Hockey warns of massive industrial change
Joe Hockey has signalled the Government will press ahead with plans to cut taxes while warning the country faces massive industrial change over coming years.
In a speech in London, the Treasurer also defended some of his Budget measures as vital to restoring the nation's finances and putting it in position to weather future economic challenges.
It was at a similar speech two years ago that Mr Hockey claimed a coalition government would end the "age of entitlement".
Overnight, the Treasurer laid out the Government's reform agenda touching on a range of initiatives it has put in place or is seeking to.
On that agenda includes a taxation white paper, with Mr Hockey making clear the Government's aim is to deliver tax cuts.
"Put simply, the Australian Government wants taxes that are lower, simpler and fairer," he said.
"Given the international mobility of capital, you also need an integrated international approach that can be enforced. You need an international tax system that is ready for the future."
Tax reform is just one change envisaged by Mr Hockey.
He said the economy was already in transition as the mining boom ended and the residential construction sector grew.
But he cautioned there was likely to be more volatility, both in day-to-day readings of the economy and in the nation's industrial make-up.
"Even while Australia will have solid growth in the near future, the transition we face is enormous, and no-one should under estimate this challenge," he said.
"We know from experience that transitions of this magnitude could well be bumpy and that economic indicators may well be more volatile in the short term.
"Many new industries will be created and some will fade. This is the nature of transition."
The Government has come under fire for many of its Budget measures with recent independent analysis showing low income groups left much worse off.
Mr Hockey said the current state of very low interest rates had actually benefited the world's richest people.
"This long period of low interest rates has seen many classes of assets rise in value, rather than a comparable increase in real activity. The wealthy, who hold the majority of these assets, have indeed got wealthier," he said.
