Topics: Federal Budget
E&OE…
Lyndal Curtis
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Education Minister, Scott Ryan, joins me now. Scott, welcome to Capital Hill.
Scott Ryan
Good afternoon, Lyndal.
Curtis
You attended a joint-party meeting. Did the Prime Minister have a message?
Ryan
Well the message I think is the same that he said on radio this morning. This is a budget that is committed to rebuilding the country’s finances and providing a strong basis for economic growth in the future. We don’t expect all the measures to be popular, but they are in the national interest.
Curtis
Will be pain be worth the price?
Ryan
Well I think we’ve seen before, not so long ago, when Peter Costello and John Howard delivered their first budget in 1996, that taking the difficult decisions early, rather than putting them off, means that you will have the resources to invest in health, in infrastructure. And might I say, in Victoria last week the State Government brought down a budget, after a very difficult first couple of years in office where they had to make similar decisions, and we’re seeing record investments in my home state from the State Government in infrastructure, in health, and education.
Curtis
Of course that 1996 Budget, the first budget of Peter Costello and John Howard, broke some promises. They were famously distributed into “core” and “non-core” promises. Is that effectively what this government will be doing?
Ryan
Our promise was to fix the Budget, this is a commitment that goes to the very core of why we won the election, and what people expect from us.
Curtis
But you made many other promises. Tony Abbott says the election was a referendum on the carbon tax, he promised that taxes wouldn’t go up, that people wouldn’t have to pay more personal income tax. Was there any point in the election campaign where you ranked the promises, in order of importance?
Ryan
Well let’s wait and see the full Budget tonight. We made a commitment that taxes would be lower under the Coalition and I think tonight you will see that taxes will be lower under the Coalition than under Labor. I mean remember now Lyndal, we are trying to get rid of two taxes that we did promise, and the only people stopping us from doing that and getting rid of the carbon tax and mining tax are the Labor Party. So all the hyperbole and hysteria from Bill Shorten can’t change that fact, he is stopping us from keeping our promises.
Curtis
Mr Hockey said this morning that Labor never suggested there was never a chance they’d actually get to surplus, but he never believed Labor would deliver a surplus. He said, and other Coalition figures said, time and time again that Wayne Swan, or that Labor, would never deliver a surplus. Didn’t you always expect the budget to be in long term deficit?
Ryan
What we said was that Wayne Swan would never deliver a surplus and I think history has shown us out on that. But what became clear after we came to office, Lyndal, was that the constant, overly optimistic projections that Wayne Swan always assumed revenue would constantly increase faster than his record rate of spending increases would get him out of a hole, and they weren’t going to do that. When you look around the world and when you look at the fact that Australia has had the fastest increase in debt in the developed world, our budget position was unsustainable and so difficult decisions have to be made to stop that.
Curtis
But didn’t you always expect that Wayne Swan’s, that the Labor Government’s promises couldn’t be delivered on, so why was it a surprise to open the books and find the situation you say you have to deal with now?
Ryan
The surprise Lyndal, comes from the fact that the projections were so overly optimistic. We were always suspicious of Wayne Swan, we think history’s actually shown out the fact that his budgeting could not be trusted. But we didn’t get to look at the books until we took office, and what became clear was that the rate of increase in Australia’s debt was utterly unsustainable, and the only people that don’t believe that appear to be Wayne Swan and Bill Shorten.
Curtis
And worth the price of breaking a few promises, that you believe may have been lower down on the ranking?
Ryan
Well Lyndal, the challenge for us is that we can’t have a situation where we bequeath more debt to our children, because then we would have a situation where the services that Australians rely on, things like pensions, and the Medicare system, they don’t become sustainable. If you look all around the world, putting off difficult decisions about bringing budgets back into balance only makes the problem worse. We’re making the difficult decisions tonight.
Curtis
Do you expect a backlash from the public, particularly over that issue of trust?
Ryan
I expect that, as the Prime Minister said, and he said earlier on this program, that not all these decisions will be popular, I don’t think they’ll be cheering in the streets for these decisions after they hear from Joe Hockey tonight. There is some good news, but I think people will respect it.
Curtis
You’re the Parliamentary Secretary for Education, will tertiary students be facing higher costs?
Ryan
The Minister has made a few speeches about higher education over the last month, and what drives the Coalition’s position on this is actually increasing opportunities so that more people can continue to participate in post-secondary education.
Curtis
A lot of the election campaign was about the carbon tax, and about people’s cost of living. In the end won’t people’s cost of living rise because they’ll have to pay for petrol, they’ll have to pay more to go to a doctor?
Ryan
If Labor will let us get rid of the carbon tax Lyndal, that’s $550 a year for every household…
Curtis
And some of that will be eaten up by the higher petrol costs and payments to go to a doctor.
Ryan
The cost of living for a family household, if Labor lets us fulfil our promise, will be lower because the increases that have been speculated in the press have been much smaller than $550 a year.
Curtis
Any chance that the Budget will be brought back to surplus a little earlier?
Ryan
Well I think we’ve got to actually wait for Joe Hockey, he’ll give a speech tonight and you’ll go into a Budget lock-up very soon Lyndal, and that’s one of the factors that I’m sure Joe will highlight tonight, the schedule and the program to get the Budget back to surplus.
Curtis
Scott Ryan, thank you very much for your time.
Ryan
Thanks Lyndal.
(Ends)