Doorstop - Adelaide

Subjects: Coalition’s $2 million Henley Square upgrade; FBT tax; Parental Leave; Teach for Australia E&OE......... CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We’re here to announce a $2 million grant to upgrade Henley Square to add to the funds that have been put in by the Charles Sturt Council to ensure that Henley Square can achieve its full potential and be used by many more residents of the local area here in Hindmarsh but also across Adelaide and South Australia. Henley Square and Henley Beach are iconic areas in this state and in particular in the western suburbs and Matt Williams has campaigned long and hard in the Federal Coalition to ensure that these $2 million of funds are granted to the Charles Sturt Council. He’s worked with the Charles Sturt Council, the funds will be a very welcomed addition to the money that they’re including and it will mean that Henley Square will be able to be upgraded with new Urban Lounge Areas, better paving, a better aspect to the beach and to the Jetty and I’m sure it will be very much welcomed here in the Western Suburbs. So, congratulations to Matt Williams for achieving that outcome but also particularly for residents that will benefit in the local area. Can I also say that today we are seeing Labor is again struggling to explain their cuts to the car industry, their increase to the fringe benefits tax and John Elsworth from Hyundai, Australia’s second largest car seller has indicated that the FBT increase is like a hand grenade being thrown into the car industry. He’s revealed this morning that leased car sales have dropped by 37% in the last fortnight as a direct consequence of Kevin Rudd taking a trident to the car industry in Australia. On the one hand Kevin Rudd has hit the car industry with a trident; on the other hand he wants to be given credit and applause for giving money back to the car industry in seven years from now. That’s exactly what you’d expect from Kevin Rudd, you have to look at what he does, rather than what he says. He’s all talk and no action. He’s hurting the car industry while pretending to help them in seven years from now. If the workers in the car industry, if those people who rely on the car industry want to save Holden in this city and Toyota in Melbourne, then they have to vote Liberal because we will scrap the increase in the Fringe Benefits Tax and take a $1.8 billion burden off the car industry. Finally, Chris Bowen let the cat out of the bag last night on Q&A when he indicated that promises made in five or six years from now - specifically he was talking about the Northern Territory company tax cut - shouldn’t be believed, shouldn’t be included in peoples…it shouldn’t be banked. What he was talking about is the Northern Territory’s company tax cut. But of course that also applies to the funds for schools. The Coalition has committed to the same funding envelope as Labor over the forward estimates. That’s $2.8 billion of new money and the Coalition will provide that as will Labor, whomever is elected. Beyond that, Labor is making promises on the never never and Chris Bowen belled the cat last night when he indicated that those kinds of promises should not be banked. He was talking about another issue that also applied to school funding because in five or six years’ time, past two elections, goodness knows if Labor will ever be able to keep promises like that. QUESTION: Could you say the same of a Liberal Government in five or six years’ time? The game’s got to change in that time for anyone’s funding arrangements. PYNE: Well Chris, what you can rely on is what’s in the forward estimates for the next four years and in the forward estimates, in the budget, both Labor and Liberal have the same funding envelope for schools. Whether you vote Liberal or Labor, schools will get exactly the same amount of money. Everything beyond that is just another Labor promise and we know with Kevin Rudd’s record of 2650 trade training centres promised, less than 10% delivered. He was going to end the double drop off and build 360 child care centres, 38 delivered. Kevin Rudd’s promises never match his delivery. QUESTION: Hyundai is making a case against the FBT with the evidence of the reaction since the announcement but the tax is not exactly in train yet is it? It’s still to come. Is there an element of knee-jerk reaction here from the market? PYNE: In the car industry, people make their decisions for the long term and for the medium term. When you are leasing a car, you’re typically leasing it for two years or more. Similarly for people who are planning to salary sacrifice with a vehicle. What John Elsworth is saying from Hyundai is that in the last fortnight, Labor’s FBT tax increase has hit the lease car market by a 37% reduction. That will impact on the jobs of Holden workers here in South Australia and right across the city. If you vote Liberal, we’ll abolish the carbon tax which will immediately reduce the costs to build a car and we’ll scrap the FBT tax increase which will immediately reduce the cost to rent a car. QUESTION: There was a report on the ABC last week that showed shares in the salary sacrificing company had recovered quite substantially since the FBT was announced. That may be a confidence in the election result or it might be an indication that there is a bit more calmness in the debate now. PYNE: I