E&OE…
HELEN DALLEY
The new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is continuing his charm offensive on the Australian electorate, taking a more collegiate compromising way to conduct the political business of government and winning support across the Parliament. It seems altogether a more adult conversation. We saw some compromise on the China Free Trade Agreement which finally passed last week. we might hopefully see some compromise to exempt grandparents and single parents from family payment cuts in order to win bipartisanship on the Family Tax Benefit package, and there is going to be a crackdown on credit card surcharges. But there has not been much more meat on the bones of new policies and economic reform so far, now will that change? Well, I am joined now by Assistant Cabinet Secretary Senator Scott Ryan who became a key backer of Malcolm Turnbull in the September dumping of Tony Abbott and he joins me now from the Canberra studios. Senator Ryan, thanks for being there.
SCOTT RYAN
Good evening, Helen.
DALLEY
Now, let’s talk possible changes to superannuation for women which was flagged today by the Treasurer. New mums returning to the workforce could be given an incentive to save more for retirement; they are thinking about reforms to allow them to lift the tax cap on super contributions. This seems a no-brainer, the research is in about the huge disparity between men’s and women’s retirement incomes, ANZ bank for one has led the way for this. Why is the Treasurer only talking about it? Why isn’t there action on this?
RYAN
Particularly with superannuation, Helen, we need to be aware that there are lots of moving parts. For example, there is a cap on contributions at the moment to limit the cost to the budget of superannuation contributions; that has been in place for a long time although Labor changed it and reduced it from where it was under the previous Coalition government, but that has always been a fixed amount and that was to restrain the cost to the budget. Now, over time we have become aware, and I think everyone has, of the impact of interrupted work patterns which particularly impact women as still more women than men take time out of the workforce for family responsibilities. It is also becoming more apparent, for those who take out time for carer responsibilities because people are living longer and we all support our parents and grandparents a little bit more than I think was the case thirty years ago in terms of how it impacts on the workforce, because we now have most families with two working parents. So, what the Treasurer was doing was identifying this as a priority that he wants to look at. One of the problems of superannuation has been a series of knee-jerk announcements in the past; to increase the cap, to reduce the cap, to bring in an offset that wasn’t funded. And what the Treasurer wants to do is actually have a package that will address the problems systemically not just putting Band-Aids on individual symptoms.
DALLEY
Is it a Band-Aid to allow women to increase their super?
RYAN
No, I don’t think the goal is a Band-Aid, but simply changing a cap without necessarily looking at how that would impact on other incentives and disincentives, for example there are some men who take time out of the workforce and there are some men who take on carer responsibilities. What the Treasurer was talking about is people with broken work patterns and their inability to appropriately save for their retirement or the impact upon that.
DALLEY
When might we see some action on this, Scott Ryan, do you think?
RYAN
Scott Morrison has been in the job for five weeks, maybe six weeks, but can I tell you one thing that I have picked up from the Australian people: they want the Government, they want their politicians to actually explain the problem that is trying to be addressed before we come out with the solution. It is actually part of the conversation; it is actually part of generating support in the community for a particular policy measure, part of that is to seek some degree of understanding and maybe even an agreement on what the problem is. Under the previous Labor government, the mining tax came out of nowhere and it never had community support. No one ever explained what problem it was trying to address. So, I don’t think it is reasonable to criticise anyone for trying to explain the problem to the public and seek agreement on what it is that we are trying to fix.
DALLEY
I don’t think anyone was complaining about that, it is more: is there going to be action behind this? There is a lot of talk so far.
RYAN
It has been five or six weeks, and to those of us in politics and in the media, we follow these things very closely, but I think the public actually understand that they want people to be thoughtful, understand the problem and explain the problem in detail and then as the Prime Minister said, gather the best evidence and come up with a solution.
DALLEY
Labor says if you really care about boosting low income, women’s retirement incomes you would allow the super guarantee to rise more, for one thing. Do they have a point on that?
RYAN
The problem with the super guarantee rising is that it comes at a significant cost to the budget. Because superannuation is taxed concessionally, if the super guarantee continues to increase it costs the budget billions of dollars a year. Now, we have delayed the proposed increase that came in under the Labor Party because the budget is in deficit and there is really not a significant gain in helping people save privately when the public saving function decreases substantially. We do need to address the budget deficit, and at the moment we cannot afford to increase that particular concession which would come at the cost of billions of dollars every year to the budget.
