Subjects: superannuation tax, unrealised capital gains, defence spending
E&OE
STARTS: 12:09 PM
ENDS: 12:15 PM
KIERAN GILBERT
Michael McCormack, the Member for Riverina, joins us today, as he does regularly. Michael, thanks for your time. On this prospect of a compromise, Matt Canavan’s fired up, he doesn’t think there should be any sort of hint of a compromise on that superannuation tax. What’s your view?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yeah. No compromise, no deals. Why would we just roll over for Labor to put in an unfair tax when we just know, when they get this through, what’s going to be next? And the thing is, while $3 million to a lot of Australians might seem a lot in their superannuation, over time $3 million, honestly, in superannuation will not be worth a lot. You think of the prices of things 10, 15, 20 years ago and, you know, $3 million is not going to be a lot of money for those self-funded retirees going forward and for farmers who are asset rich and very, very cash strapped, cash poor. Why is it right that their farms increase in price? What are they supposed to do — hive off a paddock, sell a paddock every year to pay this unrealised capital gains? It’s not right. The Nationals won’t cop this, and we won’t be agreeing to it.
KIERAN GILBERT
So, if there were to be a compromise on the issue of unrealised gains, taxing unrealised gains, or dealing with that other point that you made, $3 million down the track won’t be that much if it’s indexed. Are those true red lines? If they’re dealt with, is there room then for a potential compromise?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
No, I don’t believe so. Labor loves taxes, they just love taxes. They’re spending so much money on things that honestly is not benefiting the national interests. And why would the Coalition try to be a credible Opposition? Why would we agree to a slug on the people we represent on the people who are farmers, on self-funded retirees? And 80,000 people … let me tell you Kieran, this is not a good tax, it’s not a good policy. I’ve done any number of speeches on this. The number of people who approached me during the election and said stop this insidious tax. It’s like franking credits, 2.0, quite frankly.
KIERAN GILBERT
Well, is that something you can all unify behind then? I know I spoke to Tim Wilson earlier in the week, he said it’s the most unfair tax in history is the way he put it. Is this something that the Coalition can unify behind and argue against as you try to rebuild?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, I hope so. The Liberals and The Nationals, working as one united force against the bad tax, there you go. Who would have thought a week ago, Kieran?
KIERAN GILBERT
Well, that’s nice to hear, isn’t it? It’s all peace now, we can smoke the peace pipe, as they say. Let’s talk about the demand from the United States, they want Australia to spend more, up to 3.5 per cent of GDP, should we?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, we should work towards that. I mean, Labor’s increase has been delayed until 2033 for defence spending, and we should, I mean, remember Labor when they came in last time back in 2010, they dropped spending levels per GDP to 1938 levels and everybody knows what happened in 1939. I mean Labor’s not going to spend more on defence when it can spend more on climate and other things, quite frankly, but they should because the defence of our nation is serious. The defence nation is first order of government, and we have to make sure that our borders are safe. We have to make sure in this volatile world that we are ready, that we are prepared. The price of peace is eternal vigilance. I’m in a military city, we train every one of the recruits who come through the Australian Army at Kapooka, which is not far from where I’m coming from, here today, Kieran, the Home of the Soldier, the Blamey Barracks. We’ve got a Navy base, believe it or not, even though we’re hundreds of kilometres from the nearest drop of seawater and we’ve got an Air Force Base which if you spend any given time in the Royal Australian Air Force, you’ll end up at Forest Hill, Wagga Wagga, we’re very proud of being a military city. But the numbers of military coming through are declining, that’s on Labor watch. Our defence readiness has declined, and that’s on Labor’s watch. Yes, they should be spending more, 3.5%, it’s a big ask, it’s many, many billions of dollars over what we’re spending now. But, United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth is correct when he says we need to be better prepared.
KIERAN GILBERT
We’re going to go to the Treasurer shortly, but so I want to get your thoughts on that GDP number, and anaemic growth, the Treasurer says any growth is welcome at the moment given the uncertainty internationally, what do you say?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yeah, anaemic and the Treasurer, they do belong in the same sentence. You know, I mean, well, what we’ve seen is GDP slump because Labor is not paying attention to what should be, the leavers of the economy, that they can pull to increase the amount of goods being produced in the economy to get our balance of payments rights, Labor just drop the ball on every which way, Kieran, not good enough, we’ll keep them accountable. They need to do a lot better.
KIERAN GILBERT
We could see another rate cut, though that would be welcome, I’m sure by many of your constituents.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Yeah, true that, yes, any rate cut for those home buyers, there’s always going to be welcome. But again, you know what we’ve seen with Labor is inflation, rate rises, you know, for three and a bit years now, they’ve been pretty ordinary. Yes, they’ve been re-elected, I get that, but they don’t have a mandate to just roll through taxes and to roll through renewables right across the countryside which is just taking arable farmland, that’s another topic we can discuss later, but they’re not a good Government. They’re worrying times and we need to do a whole lot better as a nation. We’re sitting on the world’s best resources, most resources, we should be implementing them and making sure we use everything to our advantage.
KIERAN GILBERT
Former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, thank you. Appreciate it. Let’s go live to the Treasurer. Jim Chalmers, speaking in Canberra.