Interview with Deb Knight, John Stanley & Oly Petersen, Money News

25 March 2025

DEB KNIGHT: Pushing back on at least some of what the government has proposed tonight is Senator Jane Hume, Shadow Finance Minister, who joins me now. Senator, welcome to the show.

JANE HUME: Thanks very much for having me along, Deb.

DEB KNIGHT: So it's a no is it from the Coalition on backing this surprise tax cut?

JANE HUME: Well, this is a pretty ordinary looking budget. I mean, let's face it, it's a budget for the next five weeks. It's not a budget for the next five years. We set some tests and said that the most important thing that this budget could do, that Labor could do here, would be to restore Australians standard of living that's been lost under Labor. A standard of living has gone backwards by about 8%, but it looks like that this budget's pretty much focused only on the prosperity and security of one person, and that's Anthony Albanese. They've failed to deliver a budget that's going to restore that lost standard of living. And that's the most disappointing thing. And this tax cut is essentially it's a cruel hoax. It's a cruel hoax that won't really touch the sides. For most Australians it's only $0.70 a day and it doesn't kick in for another 15 months or so.

DEB KNIGHT: Well, we know the cost of living is going to be the big issue for this election. But the Coalition you've already adopted government spending on Medicare, extending the electricity bill, subsidies. You can't really attack the entire Budget if you are adopting key policies.

JANE HUME: Well, the most important thing with those policies, they are essentially addressing areas of failure of Labor's own policy.

DEB KNIGHT: Yeah but you’re adopting them. The budget can't be all that bad.

JANE HUME: The reason why we need energy subsidies is because Labor's energy policy has failed. The reason why we need to adopt changes to Medicare is because bulk billing has collapsed. So these are things that have happened under, on Labor's watch. We want to make sure that those things are restored. But this tax hoax is nothing and it's costing $17 billion. So that's why we're now in the red as far as the eye can see.

DEB KNIGHT: All right. I have with me Senator, John Stanley from 2GB and 4BC, as well as Oly Peterson from six PR in Perth. John, your question to the Senator.

JOHN STANLEY: You were just saying $17 billion out to 2030 and correctly saying that they don't cut in until the middle of next year and there for everyone. There's no means test on this. So Peter Dutton's got his budget reply speech on Thursday night. I see, for instance, people and we're already getting messages from people who might be on JobSeeker. We've got people who are welfare recipients, people who say, well, if you're going to spend this much money to help, cost of living problems, maybe you could target it better and bring it in earlier. Are they potentially people you might help? Because the Government's, if you don't spend the $17 billion yourselves.

JANE HUME: Well, the most important thing we can do is restore responsible, economic management. That's the only way to sustainably bring down inflation is to rein in that government spending that keeps pushing inflation higher and higher, meaning the Reserve Bank has to keep pushing up interest rates. We want to see interest rates come down. We want to see inflation come down, and we want to see the budget with a credible plan to restore structural balance in the medium term.

JOHN STANLEY: If those people are referenced, though, that are listening right now, pensioners, JobSeeker recipients and others, you're not promising them anything in the short term or medium term beyond the effect of a more responsible budget?

JANE HUME: Well, I'm not going to announce policies here and now because obviously we have a budget in reply…

JOHN STANLEY (interrupts): So there could be something for them?

JANE HUME: …we have an election campaign coming up.

JOHN STANLEY (interrupts): Yeah I know.

JANE HUME: And I'm not, it's a very career limiting move to announce policies on behalf of your boss. Can I tell you that much.

DEB KNIGHT: But will we get more than just an announcement though, Jane? Because what policy detail from Peter Dutton has been lacking apart from nuclear?

JANE HUME: There very much will be some policy detail coming up on Thursday night. And what I particularly want to point out is our commitment to get energy prices down, because let's face it, energy prices have been one of the greatest drivers of the cost of living crisis, and it's because of Labor's ideological approach to their energy mix. We've seen prices increase for electricity up to around 32%, gas 34%, and that's entirely unsustainable. So the Coalition is committed to getting energy prices down. We will do that by bringing gas into the system much more quickly, cutting approval times dramatically. And that way we can, uh, you know, it's basic economics. If we increase supply, we will bring down prices faster. Now, in the meantime, there will be that energy subsidy that, you know, that we won't stand in the way of for Labor, because that essentially is part of the transition from Labor's disastrous energy plan to a Coalition’s energy plan.

