THE HON BILL SHORTEN MP LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG

E&OE TRANSCRIPT RADIO INTERVIEW ABC RADIO NATIONAL WITH JONATHAN GREEN WEDNESDAY, 23 APRIL 2014 SUBJECT / S: Commission of Cuts; Abbott Government GP Tax; Rebuildin !abor" JONATHAN GREEN: Bill Shorten is the Leader of the Opposition and joins us now. Mr Shorten, good evening. BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Good evening Jonathan. GREEN: Now, Joe Hoc e! sa!s tonight that the de"and for govern"ent progra"s is outstripping funding, and the #oalition inherited an unsustaina$le $udget position. %s La$or to $la"e for that& SHORTEN: % thin that the onl! case for change which the '$$ott Govern"ent is going to "a e for the $udget is the case to $rea their pro"ises and their twisted priorities. (he #o""ission of 'udit will $e an ali$i constructed $! the Govern"ent to justif! $rea ing the pro"ises that the! "ade to the 'ustralian people $efore the last election. GREEN: Surel! so"ething has to $e done. (his is not just the Govern"ent here, the %M) for e*a"ple agrees with the Govern"ent+s assess"ent of its position, that spending is outstripping sustaina$le revenue. Surel! so"ething has to $e done to address that pro$le". SHORTEN: ,ell this is a Govern"ent with twisted priorities. %f the!+re trul! concerned a$out tac ling spending, wh! on earth are the! inflicting upon 'ustralia a -.. $illion paid parental leave sche"e which will see "ulti/"illionaires receive -01,222& (he challenge for the Govern"ent is to justif! wh! the!+re going to $rea pro"ises the! "ade at the last election. GREEN: (he Govern"ent would argue that parental leave sche"e is full! funded $! a ta* on relevant $usinesses.

SHORTEN: Great, so the '$$ott Govern"ent on one hand sa!s that the!+re not going to raise ta*es, the! sa! that the! won+t touch the pension, the! sa! that the!+re on ever!one+s side $efore the election. But after the election the!+re slugging "u"s and dads a new ta* to ta e their ids to the doctor, the!+re telling people in their 32s the!+re going to have to eep wor ing on. B! the sa"e to en, the!+ve got these twisted priorities of a paid parental leave sche"e which is e*cessivel! generous and will provide so"e people with -01,222 of ta*pa!er/funded paid parental leave. GREEN: (he! sa! that their priorit! would $e to get spending under control to $ring the $udget closer to $alance. Shouldn+t the! target the age pension, shouldn+t the! target things li e Medicare co/pa!"ents& SHORTEN: (he! should $e upfront with the 'ustralian people $efore an election. (on! '$$ott, when he wanted people+s vote, said on no less than nine occasions over a 42/da! ca"paign period that he wouldn+t increase the pension, sorr!, that he wouldn+t touch the pension. 'nd in fact it appears that the!+re $uilding the case to do just that. Before the election the! said 5no new ta*es+, and now the!+re sa!ing 5well, !ou don+t pa! e*tra ta*es if !ou+re a "illionaire getting paid parental leave, $ut !ou will if !ou want to ta e !our children to the doctor+. GREEN: 6o !ou concede that there+s a pro$le" around the $alance of the $udget& SHORTEN: % concede that hard decisions have to $e "ade. % don+t concede though that in the na"e of hard decisions, that the '$$ott Govern"ent is allowed to $rea pro"ises the! specificall! and clearl! "ade in an election. GREEN: %s this the right ti"e of the Govern"ent to $e co""itting to a -7. $illion progra" to $u! joint stri e fighters& SHORTEN: ,ell the purchase of defence procure"ent for weapons platfor"s for these aeroplanes which are "eant to last us 82 !ears is not a s"all decision, it+s an ongoing process across govern"ents and across parties. % would su$"it though, that this is not the right ti"e for the '$$ott Govern"ent to introduce a G9 (a*, to introduce a -01,222 paid parental leave sche"e for so"e 'ustralians. So % $elieve that this is a Govern"ent whose priorities are wrong. GREEN: Mr Shorten, a $ig speech !esterda! on 'L9 refor", are !ou confident of seeing !our proposals through the various state conferences& SHORTEN: % a". La$or needs to re$uild. (he 'ustralian electorate need to see that La$or has changed, that we are stronger then what we were, that we are strong enough to run the case for $etter jo$s for 'ustralians in the future, for proper health care, for proper education policies. %n order to do that La$or needs to de"onstrate that we are a "e"$ership $ased part!, not a faction $ased part!, that we will $e fielding through our pre/selection processes the $est candidates possi$le to help guide 'ustralian into the future, and that we will want and attract people across all wal s of life. %+" confident that the case for re$uilding is one which people within the La$or 9art! will support. %+" also confident that "ore people will join the La$or 9art! as a result of the re$uilding process. GREEN: ,hile unions still have 12 per cent of votes at conferences&

