E&OE….
Topics: Leadership, Budget, Green Army
MARK PARTON:
Greg Hunt joins us. G’day Greg.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning Mark.
MARK PARTON:
I think yesterday was it, the first day of good, sensible government wasn’t it?
GREG HUNT:
Look, obviously last week we had a process which wasn’t optimal. That’s an honest answer and I think people would be disappointed at that and I know that I was because I’ve been a deeply strong supporter of the Prime Minister.
But when you look at the last seventeen months, we’ve saved lives at sea, we’ve reduced electricity prices, we’ve started the immensely important process of making sure that our children aren’t saddled with hundreds of billions of dollars of debt. Yes there was a disruption and I really regret that and wish that that hadn’t happened, particularly as somebody who has been a passionate supporter of the PM.
But we’re focused; we’re going forward remembering there is no viable credible alternative. I saw yesterday that when Bill Shorten was asked to identify how he would deal with this massive intergenerational theft, he sort of threw up his hands and that’s not a viable alternative and everything here is about making sure that we do the right thing by our children and our grandchildren, but we also do the right thing by those that are here now.
It’s that balance of responsibility that I think is deep, powerful, good government. It’s hard, but it’s worth fighting for.
MARK PARTON:
But Greg you say that we’re well on the way to getting ourselves out of that hole and yet Joe Hockey, the Treasurer, is saying that we may never, ever have the Budget back in surplus and the Deloitte Access Economics have revealed that since May, you can tack on another $10 billion?
GREG HUNT:
Joe’s point is slightly different. It’s that unless we make decisions which allow us to both be fair to families and pensioners at the present, but also be fair to our children and our grandchildren then we will leave them with a massive debt. It’s…
MARK PARTON:
It’s a fine line isn’t it Greg, because if you do the right thing for the long-term, well then you won’t get a second term.
GREG HUNT:
You can find the balance and it’s just worth…
MARK PARTON:
Can you?
GREG HUNT:
…remembering that we went from massive surpluses which were criticised at the time by the ALP, to debts of I think $27 billion, $54 billion, 47, 43, 18 and we were left with a nearly $50 billion annual deficit.
And so we have to close that gradually to put ourselves in a sustainable position and yep, there are external events beyond anyone’s control to do with China and Europe, but our task is to close that gap by ensuring that spending is controlled, but very, very significantly to work on providing opportunities for families and young people.
I know, in terms of young people in my own portfolio, the Green Army is absolutely going gangbusters. We’re getting young people in the field, they’re doing great environmental work, they’re getting practical tangible outcomes of cleaning up degraded areas, of replanting and this is really important stuff.
So you get good environmental outcomes and good human outcomes, as well as giving young people the pathway to work culture, work opportunities and future careers. So that’s the sort of practical, balanced work we’re doing.
MARK PARTON:
I want to go back briefly to Monday – I know you’d rather that I didn’t – but I think it was Simon Benson who suggested in an article in the Daily Telegraph that there were six Cabinet Ministers who voted for the spill. Now when I first saw that report, my first thought was how could he possibly know that for sure?
GREG HUNT:
Well I don’t know the answer to that and all I know is that for me, I’ve been a deep, passionate supporter of the Prime Minister and was absolutely clearly opposed to the spill. And I…
MARK PARTON:
There must be someone inside though, who’s suggesting to the likes of Simon Benson, that there were six Ministers. But again, if it’s an absolute secret ballot, how would you possibly know for sure?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I don’t know the answer to the source of that or the provenance of it. I do know that there is a sense of getting on with the task of giving Australians a pathway to the future. The alternative of spending more than we have, of living beyond our means, of spending $100 million a day more than we have, which is what Bill Shorten is advocating, is simply an act of intergenerational theft.
And so for me, there’s a deep belief that yes we can always do more, we can always do better, but I look at our portfolio and we’ve taken the pressure of families with a genuine, real reduction in electricity prices – largest in recorded history – we’ve got young people in the field, we’ve made radical changes to the way in which the Great Barrier Reef is being protected.
Ended a hundred years of practice of dredge disposal into the marine park. Huge projects inherited from Labor which will no longer see marine disposal under our watch. So really important things.
MARK PARTON:
Alright. Tell me – is there genuine tension between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull?
GREG HUNT:
Not in my observation and not in my belief.
MARK PARTON:
No.
GREG HUNT:
I think that this, to be fair, wasn’t a product of the main protagonists. The great challenge here goes back to the fact that we have to make difficult decisions for the next generation, but not at the expense of the current.
And that is a tough task and I think we have to take the Australian people with us and it has to be a conversation and a dialogue that if any family is living beyond their means, they know that they have to carefully adjust and as a country we have to carefully adjust because nowhere, nowhere near the Greek or Italian or Portuguese or Spanish budgetary positions, but left unchecked, left unchecked, we start to head into a position where we’re vulnerable to the next Global Financial Crisis.
We’re vulnerable to the next public sector meltdown somewhere, whether it’s in Europe or another continent. That’s profoundly important and I believe in what we’re doing immensely and I also believe that we got here because of a just a completely irresponsible approach to spending from the previous Government and now they’re even more irresponsible in Opposition, which means that we do have to do difficult things, sometimes they are unpopular, but yes there are some adjustments to be made.
MARK PARTON:
Thanks for coming on this morning, Greg.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks mate.
(ENDS)