Transcripts

CHANNEL 10 LATE NEWS

12th May 2009

E & OE………………………………………………………..

BONGIORNO:   Mr Hockey, thanks for being with us.

HOCKEY:          It’s my pleasure.

BONGIORNO:   Well, what do you give this budget out of 10"

HOCKEY:          Three - and I’ll tell you why, because Wayne Swan didn’t level with the Australian people that this budget is the biggest deficit in modern Australian history, the biggest debt in modern Australian history - $9,000 for every man, every woman and every child in Australia, and there are going to be one million Australians unemployed.

There was no courage in this budget.  There was no decision that was going to have a direct impact on Australia’s economic recovery.

BONGIORNO:   Mr Hockey, isn’t ‘no courage’ a political code word for saying that they didn’t cut hard enough?

HOCKEY:          Well, you know what, Paul, the most important thing you do during tough times is lay down a plan to grow the pie.  That’s what the Liberals do.  We create a larger pie, more jobs, no deficit and no debt.

BONGIORNO:   $22 billion worth of stimulus out there for infrastructure.

HOCKEY:          And you know the interesting thing, the cash splashes handed out by this Government total the same, if not more, than the total amount they’re spending on infrastructure.  And it just shows you, for all the money the Government’s spent, two-thirds of the money the Government is now borrowing is paying for Kevin Rudd’s spending since the last election and what have we got to show for it?  Nothing.

BONGIORNO:   Do you believe we would have more to show for it if you had $43 billion – in other words, the cash splash plus the infrastructure?

HOCKEY:          Well, the most important thing is to spend money on growing the pie, focusing on small business, focusing on incentives for business to continue to employ people. 

BONGIORNO:   Well, there are things for small business in there, there are things for pensioners in there – is there anything in the budget you like?

HOCKEY:          Well, we welcome the pensioner initiative.  We initiated it last year.  The Government voted against it.  We welcome that initiative.  As for small business, where are they going to get the money to go and buy the new machinery that they get this tax rebate on?  That’s the problem. 

You know what, the most important thing here is jobs – jobs, jobs, jobs.  There is no plan for recovery.  They’re using casino economics as a justification for getting the budget into surplus, the problem is that all Australians are going to pay a heavy debt for this.

BONGIORNO:   Mr Hockey, thank you.

HOCKEY:          Thank you,  Paul.

[ends]