E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

5AA ADELAIDE - TWO TRIBES SEGMENT
WEDNESDAY, 3 APRIL, 2019
Subject: Budget 2019.

HOST: It’s time for a special Federal Budget Edition of Two Tribes. Chris Pyne and Anthony Albanese, good morning and welcome.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning, Will.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good morning. Good to see you still here, Chris.

PYNE: Of course, very much so, alive and kicking.

HOST: He hasn't totally checked out. He hasn't been seen walking around Campbelltown drinking Pina Coladas just yet.

ALBANESE: He'll be on the beach soon enough.

PYNE: It was good to catch up with you last night, Anthony.

ALBANESE: Now we’re breaking news.

HOST: Come on, share.

PYNE: Anthony and I had a farewell drink last night in my office.

ALBANESE: We did. It was very nice.

PYNE: Which is exactly what people should do. Hands across the aisle, friends on both sides. It was very pleasant.

ALBANESE: A good glass of South Australian red.

PYNE: Exactly.

HOST: That's very civilised. What was the red?

PYNE: A Mamre-Brook, actually.

HOST: Are you feeling a bit dusty this morning?

PYNE: No, absolutely not. We were out by ten. Home in bed, it was all good.

HOST: In all seriousness did any part of you guys discuss the Budget last night when you got together for that drink?

PYNE: I can’t remember the Budget being discussed, Anthony?

ALBANESE: We were discussing how upbeat Christopher is feeling now that he has made the decision, actually. It was a good gathering. There was one other person there as well and it was one bottle between three, it was very …

HOST: Leaving out lingering details.

ALBANESE: Very polite.

HOST: Who was the other person?

ALBANESE: Well, we're not giving you that.

PYNE: Can’t give you everything.

HOST: You tease like no others, it’s amazing.

ALBANESE: You’re going to have to get the CCTV footage to find that out.

HOST: We're guessing it wasn't Cory Bernardi.

ALBANESE: That’s a fair bet. Or Mark Latham.

HOST: Latham, what about that. But what we thought we'd do guys, so that it doesn't turn into a slanging match, we'll give each of you three minutes to do your stump speech about last night's Budget. You can kick off, Chris, you're the Government of the day. Do you think that this is the blueprint that should see the Morrison Government returned?

PYNE: Well, it's a very good Budget. I mean five years, six years ago when we got elected in 2013 we said that we'd stop the boats, we'd abolish the Carbon Tax we'd balance the Budget and we'd build the infrastructure of the 21st century. And last night we did the final one of those four, which is to balance the Budget. It's something that Labor governments never do and we do. We fix the economy, we fix the Budget when we get into government and for South Australia, fantastic news around infrastructure. We've already stopped the boats and we abolished the Carbon Tax that Labor wants to now bring back. But for infrastructure for South Australia, another $1.5 billion to finish the North South Corridor, $115 million for the Torrens Road Level Crossing, $74 million for the duplication of the Victor Harbour Road, $50 million for the Portrush Road, MaGill Road Intersection in my seat of Sturt. And $30 million for the Fullerton Road and Cross Road Intersection in my electorate of Sturt. But also don't forget we put $135 million to support projects at Lot 14. Like the $85 million for the Aboriginal Art and Cultures Gallery, $30 million for the new International Tourism School. Of course the Space Agency that is now to be at Lot 14 and a new Brain and Spinal ward at the Repat Hospital. So we're investing in the services and the infrastructure that the Australian people, and in this case the South Australian people, expect and deserve. But also delivering tax cuts for 780,000 South Australians, who will get a thousand dollars, 710,000 of them will get a thousand dollars and eighty, in July this year. Because of the good economic management of this Government. So I guess the pitch is in this election campaign: don't put any of that at risk. Every time Labor gets into government they make a mess of the Budget and a mess of the economy.

HOST: All right, Albo, hit us with your best stuff.

ALBANESE: This Budget is not a plan for a better or a fairer Australia. It fails to reverse the cuts to schools and hospitals. It fails to reverse the cuts to TAFE apprenticeships. We've seen some 150,000 apprenticeship places lost on this Government's watch. It promises a surplus but that's subsidised by short changing people through the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Christopher speaks about infrastructure investment. The Budget says there's an extra $1.8 billion to South Australia. But guess what? Only $95 million of that, $95 million, is available over the next four years. Of the 18 projects in South Australia, road projects, only one of them is in a Labor seat. Of the seven road projects in Adelaide only one of them is in a Labor seat. This is a plan for an election, not a plan to deal with urban congestion. Urban congestion isn't confined to Sturt and Boothby. It's not a fair Budget, it's not a fair dinkum Budget and you would have to elect Scott Morrison two more times before the big tax cuts come in. And if you elect Scott Morrison, or whoever the leader is in the next term and the term after that, because they change every term, what you will have is a nurse on the same tax rate as a doctor and that is not fair.

HOST: To that point, Albo, can I jump in? When you talk about that and this is about the flattening of the 37 per cent marginal tax rate. Is Labor likely to block those tax cuts at the higher end?

ALBANESE: We will have our announcements tomorrow night in Bill Shorten’s speech. But you can say that Labor believes in fairness and we judge everything through that frame.

HOST: We’re going to leave it there guys. Christopher Pyne, Anthony Albanese and given that you didn't get a …

HOST: Hang on a second, there is one last piece of business, not Budget related, that we need to get their thoughts on.

PYNE: What’s that?
(Recording of Christopher Pyne singing plays.)

HOST: Who wants to go first?

ALBANESE: Think of the listeners. Why are you doing that to them? No one is listening now, radios were just turned off.

PYNE: I’m in tune. It's amazing. I’m ironing my shirt singing a bit of Spirit in the Sky, it's a great song.

HOST: Where were you doing that, Chris?

PYNE: In my home in Deakin, in Canberra, I was preparing for Budget Week. I iron my own shirts.

HOST: Man of the people.

PYNE: Absolutely.

HOST: Good on you, guys.

ALBANESE: Pity no one is listening.

[ENDS]

WEDNESDAY, 3 APRIL, 2019