E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
THURSDAY, 17 MAY 2018
SUBJECT/S: Labor’s fairer and more responsible Budget alternative; Budget Repair Levy; dividend imputation reform; Liberals’ political pursuit of the labour movement
VIRGINIA TRIOLI: Labor has pledged a bigger surplus than promised in the Government's budget and by the same deadline. To tell us more, we're joined by Shadow Finance Minister, Dr Jim Chalmers, who is in Melbourne this morning. Dr Chalmers, good morning and thanks for joining us.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Good morning, Virginia.
TRIOLI: Let's run through a couple of the elements of that Budget speech, the announcements there. Labor would keep the top marginal tax rate, including the Budget Repair Levy, which lapses on the 30th and keep that in the Budget until it was in "a strong surplus"; that was the phrase that was used yesterday. What is a sustainable surplus, and can you give voters a forecast date for that, because the forecast date wasn't actually specific?
CHALMERS: Thanks, Virginia. What yesterday's announcement was all about was demonstrating not just that we can manage the Budget in a fairer way than the Liberal Party, but also that we can manage it in a responsible way. And part of that is making sure that we get the tax settings absolutely right and we have said that the Budget Repair Levy should stay on until the Budget is repaired. Despite the billions of dollars of extra revenue rolling through the door in Scott Morrison's Budget, we've have still got record debt. We have still got a big problem in the Budget and so the Budget Repair Levy should stay on. The surpluses that are projected in the Government's Budget are not substantial surpluses. The Budget is not repaired in any meaningful way...
TRIOLI: I'm going to jump in there to direct you to my question because time is always tight on this show.
CHALMERS: Yep, sure.
TRIOLI: Which is for you to actually, for the opposition, to now nominate what that sustainable surplus is? Put a figure on it; put a date on it.
CHALMERS: We will nominate that well before the election. But on the Government's own figures for example, they don't hit a surplus of one percent of GDP, which is generally the standard measure for a decent surplus, until 2026. We will put more thought into when the Budget Repair Levy might come off, but it won't be in the immediate future because there is still a lot of work to do to repair the Budget.
TRIOLI: So we're still talking about something like 2026, 2028?
CHALMERS: Not confirmed yet, Virginia, but it won't be in the next couple of years, no.
TRIOLI: An alliance including the Australian Shareholders Association and also the National Seniors Australia group, they are arguing that your franking credit policy that's going to raise $550 million a year less than you hope because of changes in investor behaviour. Are they right?
CHALMERS: I saw that story too, Virginia. I don't think that they are right. We rely very heavily on the independent Parliamentary Budget Office to cost our policies and they've come up with $10.7 billion in savings over the forward estimates. They've done that have a very rigorous way. It is a professional outfit and so those are the costings that we rely on. Obviously, other groups might have other views, but like anyone in our position, we rely on those professional independent costings that are provided to us.
TRIOLI: Now, wages again missed expectations of rising in the March quarter and we were discussing this morning just how significant that is. How specifically would Labor plan to lift wages?
CHALMERS: You're right that it is a very big challenge in our economy. The fact that we've got this stagnant wages growth barely keeping up with the cost of living. We have got a series of things that we would do. We would restore penalty rates for starters, which would give some people back something like $77 a week for working on weekends.
TRIOLI: And employers, of course, are going to counter-argue that would cost jobs?
CHALMERS: There was a very important Reserve Bank paper released yesterday which showed the link between minimum wages and, by extension, penalty rates doesn't have a big impact on employment. But we don't have time to go through that in any detail. What we'd also do is we'd restore enterprise bargaining so people have a voice in the workforce. We'd crackdown on dodgy labour hire which is undercutting wages and conditions. There are a whole range of things we would do to deal with what we think is the biggest reason why people are feeling so insecure in the economy and that's because wages growth is so stagnant.
TRIOLI: I know you have to get away, but just very quickly: the abandonment of criminal charges against the CFMEU has been welcomed by the ACTU and others, but it's still the organisation described by one judge as the "most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history". So does Labor want this union campaigning for you in the election?
CHALMERS: Anyone who does the wrong thing in any part of the economy, unions, business otherwise...
TRIOLI: Ah, you heard my question, Dr Chalmers, does Labor want the CFMEU campaigning...
CHALMERS: (Laughs) Well if you let me finish the sentence, Virginia...
TRIOLI: No, that's preamble, not an answer.
CHALMERS: If you do the wrong thing, you should be punished. What has been revealed here is the typical shambolic and political pursuit of the labour movement in this country...
TRIOLI: Still not answering the question.
CHALMERS: ... they will campaign for Labor as will a lot of organisations in this country because whether it is the union movement, the broader Australian community, they want the Budget to be managed in a fairer way and a more responsible way and only Labor can deliver that.
TRIOLI: Dr Chalmers, thanks for joining us today.
CHALMERS: Thank you, Virginia.
ENDS
