Doorstop interview, Canberra

E&OE

JOURNALIST:

Mr Morrison, Labor’s using the NATSEM modelling to try and rally the Senate against the Family Tax Benefit cuts. Has it got to the stage now that you’re going to have to find an alternative to the measure of taking FTB off a family when the child turns six?

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well what the Labor party is doing is seeking to use the crossbench senators as pawns, to play politics with the Senate, that’s what they’re trying to do. It’s interesting that the Labor party now think that changing the arrangements for families who have children who go over the age of six is something that can’t be supported when in government, what they did, is they kicked families off the Parenting Payment and put them on Newstart when their children turned six.

They also put through some $15 billion worth of changes to family tax benefits when they were in government, including changing the indexation of payments and thresholds and the like and what this indicates is that what Labor is doing when it comes to the changes on family tax benefits and other measures, is that they’re simply playing politics. There’s no consistency in their position here, there’s no real concern for Australian families here, they just want to jam things up in the Senate for their own political purposes and they’re seeking to use the crossbench senators as their pawns in this process. I think frankly the crossbench senators are awake to that, I don’t think they want to be anybody’s pawn in this process, they’ve got their own views about this, I am continuing to meet with them over the weeks ahead and I know those discussions will be very constructive.

On the NATSEM analysis more generally, what it doesn’t take into account is the investments that this government is making in this Budget to create jobs; the best form of welfare is a job. That’s why we’re increasing support for child care for low to middle income families so they can work more and they can get into work when they have children. The wage you get is always better than the welfare that you get and that’s why we’ve invested so much in this Budget in investing in programmes that help people earn wages rather than draw down welfare. The NATSEM model takes no account of those impacts of people being able to earn a wage rather than earn welfare. We don’t think that the answer to this country’s challenges is higher welfare and higher taxes. We think it’s a managed welfare system that focuses on need and a tax system that provides incentives for people to go to work and save for their retirement.

JOURNALIST:

What different argument–that FTB measure’s been stuck for a year, the majority of crossbenchers have believed for a year it’s unfair–what are you telling them differently this time?

MINISTER MORRISON:

There are a number of measures that are before the Senate, not just the measure that deals with children turning six, there are measures that deal with the freezing of payments for two years and similar changes to thresholds and things of that nature, quite technical changes, exactly the same thing that the Labor party did when they were in government. Now they’re in Opposition, they simply want to follow the politics of reactionary responses that seeks to jam things up in the Senate for their own political gain. That’s not for the country’s gain, that just for the Labor party’s gain and I think trying to use the Senators as pawns in the political game by Bill Shorten I think is unfortunate but there are a range of measures and including the under sixes measure and it has been there since the last Budget. These aren’t measures in this Budget, they’re in the last Budget and I think the opportunity to take the savings that are there from these initiatives and to invest them in helping low to middle income families access the child care they need to have the choice they want to work more and to go into work, I think is a strong argument.

JOURNALIST:

On superannuation Minister, are you looking at the draw down rules as part of a bid to close loopholes?

MINISTER MORRISON:

All I’ve simply said is that the changes we’re making to the taper rate, which is going to increase the pension for 170,000 pensioners on low assets, low to modest assets, and for those on higher assets, some four times the amount of the average for those pensioners who have superannuation, we’re going to continue to give the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card to all of those affected by those changes. I think this is a fairer system, I think it represents a very simple proposition and that is tax incentives for superannuation are provided so people can build up their superannuation and they can draw down on it in their retirement. It’s not there as an inheritance programme; it’s not there as a wealth transfer programme; it’s there so people can save for their retirement and have a great standard of living, a good standard of living in their retirement, that’s what it’s for.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think the draw down provisions need to be looked at?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I’m simply talking about the changes we’ve put forward in this Budget, I’m not making any comments on any other matters.

JOURNALIST:

Minister, you obviously want Family Tax Benefit savings as part of the package, is there any flexibility–and sorry if this has been asked before–but is there any flexibility on the children under six, when children turn six, are you open to any negotiation on that saving at all?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I am negotiating with the Senate, I always said I would and I have been now for some period of time and I will let those discussions take their course but the principle is this – you don’t go around sending more taxpayers money without finding savings to pay for it. Bill Shorten the week before last got up and made a parade of promises that he couldn’t pay for. Australians are wise to that. That was an exercise in Budget smuggling. What he did was is he thought he could just announce the whole thing – bunch of things that he wasn’t going to pay for. That is no way to run a country and that is not the way the Abbott government is running our finances. What we are doing is we are paying for the things we know are important. We are identifying savings and we are putting those savings into things that we believe will help people choose a life of work over a life on welfare. We think they are important shifts. Now if you want to promise things Bill, you have got to pay for them and if he doesn’t think the Family Tax Benefit saves are the way to do that then he can identify his own savings. He has failed to do that. All they can do is promise higher taxes and more welfare payments. That is Labor’s plan; it is not the Coalition’s.

