SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
RN BREAKFAST
FRIDAY, 2 MAY 2025
SUBJECTS: Angus Taylor’s trainwreck interview; Dutton’s cuts; Vaping and tobacco excises; Welfare payments.
SALLY SARA, HOST: Well, the Finance Minister, Labor campaign spokesperson and Senator for the ACT, Katy Gallagher, is with me. Katy Gallagher, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.
KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks for having me on, Sally.
SARA: What are your concerns about the economy in Canberra if public service cuts go ahead?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think we just had ten minutes there of Angus Taylor demonstrating why he shouldn't be Treasurer of this country and why you can't take a risk on Peter Dutton. He was all over the shop. I mean, you can't sack 75 per cent of the Commonwealth APS in Canberra and not affect the economy. I mean, you just can't. And a lot of the small businesses that he just professed concern for their business operations, whether it be in defence industry or a cafe or whatever, rely on Canberra as the seat of government. It's not the only thing they do, but genuinely, the public service in Canberra is the big employer in town. And if you cut 75 per cent of the jobs, then that's absolutely going to affect it. But I just think that trainwreck interview you just had from Angus Taylor explains everything about Peter Dutton and they're not ready for government, if that's the kind of interview we get from the would-be Treasurer.
SARA: Let's look at the issue of vape tax. Why shouldn't vaping be taxed in the same way that cigarettes are given the harm?
GALLAGHER: Well, look, we've been very strong on this. We want kids off vapes and Peter Dutton wants to make money off them, off kids using vapes. I mean, that's what we saw yesterday with that part of their costings. It sounds like they've put the white flag up. We've had a generation of dealing with the problems of tobacco addiction, and it sounds like Peter Dutton doesn't want to worry about another generation being addicted to vapes. Yes, there's issues around enforcement and compliance, which is why we put extra money in the budget. And there's also opportunity for people who do want to come off tobacco to go through the chemists, the pharmacy, to get access to vaping products. But it should not ever go back to just this free-for-all of these companies targeting young people to get them addicted to nicotine and other chemicals.
SARA: But when we are looking at vapes and tobacco, isn't Angus Taylor right when he's saying those policies have failed? When we look at vapes, making them illegal, they are already being widely consumed, particularly by young people across the country. And then the issue of excise on tobacco reaching this tipping point now where organised crime is heavily involved, the gap between legal and illegal cigarettes is so large, even as a tax take measure, it's not working anymore. As I was mentioning with Angus Taylor, Treasury is saying that the tax take from tobacco tax will be down by $6.9 billion between now and 2029. Your enforcement, health and tax measures, do you concede they're not working?
GALLAGHER: Well, we don't accept that. We accept that more needs to be done in compliance and definitely that is why we have put that money into the Budget. But from a public health point of view, I think it would be a dreadful outcome to say, we are going to put the white flag up on vapes and it's going to be a free for all and we'll deal with the problems down the track. I mean, that is not the country we want and it's not what we want for our children. I mean, there is a real contrast here between trying to get kids off vapes, keep them away from vapes and the Opposition who wants to raise revenue of it to balance their -- well, to try and balance their budget to pay for nuclear. I mean, it's ridiculous.
SARA: Excise is not only about tax take, is it? It's to make a disincentive.
GALLAGHER: Absolutely. I mean, that's why you have legislation, laws and revenue measures are more than, as you say, just getting revenue into the Budget. It's taking a position and saying, particularly in relation to vapes, we do not want another generation of young people addicted to nicotine and other chemicals and having a strong position on that. And there's a real contrast there. I don't think we should be making money off young people getting addicted to sugary sweetened chemicals in vaping products.
SARA: The Prime Minister has said on multiple occasions that no one will be held back and no one left behind, that that's Labor's approach. But in this election campaign, there's been no proposal for special increased welfare payments in this election. Why not help the most vulnerable?
GALLAGHER: Well, we've made it clear that every budget, we look at the pensions and payments to see what can be done there. And of course, we've seen significant increases including in the unemployment payment through our time in government. We've seen increases to the single parenting payment. We've seen increases to rent assistance. But you also have to look at other ways to help people. And that's why our programmes in housing that the Opposition announced yesterday they would cut, all of those other investments in Medicare and cheaper medicines, in Urgent Care Clinics. All of those are about helping people, particularly those on fixed and low incomes.
SARA: But even your own advisory committee prior to the election as it's required to do, advised and recommended that there should be increases in those income support payments. Why ignore those please?
GALLAGHER: Well, we don't ignore them. We look at those reports seriously, and we look at payments every and each budget and budget update. And I think if you go back and have a look at what we've done in three years compared to what the former government did in ten years, you'll see that we have, where we've been able to afford it, been able to invest in those payments and pensions. But more importantly, we are also building in and investing in all of those other services that people on fixed and low incomes rely on, including in housing, including in health, which are very, very important to people on those payments. And again, Sally, I think if you look at yesterday, the contrast between what we are offering going forward in building Australia's future and the costings debacle that was yesterday where they announced bigger deficits, higher taxes, savage cuts, with more cuts to come --
SARA: Bigger deficits initially, but a better budget outcome in the longer term.
GALLAGHER: Well, I don't think anyone who looked at that document would take that seriously. I mean, honestly, their APS save alone is built on the dodgiest numbers that they can't defend. I mean, it is a con job of the highest order and no wonder they handed it out yesterday afternoon because they don't want people to have time to actually understand what they're going to have to cut, including Medicare, to pay for their nuclear reactor scheme.
SARA: Katy Gallagher, we'll need to leave it there. Thank you for your time this morning.
GALLAGHER: Thanks very much, Sally.
ENDS
