June 29, 2023
PETER STEFANOVIC: Joining us now live from Melbourne is Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson. James, good to see you. The Treasurer on a short time ago. Inflation thankfully dropping, but price pressures still remain. The Treasurer says the policies are working. So what do you put it down to?
JAMES PATERSON: Well, good morning. Frankly, I think the Treasurer's celebrating is a bit premature because if you look closely at the numbers, it's certainly true that headline inflation has come down by one per cent, but core inflation – those things that actually really affect household budgets on a month-to-month basis – has only come down by 0.1 per cent. One of the big drivers for the headline inflation number coming down is, for example, holidays, which have declined in cost significantly. Now that's very welcome, but is it going to help the family pay their rising mortgage costs or their increasing rent bill or the increasing electricity prices? No, it's not. And so really, the pre-emptive victory lap that the Treasurer was on this morning I think is very premature and frankly out of touch with the very significant price pressures that Australians are facing.
STEFANOVIC: Yeah, I put this question to him as well and he squibbed it about childcare. Next week the subsidies do come into effect, but childcare centres are just increasing their
fees. They've obviously got price pressures as well. Is that an example in your view, of a wage price spiral?
PATERSON: Well, it could be that, but it also is often what we see Pete when the federal government increases subsidies for something that the operators increase their prices to accommodate that increased subsidy. And the federal government has been warned that this is a risk. So, they'll have no excuse if it eventuates. What they have to deliver is what they promised to deliver, which is actually reduced childcare costs for families. If that doesn't eventuate, then families will be rightly angry that they have been let down by Labor yet again on a core cost of living issue.
STEFANOVIC: He's now got a bigger surplus to work with without pointing to the exact figure, he says that's down the track. But is he right to bank the savings, James, or should more help be provided the folks at home?
PATERSON: Well, certainly the government needs to do everything it can to help Australians with cost of living, but the best thing they could do is get the inflation under control, and they've frankly shown very little interest in that task. They seem to think that that's the Reserve Bank's job and not their job because they've added an $185 billion of extra spending since they came to office and every single one of those dollars contributes to higher inflation and higher cost of living. And the longer that that persists, that means the higher interest rates have to go and the longer they have to stay high to get inflation under control. So really, they shouldn't be adding any extra fuel to that fire.
STEFANOVIC: Couple of other quick stories here that caught my eye this morning, James, before we go. The ACT government is pushing to allow teenagers from as young as 14 to access euthanasia. Have you got a thought on this?
PATERSON: Look, Pete. I'm instinctively uncomfortable with that. I voted against allowing allowing the ACT to legislate for euthanasia. Not because I don't recognise the freedom that some people desire to control the timing of the end of their life but because I believe that euthanasia can never be made completely safe. And one wrongful death under a euthanasia scheme, in my view, is one too many. Of course, the risks of that increase the lower age you get to the more vulnerable people that are involved. And I would hate to think of a young person being put to death wrongfully under a euthanasia scheme as a result of the ACT's changes. And frankly, I think it is insensitive timing when they are also trying to take over a Catholic hospital, Calvary Hospital, in the ACT who is, of course, opposed to euthanasia.
STEFANOVIC: The minister responsible says, I mean, the rest of the country, the minimum age is 18, but the minister responsible says the age is arbitrary. What's your view on that?
