Transcripts

INTERVIEW – ABC 774 JON FAINE 8.50am Tuesday 2 February, 2010

2nd February 2010

INTERVIEW – ABC 774 JON FAINE

8.50am  Tuesday  2 February, 2010

Subject: Newspoll, Intergeneration Report and productivity

E&OE………………………………………………………………………………………

JON FAINE:

Joe Hockey, good morning.

JOE HOCKEY:

Good morning Jon.

JON FAINE:

Comments about Kevin Rudd’s hair style. I’ll let that go through to the keeper, unless you desperately want to jump on it"

 JOE HOCKEY:

No, not really. I had to walk across Papua New Guinea to see his hair ruffle so no, I’ve got nothing to comment on that.

JON FAINE:

Tony Abbott [is] enjoying a lift in the polls and is this then offering a justification for the change of leadership that you were needing?

JOE HOCKEY:

Well I don’t think it’s useful to go over history, I think what’s important is what we do going forward and we’re going to focus on the everyday costs for Australians living in Kevin Rudd’s Australia, and I think that’s biting out there. You know, the figure that came out yesterday about a 20% increase in Melbourne house prices last year, that sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who’s hoping to buy a home, or even people who are renting homes who have to pay higher rents because of the higher prices. So, these are the things that that are having an impact, I think,  on the polls.

JON FAINE:

The detailed analysis of the Newspoll in the Australian newspaper suggests though that his support amongst women is significantly less than support amongst men and this must therefore be an area that you and your colleagues have to address. How do you do that Joe Hockey?

JOE HOCKEY:

Well I think you’ve got to appeal to all Australians and I think Tony is endeavouring to do that.  We’re behind in the polls, Kevin Rudd has been soaring in the polls for years now and I think Australians this year will focus back on politics.  I don’t think they’ve been particularly focused on politics over the last couple of years, but they’ll start to focus back on the things that matter to them, which are the everyday costs and everyday challenges.

JON FAINE:

On AM this morning, Kevin Rudd was saying that you’re all about big headlines, but no details and no figures to go with them, no explanation of how you’ll pay for any of the policies that you might produce.

JOE HOCKEY:

Well, you know Jon, I saw Kevin Rudd on Sunday talk about our opposition to his changes to private health insurance costing ‘$100 billion’.  Classic Dr Evil stuff. The biggest number he could possibly think of at that moment and he said it was in the Intergenerational Report.  Now, we’ve combed through that report and there’s nothing there about $100 billion.

Sadly, the Prime Minister is just going to throw everything at us, ultimately because you know, we’re in a political contest.  And I think he’d do well to focus on the real challenges for Australia going ahead.  He talks about productivity for example, as Lindsay Tanner just did. What are they going to do about productivity?  They’re not saying anything, you know, they’re not doing the hard yards.

JON FAINE:

So what would you, what would the Liberal Party do about it?

JOE HOCKEY:

We will outline our plan on productivity before the next election.  We’re not in government, they are in government.  Kevin Rudd gave seven speeches in seven days about productivity. He said the report released yesterday was all about productivity.  Gary Banks, the head of the Productivity Commission, said well, if you want to improve productivity, there are three things you’ve got to do. You’ve got to change industry assistance, which I know the Age newspaper doesn’t particularly like. You’ve got to have regulatory reform, which COAG is moving at a glacial pace, even slower than the melting of the Himalayas. And you’ve got to have reform in infrastructure that actually has cost-benefit analysis. And you know what? They’re introducing, the government, an NBN, a broadband policy – $43 billion, and Lindsay Tanner as Finance Minister is not even insisting on a business plan. So you know, these are the things that governments will be measured on

JON FAINE:

 As will Oppositions. We look forward to the contest. As Lindsay Tanner said, it’s a good thing for all of us and thank you for your participation this morning.

JOE HOCKEY:

Any time Jon.

 [Ends]