QUESTION:

Have you had any talks yet with the Greens or with the Crossbenchers on the link between child care and family tax benefits?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I have been speaking to the Crossbenchers about these issues for some time, well before the Budget.

QUESTION:

On the crackdown on welfare cheats Cass Goldie has pointed out this morning that 13 million calls to Centrelink went unanswered in the last 12 months therefore it is people trying to do the right thing but unable to do the right thing. Do you accept that argument?

MINISTER MORRISON:

No. There are issues with the call line, that is true but my.gov.au…

QUESTION:

Is that due to the cuts at Centrelink?

MINISTER MORRISON:

No it is not due to that, it is due to a range of issues which are being addressed by Minister Payne. There are other ways to do it, you can do it online, you can do it with the app, and you can do it in a range of different ways. I am not about to start creating excuses for people to not keep their details up to date. People should keep their details up to date and we encourage them to do that and where there are issues where they may have had difficulties in doing that then the Department can of course take those into consideration. But I am not going to go out there and support the Greens who seem to want to create a leave pass for people to fraud the system. We are not going to do that. The Australian people want a tough welfare cop on the beat. Eight out of ten income taxpayers go to work every single day to pay for the welfare bill of this country. We owe it to them to ensure that that system has integrity. Just like our Immigration system has integrity. It is important that we have a strong cop on the beat when it comes to welfare because it is taxpayers’ money that is at stake.

QUESTION:

Legislation for the small business tax breaks is weeks away from being passed, are you still – should people take it on good faith and go out and spend on the asset write off measure?

MINISTER MORRISON:

We are completely committed to these arrangements. The only thing that would stand in the way of businesses not being able to go and do this is the Labor party. So it really is a matter for the Labor party and they should clear this up immediately.

QUESTION:

A couple of your colleagues this morning, Simon Birmingham, Warren Entsch said the Liberal party should resolve its position on same sex marriage by the year’s end whether to have a conscience vote or not. Would you like to see it resolved in that timeframe and what is your personal view on the topic?

MINISTER MORRISON:

My view hasn’t change on this at any time and it is not about to change, Phil. It is my own personal view, it is not one that I tend to impose on others and it is not one that I am about to impose on others. I haven’t supported that change for a long period of time and I don’t support it now. This matter will take its course. Frankly I am more focussed on the issues of dealing with the $150 billion worth of payments that are the responsibility in my portfolio each day and the work the government is doing to get people off welfare and into work. Those other issues will resolve themselves at whatever time that occurs, it is not one that I am particularly involved in driving or preventing but I have my own view, I think these are matters of conviction and I think people have worked out that when it comes to my convictions I am fairly resolute on them.

QUESTION:

Minister this welfare cop, this AFP officer that is working within welfare. Can you tell us a little bit of the specifics about how he will crackdown on these welfare payments, who he will report to, what he will be doing?

MINISTER MORRISON:

It is a matter of approach as much as anything else. The law enforcement approach to issues I found in my previous portfolio to be clarifying. We have great people working in the Department of Human Services who have done excellent work and I think they will be greatly assisted by this law enforcement focus becoming part of their mode of operations in ensuring that we have this strong welfare literally cop on the beat now when it comes to cracking down on welfare fraud. Welfare fraud is a serious issue, it is a significant issues, it is basically taxpayer theft, thieving from taxpayers. No government can sit by and let that occur and that is why you need to use everything at your disposal to ensure you stop that and enlist those with a police background in these activities only strengthens our arm in this area.

QUESTION:

Will there be punitive measures for people who are rorting welfare?

MINISTER MORRISON:

There already are, there already are. This is about enforcement, this is about following through on the laws that are already there and making sure we are identifying those who are ripping off taxpayers. We have no tolerance for those who are ripping off the taxpayer in welfare fraud.

Thanks for your time.