, the office workers who need a bit of incentive and they should be receiving some tax relief to help them do the overtime and work harder and move their families forward.

ROWE: Okay, so, specifically, what would you do for them?

LATHAM: We believe in a broader tax package. The fact the Government has limited this to just one in five taxpayers is inadequate so we will be developing an alternative tax plan that makes it broader and fairer. The great bulk of Australian taxpayers – four out of five –have been paying extra taxes through to the Government and now they get no relief. Their expectations are dashed out of this budget.

SATTLER: Does this mean you are going to vote against it?

LATHAM: No, we think it's an instalment. We think the argument for tax relief between $52,000 and $80,000 is sound. We just want to make it broader. The average Australian household is paying an extra $9,000 in federal taxes since 1996. So, if they are under $52,000 – and that is where four out of every five tax payers are situated – why don't they get any tax relief, some incentives to work hard, and get stuck in and have a go and try and advance their financial circumstances? That seems to be inadequate so we think what the Government is doing is an instalment that we can support through the Parliament but we want to make that tax relief broader and fairer in the future.

ROWE: We have spoken about personal tax and families, what about funding for things such as the aged care places, health, roads, defence?

SATTLER: It's all good news, isn't it, Mark?

LATHAM: There are some good things there but we have a separate set of priorities in services – for instance, the budget has no dental program and we think it is very important to have a National Dental Program to help the 500,000 Australians, most of them elderly, who are on waiting lists just trying to get their teeth fixed up. We also believe it is important to have a plan to save bulkbilling. We are not going to give up on that. The Government has got a so-called safety net and we think it is important to invest in bulkbilling doctors to have the service there in the first place. There is nothing there about post-secondary education – making universities more affordable and expanding the system. We have got alternative policies for an extra 20,000 university places, an extra 20,000 TAFE places and we think that is the right approach.

SATTLER: A pensioner called a little while ago and said we know that there is more money going into aged care but there is no actual extra money going into our hip pocket. Is that right?

LATHAM: That is right for the age pensioner, and it is right for six million Australian families and singles that don't get a single cent in either tax cuts or increased family benefits. So there is a huge part of the country that has just been totally forgotten in this budget.

ROWE: There are lots of carrots being dangled though and there are a lot of sweeteners, does it knock you a little in your quest to become our next Prime Minister?

LATHAM: The family assistance that they are providing, the $600 lump sum for many families, is really just compensation for bad policy – the family debt crisis.

ROWE: Yes, but they are not going to see it like that when the $600 cheque lands in their letterbox.

LATHAM: But that is the point – they won't see it. Many of them won't see a cheque. It won't land because they have already got an existing debt to the Government of $900, on average. So that's the point: for 600,000 they won't actually see that money. It is just partial compensation for existing family debt so our approach would be actually fixing the problem. Why don't they fix the family debt crisis, put a bit of incentive system? I also think it is a more effective way of providing family assistance because, quite frankly, when the kids are growing, and they need new clothes and shoes, and they have got new sporting teams and new needs at school, families can't afford to wait until the end of the year. They need it on a fortnightly basis, and that is a far more effective way of providing assistance to families. That will be reflected in our alternative. We will have an alternative tax plan and an alternative plan for family assistance.

SATTLER: When?

LATHAM: Well in advance of the election. We are not even 24 hours into the budget. So we are not in a position to announce it now but we want to get it right. We are going to do it in a considered and thoughtful way. When it is 100 per cent accurate and right for Australia, that's when it will be released.

SATTLER: Do you reckon he is going to go fairly early with the election now? Could it be as early as August?

LATHAM: Yes, it could. That is the judgment that is around Parliament House today that this is a budget for the election; it is not a budget for the long term. It is for the election and the election might be early.

SATTLER: But that's what governments of any persuasion do, don't they? Just before elections they sweeten up with lots of nice carrots and things.

LATHAM: They do – they give and then they take, and that's where people need to be careful.

SATTLER: Is that what you would be doing in government?

LATHAM: No, we have got a long-term plan. I mean, if you provide services, if you save bulkbilling doctors, provide a dental service, if you have got good schools, and affordable higher education that is there forever. That is not the sort of thing where you hand a fistful of dollars before the election and take it back afterwards. All of those services and opportunities for people last for the long term and that is why we regard it as the best investment we can make in Australia's future.

SATTLER: On top of the budget, and they reckon they have got the budget to win the votes to win the election. The Liberal Party are having all of those post-budget dinners. I notice there is one with Bronwyn Bishop where you pay $1,500 to go along and hear Bronwyn talk about it. What do you think of that?

LATHAM: She would have to pay me! She would have to pay them $1,500 to hear her speak.

SATTLER: You are not a big wrap for Bronwyn?

LATHAM: Would you pay $1,500 to hear Bronwyn talk?

ROWE: Angela is probably a big wrap for it. Just ahead of rumour file at 7.30 we have heard a rumour that you have cancelled a planned trip to Washington. Is that true?

LATHAM: Yes, that's not a rumour; that's fact. With the early election I can't afford to be overseas. I need to be in this country, obviously working on our policies, but, more importantly, talking to the Australian people about the good plans we have got. That is just the reality out of this election budget.

SATTLER: You have missed the opportunity to rub shoulders with Donald Rumsfeld who George Bush reckons is doing a superb job at the moment.

LATHAM: I'll look forward to visiting Western Australia and talking to people about good things for this country. So, happy to cancel the overseas trip, I can assure you.

SATTLER: Do you think Donald Rumsfeld should resign over the Iraq prisoner atrocities?

LATHAM: I think the atrocities are disgraceful. It just totally weakens the credibility of the occupying forces as liberators, or democratises [inaudible] It is not my judgment …

SATTLER: I know but the buck stops at the top, doesn't it?

LATHAM: It is for the American President to sort out what happens to him. I am focussing on the domestic issues here and I have made a judgment. The United States has got an election year and we have got an election in this country. I am better off just sticking to good things for Australia and let the American system sort itself out.

SATTLER: Yes, but have you worked out how much it would save taxpayers in Australia by bringing the troops home from Iraq by Christmas?

LATHAM: The Government was spending an extra $150 million in the next financial year so obviously there would be a saving to Australia by having the troops home by Christmas – a saving of a substantial amount of money. And our priority, quite frankly, is getting it right for national security on the home front – regional airport security, port security, coast guard. We need to keep this country safe and secure and it is hard to see how Australia's security has been enhanced by all of the policy failings in Iraq, probably the opposite has happened.

SATTLER: We are running a web poll post-budget and at the moment most of the respondents, 63.64 per cent, are saying, as a result of the budget, they like it and they are going to vote Liberal.

LATHAM: People need to have a look at the fine print and they will see that there are six million forgotten Australian families and singles who don't receive a single cent in tax or family benefits. So as people look beyond the newspaper headlines and they see that most of the country has been forgotten in the budget and also I hope, as they look at Labor's alternative plans, they will reach a different conclusion.

SATTLER: Good luck tonight.

LATHAM: Thanks very much.

Ends. E & OE