KIERAN GILBERT: In Launceston, the Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Anthony Chisholm, joins us. And there is some specific news to Tasmania in terms of the freight equalisation I want to ask you about in a moment. But first, let me ask you about the main political issue at the moment on capital gains tax. You’re a former State Secretary of the Labor Party in Queensland. From a political perspective, would you have to take any change to an election before an announcement of that sort was made?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Obviously, those matters are something that would be under consideration by Cabinet, Kieran. But what I do know, the priorities of the Albanese Government have been delivering on our election promises, which is what we’ve been doing. It’s part of the reason why I’m in Tasmania this week as part of my duties. And I would expect that would continue in the lead up to the budget – that’s where the Prime Minister’s focus has been on. That’s where the Treasurer’s focus has been on, and they’re leading the government ably in that sense. And that’s where my focus is as well, delivering on our election promises. 

KIERAN GILBERT: And, yeah, that’s certainly been the focus in year one. As you get to this budget, though, the message has been, rein in the spending and obviously the government looking to some revenue changes as well. Do you have to be careful if you don’t take it to the people first? 

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Obviously you’ve got to have that ongoing conversation and relationship with the Australian people, Kieran. And I think that the Australian people know that the challenges that we’re facing and they also understand the determination of the Government. Every budget, we’ve looked for savings. We’ve had over $100 billion in savings that we’ve been able to add to the bottom line and also focus on what our priorities are as a government. That process is continuing in the lead-up to this budget. That will be a really disciplined effort by the ministry and the Labor caucus as well. We know that we need to do our part to ensure that we’re taking the pressure off inflation, wanting to see that come down, but also delivering on our promises. Cost-of-living relief is obviously a really vital element for the Australian people at the moment, given the challenges that we’re facing. So I think as every budget that we’ve delivered, we’ve got that balance right. And I know that’s the determination as we focus on this upcoming budget. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Before I ask you about that area, the policy in your area of responsibility, just on the capital gains tax question. The Coalition says if you tax something more you’ll get less of it, so don’t lift the tax on housing investment. Is that a vulnerability for Labor if they can make that case through Tim Wilson and Angus Taylor? 

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Well, I think they’ve got a lack of credibility when it comes to tax, Kieran. We know that they- Angus Taylor was the Shadow Treasurer who took higher taxes to the last election when we promised everyone a tax cut that we’re delivering on. So, I think you can take what they say with a grain of sand. You look at their record in in this regard, and it isn’t a pretty one and that’s what we’ll be holding them to account on. 

But what the Australian people can know from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer is that we’ll be focused on ensuring that we’re doing our part to manage the budget in the national interest. And that includes that decisions we’ll make around savings to ensure that we’re delivering on our priorities and also delivering cost-of-living relief for the Australian people as well. 

KIERAN GILBERT: On the issue of the Freight Equalisation Scheme. For our viewers who don’t know what this is, basically it was implemented, what, 50 years ago, trying to make businesses competitive in Tassie because of the higher costs exporting or moving to the mainland their goods. What are you doing in this regard? Because there’ve been complaints from farmers that it’s not keeping up with the costs. 

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Yeah, so it has been a long historical element to it, Kieran, that you identified there. I think it was brought in by the Whitlam Government. And it hasn’t kept pace. So, there was a Senate Inquiry that was done a couple of years ago. We announced that we’d increase the rate by 25 per cent for two years while we conducted a review post the election. That review is underway. I’m currently in Bass with our fantastic Federal Labor MP here in Jess and we’re out consulting with those people who are impacted and utilise TFES to support their economy. 

And what it means is that if we get this system right, it creates jobs and economic opportunity here in Launceston and provides that opportunity for that to be exported back to Australia and the rest of the world. So, we want to see more of those opportunities, but the Freight Equalisation Scheme is a really important part of ensuring that we can give those opportunities to Tasmanians so that they can make use. And there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of demand for the great produce that they have here in Tasmania. We want to see more of that in mainland Australia and overseas. That’s why this review is really important. 

KIERAN GILBERT: Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Anthony Chisholm, joining us from beautiful Launceston today. Thanks for joining us.