Interview with Laura Jayes, AM Agenda

22 May 2024

LAURA JAYES: Let's talk income tax cuts now because we are not maybe in an election year, the option is there for the Albanese Government, political analysts believe. But this is when we start to get a bit of meat on the bones, in terms of alternative policy. We are going to hear from Angus Taylor today, the Shadow Treasurer at the Press Club. Now, let's hear from the Shadow Finance Minister, Jane Hume. Jane, we've been talking about tax cuts, income tax cuts in particular for many months now. Do you have any more hints for us today? Are we going to get any more detail on what the Coalition might do?

JANE HUME: Laura, I would love to announce the Coalition's income tax policy on your show today, but you know that I'm not going to do that, particularly not before Angus Taylor speaks at the National Press Club. But what I can tell you is that the Coalition is committed to lower and simpler and fairer taxes. The stage three tax cuts that were put in place by the Coalition Government in the last Parliament were there to reduce bracket creep. They were there to reduce, to reform the tax system, to remove an entire tax bracket, so that if you earn between $40,000 to $100,000 bracket creep would not apply to you and that would inject that sense of aspiration and reward for effort back into our economy. Unfortunately, the Labor Party have trashed that reform, that was inherent in the stage three tax cuts, and instead implemented, what they see as an electoral sugar hit. Now that's a real shame, because it was already legislated. The reform was already there. It was already funded. It was already budgeted. Clearly this Government has no appetite for genuine tax reform. We will announce our tax policies well before the next election and you’ll get a chance to pick over that meat on the bones before that.

LAURA JAYES: So we're gonna get some of that detail today from Angus Taylor or not?

JANE HUME: Again, I'm not going to preempt what Angus says today. I think you've already read a little bit about what he intends to say in newspapers already. Most of the focus I think you'll hear today is going to be around the Coalition’s commitment to increasing productivity, to restoring fiscal discipline and to restoring tax, to make sure that we have a tax system that incentivizes both individuals and businesses to do what it is that they do best. Productivity is floundering in Australia. Indeed, it has slowed right down to a point where it's now 5.4% lower than it was prior to the pandemic and unless we lower energy prices, lower inflation, improve our industrial relations system to make it more flexible for employers, so that they can invest in their business and employ more people. Until we cut that red and green tape that's getting in the way of progress and unless we improve our tax system, well productivity will continue to flounder. If we're going to restore prosperity and opportunities for all Australians, we must improve our productivity.

LAURA JAYES: Well, Telstra just announced that they're cutting 2900 jobs by the end of this year in the name of productivity. Is that what we are talking about when we're talking about productivity?

JANE HUME: Well, it shouldn't have been a surprise. I think that the Labor's own Budget forecasts a significant increase in unemployment. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I was yesterday in Brisbane talking to a group of small business owners that were saying that because of the restrictive industrial relations laws in particular, they're finding it so hard to keep their heads above water. These small businesses don't have their own legal department. They don't have their own human resources department, they don't have a compliance team, they have to do it all themselves.

LAURA JAYES: This is the problem though Jane. Telstra wasn't talking about IR, they're talking about AI. With AI really impacting all of our lives in many aspects, when we talk about continued productivity. I mean, does it mean more job losses?

JANE HUME: Well, productivity actually makes the opportunity for more and better paying and better jobs, not fewer jobs. That weren't entirely talking about AI at Telstra, this was really a shift of their business model towards those areas that are growing and a are walking away from some outdated areas that are now becoming, putting on cost pressures and there are pressures there's no doubt, from all of the shareholders and let's not forget that the majority of Australians, by the superannuation funds, have shares in Telstra. There is an expectation that they will be a profitable Australian.

LAURA JAYES: I imagine Angus Taylor is going to talk about this today and if he doesn't, he’ll get questions about it. Your nuclear plan. Is the CSIRO correct today?

JANE HUME: You're talking about the GenCost, an updated GenCost report. I will put my hand on my hat and say it did come out this morning and I've been on an aeroplane and I haven't read the GenCost report. What I would say about it, is that it is one particular model with a set of assumptions and a set of inputs. It's not a costing of the Coalition's nuclear policy.