DEB KNIGHT: I'll bring in Oly Peterson now from 6PR, where they do have the domestic gas reserve in place, which is the envy of the eastern states. Oly, your question to the Senator.

OLY PETERSON: Well, picking up on John’s thread and I'm going to let Kevin of Wembley make this point to you. Senator Hume, can somebody ring you and Peter Dutton and get you to lift all restrictions on retirees working? Let them work and pay tax. It's a win You'll get 90% of the grey vote and romp at the election. In any plans to follow our friends over the ditch in New Zealand do and allow retirees, pensioners to work and pay a bit more tax.

JANE HUME: I think you've got a short memory, you know, I mean, this was actually the first policy that Peter Dutton announced as leader of the Coalition was the pension work bonus to allow pensioners the opportunity to work a little bit longer, an extra day here, a few hours there without it, you know, eating into their pension. That was I think we announced that within about six weeks into opposition.

OLY PETERSON: It’s around the edges. Are you going to be more bold about it in the budget reply speech?

JANE HUME: Well, certainly look, the Government eventually followed us, but not all the way. I think our proposition was a bit braver and bolder than what Labor eventually implemented. We think this is a really important opportunity, particularly in a cost of living crisis, to allow older Australians an opportunity to supplement their their living expenses with a couple of extra days work here and there without it eating into their pension.

DEB KNIGHT: Now, Senator, you've complained and rightly about the Government's addiction to spending, but cutting the public service, it's not going to be enough to ensure that we get back into surplus. We've got the NDIS we've got aged care, welfare spending that's all set to balloon over the next 15 years. Can you give us a timeline for when a Coalition government might bring us back to surplus?

JANE HUME: Can I tell you this too, on the way through, we thought that the public service had increased by 36,000 under this Government, which was a 20% increase from the time that they were elected. We found out tonight it's actually 41,000 that they've put on an additional Lord knows how many thousands.

DEB KNIGHT: But those cuts aren't going to cut it, as it were.

JANE HUME: Well, they are I mean, that's at least an additional $6 billion a year that we are spending. And let's face it, I don't think that Australians feel better served by that bigger public service. We know that wait times have blown out for instance, to apply for an age pension or a low income card. It's about five times longer now than it was under the Coalition. In fact, the size of the Health Department has increased around 40%, and yet bulk billing has collapsed. The size of the Energy and Environment department has nearly doubled in, except approval times have blown out and emissions are up. You know, it's actually really frustrating to see that services are getting worse, but the public service is getting bigger. That's a real frustration. We think that that's inappropriate and that the public service can actually be better sized, potentially take it back to the size it was at the not at the beginning of Covid, at the end of Covid, and that was after it had been bolstered somewhat.

JOHN STANLEY: We're about to go into an election campaign now. Can you give us an undertaking, you'll be asked for this, that for every public servant, a lot of them listening right now on 2CC that for every public servant you decide to cut that you won't be replacing them with an outside contractor, as we saw during the previous government.

JANE HUME: Well, yes, I can absolutely say that because let's face it, we don't actually intend to make slashes and burns to frontline services. Frontline services are profoundly important.

JOHN STANLEY: But the back of house services that were done by the big, four consulting firms. And that turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. That's not going to happen again.

JANE HUME: I will say that there are still consultants that are being used, and there is always going to be a place for consultants in the public service, because you can't expect to be experts at everything all the time. So I think to, you know, make a blanket rule that there'll never be consultants would be nonsense and in fact that’s not what Labor’s done.

JOHN STANLEY: But just you won't replace. someone from the public sector with the private sector. So you basically pea and thimble trick.

JANE HUME: Well, that's certainly not the intention. is to deliver better public services with a smaller public service.

DEB KNIGHT: Okay. All right. We might leave it there. Senator. There's lots to unfold. Thank you for your immediate reaction to the Budget tonight.

JANE HUME: Terrific to be with you guys.

DEB KNIGHT: Senator Jane Hume there, Shadow Minister for Finance.