DR ANNE ALY MP
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR COWAN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SKY, CREDLIN
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
WEDNESDAY, 27 JUNE 2018
SUBJECT/S: Malcolm Turnbull’s tax cut to the big end of town, Pauline Hanson, National Energy Guarantee
PETA CREDLIN, INTERVIEWER: Anne Aly great to have you on the show. Your IT and everything is working now, but I’m just going to ask you about Bill Shorten’s reversal commitment. I know you opposed it when the legislation went through but now it’s another thing to say if elected we’ll repeal these tax cuts. I know your seat Cowan very well, are you happy to go to the next election arguing with small to medium businesses that they will face a tax cut if you are elected. Sorry tax increase – beg your pardon.
ANNE ALY, MEMBER FOR COWAN: Well let’s be very clear that there has been no change in position. We’ve always opposed tax cuts to the big end of town. According to the ATO, 98 per cent of businesses have a turnover of $10 million or less, so when Malcolm Turnbull want to give tax cuts to big business he is actually talking that 2 per cent of which 60 per cent of the tax cuts will flow to foreign investors. So, yes, Labor cares about small and medium business. $10 million turnover or less represent 98 per cent of Australian business and in Cowan that means almost 3,000 businesses in Cowan would benefit from Labor’s alternative.
INTERVIEWER: Okay well Bill Shorten though, Anne, has not said what he will do for businesses between $2 million and $10 million. He’s cutting them out from $10 to $50, won’t support them over $50, very silent between $2 and $10. What’s the position? Will they get their tax cuts?
ALY: Well that’s a position that we’re considering at the moment Peta, so I can’t comment on that. I can’t come out and say what Labor will or won’t do, but it is a position that we’re considering it and we’re considering it within the context of 98 per cent of businesses having a turnover of $10 million or less, and in the context of an $80 billion tax handout to that 2 per cent of big businesses that 60 per cent of it is going to go offshore.
INTERVIEWER: Why do you think your colleague in Tasmania today couldn’t back in their Leader?
ALY: Well, you know, it’s not for me to speak about what Ross did or didn’t say. He has clarified his position since then. I don’t think it’s any kind of national secret what Labor’s position has been on tax cuts to big business, we’ve made it very clear where we sit on this. Bill Shorten has made it very clear where he sits on this. So it shouldn’t have been a big secret.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah but Sharri Markson just revealed when I interviewed her a moment ago that this was not a scheduled interview. He belongs to the faction of Anthony Albanese. He picked up the phone and called the radio station and asked to go on air and obviously begged the question of ‘do you support the Leader?’ ‘Do you support the Leader on these tax cuts?’ Tax increases beg your pardon. They are tax increases. He could not back in his Leader, is there divisions inside the Labor Party?
ALY: No there are no divisions in the Labor Party. I think what Ross did, he’s clarified his position since then, you know, he’s a new backbencher just like me. We make mistakes. But he’s clarified his position since then and Bill Shorten has the support of all of Labor.
INTERVIEWER: Alright I’ll leave it there, but I did note that it’s not just once, twice, the cock was crowing. It was multiple times he was asked the question. The other issue, Luke Hartsuyker I want to ask you about, it looks like the Government’s corporate tax cuts right up to high income companies, high profit companies, the tax take that will go up in to the many millions of dollars, looks like those tax cuts are in trouble. Pauline Hanson came out very strongly today, will not back the Government in any way, shape or form. I can’t see that there is much support for them now, what happens at the end of the week? Do you think the Government should keep them on the table? Or should it get rid of this barnacle, win, lose or draw? People said to me this weekend we need to get this issue off the political agenda. What’s your view, Luke?
LUKE HARTSUYKER, MEMBER FOR COWPER: Well I think that continuing the tax cut regime reduction is very important. And I certainly think that we shouldn’t resolve from the measure that reduces tax for companies. It’s vitally important that we have an internationally competitive tax system. A failure to do so will result in the export of jobs. We’re not in the business of giving tax cuts to businesses for the purpose of making the big end of town richer and stronger. We are doing it for the purpose of providing a high standard of living for Australians and the way that we do that is to ensure that we have a strong and growing corporate sector, a corporate sector that is internationally competitive. It’s not about supporting business for the sake of supporting business, it’s about supporting businesses for the purpose of having a higher standard of living for Australians, more job opportunities, and ensuring that Australia maximises its growth potential.
INTERVIEWER: Nicole Flint, it’s getting pretty personal between Labor and One Nation. It’s getting pretty personal between Pauline Hanson and Bill Shorten. They targeted her last week with the robocalls, we all remember, and today she said that “women’s intuition” leaves her cold with Bill Shorten. What does that mean? Do you agree?
NICOLLE FLINT, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: I’ll leave that debate or argument or conversation between Mr Shorten and Ms Hanson, I know that she came, though, from, you know, she was a single Mum, had her own business. She understands what it is to struggle and work really hard to raise a family and look after your business and employees. In comparison to Mr Shorten whose main career seems to have just been in the unions unfortunately, Peta. I’ll leave that debate to both of them.
INTERVIEWER: Anne Aly we’re looking at the royal commission, the banking royal commission, another series of evidence hearings in Brisbane. Some of the information – particularly relating to farming families – we had a couple today, the Hirsts from Tasmania, presenting at the Royal Commission. A lot of this information is devastating. The banks are not covering themselves in glory, this has been now going on for weeks and weeks. And this, I presume, justifies Labor’s continued fight for there to be a Royal Commission.
ALY: Oh absolutely, absolutely. And again: no national secret. If you listened to the Farmers and listened to the people of Australia you would have known just how bad the banks were behaving. It was just extraordinary that the Government fought the Royal Commission for so long and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to it. And these latest revelations that are coming out about the way that the banks have been treating farmers, the number of suicides that’s led to the devastating impact of it, is just another chapter in this saga.
INTERVIEWER: Luke Hartsuyker, there’s been a big debate about energy, both in the joint party room where the National Party sits but also in the National Party party room. You don’t have to confirm that, I’ve spoken to lots of people and I don’t want to get you in to trouble. But I’ve asked you on camera: where do you stand in relation to coal-fired power? Do you want to see a new coal-fired power station in Australia? And, in particular, do you want to see it in New South Wales?
HARTSUYKER: Well, look, coal is going to be an important part of our energy mix not only now but well in to the future. And the way that the NEG works is that it encourages a supply solution that is going to deliver energy at the lowest possible cost, whilst maintaining our commitments with regards to emissions. I think coal has an important role to play, I think that the possibility for a new coal-fired power station to help meet the demand for energy is something that can’t be overlooked. It’s something that can have the ability to deliver power at an affordable price. I mean, new HELE coal plants can deliver power at around $70 to $80 per megawatt hour, so they are certainly cost-competitive. And they are very much in the mix.
