Topics: 2020 Budget
E&OE:
Ben Wood: Big news last night, of course…
Sean Flanagan: Huge.
Ben Wood: … the Federal Budget finally handed down.
Spida Everitt: Unbelievable.
Ben Wood: Special guest on with us now to help make sense of it all, Flan.
Sean Flanagan: Yeah. Karen Andrews, good morning.
Karen Andrews: Good morning. How are you?
Sean Flanagan: I’m very, very excited. Well look, we’re facing the most important Federal Budget in 75 years they’re saying – I think possibly ever. You guys have been pouring over this, this is – the idea I guess is that businesses drive employment and that you put money back into the people’s pockets to do with what they will. Is that the thrust of this?
Karen Andrews: Look, absolutely. The Budget is all about jobs and we know that businesses create jobs, so it is important for businesses. But there’s also tax cuts for every day Australians as well. So businesses and every day Australians, so taxpayers, are going to be the big beneficiaries of the Budget.
Bridget Daley: Karen, firstly I always like to mention that you are the first female Cabinet Minister in Queensland. Hurrah. We love you for that. We do love you for that. Of course look, it is all about jobs, it is about infrastructure, but also it looks like our parents will be looked after in this Budget too, which is really important.
Karen Andrews: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There’s a lot of support for so many Australians in this Budget. We’re doing- we’re supporting our pensioners. There’s going to be two $250 increases – the first one coming in December of this year, the second one in March next year. And look, and on the Gold Coast we do have a lot of pensioners – so it’s great news for them.
Bridget Daley: Yes.
Karen Andrews: And we also know that they’re actually going to be spending that money as well…
Bridget Daley: That’s right.
Karen Andrews: … so they’ll be putting it back into the local economy – so it’s really important.
Bridget Daley: And Karen, can I congratulate you as well because mental health is a very massive focus, of course, this year with many Australians stressful year. And the fact that with Medicare, with psychologist appointments – instead of 10 free sessions, it’s gone up to 20, which means people who normally can’t access the professional help they need, they’re really going to get it. And I think that’s megally important at the moment.
Karen Andrews: Look, absolutely. And mental health is so important. And look, you’ve got to give credit to the Prime Minister for recognising how important it is for us all to be looking after our mental health. So yes, additional access to psychologists is going to be an immense help to people, particularly those that are doing it tough right now because of the impacts of COVID.
Spida Everitt: Yeah. Hey Karen, look, it’s finals time – we absolutely love it. It was your Grand Final last night definitely for Joshy and the Government. Who played out? Who got best on ground last night? We’ve normally- Bob Katter this time of the morning. You can’t get hold of him. He goes off in Canberra. Who got the best votes last night? Because you would have celebrated hard, surely?
Karen Andrews: Well look, Josh was certainly the champion last night, I think he did a great job with the delivery.
Spida Everitt: [Talks over] Did you get stuck into the yard glass? Surely you celebrate pretty hard after the Federal Budget – just put a couple of thousand dollars on the Budget and go in.
Bridget Daley: There’s no money.
[Laughter]
Karen Andrews: Look, I wasn’t, I wasn’t personally celebrating myself. I think I ended up eating a muesli bar and I had a coffee. I’m such a fun person aren’t it!
[Laughter]
Ben Wood: Ain’t no party like a Federal Budget party.
Sean Flanagan: Muesli bar and a coffee – settle petal. Hey listen, this is important. Imagine I’m 35 years of age right now and I’m earning 60,000 bucks a year at the moment. I know my wife likes to imagine I’m 35, but can we just for the moment talk about the budget? What am I going to get? How am I going to make it work, Karen?
Karen Andrews: Yep. So, you’re actually going to get a tax cut for starters. So, it is- the tax cuts are going to be in the range of $500 to $2700, which is going to be a big impact for you. There’s also going to be a lot of support through businesses – so your job security, hopefully, is going to be there and it’s going to improve. There’s opportunities for you to re-skill if you wanted to. If you’re- if you’ve got older parents, you’ll be able to have the benefit of knowing that they’re going to get two lots of $250 through the pension system. So there is a lot of support all round for people.
Ben Wood: Alright. Karen, thank you very much. And we know you guys have obviously had a lot on your plate in Canberra, but-
Spida Everitt: She only had a muesli bar.
Ben Wood: Thanks for your time this morning.
Karen Andrews: Look, it had chocolate in it though, in my muesli bar.
[Laughter]
Bridget Daley: Yes. That’s, that’s good. Emotional eating – I like it.
Ben Wood: Thank you, Karen Andrews.
Sean Flanagan: Thank you. I feel like I’ve won tax Lotto. Thank you.
[Laughter]
Karen Andrews: Okay, take care. Okay, bye.