Beazley on the Budget

Date: 10 May 2000

TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP, PRESS GALLERY, PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA, 10 MAY 2000

Subjects: Budget, GST

JOURNALIST: You've had a bit longer to look at the Budget now. The reaction this morning?

BEAZLEY: Well, of course, this has not been a very well received Budget in comparison to past ones. And this is because it involves higher prices, higher taxes, and higher interest rates. Higher prices, because we now finally see the confession. It's a 6¾ per cent spike on inflation in the September quarter, as a result of the GST, a far cry from the sort of 1.9 figure the Government's been throwing around. Higher taxes because - this is a genuine surprise to us in the Budget - within one year, all the cuts in income tax are clawed back and within two years it's well and truly above, in receipts, what we're getting from income tax take now. So, the tax cuts last for a year or two, but the GST goes on forever. And then higher interest rates, because the Budget does nothing to relieve the pressure out there in the markets for higher interest rates. Most of the markets, no matter what the argy bargy is out there in the debate between the Labor Party and Liberal Party and others, virtually no-one in the markets accepts this surplus as real.

JOURNALIST: Can the taxpayer still believe the Government's a good economic manager or should they be worried?

BEAZLEY: These are ex-economic managers. It's like the ex-parrot, you know, in Monty Python. This is an ex-bunch of economic managers. Basically, they've squandered a surplus. Two years ago, they said the surplus this year would be $11 billion. Where is it? The real reason why there's nothing in this Budget for education, nothing really for public health beyond those few bush schemes, nothing in it for infrastructure, is simply this: that they've taken the $11 billion worth of cuts and spent the lot on the GST compo package.

JOURNALIST: The social package for the rural bush. It's not just a little thing, it is quite a substantial boost to regional health, isn't it?

BEAZLEY: Look, there are some good programs in it, don't get me wrong on that. And one of them was ours and we were told it was unconstitutional - namely the bonding of medical students to serve in the bush. So, we don't complain about that. Except, I do say this: if you go to the major regional centres, the complaint is the same as in the suburbs of Australia. And that is not so much the issue of rural doctors, important though that is, but the absence of public hospital beds, the absence of procedures in public hospitals. And though they have a recommendation from Ian Castles, an old Finance boffin with a very sharp pen, that they need to spend another $630 million a year on public hospitals, city and bush, there's not a cent in it for them.

JOURNALIST: OK. And, just lastly, good for business, but bad for the markets?

BEAZLEY: Well, I think it's pretty average for business, frankly. What is the main problem confronting business this year? The problem they identify as their biggest challenge is basically implementing the GST. And business is howling on the GST. You saw Dick Warburton's statement. There's the bloke doing the next tranche of tax changes for them. Dick Warburton howling about the administration of the GST, the Tax Office and the Treasury in its impact on business. So, whatever the business peak organisations leaders might be out there doing boosting the Budget, I can tell you the average businessman out there is not a happy man.

JOURNALIST: Thanks very much, Mr Beazley.

ends

For further information

Contact:	Kim Beazley
Union:	ALP Federal
WWW:	http://www.alp.org.au

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