KELLY GUDGEON, HOST: Get in touch and share your thoughts on the Federal Budget this morning. But to find out more about what it means for us here in the Pilbara and the Gascoyne, Patrick Gorman is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and the Member for Perth. Good morning to you, Patrick. How are you this morning?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: I'm well, thanks Kelly. And good morning to yourself and your listeners.
GUDGEON: Tell me, what is in this Budget for us living in regional Western Australia, and particularly us here in the Northwest?
GORMAN: I'll start with fuel, because I think that's the thing we've been hearing day on day on day, that has been one of the biggest concerns for Australians. Particularly I know, for our part of the world in Western Australia, it has been causing real concern. So, this locks in a $7.5 billion fuel and fertiliser security facility. That's to give confidence that we can buy the fuel we need and also get the fertiliser we need for agricultural businesses. Also ups our fuel security reserve for diesel up to 50 days and makes sure that we continue to increase our minimum stock holding obligations. So, that's one big thing. It also invests in aviation fuel, which is obviously essential for the economic powerhouse of the Pilbara. If I then go to some of the other measures, I can talk about a few things, but there's one I thought was just really important for your listeners, which is the funding for AusAlert. Now this is the new national system that we are rolling out for times of natural disaster, to be able to get good, geographically-targeted alerts when there are natural disasters. We know that in Australia, we've seen too often the information has been incomplete or too late. So funding for AusAlert will roll out from October 2026, which will mean that we have the best system Australia has ever had for natural disasters. And I think, for your listeners, that's something that they will welcome very warmly.
GUDGEON: I'm interested in that AusAlert because I know with the new Australian-wide cyclone warning system, or the emergency warning system that has been put in place here in, well, across the whole nation now, there have been some teething issues with that in how it's actually worked with cyclones, particularly in the Pilbara. How will you ensure that something that is another national system is actually going to be fit for purpose for regions like, that experience cyclones?
GORMAN: Yes. So Kristy McBain is the Minister for Emergency Management, and her Assistant Minister, Josh Wilson, is a fellow Western Australian. They've been doing a lot of the prep work with states and territories to make sure that every concern that they have is listened to. We're doing the testing across this year, the consultation and the rollout in October. And what it will give us is something that is faster, more secure and more reliable than any of the systems we currently rely upon, and it works directly with both the telcos, and it means that every Australian will get those notifications if they have a mobile phone. So, we know this will be a big step up, and it's a step up that we have to make, because it's about protecting lives and livelihoods.
GUDGEON: I'd be interested to see how that works alongside the warning systems that are already in place, and whether it actually does work, because I know that we've had some major issues in terms of the way that they've worked so far, so we'll kind of watch that space on that one. Now I want to take you back to the fuel, the fuel sort of measures in the budget. The federal government's long talked about its Future Made in Australia policy, but now seems to be having a rethink on green energy. What is the future for the Pilbara Hydrogen Hub? And is that, sorry, this is not a fuel question, I've lost my place in here. So I wanted to know about the decisions the, you know, we'll talk about negative gearing in a moment and capital gains. But in terms of tax breaks for multi-billion dollar companies like, that receive fuel tax credits. FMG came out yesterday and called for the fuel tax credit to be capped. You know, in terms of the fuel taxes and the fuel, the compensation for people with fuel issues, what is your thinking around that?
GORMAN: Look, we've heard those proposals that have been put by a range of different organisations over time. It's not something that we've picked up in this Budget. Obviously, right now our focus is on making sure, for those who might use diesel on a farm or a mine site, they're currently not paying those excises. What we've focused on is reducing the costs for those who are using fuel for transport, so that's the halving of the fuel excise. Taking the heavy user road charge down to zero for three months, for obvious reasons. And I think your listeners will know given what's happening in the Middle East and a war that we would hope comes to a diplomatic end soon, but we don't have control to make that happen. That's why our focus has been in that space, for this Budget. We do still have in this Budget $1.1 billion to support the growth in domestic production of low carbon liquid fuels. We recognise that there's a lot more Australia can do in this space and we can do it, not just with Australian ingenuity, but with international partners as well. It's some of the conversations we have with some of the foreign leaders who've come here. I know that there are European businesses - I was speaking to one last night who'd come here to the building - who see real opportunities when it comes to those low carbon liquid fuels. But we recognise that right now, I think Australians will understand, and definitely your listeners will understand, why we've focused our energy and our policy levers on getting the cost of fuel down to keep Australia moving.
