Doorstop, Press Gallery

4 November 2024

JANE HUME: Well, good morning. It's going to be the first day of Senate Estimates today, and there are plenty of questions to ask of this Labor Government. A Labor Government that's allowed inflation to run out of control for two and a half years now, and Australians are paying the price. There'll be plenty of questions about irresponsible and unnecessary and undisciplined spending of this government, and this weekend's announcement just adds fuel to that fire. $16 billion to wipe the student debt of around 3 million Australian students, but at the expense of all Australian taxpayers, this decision by Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers demonstrates that the Labor Government has essentially given up the fight against inflation and instead have been ridden roughshod over their back bench, who have decided to go down the populist route by adopting a Greens policy in order to win back those votes. Economists around the country have said that this is a terrible economic decision, incredibly irresponsible, that essentially transfers student debt to other taxpayers. It doesn't address the cost of living crisis. It doesn't encourage more students into academic studies, and it punishes those that have been diligent in paying off their student debts. The most effective way of reducing student debt is to control inflation so that the indexation rate doesn't run out of control. Australian students have been paying the price for Labor's profligacy and their inability to run an economy. I'm happy to take any questions.

JOURNALIST: Have you ever taken any flight upgrades from any of the airlines?

JANE HUME: I'm afraid I've combed my records, I can't find a single one.

JOURNALIST: Is it a bit of a bad look for the Government?

JANE HUME: It's a terrible look for Anthony Albanese to have not just taken upgrades, not just taken gifts, but to have actively solicited them for himself and also for his family members at a time when he was the Transport Minister and had influence over airline policy. Now, the questions we're going to be asking Senate estimates this week, and indeed, I'm certain in the House of Representatives in question time is to whether that cosy relationship between Anthony Albanese and Qantas Airlines has influenced his decisions. Have influenced his decisions to deny Qatar an additional 21 airport slots that would have increased competition in the airline industries and brought down airline ticket prices for all Australians if he has inappropriately used that relationship referred to that COVID relationship between himself and Qantas to make those decisions, and all Australians have paid a price. I think Australians have a right to be outraged at the inability of Anthony Albanese to have distanced himself from his decision making capacity and and the benefits that he's received,

JOURNALIST: Pretty unlikely to get a rate cut by the end of this year. Thoughts on that?

JANE HUME: Because Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have been unable to tame that inflation beast, and in fact, because of their undisciplined and unnecessary spending, inflation has remained higher for longer. Australia's homegrown inflation crisis has persisted. That's despite the fact that interest rates have already started coming down in countries like US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia still remain much higher, and Australians are going to be paying the price. It's going to be pretty grim old Christmas for many Australian families who have suffered the cumulative effect of two and a half years of a cost of living crisis that Labor have simply been unable or unwilling to get under control. Even taking this down last week was that a false positive inflation, headline inflation was down, but that core inflation has remained too high for too long, and the Reserve Bank have said specifically that they're going to look through those subsidies that labor have provided when they make a decision about interest rates. And it's interest rates that have been really killing Australians, particularly those mortgage holders that have seen an average mortgage of around 750,000 increase, the repayments have increased by around $30,000 a year, and that's not the sort of money that you find down the back of a couch. So many Australian families will be doing it tough this Christmas. It could have been so much better. But unfortunately, Labor have proven themselves economically incapable of maintaining inflation at reasonable levels within that two to three per cent band. In fact, the RBA now expects that that two to three per cent band won't be reached into the middle of 2025 and won't be in the middle of that band until the end of 2026,

JOURNALIST: Last one, I promise. US election. Tight race. What's it going to mean for Australia?

JANE HUME: Well, Australian governments in the past and in the future will work with all cues of American governments, as we have in the past and as we will in the future. Yes, it is a tight race, and I think it would be a fool to make a prediction. ion as to which way it will fall. But we know that the relationship between Australia and the US has endured for decades before and will endure for decades to come.

JOURNALIST: What do you think the latest poll which shows that people's perception of both leaders, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton is less than ideal. At the moment, the Prime Minister described as weak, and Peter Dutton described as untrustworthy

JANE HUME: Well, the only poll that matters is the one on election day. We know, but you can feel, you can sense and understand why Australians are feeling frustrated. We've had two and a half years now of Labor's cost of living crisis, they've been unable to get inflation under control. They've actually added fuel to the fire with their undisciplined and unnecessary spending. That has meant that inflation stayed higher for longer, that interest rates have stayed higher for longer, and Australians are paying price for that.

JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton labeled bad and untrustworthy. Does the Coalition have a image problem heading to that election?

JANE HUME: I don't think that that's at all relevant. In fact, I'm really looking forward to the electorate getting to know Peter Dutton, the way that, the way that we have Peter Dutton has a plan for the economy. Has a plan to get inflation under control of that basic economic agenda that puts Australians first, not Labor Party's electoral interests, which is exactly what the Labor Party have done. And today's, or this weekend's announcement around student debt, $16 billion of student debt, is a great example of just how desperate this Labor Government is. They've succumbed to the back bench that clearly moving down a populist route by adopting a Greens policy to try and win back around 3 million votes, but at the expense of all 27 million Australians who will be paying the price.

JOURNALIST: It could be argued that Labor is on the front foot here trying to outline the finer detail of some policy. The Coalition has been accused of not providing any detail. When could we see some detail, particularly for nuclear policy?

JANE HUME: Well, that's not true. In fact, the Coalition have been announcing policy from about six weeks into opposition, when we announced a pension work bonus. A policy that, I might add, was adopted by the Labor Government in part. They’re playing catch up on policy, rather than taking the lead. You can be assured that when we walk into the next election, that the voters of Australia will be very clear what a Coalition government stands for. That it stands for responsible economic management, fiscal responsibility, lower energy prices, a deregulation agenda, simpler, lower and fairer taxes and an industrial relations system that works for all Australians, both employers and employees, a high productivity agenda, a low inflation target, And most importantly, keeping Australians safe.

JOURNALIST: When can we expect the costings for Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan?

JANE HUME: Well, the Shadow Energy Minister has said that those costings, along with, I should say, the costings for the entire energy mix, will be available in the coming months, certainly well in advance of the election. That's the most important issue here. You can't simply have a costing for one part of your energy system. It has to be about the entire energy mix. And that entire energy mix is going to involve renewable energy, it's going to involve firming gas, and it's going to involve nuclear. If you simply cost one part of the energy mix, of course it's going to be (inaudible)... That's what Anthony Albanese wants you to do. We believe that his renewable only approach that all eggs in one basket approach is going to cost Australians more, they can be paid for it in high energy bills.