Subjects: Labor’s Budget mess; Labor’s savings announcement; campaign advertisements; PM’s campaign trail. 

E&OE…

GREG JENNETT:

We might go back to a Government Senator who didn’t really need to wait to hear that media conference to go after Labor and its economic management credentials. It’s the Liberals’ Senator Scott Ryan. He went forward and made accusations about Labor’s economic management credentials well before Bill Shorten’s media conference.

Scott Ryan, there’ll be a big focus on the costings debate again today, with Labor declaring which of the so-called “zombie cuts” it’s now going to go ahead and support. You couldn’t exactly decry this, though, could you? This is exactly what the Coalition’s been calling for, for months if not years now?

SCOTT RYAN:

There should be a big focus on this and also on the fact that the Labor Party’s approach to the Budget is simply chaotic. Some of these are measures that they have been blocking in Parliament for years. Australia’s Budget and economy would be in a better position today if they hadn’t, and it’s clear that their position is in chaos and their processes are chaotic and they’re only doing this for political purposes. Their confession the other day in their so-called plan that the Budget was going to get worse over the next 4 years, but somehow miraculously be better in 10 or 11 has been shown up for the farce it is.

GREG JENNETT:

There’s going to be a rollover and they’re going to support you on certain measures. What then happens to the rest of them? You would have to abandon them eventually, wouldn’t you, if you know you’re not going to get them through the next Senate?

SCOTT RYAN:

Let’s not pre-empt the election and the election result. We are going to firmly prosecute and stand by those measures in the national interest. The Budget measures we announced, some very difficult changes, we believe are important to ensure the long-term economic security of Australia through having a strong Budget. After all, it was the strong Budget that Labor inherited from the previous Coalition Government that allowed Australia to get through the global financial crisis.

GREG JENNETT:

Something like waiting four weeks before a young person can get the dole. It appears completely loveless. It was in the last Senate. It presumably will remain so in the next. Why keep those savings banked on the books?

SCOTT RYAN:

I don’t want to pre-empt either the election or the chaos we’re going to see from Labor this afternoon. We will stand by the measures we think we have put to the Senate and we will put to a new Senate after this election. We believe they’re in the long-term interest of all Australians. Some are very difficult decisions, but Labor today is going to try a political fix to Band-Aid over the Budget mess they’ve left and the chaos they’ve created and it shows they simply have no credibility on these matters. How can they be saying something today they’ll allegedly support that they have been voting against for years?

GREG JENNETT:

Do you give them credit for honesty? Their tactic is somewhat unconventional in that they’ve admitted their deficits will be deeper. Now they’ve got to wear some pain rolling over on measures that they’ve been opposing. This is a shot of honesty into Australian politics, isn’t it?

SCOTT RYAN:

I judge people by their actions, not by their words. And I don’t call it honesty. Labor’s hand has been caught in the jar. They’ve been caught out on their confession that the Budget deficit was going to get worse in the next Parliament. But, somehow in three elections they promised to make it better. What they’re doing today is a political Band-Aid, because they’ve been caught confessing that they will make the Budget worse. Honesty would have been supporting these measures when they had the chance to see them through Parliament, when we had a chance to fix up the Budget mess that they left and that we had been trying to fix every day we’ve been in office.

GREG JENNETT:

But you can’t guarantee, can you, that the Budget projections of deficits just over the next 4 years – let’s not worry about year number 5 when it’s supposed to return to surplus – you can’t guarantee those measures will be delivered, for reasons we’ve discussed, that measures continue to be blocked?

SCOTT RYAN:

There are no guarantees in politics, we hope the Australian people will support those who have a track record of making those better. When we’ve been in office decisions we’ve made have improved the Budget bottom line. Where we’ve spent money on new programs we’ve had savings elsewhere to pay for that. Labor are stopping us redirecting money from those who can afford it to those who need it in child care. We’ve been trying to legislate that, but Labor are blocking it. When Wayne Swan was the Treasurer, when Bill Shorten was in a Labor government, every decision they made, made the Budget worse. They constantly assumed increasing revenues and spent them before the money came in. That’s the exact opposite of the approach the Coalition is taking. Again, judge people by their actions and record, not by their promises and our record makes it better. Labor’s record makes the Budget deficit worse.

GREG JENNETT:

Let’s look more broadly across the campaign. You’re paid to keep an eye on things nationally and on the Senate. A few developments today with the ballot draws on the Senate ballot positions. What do you think based on the way the campaign’s travelling at the moment is a realistic number for the Coalition in the Senate – more or less than the current 33?

SCOTT RYAN:

I’ve never got into the game of making predictions on elections. That is both foolhardy and might come across as arrogant by politicians. What I will say though is that I think the Senate reforms that will pass prior to the election being called are very important in ensuring that every Australian now knows where they put their No.1 on the Senate ballot paper, that’s where the vote goes. The vote can’t be whispered off to another party they’ve never heard of. We’re asking that Australians support the Coalition in the Senate, because we’ve got a plan for jobs and growth. We’ve tried to legislate that. We have been frustrated occasionally, but the important thing now is that everyone knows where they put that pencil on that Senate ballot paper, that’s where the vote goes. I’m not going to get into the game of making predictions.

GREG JENNETT:

You are spending money, the party is generally spending money on negative TV ads which are part of the arsenal I suppose of election campaigning. Why flick the switch to negative at the moment?

SCOTT RYAN:

As I said earlier, I think it’s important we judge people by their record as well as by the words they use during election campaigns. An election is a choice, and in this case a choice between a Malcolm Turnbull-led Coalition Government or a Bill Shorten-led government that, if anything, will end up in coalition with the Greens again as happened after 2010. We saw the chaos that led to for Australia and we are still recovering from that, particularly in a budgetary sense. Advertising in elections, I imagine a lot of people don’t like it if it interrupts the footy or their favourite program. It is an important part of communicating and an election is a choice in this case between two potential prime ministers; and a strong government and a weak one.

GREG JENNETT:

What of Malcolm Turnbull’s campaign? Word from our reporters is that he’s moving at a comfortable relaxed pace, as few as one event a day. What are we to read into this apparent relaxation in the prime ministerial camp?

SCOTT RYAN:

The days I’ve spent with the Prime Minister I wouldn’t describe it as thus. I have seen him work hard. Whether he does one or two events a day, it’s important to note there’s a lot of travel involved and he is still the Prime Minister and has important Government functions to fulfil. I’ve seen an energetic Prime Minister taking every opportunity to talk to people about his plan for the future. I wouldn’t read too much into that at all.

GREG JENNETT:

We’re on the downhill run now towards the finishing line, having passed the halfway mark. Scott Ryan for your thoughts on campaign 2016 so far, thanks so much.

SCOTT RYAN:

Thanks, Greg.

(ENDS)