GUDGEON: Let's go to those concerns raised about the impact changes to property tax will have, especially on people who might be living here but own houses in other parts of the country. You know, why has the government decided to make changes to those negative gearing and capital gains taxes?
GORMAN: Simply put, we want to put home buyers and first home buyers first, and make sure that more Australians can get a foothold in the housing market. There have been too many stories over too many years about Australians who are working full time, saving money, but just can't crack into the housing market. We've done a range of things already, like the 5% deposit scheme, investments where we are building new homes, or assisting state governments with opening up more freehold land and prioritising that for first home buyers. But that alone wasn't enough, so that's why we've gone down this path. It is a new policy, and that's one of the reasons I'm on the radio right now explaining it. I will tell your listeners if they've already got - as you say -an investment property somewhere else in the country, these changes only kick in from the first of July 2027. If they've already have a property purchased prior to yesterday, or they've got a contract for purchase of a property, negative gearing will be grandfathered for those properties. And if people want to invest and negatively gear, they still can, but only for investing in new properties. So that means that investors cannot just get the benefits of investing in a new property, but the Australian economy gets the benefits of the jobs that are created through new builds.
GUDGEON: Do you think this will have an impact on investment in regional areas, particularly in places like the, you know, the Pilbara and the Gascoyne?
GORMAN: I think this will have a real positive impact on the nature of the housing market in the Pilbara and the Gascoyne. That's because we're incentivising new builds, and that's something that people have been saying to us across Australia for a long time. We need to have more incentives for those new builds. It will also mean that people who are going to get their first home feel they've got a fair crack in what can sometimes be smaller, tighter housing markets. And I'd also note, I think the great work that Roger Cook has done with his seven cities plan, we're obviously backing the WA Government with a significant investment in this budget so they can roll out their plans. There's, across all the portfolios, some $20.8 billion going to the WA Government in 2026-27 and that makes a real difference in terms of helping the state government be able to roll out their plans and their investments in the Pilbara.
GUDGEON: I'm conscious of the time at the moment, but I did want to ask you about cost of living. It's the phrase of the last few years. Can you talk about what measures are included to try and ease that pressure around cost of living, especially for people in regional areas?
GORMAN: So, every one of your listeners who is a taxpayer will have access to the instant tax deduction. That $1,000 instant tax deduction kicks in for the next financial year. And there's a new - announced last night - Working Australians Tax Offset. That's $250 that every Australian worker will benefit from. Some 13 million people across Australia, some 1.5 million in WA, that will mean people pay less tax. Adding up all of our tax changes since 2023, your average listener who works will be paying about $2,800 less tax. And then, I'll just finish on two things on health. One of the reasons I got into politics was because I relied on Medicare as a kid. It's an essential Australian service that we all rely upon, and we never know when we're going to need it. Across the Durack electorate, which we're talking about today, we've had an increase of an additional 16 Medicare bulk billing practices. Now, that means no fees to go and see your GP. People can get better primary health care. And I think that people recognise that sometimes it's those cost of living things where you don't always know when you're going to need to see a GP, but if we can make it so it's free, that provides real relief for people.
GUDGEON: Patrick Gorman, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate you trying to explain a lot of detail in what is happening with the Budget and a lot to digest. So I really appreciate you coming on the program today and talking about that. Thank you.
GORMAN: Thanks for the opportunity.
GUDGEON: Patrick Gorman, there. He is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, talking there about the Federal Budget and what it means for us here in the North.