Interview with Mel Bampton and Bill McDonald, ABC Radio Brisbane Breakfast

MEL BAMPTON, HOST: Right now, you're waking up this morning to a new day, a new month, a new financial year, and a whole heap of new changes. So, what's new? Senator Murray Watt is joining you this morning to go through the list.

Senator, good morning. MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day Mel, g'day Bill. Good to be with you.

BILL MCDONALD, HOST: G’day, Senator. MEL BAMPTON: It's great to have you on. Let's kick it off with money, because money talks – tax cuts and wage increases.

Talk us through it. MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, there's lots of changes coming in today, Mel and Bill, for listeners. We recognise that people are doing it pretty tough out there at the moment, and so there's a heap of new cost of living measures that are going to be coming in place today on 1 July.

I guess the headlines are every single Australian taxpayer is going to get another tax cut today. Obviously, there's going to be more coming next year as a result of that legislation we've just passed in the last week, but new tax cuts today. Anyone on the minimum wage, or award wages, is going to get a substantial increase to those wages due to a Fair Work Commission decision; paid parental leave being extended to six months.

Even things like healthcare are becoming cheaper with our cheaper medicines rolling forward, all of those Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that we've opened around Queensland and the country, which are offering bulk billed services. So, in a whole heap of different ways, what we're trying to do is take some of that pressure off people in terms of family budgets. And we recognise that this doesn't solve everything for everyone, but our government's just completely focused on trying to do everything we possibly can to take that pressure off people.

BILL MCDONALD : And I think it only equates to about $5.15 a week, the tax cut you were talking about. But I guess it's a delicate balance as well, because we know inflation is obviously important to consider as well when you're trying to provide some sort of assistance to households. MURRAY WATT: Yeah, that's right, Bill.

These are always judgement calls because at one level, it would be easy for governments to just flood the economy with money, with massive tax cuts for people. But the result of that probably would be driving up inflation and driving up interest rates, which would take away those gains. But if you put it all together, the various different tax cuts that we're putting in place, by next year what that will mean is the average worker will be saving $2800 per week in combined tax cuts.

So this one on its own may not be- sound significant standing alone, but combined with the various other tax cuts, it will. One of the big ones that comes in place this financial year is an automatic deduction for people of $1000 off their tax. You know, a lot of people out there would be collecting receipts for all sorts of work expenses only to make a fairly small tax return.

What we've said is that from this financial year, you'll be able to make an instant tax deduction of $1000 without having to provide receipts. So, that on its own obviously is in addition to those weekly tax cuts, and I think it will make a difference for people. MEL BAMPTON: Are there concerns it'll be chewed up though, Senator, with rising interest rates?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean, all indications from the RBA at the moment are that rates are stable, and we can't completely predict what they're likely to do. But you may have seen that the most recent inflation figures that came through in the last week or so actually came down, and that's partly because of that cut we imposed to the fuel excise as well. So that was an encouraging sign that inflation was beginning to fall.

Unfortunately, Australia is not immune to some of the developments we see around the world. We're living in a pretty uncertain economy and there are impacts on inflation in Australia from things that happen even in the Middle East. But as I say, it's encouraging that that inflation figure's fallen, and I'm sure that's something the Reserve Bank would take into account with interest rate decisions.

BILL MCDONALD: While we're talking Middle East and fuel, that 16 cent a litre cut to the fuel excise is going to continue through July. Senator, is there a view to looking at extending that beyond this month? MURRAY WATT: Well, what we've always said is that we'll keep this on watch.

We recognised when we did see that big spike in fuel prices that that was going to make life really hard for so many people, whether they're driving around for work or living in the outer suburbs and commuting long distances. So, I think that has made a difference. Obviously, fuel prices have fallen significantly and I think, in fact, some cases I think they're actually below where they were when that crisis started.

But we thought the right thing to do was to taper it off rather than take it out in one hit, that discount. So, we'll keep it under review, but I think realistically it's not possible to have that kind of discount forever. Again, that has a massive impact on the Federal Budget, we've got to watch inflation.

So, we're trying to juggle a few different balls in the air, but at the same time, the biggest focus is doing what we can to take that pressure off people's budgets. BILL MCDONALD : It's also a big change for bosses, isn't it, today? What do they need to be doing regarding super from today?

MURRAY WATT : Yeah, so the big change there- again, and this will be really beneficial for thousands or millions of Queenslanders at work, is that rather than superannuation having to be paid on a quarterly basis to employees, that will now need to be paid in every pay cycle. And the reason we've done that is that we were finding that lots of employees were finding it hard to track whether their boss was paying their super.

