‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: misinformation on tax changes, attack on aspiration, Labor deal with the Greens, breakdown in public trust in politicians

Bond  

Joining me now is Nationals MP Anne Webster, live from Mildura in Victoria. It's pretty bold of the Prime Minister, I have to say, Anne, to try and claim that it's all been a misinformation campaign around the budget. Oh, you know, we weren't going to do anything about death taxes, and it's all rubbish. Don't believe a word of it. Is he living on a different planet to the rest of us? Because, sure, I accept that some person out there somewhere may have said that the entirety of negative gearing was going to disappear, but that's not what we've been talking about.

Webster  

Caleb, my goodness me, it is ... the problem is that he and the Treasurer are living in that socialist dystopia where redistribution of wealth is their top game, that is actually what it's about. So, people who are self-funded retirees, 19 year olds, both ends of the spectrum, while the Prime Minister wants to say this is all about young people and giving them a go: No, it's not. I've got 19 year olds in my electorate who have said to me, I feel so discouraged. I have been putting away some share money while working in a timber yard while I'm putting myself through university, and now I go, why would I bother, with the changes to CGT? He will have 30 per cent taken out of his shares, if he makes any money. It's beyond belief, and the fact that we have to sit there in the chamber and listen to this twaddle by this government, who are harming Australia's future, does my head in every day. In fact, I got a day off this week, so I could come home for a celebration for - my husband's won an award. Another subject, but I was very glad to leave the chamber, because, honestly, it is appalling.

Bond  

I thought you're going to say you got a day off so you could go and watch the soccer, like a lot of other people did today! I almost have to admire the gonads on the bloke for being able to so beautifully spin what's been going on. As I said before, you know, it's the refuge of - when you know you're in trouble - ‘oh, well, you just deflected all this misinformation. It's misinformation.’ He's now taking credit for things that he's not doing that he was originally going to do. It's all bizarre, of course. We saw the first tranche of legislation passed this week, and there's another one that will have to come through, which will include the business about trusts with the minimum 30 per cent tax, and it'll have these carve-outs that he's now announced, will have, for CGT, for small businesses and the deals he's done with David Pocock on the widow tax, et cetera, but the Greens said during the week, after, of course, they managed to get the NDIS inquiry extended till August, they're now saying, according to the Oz, that in order to get the second bill through for the trusts, they want the $38 billion dollars’ worth of savings from the NDIS to be scrapped. I mean, how likely is it that the government will end up in a situation where that's the kind of wheeling and dealing they'll be doing with the Greens?

Webster  

Well, who would want to do wheeling and dealing with the Greens? Certainly not the Coalition, for a very good reason. This government, I mean... ultimately, Caleb, we've got to bring it back to trust. The biggest..

Bond  

... and tax it thirty percent! ...

Webster  

... that's exactly right. Well, or something else that's just as dastardly. The fact is, the Prime Minister himself cannot be trusted with anything that comes out of his mouth. The Treasurer, the same, and I could list off a whole range of other ministers who fit into that category. Every politician is struggling to be seen as authentic, as real, as caring about the people that they represent. This angers me so badly that this government has ripped to shreds the reputation of every politician who works damn hard for their electorate, and if you happen to have a shadow portfolio for the people, for me of regional Australia. It is just once you've lost trust, and he has lost trust and once trust is lost, it is really hard to get it back.

Bond  

Yeah, and there's no doubt about that. And that's a cross that he will have to bear. Anne Webster, thank you for being with me.

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