SHANE MCLEOD: The Government is keen to paint the Coalition's climate policy as reckless, but it's facing some difficulties of its own. One opinion poll this week had the Government slipping behind the Coalition on primary vote for the first time since the 2007 election. And now in an election year it has to convince voters to support its emissions trading scheme, a massive economic reform that will leave some households worse off. The Financial Minister Lindsay Tanner has been outside our Parliament House studio, listening to Tony Abbott, he's now switched chairs and he's inside sitting down ready to speak to our chief political correspondent, Lyndal Curtis.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Mr Tanner, welcome to AM.
LINDSAY TANNER: Morning Lyndal.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Does Mr Abbott's scheme provide the Opposition with a simple clear scheme to sell against your complex ones which in the Parliament is friendless?
LINDSAY TANNER: Tony Abbott's just proposing a giant National Party slush fund. It's just a return to the John Howard-style of politics which is to pretend you're doing something and splash around lots of money on wasteful schemes. That's all he's proposing. If it were this simple Lyndal, why didn't all the countries in the world at Copenhagen just agree, we'll all spend a few billion dollars and that will fix climate change? It's just a political stunt that's designed to paper over the enormous cracks in the Liberal Party. Half the party support the Government's emissions trading scheme, the other half don't believe climate change exists and yet they're supporting spending several billion dollars that they can't say where the money's come from.
LYNDAL CURTIS: But are you absolutely sure his scheme won't work if he can get to the five per cent emissions cup without having to impose an emissions trading scheme, isn't that better for business?
LINDSAY TANNER: This scheme explicitly says that it's not going to change business as usual. Business as usual is the problem. That is the reason why the world has a climate change challenge in front of it. We have to change business as usual. He's simply saying we're going to hand out billions of dollars to people who we decide are worthy of receiving it. And we know their track record with things like regional partnerships. They're going to hand out billions of dollars and the impact of that will be marginal at best on the great challenge that our nation and the rest of the world faces to avoid serious dangerous climate change.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Unless there's a miraculous change in politics, you won't be able to get your emissions trading scheme through parliament. You've also got problems getting your private health insurance rebate legislation through parliament, is there any sign that any one is going to change their mind on that?
LINDSAY TANNER: We're committed to our positions. Barnaby Joyce this morning has made it pretty clear that the money that they are seeking to find to pay for the ever growing list of billions of dollars of spending is going to come from tax increases. When asked to explain where the money is coming from he said oh, the Henry Tax Review hasn't been made public yet but it will tell us where things are going to come from.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Tony Abbott's ruled out introducing new taxes or increasing taxes.
LINDSAY TANNER: Well clearly he and Mr Joyce better have a conversation because Barnaby Joyce is out there saying all kinds of things. They are unable to explain where they're going to be able to pay for this $3 billion over the next four years. Now I've got no doubt they'll make lots more spending promises. They've already got a number out there including $750 million a year for the Murray Darling Basin. In Opposition, in about this stage of the cycle, we put forward very substantial savings, prior to the 2007 election, including some things that were controversial. It's about time that the party of the Opposition that's saying that the deficit's too high, that they're going to have less debt than the Government, it's about time they started to square these things and say here's where the money's coming from, here's how we're going to doing it than just blithe statements about oh, we'll find the money in the budget. That doesn't cut the mustard.
LYNDAL CURTIS: At what point though does the fact you can't get your emissions trading scheme or healthy legislation through parliament become your problem? What point do you have to take responsibility for it as a government?
LINDSAY TANNER: Well we're going to continue to press on these things. The Opposition has been blocking a number of things in the Senate. The private health insurance legislation is just the one with the biggest negative impact on the state of the budget. They complain about debt and deficit, yet they are a central problem in that issue because they are blocking major savings. They're defending millionaires' private health insurance subsidies. That's what they're effectively doing and in doing so they're knocking a giant nine and a half billion dollar hole in the budget over the next 10 years at the same time as claiming that if they're in government they'd have a lower deficit. They can't have it both ways.
LYNDAL CURTIS: But the only way you're going to be able to get these two pieces of legislation through parliament are a joint seating after a double dissolution election aren't they?
LINDSAY TANNER: Well not necessarily because the senate changes anyway after a half senate election. We don't know what the result of that election would be, whether the government wins or loses, what the configuration of the senate is, but we intend to continue to press for our policies. The politics of climate change will move around a bit. It's obviously a complex debate. We are committed to a serious effort on behalf of Australia to tackle this issue. What Tony Abbott's put forward is simply a John Howard gimmick National Party slush fund. That's the kind of thing that they are used to doing, looking like they're doing something, no substance, and wasting lots of money.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Lindsay Tanner, thank you very much for your time.
LINDSAY TANNER: Thanks very much Lyndal.
-ends-
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