think it rose on the basis of Tony Abbott’s announcement that we would scrap the FBT tax increase if we are elected. If you are a worker in the car industry or your business relies on the car industry and if you don’t want a ghost town in Northern Adelaide then you should be voting for the Coalition because we will scrap the carbon tax and we’ll scarp the FBT tax increase - which is a lot better than a hand out in seven years from now. QUESTION: I understand that the Government has announced a $30 million education fund called Teach for Australia, you may be familiar with the detail. Do you think you will be able to match that? PYNE: Well Teach for Australia is a very good organisation. The Coalition strongly supports it. Julia Gillard tried to kill Teach for Australia by beginning a Government program called Teach Next. Teach Next was an unmitigated failure. She used taxpayer’s funds as Education Minister to try and compete with Teach for Australia, which is a private organisation. Teach Next has now folded, Teach for Australia is still going. I welcome Labor’s conversion to support Teach for Australia. I’ll look at the announcement and consider what the Coalition can do over the next few weeks. QUESTION: On another matter - the parental leave scheme. Do you think that it’s fair to characterise the misunderstanding between Mr Abbott and Colin Barnett as something of a miscommunication between the feds and the states on how the scheme works? PYNE: Well the generous paid parental leave scheme proposed by the coalition, which has been welcomed universally by, particularly, women across Australia… QUESTION: But not by Colin Barnett apparently. PYNE: Well the scheme does not begin until July 2015, which means we have a two year period to transition to a new and better scheme. I’m sure over that period of time, conversations will be had with the Western Australian Government and all governments to work out how they might transition their own schemes into the federal scheme. QUESTION: I might take a step back to the fringe benefits tax. The defence proposed by Labor for this scheme is that it’s not an onerous demand and it’s there to stop any rorting of the system and you can’t hedge that against these large chunks of funding for the car industry? PYNE: Well Labor always pretends that there are rorts in the system when they decide to change policy. There haven’t apparently been rorts in the system for many years and this idea has been put up to treasurers going back to Peter Costello. He said himself that the department would regularly put this idea up to him and it was rejected. Wayne Swan rejected it because he said it was bad for low and middle income earners. Chris Bowen has said that it’s designed to hit high income earners. So the truth is, it will be bad for low and middle income earners, many of whom salary sacrifice. Most of whom would be driving Holdens and Toyotas - typically charity workers, nurses, policemen, teachers - and this is just a money grab by a Government that doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. We will scrap it because we want to protect and support the car industry, we don’t want to wave goodbye to it. PYNE: Matt did you want to add anything about Henley Square while you’ve got the chance? MATT WILLIAMS: I would just like to thank Christopher for his support of Henley Square; it’s great to have a senior Liberal like Christopher supporting such a major project for the area. I, like many families come down to Henley Square on a regular basis and really enjoy it but with this two million dollar commitment it will make Henley Square a greater attraction, not just for families but also bring more people to the Square which allows the traders and also the shops, the restaurants, the cafés to all benefit. So it’s a wonderful addition and project and we look forward to working with the council. Jo Barry, the state candidate for Colton has talked to be about some important local projects including this one, so it’s great to have that support and the Charles Sturt Council, Kirstin Alexander, the Mayor is here today, so we look forward to working with them. We’ve provided some commitment for some CCTV cameras to be installed in the area as well so that will add to the safety which is a key concern for people in this area as much as the development itself. QUESTION: Matt, you must be buoyed by some reports today showing that Hindmarsh is well within the Liberals grasp? MATT WILLIAMS: We’re getting some good feedback out there that people have been disappointed with the Labor Government in terms of the economic management, the dysfunction of the Labor Government and the instability. They are also looking forward to the Coalition’s plans for the future and I was just talking to businesses this morning and everywhere you see the ‘for lease’ signs. Small businesses are really struggling and we’ve got, whether it’s our company tax plans to reduce by 1.5% or reducing the carbon tax to help with their cost of living, is important to help them for a better business environment. QUESTION: You’ve knocked off that 6%? MATT WILLIAMS: [Laughs] we’re a chance, we’re a good chance and we’re getting some good feedback. It was a Liberal held seat many years ago, we only lost it by 108 votes in 2004 so we’re confident of getting it back. PYNE: Hear, hear. Well done. Well said. Thank you very much. Ends.