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April 17, 2025
Transcript – Sky News First Edition
17 April 2025
E&OE
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, well let's get to this difference of opinion now between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, because this has come back to the fore because of that debate. So joining us now is the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. James, I remember this at the time where Jim Chalmers, it took a while for him to confess that modelling was done, that there was an instruction for negative gearing modelling and the PM last night tried to distance himself from that, so what do you make of that even though the Treasurer said last night that they're kind of on the same page?
JAMES PATERSON:
Pete, it was very polite of you to call this a “difference of opinion” between the Treasurer and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has lied. There is no other way of spinning this; there's no other way of explaining this. Last night in the debate, when challenged by Peter Dutton and when followed up by David Speers, the Prime Minister said the Government did not commission any advice on negative gearing or capital gains tax changes, but the Treasurer admitted last year that's exactly what he did. He asked the Treasury Department to model changes on negative gearing and capital gains tax. If the Prime Minister will lie about this, what else will he lie about? I mean, this is a guy who's lied about our record when it comes to health, our record, when it comes to education. He's even lied about falling off the stage when it was captured on video. This is not a Prime Minister Australians can trust.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
No, I was going to raise that point because that's what immediately came to mind. A more recent example, like what you pointed out, was when he fell off the stage, and he said he didn't. So, is this going to be your approach now to go after the man?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, we have an Albanese Live Lie Tracker being compiled at Coalition Campaign Headquarters here. As of a few days ago, we're up to 43 lies in the campaign. I think we've well and truly crossed that threshold last night with several lies. The Prime Minister also refused to recommit to the reduction of energy prices of $275. That was a lie he told 97 times before the last campaign. And Australians should reflect on that. He lied to them about cheaper power prices before the last campaign, and look at what's happened in office. If he's lying about negative gearing now, what is his secret plan on negative gearing in the next term of parliament? We know his future coalition partners in the Greens will make it a condition of forming government after the next election that they do something on negative gearing and capital gains tax. So, the Prime Minister should just be upfront and honest with the Australian people for once and tell them what he will do and what changes he'll make on negative gearing.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Did Peter Dutton give a clear answer though when he was asked about negative gearing capital gains tax as well and concessions that he might make if he wins?
JAMES PATERSON:
Unequivocally, we will make no changes to negative gearing or CGT. We've never modelled any changes on negative gearing or CGT. We've never asked Treasury to look at that. We will make no changes; we're committed to the status quo. We do want to help first home buyers, though, and that's why we want to give them the opportunity to deduct their tax on up to $650,000 worth of interest if they're buying a new home, because it's a disgrace how badly home ownership for first home buyers has gone backwards on this government's watch.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Somewhat related, on the question of tax. So, in a separate interview, Peter Dutton has said that he wants to pursue proper tax reform if he wins, tackling indexation, which business groups have already said on this program that they're very happy with today. Is that aspirational, or is that actually a firm commitment?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, it's certainly aspirational because the reality is Labor's done extraordinary damage to the books, and we're going to have to spend quite some time cleaning up that damage. There are deficits as far as the eye can see, and Labor is promising to hit $1.2 trillion of debt in the next few years.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So you might not do it then, if you win?
JAMES PATERSON:
No, we are very keen to do it as soon as we can do it. But only once we've got the fiscal house back in order from the damage that Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have done. Because it's in the DNA of the Liberal party to return taxpayers' money to them. And we think that dealing with the insidious problem of bracket creep, which has been so out of control on this government's watch, people are paying up to three and a half thousand dollars more in tax than they were three years ago because of bracket creep. We want to fix that problem, but only once we've got Labor's mess under control, as previous Liberal governments have done.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Why not try and do this before this election, though? Why not do it well before? Why do it right now?
JAMES PATERSON:
Pete, we'd love to be able to do this sooner. We'd love to be able to promise this earlier. But the reality is, because of the damage Labor has done to the budget, because of the $425 billion in extra spending that they've added over their first term in office, this is not something we can do overnight. It's something that has to be done in a fiscally responsible way. But look at the track record of Liberal governments in the past. Look at the Howard and Costello era. They did tax reform once they got in and cleaned up the previous Labor government's mess. And the Dutton Coalition government, should it be elected at this election, will be no different. We'll clean up Labor's mess and we'll deliver the tax relief that Australians deserve.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, but what would that mean? Would you be taking out tax brackets? Would you be increasing or decreasing some tax brackets? Do you have any idea yet of what that reform would look like when it comes to indexation?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, the first thing we'll do is we'll cut people's petrol and diesel tax by $14 a tank. The second thing we will do is return up to $1,200 for people in a cost of living tax offset.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
But that's all temporary?
JAMES PATERSON:
It is, but it's urgent because Australians are suffering. Once we've done that and once we've got the books under control, what we want to do is address this insidious problem of bracket creep. It is not a good thing that Labor's homegrown inflation has pushed people into higher tax brackets while the cost of everything has gone up, which means they're no better off. We have to fix that problem, and we're determined to do so over a reasonable time frame once we've cleaned up Labor's mess.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Just a final note here, I just want to squeeze in, relating to Indonesia, Peter Dutton said last night it was a mistake to bring that up in the way that he did. Now, the Russian Ambassador to Jakarta has said overnight that AUKUS is more of an instability to the region than the Russian aircraft being in Indonesia would be. What are your comments on that, first of all? And second of all, how troubling would it be if Russia wants a military footprint in our region?
JAMES PATERSON:
Well, it would be enormously troubling, and this statement by the Russian Ambassador very clearly implies that the request was made from Russia to Indonesia, and the Prime Minister wasn't at all clear about that in the debate last night. In fact, he implied that this was a total non-story, that this request was never made. Now, tellingly, when challenged on this by journalists afterwards in his press conference, Jim Chalmers did not back the Prime Minister up. He did not repeat what the Prime Minister said. And so I think Anthony Albanese must clear this up this morning. Is he saying this request was never made? Is he saying Russia is not trying to get closer to Indonesia? Is he saying Russia does not have ambitions to base assets in our region? Because if that's what he's saying, he's misleading the Australian people; the intent of Vladimir Putin and the Russian government in our region is very clear.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Just a final one here, would Russia be here because China asked them to? Is that the question here?
JAMES PATERSON:
Look, there are some respected defence commentators like Rory Medcalf and Michael Shoebridge who have suggested that. We still have not been briefed by the government on this issue, despite requesting it more than 24 hours ago. The government, as of late last night at least, hadn't even had the courtesy to respond to the opposition about our request in violation of the caretaker provisions that should apply in an election period. So we expect that briefing to be provided to our relevant shadow ministers so that we can have the full facts on this question.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Good to see you, James. Thank you.
ENDS