E&OE TRANSCRIPT

RADIO INTERVIEW

WSFM JONESY AND AMANDA

WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2015

 

SUBJECT: Budget 2015

 

AMANDA: It must have been a conflicting night for the Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last night. He’s listening to the Budget and it’s his job to hate it and complain about it but it’s also his birthday and he wants to celebrate. Bill Shorten, hello.

 

BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Good morning.

 

JONESY: And you can’t complain on your birthday.

 

AMANDA: No.

 

JONESY: Unless you’re my wife, ‘I hate this gift’.

 

AMANDA: But also you can’t cheer and say ‘whoah’ and say ‘not the Budget, it’s my birthday!’ Where’d you put yourself Bill?

 

SHORTEN: Oh well, I got to speak to my kids by Facetime yesterday morning so that was nice. And then of course I get to finish my birthday looking at Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey so, you know, draw your own conclusions if that was the best birthday I’ve ever had but anyway.

 

JONESY: So you’re as happy as a clown.

 

SHORTEN: To be fair I’m not sure that my mother 48 years ago was planning that on the day of my birth I’d get to hear this Budget 48 years later.

 

JONESY: So you’re 48?

 

SHORTEN: I know I shouldn’t have let that out I know, I’ve had a hard life.

 

JONESY: But that’s the same -

 

SHORTEN: I look younger.

 

JONESY: That’s the same age as me so I could be the Opposition -

 

AMANDA: Well you do have to have certainly achieved Brendan, it’s not just having the same age.

 

JONESY: I’m wasting my life.

 

SHORTEN: No you’re not, no you’re not. You know you’re cheering up millions of people every morning. So you’re a 1967 baby?

 

JONESY: No 68 actually, I just turned 47 I didn’t want to say I, you know -

 

SHORTEN: Oh no -

 

JONESY: I could become in the Opposition.

 

AMANDA: You’ve still got a year.

 

SHORTEN: There you go. You wouldn’t rule anything out.

 

AMANDA: So Bill, give us your thoughts. Last night a lot of people are saying it’s a fair go, a lot of people are saying the Government’s trying to buy our love again after the last one. There’s some pretty good stuff in it. What do you think?

 

BILL SHORTEN: Well, I hate to be a downer but I actually think this Budget was a short term-fix designed to save Tony Abbott’s job. I think it’s about the next election, It’s not about the next 10 or 15 years. Wherever I go in Australian people are feeling a disconnect from politics and the Government. They want to know is the Government got a view about the future and how do we get there.

 

JONESY: Did you think at any stage looking at this did you think ‘ah actually that’s pretty good. Ah man why didn’t I think of that? Ah that’s a good bit?’

 

SHORTEN: Well to be fair, small business, they’ve taken some of the biggest hits from the last Budget so the confidence is flatlined, but now the Government is saying that they want to start talking about small business, so I’m not going to be all negative about that.

 

AMANDA: Is it like school debating? That’s how I felt when I was watching it last night. You now have 24 hours to write your reply. Is this an anxious ridden 24 hours?

 

SHORTEN: We want to make sure that we fully understand what the Budget does but the tests for the Budget were pretty much out there before last night. On one hand, is it fair? Have they learnt anything from 2014 because I think now even they would privately concede, the Liberals, that last years Budget was a shocker. So the question is, is it still unfair? The other question is it’s all about the future. You and I can probably make our decisions about what we’ll wear tomorrow and what we’ll do tomorrow and the decisions of tomorrow. What we want to know is what will the 2020’s look like?

 

AMANDA: At the Last Budget we were told the deficit was such a dreadful thing and the Government was a bit like an angry parent ‘you’ve got to tighten your belts and pull your socks up’. This time we’re told ‘don’t worry about the deficit get out and spend’?

 

SHORTEN: Yeah it really is a 180 degree turn around from the Government. Last year there was almost a hysteria about the debt, now this year the debt’s been doubled and now the only hysteria is about coming up with excuses why the debt’s been doubled.

 

JONESY: Now we’ve got to loosen our belts and let our socks come down.

 

AMANDA: It’s a confusing time.

 

SHORTEN: It’s like last year never happened.

 

JONESY: Yeah. Well Bill and good luck with your title page for your Budget Reply. Are you going with the burnt bit around the edges or are going to use some pencil shavings?

 

SHORTEN: Well -

 

JONESY: Or a combo of both? That’s always effective.

 

SHORTEN: Well I don’t think it’s their birthday tomorrow so what I’ll do is I’ll turn up, and I’ll say what I think is important for the future of the countrty. And what I’ll try and do is not just simply be negative, but actually offer an alternative view of where this country should go.

 

JONESY: Well happy birthday Bill, to you and your bro because you’re twins!

 

SHORTEN: I am a twin. I did stay up ‘til midnight the night before just so I could be the first one to ring him.

 

AMANDA: So competitive Bill!

 

JONESY: Still goes on.

 

SHORTEN: Only one whose been a twin would understand this.

 

JONESY: Still happens.

 

SHORTEN: Thanks guys.

 

JONESY: Bill Shorten thank you.

 

SHORTEN: Cheers, bye.

 

ENDS

 

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