LAURA JAYES: No, but are their assumptions wrong?

JANE HUME: I haven't, I don't know what their assumptions are, but I know that they're not the Coalition's policy. So I think we will announce our policy in due time, I promise you that. But what we've seen around the world is that when nuclear energy is included in the mix, as part of a balanced mix, it brings costs down. Ontario is the best example. You know, this is a coal mining area, they now have 60% nuclear in the grid supporting renewables and they have half the electricity bills that we have in Australia. Australians are paying higher electricity, then a huge number of countries around the world that have already invested in nuclear. We're not saying a pure nuclear energy system in Australia is part of all of the above approach that will include wind, it will include solar, it will include gas as that transition fuel to the future and then it will include nuclear, as part of a baseload solution to bring energy costs down and ensure that our energy grid is reliable and affordable. Whereas Labor's policy of 82% renewables by 2030, not only is not going to be cheap, but it requires incredible investment in transmission lines, 28,000 kilometers around us, that’s the equivalent of going twice around Australia with those transmission lines. So there is a very huge choice between a Coalition policy that will get announced very soon and this ideological belligerence that won't even see Labor lift the moratorium on nuclear energy, to put it as part of our thinking. You know, there were 20 countries that signed that pledge at COP28 to triple the amount of nuclear energy in the world and in fact, Australia walked away from that. G20 countries, we are the only G20 country that doesn't already have nuclear or isn't on a path to do nuclear. It does seem strange that the country with the greatest resources of uranium, isn’t even considering this as an option to improve its energy security.

LAURA JAYES: Yeah, we don't have any industry though. So we'd have to start from scratch and it's not quite clear what the choice is at the next election, but I take your promise that we're going to get those details.

JANE HUME: Every country started from scratch at some stage.

LAURA JAYES: Yeah, sure. But they've had a bit of a run up, which makes it more expensive and more difficult.

JANE HUME: True. We're not inventing nuclear energy. We're investing in technology.

LAURA JAYES: No but you’re inventing an industry, which to be fair in Australia, doesn't exist.

JANE HUME: It is an industry that thrives overseas and we have all the resources and the brains here to do it.

LAURA JAYES: Okay, one final question. The gas strategy from this Government was announced last week. This has been discussed in Perth, I was at a conference this week, talking to a lot of the big players and they welcome this strategy. It sets out, the Albanese Government said gas is going to play a critical role to 2050 and beyond. So it's clear in that strategy that they believe in it, they say it's free of ideology. That is, you know, there's West Coast, East Coast issues here. But how is it, I ask you this because you're from Victoria, that the Albanese Government has this, you know beyond 2050 strategy for gas, but in Victorian Government constitution, then ban nuclear and gas exploration?

JANE HUME: Yeah, that's a very good question indeed and you wonder why particularly when you've got wall to wall mainland states that have Labor Governments why Anthony Albanese has been able to convince Premiers right around the country to adopt his position on whether it be gas or whether it be other energy policy. The Coalition agrees with the Labor Party's gas strategy. That document really just sits at principles and doesn't set out projects. We were looking at the Budget for a reflection of that gas strategy, which came out only days before and it didn't really seem to be there. I get a sense that this gas strategy is finding itself a little friendless in Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet and probably his party room too.

LAURA JAYES: You might be right. In WA, the Coalition has hit back against the hydrogen subsidies or tax breaks eventually when they do come into effect. People like Twiggy Forrest can produce green hydrogen. WA wasn’t really liking your opposition to that. So where are you at with that?

JANE HUME: You know, the best thing that we can do for the hydrogen industry is more gas into the system. That's what the hydrogen industry needs, not tax credits. There's some very wealthy people behind the companies that are investing in hydrogen right now. They're doing okay. But that would be terrific if we made a sustainable and broader industry by lowering the cost of gas and putting more gas into the system.

LAURA JAYES: Good to see you, Jane. We will see you soon.

JANE HUME: Thanks Laura, you too.