Obviously, in the worst cases, we do see unfortunately some employers not pay super at all. So, this is a better way of making sure that employees get the benefit of that superannuation. Obviously, there'll be assistance for employers to be able to make that change, and all sorts of information is available through the Australian Tax Office website.

MEL BAMPTON: Twenty-two after six, you're hearing the voice of Queensland Senator Murray Watt with you on 612 ABC Brisbane this morning. We're covering off everyone else's portfolio, Senator, so let's turn to yours and environment. MURRAY WATT: MEL BAMPTON: A new protection agency takes flight today.

What is it and what will it do? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so really big change, not just in my portfolio, but for Australia's environment. You might remember towards the end of last year, we made some really significant changes to our national environmental law.

And one of them was to create, for the first time in Australia's history, we will now have a National Environment Protection Agency. We've never had that before. And really, that's about making sure that we have a strong, independent environmental regulator to help make decisions about the environment and make sure that we're not trashing it.

Of course, we're so blessed in Australia to have some of the world's most unique species, an incredible natural environment that does contribute to our lifestyle. But it also underpins so many aspects of our economy as well. You know, agriculture, tourism, the resources sector, all of them rely on a healthy environment and the jobs that come in those industries.

And now, from today, we'll have this strong environmental regulator who will be able to really take serious action against those who are doing the wrong thing by our environment. MEL BAMPTON: Well, let's drill down into that a little bit more, Senator, on environmental protection. Particularly yesterday, the independent review into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority was uncovered.

It's some years old already, but it did uncover a range of issues, the use of funding and efficiency between- being two of them. How confident are you that the money that the Federal Government puts towards something as significant for Australia, particularly for tourism and environment, of course, as the Great Barrier Reef, how confident are you that taxpayer dollars are going to be spent in the best possible way?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I am confident of that, Mel. I mean, we're very fortunate in Australia that even the international bodies that oversee these things regard our reef management by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority as world leading. It's even at the point that we actually share a lot of our knowledge about how we manage the Great Barrier Reef through that authority with many other countries around the world that are facing difficulties with their reefs from climate change and other threats as well.

You know, we obviously take seriously any taxpayer money that we invest in various different bodies. The Reef Authority is an independent body with its own board and CEO, but I'm very confident that they do the best they possibly can to manage the money they're given. And as I say, we've been recognised internationally for that quality of reef management.

MEL BAMPTON: Well, what little the ABC has seen of that report does say otherwise, Senator. How will you guarantee the effective use of funds? MURRAY WATT : Well, all of these things are obviously kept under watch from organisations like the Australian National Audit Office.

Being a federal body, independent though it is, the Reef Authority is subject to examination by the Audit Office. It's subject to examination by Senate Estimates Committees. There's a range of different accountability measures in there, and of course I keep a close watch on it as well as the relevant minister.

BILL MCDONALD : The other big story today is the major reforms that are going to come into effect around Veterans Affairs. Now, this affects a lot of people in a lot of ways. There are many of them, and they're in-depth, but can you maybe summarise in 60 seconds for us, Senator, what they are?

MURRAY WATT : Yeah, sure. Probably the best way to put it is that there's two key changes that we're making today. And we recognise that veterans have served our country.

They deserve support both during and after their service. But we had been receiving complaints from veterans that the system was- we’ve got in place for that support is just too complex and makes it very hard for people to use. So, from today, we're actually opening a new veteran and family wellbeing agency, as well as also making changes to the systems of payments to make them a lot simpler for people.

Unfortunately, there are veterans who come out of their service with very serious physical or psychological injuries, and we owe a duty to them to support them after they leave the service. So making these services simpler for veterans to use is really what that's all about. MEL BAMPTON: I don't think anyone's going to be denying the complexity of the system, and even saying it's broken is probably a bit of a fallacy, because maybe it was never set up properly in the first place.

But many veterans today, Senator Murray Watt, are gravely concerned about the $5000 cap on allied health services. How do you combat chronic pain and complex PTSD on a $5000 a year allocation? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, we're certainly aware of the concerns of veterans about that change.

And to be honest it was done- made with the very best of intentions because again, we have had feedback from veterans that the current system, when it comes to allied health services, allows them to have 12 sessions a year of allied health, and then they've got to get another referral from their GP to access more. So what we're actually trying to do, if you like, is to sort of bulk up the entitlement for services for veterans.

But look, we're aware that there have been some concerns raised about that and I know the Veterans Affairs Minister, Matt Keogh, has committed to continue consulting as this has rolled out. And he's also said that there won't be a hard limit of $5000 for people who've got very serious allied health needs. BILL MCDONALD: All right.

I think we're just about out of time. I really appreciate you giving us a bit of a rundown on things this morning, Senator Murray Watt. MURRAY WATT: No worries.

Good to talk to you both. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.