Bill Shorten, Subject/s: Malcolm Turnbull scrapping knights and dames; Liberals’ proposal to increase the GST to 15 per cent.

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
MARSHALL ISLANDS
MONDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2015


JOURNALIST: There was an announcement by Prime Minister Turnbull about knights and dames, he’s going to scrap them. What do you make of this announcement?

BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Labor never supported Tony Abbott’s proposal to create knights and dames in Australia. So it’s good that it’s being scrapped but we want Malcolm Turnbull to do something serious – I mean, everyone knew knights and dames was a silly idea. I think Australians now want Malcolm Turnbull to make some real decisions. Why doesn’t Malcolm Turnbull scrap his cuts to schools, scrap his cut to hospitals, and while he’s at it, Malcolm Turnbull shouldn’t go ahead with his proposed cuts to family payments..

JOURNALIST: Do you think it’s a distraction from his GST announcement [inaudible] that was happening yesterday?

SHORTEN: It was important to rid of knights and dames, it was a bad idea. Malcolm Turnbull now needs to come off the honeymoon and do some real work, stop the cuts to hospitals, stop the cuts to schools, stop the family payments cuts and stop trying to distract people from his proposals on the GST. Let’s have a good look at how that’s going to slug ordinary people.

JOURNALIST: There’s been some suggestion the Government might be backing away slightly from that 15 per cent GST proposal. Do you think that they are backing away or they will eventually back away?

SHORTEN: Why is it that the Liberals when they talk about tax reform always give very high income earners a leave pass but will attack ordinary people, people working hard to make ends meet. Increasing the GST will be a 15 per cent tax on going to the doctor, it’s a tax on going to the hospital, it’s a tax on education costs, it’s a tax on ordinary people. Malcolm Turnbull and his Liberals should stop with the cuts to schools and hospitals and taxes on ordinary people and instead make multinationals pay their fair share.

JOURNALIST: Do you think they think they might have made a mistake [inaudible].

SHORTEN: Well Malcolm Turnbull knows that  knights and dames was consigned to the dust bin of history anyway, it was a bad idea. But Malcolm Turnbull now needs to stop flirting with a 15 per cent GST, stop with the cuts to family payments. He’s making decisions now which hurt ordinary Australians, that’s what people really want to see action on.
Knights and dames, that’s just a matter of history now.
ENDS