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MATT CUNNINGHAM, HOST: Joining me live is Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Pat Gorman. Minister, thanks for your time. Does this mean we now have a guarantee that Australians will be seeing that money in their pockets come 2024?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we’ve seen over recent days and indeed over recent months is that the Government’s position hasn’t changed. On this particular question, what you will see some action on, though, and what we’ve very clearly flagged, is that we believe there is a lot more that can be done when it comes to multinational tax avoidance. These are companies that operate in Australia. They should play by Australian rules and that means they should pay their fair share of tax in Australia. When we look at the big challenges we have around the drying up of revenue, international pressures, inflation, huge challenges in terms of finding the right skills. We see that an area where we can boost the budget is acting on multinational tax avoidance.

CUNNINGHAM: I think Australians would have some concerns about that, but I think they’d really be more concerned about whether they’re going to see this money in their pocket come 2024. I know you’re saying the Government’s position hasn’t changed. I guess the question is whether you can guarantee that the Government’s position on the stage three tax cuts won’t change between now and 2024?

GORMAN: We’ve said our position hasn’t changed. I can also outline areas where our position has changed. If you want to look at things where our policy has changed. We’ve changed the nation’s policy when it comes to climate change, making sure we now have because of our government being elected five months ago, we have a net zero target enshrined in law for 2050 that’s going to drive economic growth. We’ve changed when it comes to Medicare, committing to Medicare, urgent care clinics. We’ve changed when it comes to helping with cost of living relief by making medicines cheaper and making childcare cheaper. That’s where our focus is; practical, meaningful cost of living relief in the Budget that you’ll see on the 25th of October.

CUNNINGHAM: Sure. But on this tax cut issue, if I can just put you on this a little bit more. There has been a bit of ambiguity in the language of senior Government Ministers over the past few days that has Australians concerned that these tax cuts are not going to happen. Why not just come out and say, yes, we are committed to this and come 2024, those tax cuts will happen and people will get that money in their pocket?

GORMAN: We’ve been really, really clear. The Prime Minister was here in Western Australia yesterday at the opening of the Forestfield Airport line, where I rode with him and Premier McGowan to see that marvellous piece of infrastructure. And he said, here in Western Australia, our policy hasn’t changed. Now, we are in that period, two weeks out from the budget, where everything will be speculated on. I accept that as part of the media cycle, but our policy hasn’t changed. That’s what I’m saying to all of your viewers. That’s what the Prime Minister is saying. But also I do appreciate that what the Treasurer and the Finance Minister have been doing is being very open with the Australian people about the economic pressures we face. And we’ve got inflation at 6.8 per cent, interest rates have gone from 0.1 per cent up to 2.6 per cent. We’ve got unemployment at 3.5 per cent. There are a lot of different pressures in the economy and so it’s appropriate that the Treasurer and the Finance Minister articulate those challenges and explain those challenges in a global context. We’ve got the Treasurer going to Washington DC this week to have those conversations. We are an island nation, but we are not excluded from the global economic pressures that are being faced everywhere. We have to be open and honest with people about what our economy looks like over the years to come. But I’m going to finish where I started. Our policy hasn’t changed.

CUNNINGHAM: Well, I’ll try one more time. Can you guarantee your policy won’t change between now and 2024?

GORMAN: Our policy hasn’t changed. It’s as simple as that. And I can talk to you about a range of the things that we are doing where our policies have changed. One great example where our policy has changed is we had a decade of inaction on a ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Anti-Corruption Commission. In the first five months of this government, we’ve introduced legislation to make sure that we raise the standard of politics and governance in this country. Another great change because of the choice of the Australian people made on the 21st May. And another example we see today for the work that the Defence Minister, sorry, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister has done in terms of making sure that we look at where projects that are about keeping our nation safe in the short and long term are at. This is something that I think if I was to think about what should be top of mind concern for Australians right now, it is the fact that we have this huge defence capability gap because of the inaction and incompetence of the previous government.

CUNNINGHAM: Can we really lay the blame for this all on the Coalition? I mean, Labor was in power from 2007 to 2013 and I think most people would remember that they appeared to spend more time fighting one another during that time than they did worrying about a potential war. Now, you’re trying to say that this is all the fault of the Coalition Government. That’s a little bit rich, isn’t it?

GORMAN: Well, I agree with you. It is a bit hard to know who to blame in the former coalition government because they churned their Defence Minister on average every 18 months. I mean, in terms of a lack of Ministerial responsibility, we do have a problem that we don’t know which Defence Minister bungled which project because there were so many. And if you want to talk about fighting each other, when you have three Prime Ministers under the previous Coalition regime and Defence sort of becomes a play thing in those negotiations, it is a problem. We see the real world impacts of that, accumulative years of delay.

CUNNINGHAM: Labor in its six years in power had three Defence Ministers in six years, which is one every two years. And it went from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard and back to Kevin Rudd. It’s pretty much the same thing that we saw under the Coalition government, wasn’t it?

GORMAN: Well, I think the problems that we’ve got today are, as this report outlines, because of the decisions that recent Defence Ministers made, or indeed didn’t make. And let’s be very blunt here. The most recent Coalition Defence Minister is now the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton. If this is how he ran Defence, I’d hate to see what he does if he was Prime Minister one day.

CUNNINGHAM: All right, well, I’m sure he will have something to say about that a bit later today. Peter Dutton is in Queensland.

GORMAN: I hope he does. I hope he explains himself.

CUNNINGHAM: We are expected to hear from him later on. I’m sure he will. Patrick Gorman, thanks so much for joining us today.

GORMAN: Thanks, Matt.