SHORTEN: (he real challenge here is, the test to appl! is La$or re$uilding, is it genuine& (he answer % would su$"it to that test is that we are ta ing power fro" so"e people who e*ercise it and sharing it with "ore people. )or the La$or 9art! to aspire for 'ustralia to $e a confident, outward loo ing, de"ocratic, progressive countr!, then the La$or 9art! itself needs to $e outward loo ing, confident and de"ocratic. ,hat %+" see ing to do is redistri$ute power fro" so"e people who e*ercise it to "ore people, and in doing so we want 'ustralians to $eco"e re/ engaged with the political process. GREEN: Let "e read !ou a $it of the 'L9 #onstitution: ;the 'ustralian La$or 9art! is a de"ocratic socialist part! and has the o$jective of the de"ocratic socialisation of industr!, production, distri$ution and e*change to the e*tent necessar! to eli"inate the e*ploitation and other anti/social features in these fields.< %s a co""it"ent to the socialisation of industr!, production, distri$ution and e*change what "odern voters want fro" the 'L9& SHORTEN: ,hat "odern voters want fro" the La$or 9art! is a de"ocratic part! which represents people fro" all wal s of life which is focused on the i"portant issues in 'ustralian societ!: fairness, social justice, the creation of good jo$s in the future for people, a =ualit! health care s!ste" universall! accessi$le to all, =ualit! options for education for children fro" pre/school right through to adult life. GREEN: 6o !ou have the authorit! to re"ove the socialist o$jective fro" !our constitution& SHORTEN: Our constitution is what it is, %+" interested in the La$or 9art! re$uilding for the future. ,e will engage all our "e"$ers in a discussion a$out our policies, our platfor" and our values. One thing %+" co"pletel! sure a$out: the speech % gave !esterda! a$out re$uilding La$or is a$out sharing power a"ongst "ore people, and the de"ocratic contract that we are entering into with people who are interested in $eing involved with politics in 'ustralia. GREEN: Just one last point Bill Shorten, #live 9al"er !esterda! sa!ing that he+s li el! to aid the Govern"ent in its "ove to repeal the car$on ta*. %f that happened and if the Govern"ent pac aged this 6irect 'ction proposals as part of $udget appropriations would !ou support the" in the Senate& SHORTEN: ,ell there+s plent! of ifs in that =uestion, %+ll give !ou so"e definites. One is, cli"ate change is real. (wo, the '$$ott Govern"ent are sceptics or people who want to spend a lot of ta*pa!er "one! on $ig polluters, who are reall! still sceptics. 'nd the third thing is, their 6irect 'ction polic! has no support a"ong an!one who has considered these issues seriousl!. %n ter"s of what the Senate does, the 9ri"e Minister (on! '$$ott said that he wouldn+t negotiate with "inor parties, that he wouldn+t do deals, he criticised La$or in the last ter" for doing that. %+ll $e watching with great interest to see if (on! '$$ott, just li e on his election pro"ises, sa!s one thing $efore the election and does another afterwards. GREEN: Bill Shorten, than s for !our ti"e. SHORTEN: (han s, have a lovel! evening.

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