JIM CHALMERS MP

SHADOW TREASURER

MEMBER FOR RANKIN

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING
MONDAY, 28 JUNE 2021

SUBJECTS: 2021 Intergenerational Report, Mutual Obligation Changes, Hotel Quarantine and Vaccination Rollout. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: Jim Chalmers is the Shadow Treasurer. He joins me now for what's going to be our quickest interview ever. So let's make it a rapid fire interview. We know there's a much lower projection in today's fifth intergenerational report, which means budget deficits for 40 years. Do you think that's too long? And what timeframe would Labor like to bring that forward to?

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: What we see in the IGR report today, Patricia is not just debt and deficits for 40 more years, but also an economy smaller than expected and growth slower than it was before. It's a troubling report and it's a disturbing report. In terms of the levels of debt and deficits over the next 40 years, under Labor there would be less wastage on some of the areas that we've seen in the last little while. We've always said throughout this crisis that there's a role for the government to step in and spend during an economic downturn like we've just seen. The key is to actually have something to show for that. What the IGR shows today is that we've got this generational debt from the Government without a generational dividend.

KARVELAS: You keep contesting the idea that the pandemic has been the reason that we're seeing these kind of bleak figures but actually, we know that the Intergenerational Report says the pandemic has slowed both Australia's birth rate and the inflow of migrants. We know that to be true. So what's the solution to that?

CHALMERS: That's only part of the story Patricia. What we know is that the government was already quite dramatically underperforming against the forecasts of the last IGR. Before COVID-19 we had weak growth, stagnant wages and flatlining living standards. So what we've seen today in this IGR is the long shadow which has been cast by those eight years of economic mismanagement where the economy hasn't been delivering for working people. Unfortunately, some of the forecasts that we're seeing here over the next 40 years are not just a function of COVID but the period before that too.

KARVELAS: Bill Bowtell says the federal government should restore JobKeeper do you think it should be restored now that were seeing this national COVID outbreak in different places and with different clusters?

CHALMERS: We said all along, Patricia, as you know, that the government was too quick to cut JobKeeper in the first place –

KARVELAS: You did but then you changed your position. So I'm wondering, do you think now it should be restored? 

CHALMERS: No we said people were at risk of losing their jobs and 56,000 Australians lost their jobs as a consequence of Josh Frydenberg’s cuts to JobKeeper. We said that there needed to be some kind of economic support to deal with these lockdowns which are a function of the Prime Minister's failure to get quarantine and vaccinations right. The government came to the table in Victoria with too little and too late. They didn't want to take responsibility. We don't want to see them make the same mistake over and over again with these lockdowns, which can't be avoided because the Prime Minister hasn't done those two basic jobs right.

KARVELAS: The government has only paused mutual obligations for those receiving the JobSeeker payment for the areas in official lockdown. So everywhere else though there are no changes, should there be?

CHALMERS: Mutual obligation has a role to play but we need to be sensible about it. There are parts of Australia where there simply aren't the opportunities for Australians to grasp but in other areas there are so the response needs to not be draconian, but a genuine effort to get people back into work. That hasn't always been the case.

KARVELAS: Okay. So you think it should be looked at in this particular crisis that the suspension should be expanded?

CHALMERS: It should be looked at. It should be looked at so that it takes into account the specific challenges in specific communities.

KARVELAS: Very brief answer on this national cabinet is meeting this afternoon. They will of course discuss hotel quarantine. Do you think it's odd that in Queensland international arrivals were actually at the same hotel as domestic arrivals?

CHALMERS: Hotel quarantine is not working and that's why we need purpose built quarantine. That means the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility and not to continue to pass the buck and play politics.

KARVELAS: We'll have more time next time we meet up again Jim Chalmers. Thanks for your time.

CHALMERS: Thanks for your time, Patricia.

ENDS