DALLEY
If you look more broadly at economic reform, you are being urged from a number of quarters to, you know, you have to do more and you have to do it quickly. Even Professor Ian Harper of the Competition Review is urging the Prime Minister to act swiftly to promote competition. Now, the Coalition Government has really struggled since March to the Competition Review, for example what is happening to the effects test and toughening up against big players who abuse their market power?
RYAN
The effects test, as has been made since the change in Prime Minister, is something that will be further considered by Cabinet. It was considered by Cabinet several months ago. It is a very complex area, I was Bruce Billson’s junior in this portfolio in Opposition, and it is a very complex area because it is a developing area of law. So, the commitment is to consider it but at the same time to ensure that we do want innovative competition we want to enable small companies to compete on a playing field that allows them to challenge larger entrants that are already there, but at the same time we do have to protect vigorous competition. I think, in the words of a former ACCC commissioner, the aim of competition policy is to protect competition and not to protect competitors. So it is a very fine balancing act, there is no one…
(Interrupted)
DALLEY
Are you likely to water it down from what the Competition Review suggested?
RYAN
That is a matter for Cabinet, and that is a matter that will be brought to Cabinet in the coming weeks and months, so it would be unreasonable of me to pre-empt that discussion. It is an issue upon which…
(Interrupted)
DALLEY
Alright, well Malcolm Turnbull…Sorry?
RYAN
It is an issue upon which there are very different views but I am certain that a full and fulsome discussion in the Cabinet will actually come to a settled position that everyone will support.
DALLEY
Malcolm Turnbull is emphasising in recent interviews that there is now a real Cabinet style of Government at work. How different is it and I am also interested in to why you turned your support from Tony Abbot to Malcolm Turnbull?
RYAN
Well, on the latter question Helen I think it is a bit of old news and was covered in length six or so weeks ago. With respect to the Cabinet, I do sit in this Cabinet. I didn’t sit in the previous Cabinet, and it would be inappropriate to tell stories outside the room. What I will say is that having seen multiple governments over my time working and serving in this building as an elected official, every government reflects the attitudes, the moods and the aspirations of its leader. The Hawke and Keating governments were different just as the Abbott, Turnbull, and Howard governments were all very different. One thing the Prime Minister has made clear is that he would like to take the time to consult stakeholders, to deliberate on policy and talk about it publicly and just to go back to that superannuation example that is a very good one. We are not just getting into a room and deciding amongst ourselves what a policy is and going out and announcing it, we are actually trying to talk to people about what we think the problem is. When we get agreement on the problem we can deal with stakeholders and then we can come up with, using the best evidence, come up with a solution that we think can generate public support.
DALLEY
Okay. But Kelly O’Dwyer had something to say on this over the weekend, about Cabinet being more robust. Would you agree?
RYAN
I wasn’t in the room last time Helen, so I can’t. But I think every good Cabinet government has full frank and robust discussions. And with every good Cabinet government you only find out about what a decision is, and then twenty years later the book is released and we find out how robust the discussion was. That is how Cabinet is supposed to work.
DALLEY
Senator Ryan I want to ask you about, Bill Shorten has said he is going to visit some key but small pacific islands at risk of the threat of climate change to put the focus really on Australia not doing enough on climate change in the lead up to the Paris conference; that is his point. Is that a point of difference with the Coalition’s policies on climate change? Can they wedge you on this?
RYAN
I will let other people make political judgements, but what I will say is that I don’t think anyone can impugn Malcolm Turnbull’s particular commitment to this policy area. He was part of the Cabinet that took the decision that was announced by Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt of 26 to 28 per cent targets, which reflects some of the largest cuts in the world on a per capita basis. What Australians want is a proportionate and responsible policy response to this challenge. They know we cannot solve the problem unilaterally so, if Bill Shorten wants to go to other parts of the world and say that Australian is not doing enough or imply that we can somehow stop this problem globally on our own, then I think the Australian people will see through that.
DALLEY
Do you think though that this is an issue that constantly comes up in polling as being very important particularly to young people? Is this an issue that you are vulnerable on?
RYAN
No I don’t because as I said, my reading of all the public feedback I have is that Australians want a proportionate and responsible approach to this. They know we cannot solve the problem ourselves, they know Australia is a small emitter. They also have got the message that per capita we are making some pretty drastic cuts, so I think any attempt to imply that we are not doing enough won’t actually get traction with the Australian people.
DALLEY
Alright, Scott Ryan, we will have to leave it there. Thanks so much for joining us.
RYAN
Thanks, Helen.
(ENDS)