GLEN BARTHOLOMEW: Well here at home, the Federal Government felt the impact of not having the numbers in the Senate again last night, when its plans to establish a fund to assist the commercial property sector, this so-called Rudd Bank, were defeated. The Bill was defeated when the Greens and Coalition senators joined in voting against it. The Coalition says the fund is just too risky a venture of taxpayers' money, while the Greens are demanding the Government put a $1 million salary cap on pay for executives receiving Rudd Bank funds. Not surprisingly, the Government is not impressed. The Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner joins us now, he's speaking with Marius Benson.
MARIUS BENSON: Lindsay Tanner, is Rudd Bank, as it's generally known, now a lost cause, or will you negotiate further?
LINDSAY TANNER: We'll give consideration to how we proceed now, but what's occurred in the Senate is really outrageous, we've got a very important piece of protection of peoples' jobs being put in place here, that's designed to protect the commercial property sector and a range of economic activities, broad shopping centres, commercial property ventures, office blocks, from the impact of the global recession, and the accidental withdrawal of foreign banks from financial arrangements which could occur. It's simply outrageous what the Liberal Party's done in the Senate, this is designed to protect jobs, it's designed to be a financing facility that can only function if all four major banks are involved, therefore it's fully commercial, and it's now been destroyed in the Senate.
MARIUS BENSON: Now I think you've got the two Independents on side for this legislation, but the Greens have suggested a condition, which is that there should be a $1 million salary cap on executives of companies who benefit from the public purse in this way. Is there merit in the Greens' suggestion?
LINDSAY TANNER: The Greens are simply engaged in empty populous posturing, they're quite happy to risk the jobs of thousands of Australian workers in order just to make a populous point. It would be ludicrous to have an arrangement where there are salary caps applying to certain kinds of people in certain companies, but not in other companies down the road, even companies doing exactly the same kind of thing, and people doing exactly the same kind of thing. This is not about tackling executive salary problems, we've already got a process in train to deal with that, Alan Fels is heading an inquiry under the auspices of the Productivity Commission to deal with those issues, and any intervention that applies to executive salaries, really needs to be one rule for everybody, it needs to apply across the board, it needs to deal with the problems in individual sectors, such as the financial sector, but it shouldn't be tagged onto Government legislation that is designed to deal with other specific problems. That would just simply create a mess, and it will create inequity and unfairness, because you'll still have some people able to earn substantially higher amounts of money, and it'll act as a major disincentive for companies to participate in the scheme, even though they may need to.
MARIUS BENSON: Can I just get a Canberra perspective from you on the State budgets, because we've had the Queensland and New South Wales budgets brought down yesterday, and Queensland now being characterised as the sick person of Australia in the press, is that a fair characterisation in your view?
LINDSAY TANNER: There's different impacts occurring from the global recession on different parts of Australia, and clearly, because Queensland and Western Australia roared ahead during the mining boom, when that boom finishes, there is inevitably a correction that's flowing from that, which is likely to be harsher than in areas that weren't roaring ahead, that's just an unavoidable reality. But in overall terms, we don't have any particular criticism to make of State Government finances, they're in good shape in a general sense, obviously they're deteriorating, as is the Commonwealth financial position, because of the global recession, and the impact that's having on revenues, but we don't set ourselves up as the judge of State Government balance sheets. As far as we're concerned our job is to ensure that the overall Commonwealth financial position is in good shape, and that we've got a pathway back to surplus. The global recession is impacting significantly on jobs and activity right across Australia, the impact varies to some degree from state to state, but it also varies over time, so I'd be cautious about drawing any conclusions about particular states.
MARIUS BENSON: Lindsay Tanner, thank you very much.
LINDSAY TANNER: Thank you very much, Marius.
GLEN BARTHOLOMEW: The Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, with Marius Benson, speaking about yes, trying to find that pathway back to surplus, as many people are, in Government, State and Federal, all over the world.
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| Media Contact: | Website: |
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| Nardia Dazkiw - 0418 144 690 | www.financeminister.gov.au |
