Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service
ROBBIE VON, HOST: G’day Patrick, how are you today, mate?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: G’day Robbie, I’m pretty good on a cold Canberra morning. G’day to your listeners, too.
VON: Beautiful mate. What is happening in your neck of the woods today?
GORMAN: Well, the big day for us was yesterday where a whole bunch of things that we’ve been talking about for a long time came into action. The biggest: for every taxpayer, all across WA, is the tax cuts that kick in. So I’m encouraging all your listeners, grab your pay slip – whether it comes to you on email, or whether you still get an old school, printed one – and have a look. When you get your next pay, you’ll actually see there’s a little bit more money going into your pocket because of those tax cuts. So that’s huge news for people. But the other one is, that I think is really important for families is that we’re adding as of yesterday, any family that welcomed a baby yesterday into their lives, or any day onwards, will get an extra two weeks of paid parental leave. So that’s just more time at home in those really precious early weeks with a new bub.
VON: That’s a really big one, actually, can you tell us a little bit more about tax cuts, though? Just maybe a bit of a recap, what’s it actually mean for WA residents? Like what sort of extra money are we looking at in our pay packet?
GORMAN: So, it’s a tax cut for 1.2 million Western Australians. We think about a primary school teacher – my folks were both primary school teachers – if you think about a primary school teacher earning $80,000 a year, they get an extra $1,679 in their pockets this financial year. A truck driver, working around WA, making sure that all of our primary produce gets to consumers, a truckie, maybe on $77,000 a year gets a tax cut of 1600 bucks. And it just means that people get that little bit extra. For people who like the detail, it means we’re actually cutting the tax rates. So the 19% tax rate gets cut down to 16%, as of yesterday. The 32.5% tax rate comes down to 30%. So on every dollar, it’s more money that stays in people’s pockets, rather than coming all the way here to Canberra.
VON: Yeah, a bit of cash is good, isn’t it in the pocket? Hey, the other big thing that’s happened in our country at the moment – new Governor-General, can you tell us a little bit about Samantha Mostyn and her swearing-in yesterday? Give us the lowdown.
GORMAN: Yeah, so I’m in the Member for Perth as you mentioned. We all crammed into the Senate chamber, all squashed in there for the swearing-in of the Governor-General. I think if you’re driving anywhere around WA at the moment, you’ll notice there’s a lot of wattle blooming – and it was really nice to actually see the Governor-General, wearing a bit of wattle, as our national emblem for the swearing-in. And she talks a lot about the importance of care about how Australians are, by our nature, a really caring people. But also we have lots of people whose job is to care – be they a teacher, a nurse, someone who works in aged care. And so she really highlighted all of those caring roles and how important they are both to our society and our economy. And then I thought in her additional speech she did, after the formal swearing-in, she revealed a little bit about how she met her husband and they actually met at the cafe here at Parliament House. Now, I always thought the Paris was the City of Love. But it turns out, it’s actually Canberra.
VON: Who would have thunk it?
GORMAN: Who would have thought it? Who would have thought that Parliament House is in any way romantic? But there we go.
VON: Oh, that’s good. It seems like she is going to be, like she’s going to do a really great job in that role. And it’s great to have another woman there as Governor-General, I think a second for Australia, hey?
GORMAN: Yeah, so Quentin Bryce was the first woman to hold the role of Governor-General. It took too long, but it’s nice that it’s not been so far in between. That we’ve now got a second woman as Governor-General. And I think Samantha Mostyn, as Governor-General will be that modern Governor-General that reflects a modern Australia. I think people, whatever their interests, be it in business, be it people who do work in or love our sport – I mean, she’s obviously been on the AFL Commission – whatever part of Australia that you love, you will see something in Sam Mostyn’s story that makes you proud to be an Australian. And it’s also a really important role for keeping our democracy functioning. And again, I think someone of her stature is exactly what we needed. And I hope that all Australians, as she’s made it very clear – she’s really keen to get out across Australia, get out to regional Australia. That was a priority that she outlined yesterday as Governor-General. I think if people get the chance to meet her, they’ll recognise just what a wonderful appointment she is.
VON: Hey, Patrick, thank you very much for coming on the line and having a quick chat with us today. Really appreciate it mate and enjoy the rest of your day.
GORMAN: Thanks Robbie. You too.
