Transcript | Sky News Kenny Report | 18 June 2025

Wednesday 18 June 2025 

Interview on Sky News Kenny Report 

Topics: Iran, Chalmers press club address, tax reform  

EO&E………………………………………………………………………………………….. 

CHRIS KENNY: Lets go to Melbourne now and catch up with James Paterson who's now the Shadow Finance Minister for the Coalition. Good to talk to you again James. I'll come to finance matters in a moment but I've just got to get you on this Middle East situation first. Some stronger language from Penny Wong today at least demanding that Iran give up its nuclear aspirations but I think early on the Coalition's language was pretty soft on this. Can you be clear with us does the Coalition support the action that Israel has taken against Iran? 

JAMES PATERSON: Well Chris, I welcome the stronger comments from the Foreign Minister, but like you, I'm a bit bemused why it took her so long as to whether or not Australia should be on the side of the liberal democracy and friendly nation, which is trying to prevent an Islamist dictatorship from acquiring a nuclear weapon in contravention of all international laws and norms. Of course, the burden here falls on Iran. Iran is the one that has done the wrong thing by seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon, and by making very clear the purpose in doing so is to wipe the Jewish State off the face of the map, as many Iranian political and religious leaders have said over many years. So Australia's position should not be ambiguous in this. Our interests are, along with our like-minded partners, including the United States and others, that Iran be prevented from gaining a nuclear weapon, preferably by them voluntarily choosing to give it up. But if not, then I understand why Israel has taken the action it has because it faces an existential threat here. 

CHRIS KENNY: So you support overtly the military action taken by Israel? 

JAMES PATERSON: Well Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't need the approval or support of the Shadow Finance Minister of Australia for the actions he's taking, but I absolutely understand why he is doing what he is doing. If I was in his shoes I would probably be compelled to make similar steps because Iran has made clear they are seeking nuclear weapons and the purpose of those nuclear weapons is to wipe Israel off the map. For Israel that's an existential threat, for the Middle East region it's a serious security threat, but for the whole world it undermines peace and security and we all have an interest in preventing Iran from doing so. 

CHRIS KENNY: There's no doubt about that, but the American government and American politicians have had no trouble overtly supporting Israel's action. It seems a little less so from here. I'm just interested in the next step. Would we support the US joining in the Israeli military action if they deem it necessary? 

JAMES PATERSON: Look Chris, I haven't been briefed on these matters for some time, so I'm loath to provide public military targeting advice to the President of the United States, but it's self-evident from public reporting that the nuclear facility at Fordow has not been able to be dismantled or damaged by the Israelis, and many respected and informed analysts say that only the United States has the capabilities necessary to do that. I think if this conflict were to come to an end with Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities at Fordow intact and able to quickly speed to a bomb in a matter of weeks or months that would be a terrible end to this crisis. Now that it has commenced, our interests are very clear - we want that facility dismantled. It can either be dismantled with the consent of the Iranian regime or it can be dismantled by American leadership. But I don't think it's a realistic option for it to remain in place because it is a threat to everyone if it does. 

CHRIS KENNY: Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more. Let me get to your portfolio now and the Treasurer's speech today on the economy. We know there are such pressures on the economy. Business closures escalating, insurance, electricity costs up. Yet when it comes to this productivity summit, it seems that he's narrowed the focus down to tax reform. Do you trust this Labor Government to come up with tax reform that might lower and simplify taxes or are we looking at some tax increases here? 

JAMES PATERSON: Chris, I think any Australian economist who's looked at our tax system recognises that it doesn't raise revenue in the most efficient form possible and that there are reforms you could make to the Australian tax system which would give us a more productive economy. But you are right to be suspicious about Jim Chalmers' motivations here because it did appear to me, based on his comments at the press club today, that he is starting to prepare the ground for higher taxes. And you would be mad to think that the thing the Australian economy needs right now is higher taxes. We're in the midst of a productivity crisis on Labor's watch. We've gone back a decade in productivity, back to 2016 levels. We have a business investment crisis. We have a living standards crisis, which has dropped by 6.3% on Labor's watch. And we have a budget crisis with deficits as far as the eye can see and $1.2 trillion of debt. None of those problems get solved by higher taxes. Even if you thought you could solve the deficit problem with higher taxes, the problem that you cause for yourself on the other side is a less competitive economy and international reports came out this week showing that our competitiveness has slid backwards on Labor's watch. So higher taxes is not the answer and while we're prepared to be constructive, we're not going to provide a blank cheque for Labor just to increase taxes on Australians. 

CHRIS KENNY: Will you seek a seat at the table of the round table? 

JAMES PATERSON: Well, I don't think you need to read the Treasurer's comments at his press conference today too closely to make it very clear he has no intention of inviting the Opposition into the room. He spoke about the limited seats around the table of the Cabinet Room, as if there are no other facilities available in Parliament House with larger rooms that could invite more people. So I think his intention is clear there. We'll assess the priorities that come out of the summit on their merits. If there are good ideas that are in Australia's national interest, we will back them. We recognise productivity is a problem. The Treasurer has admitted that it's a problem, but he's like the arsonist turning up pretending to be the firefighter. These are fires that were started on Labor's watch in their first term and now they're saying they're going to have to fix it. We will help them fix it if they've got good ideas that actually fix the problem.

CHRIS KENNY: James Paterson, thanks so much for joining us.

ENDS

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