E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC
FRIDAY, 12 APRIL 2019
JOURNALIST: Bill Shorten is campaigning in Sydney this morning where he will reveal the latest details of the party's plans to cut cancer costs. He joins us from the Sydney Markets. Mr Shorten good morning to you.
SHORTEN: Good morning Michael.
JOURNALIST: Firstly, to the news of the morning, what is your response to the arrest of Julian Assange overnight?
SHORTEN: It will be a matter for the legal system to proceed, he should receive the support any other Australian citizens should receive, the matter is going before court so I don't think there is much more I can add.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of America confirming overnight that yes indeed it does want to extradite Julian Assange to the United States?
SHORTEN: I have only read what you read. Mr Assange is entitled to his day in court. I'm not going to pre-empt that.
JOURNALIST: Should the Australian Government, any Australian Government, Coalition or Labor seek to stop such move?
SHORTEN: I think he should receive consular assistance beyond that, I don't know all the facts of the matter and he should deserve the ability to be able to represent it in court which he will be.
JOURNALIST: You're campaigning in Western Sydney this morning, Bill Shorten, how worried are you about the prospects of the Labor Party not just in Western Sydney but in Sydney generally after the disastrous performance of state Labor in the recent NSW election?
SHORTEN: I think the state election had a range of state issues, there is always a lesson there and we're not complacent. What we are doing nationally is we're not relying on the fact we're the Government. They're divided, their third Prime Minister and 13th energy policy and a lot of the team are retiring and have given up. But we think it is a more important issue then just the Government. We want to outline a fair go plan for Australia, a positive vision for the nation. We want to re-win people's trust in the system and we are going to do that by focusing on families cost of living, the fact that everything in Australia is go up except your wages and we are going to really push hard on the fact that we want to have the world’s best health care Medicare system.
We have outlined an exciting vision to help people when they are in the fight of their lives by radically decreasing the out of pocket costs when you have got a diagnosis of cancer. We want to re-invest in our three and four-year-old kindergarten, we want to make sure our schools are the best in the world, that they are properly funded. Of course, 150,000 new apprenticeships and 250,000 university places. The real issues affecting families, we want to pass on a better deal to the next generation than the one we inherited. That includes tackling lower energy prices, making them lower by reinvesting in renewables and taking real action on climate change.
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister on the show half an hour ago released the Treasury costings pointing to $387 billion burden as the Coalition puts it of the Labor tax plan over the next decade. Can voters afford to elect the Labor Party?
SHORTEN: Listen, the Liberals are lying about taxes. Let's just call it as it is. I don't want to spend this election talking about them but let's go to it. What we call unsustainable subsidies for the top end of town and rorts for the multinationals they call tax increases if they want to fix it up. They have a different view. I want to use our taxes to invest the best schools in the world and invest in looking after our older Australians and invest in the best health care system in the world. I want to keep alive the dream, it is our Medicare card not our credit card that determines our health care in the country. That is our priority. This government is lying about taxes. What they do is they are just saying unsustainable subsidies and rorts and looking after the top end of town. They think that when you tackle that, that is increasing taxes.
JOURNALIST: It’s not the Government, it’s the Treasury figures. Are you saying the Treasury is lying? They are very similar to figures put out by Chris Bowen the Shadow Treasurer a few days ago.
SHORTEN: No. Let's go to one. One issue they say is terrible, the Government and Treasury and let's face it, these days quite often Treasury just says what the Government wants them to say but let's go further. One of the rorts we want to shut down, did you know that if you want to deduct millions off your tax, you get your accountant to do it. Did you know you can also claim as a tax deduction the hundreds of thousands dollars you give to your accountant to deduct millions out of the tax system, you can even claim what you pay the Government as a tax deduction. Most Australians won't access the system.
Why on earth is this Government defending the ability of the super wealthy to pay their accountants, to minimise their tax and then even claim the cost to pay their accountants. It is a sweet deal, but it has got to stop, this nation can’t just keep funnelling money out of the top end when we have got waiting lists in our hospitals, massive out of pockets for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. It’s about priorities, I'm for middle- and working-class people.
JOURNALIST: To another tax concession Labor is promising to wind back to some degree, negative gearing. The NAB has put out a report this week saying it expects house prices in Sydney to drop by 20 per cent before this fall is over from the peak in 2017. Does it give you any pause for thought regarding the winding back of negative gearing concessions?
SHORTEN: The fact that bank said this tells me a couple of things. It tells me the biggest drop in housing prices has happened under the Coalition Government. I give points to the Coalition Government. They want to bag Labor for policies that are not even in when they are presiding over the drop-in prices right now. They were asleep at the wheel when the banks were carrying on like the rules didn't apply to them. Now they have got the regulators all over them, but the point is we have had a government that has presided over an unethical banking sector, remember they voted 26 times against the banking royal commission. When it comes to the housing market lets nail a couple of facts into the ground.
If you currently invest in negative gearing, under the current rules, it doesn't change. The changes are not retrospective. I will tell you what will happen on Saturday right around Sydney and Melbourne and the cities, you will have young couples who worked hard to get the deposit together, they have got to pay other costs and charges and they will be out bid by property investors who are getting tax support from the young couple and other taxpayers of Australia.
I want us to be a country where you can buy your first home, you don't need taxpayer money to buy your 10th home. It is a matter of priorities. We could use some of that money we are paying to the property developers to make sure we can help defray the cost of child care and reduce the number of age care places. It is a choices-based election, this country can't keep giving money to a few people and disadvantaging young people coming through.
JOURNALIST: Just about out of time so confirming there will be no change at all if you win government to the negative gearing plan?
SHORTEN: There will be no change to existing investors.
JOURNALIST: But no change to your future plan?
SHORTEN: No, that's right. Someone's got to have the courage to stand up for the next generation, that's what we will do.
JOURNALIST: Just wanted to confirm that. The CFMEU is asking all Queenslanders to sign a pledge to support the coal industry. Should they sign that?
SHORTEN: Listen, people ask politicians, they seek this campaigning. Our view on coal is clear. Let me restate it for the record: Coal and our gas are important industries going forward. They are important to our exports and that will be part of our energy mix, but I am going to take real action on climate change. This country has been broken politically for a decade because we haven't been able to move forward and take real action on climate change. The biggest reason why households this morning are paying higher energy bills is because there is no energy policy. Thirteen energy policies from the government we need real action to hand on a better deal to our kids and to reduce power prices for our family and our businesses.
JOURNALIST: Should the Labor MP's sign the pledge? Based on what you said?
SHORTEN: It is up to them.
JOURNALIST: Is the CFMEU bullying your Labor colleagues in Queensland?
SHORTEN: If you want to talk about bullying, how about that LNP trying to threaten Melissa Price's job?
JOURNALIST: I'm not talking about them, I am talking about the CFMEU. I am asking the question? Do you believe that union is bullying your QLD Labor colleagues?
SHORTEN: No, I’ll tell you what my Labor colleagues they are adults, they can sign or not. Doesn't change our policy and our policy is as simple as this, we get that fossil fuel and coal is important to export and power generation but I promise Australian who are fed up with the dysfunction and disunity of the Government on climate change we need to act. We need to embrace the future, renewable energy will help lower energy prices and that is the direction we are heading in. No pressure from the Government or conservative media is going to deter us. We're not going to sell-out our kids because we're afraid of the right wing of the Liberal Party.
JOURNALIST: We will have to leave it there, Bill Shorten thank you very much.
SHORTEN: Look forward to talking.
JOURNALIST: Hopefully many times over the course of the campaign.
SHORTEN: Hope so, see you.
