JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
FRIDAY, 21 JANUARY 2022
SUBJECTS: WA border decision; Recovery hostage to the Morrison Government’s failures on rapid tests and boosters; Morrison Government’s refusal to provide rapid tests damaging the economy; Morrison and Frydenberg so keen to play the blame game they haven’t noticed the Hunger Games in our supermarkets and pharmacies; Australians are prepared to do their job they just need a Prime Minister and a Treasurer prepared to do theirs.
ISKHANDAR RAZAK, HOST: Let’s bring in Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers who joins us from Brisbane this morning. Good morning to you. Let's talk about that overnight press conference from Mark McGowan. This has economic impacts but what is your reaction to the decision to keep WA closed off from the rest of Australia?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Good morning, Isk. Obviously, this is a big decision, a difficult decision, that Premier McGowan has had to take. Clearly, he's looked east and seen the costs and consequences to the economy and to communities when the virus is running rampant without the Prime Minister having done his job on rapid tests, and boosters, and all the rest of it. That's what’s played out here. What we've tried to do throughout this pandemic, is when Premiers of either political persuasion have taken difficult decisions based on health advice, is to not second guess that advice. The most important thing that we need to see is for Scott Morrison to fix the mess that he's made of rapid testing and boosters, to take responsibility for that failure, so that the whole country can open up safely when it's responsible to do that.
RAZAK: Well Jim Chalmers, the AMA have been pretty scathing in their immediate assessment, saying this is not necessarily the right move. And also in an economic sense, businesses and the tourism sector are upset by it. If you were Mark McGowan would you make the same move?
CHALMERS: Again Isk, we haven't been second guessing Premiers of either political persuasion if they've taken difficult decisions based on the health advice. But I want to pick-up something that you said about the economy. What we've seen in the last few weeks is that there are economic consequences to opening up before the federal government's done its job on things like rapid testing and boosting. We shouldn't assume that opening up is necessarily on its own good for the economy, versus the alternative. We've seen that with our empty supermarket shelves, we've seen with the Hunger Games in our pharmacies, we've seen people unable to get back to work safely because of this rapid testing debacle. We all want the economy to recover. We all want Australia to open up when it's responsible to do that. But in order for that to happen, we need the Prime Minister to do his job for once because we've seen the economic carnage when he fails to take responsibility.
RAZAK: The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, was out spruiking the latest figures which show unemployment at 4.2%, the lowest in more than 13 years. This is pre-Omicron but he's out there saying that this shows that their plan is working, that the fundamentals are strong, and they've made the right decisions. What's your take on those figures?
CHALMERS: You're right that it's pre-Omicron, and that's an important caveat. We need to be cautious about these numbers before the worst of the rapid testing debacle was unleashed on the economy. We want that number to be as low as possible. We can't be complacent about the recovery, we want it to be strong, we expect it to be strong in time, but it's hostage to some of these other failures we've been talking about - whether it's rapid tests, or boosting, and all the rest of it.
I think the Treasurer is in such a rush to pat himself on the back that he seems not to have noticed that our supermarket shelves are empty, people are having trouble working safely, we can't get those rapid tests, small businesses are getting smashed right around Australia as a consequence of those federal government failures.
This is a government which is so keen to play the blame game that they haven't noticed the Hunger Games in our supermarkets and pharmacies.
RAZAK: The Treasurer may well have responded that Omicron was a little bit unforeseen and there is a supply shortage of rapid antigen tests now but there are more coming in, they just need to get here before that and there are some business support packages, particularly for small business. What more do you think needs to be done to ensure that the economy thrives into 2022?
CHALMERS: First of all, fix the rapid testing mess. The government was warned as far back as August or September last year by the doctors, by the truckies, by other parts of the economy, that this shortage of rapid tests would cruel the recovery and unfortunately, that's what we're seeing.
Beyond that, clearly small businesses are doing it incredibly tough. The scale of this stuff up is so big and the consequences are so damaging that the government should be having discussions with small business, and with workers, and with unions, about what if anything else could be done to get them through a very difficult period. As I said Isk, we all want the economy to recover strongly, we want unemployment to be as low as possible, but we've heard time and time again over the course of the last two years, Josh Frydenberg declaring victory over this pandemic but not actually doing the work to secure the recovery. And that's what we need to see.
RAZAK: Do you maintain that rapid antigen tests should be free for all? Because Greg Hunt has said that it would be a disaster economically to make that so. And also, the federal government has said that there's no medical advice to make universal screening, particularly in schools which the government is now funding 50-50. And with concession cardholders, you could argue that the most vulnerable are being covered as it is?
CHALMERS: I don't accept their argument at all. These tests should be provided free via Medicare. The fact that they're not is a big reason why we've got this economic carnage. It beggars belief that the government thinks that the cost of a few dollars for a test when it's bought wholesale in bulk is not worth that cost, when we're talking about preventing so much of these issues in our workforces and so many of these issues in our economy and in our communities. They provided $100 test for free via Medicare but they won't supply a $4 test for free via by Medicare, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
The Finance Minister was out there saying the worst thing you could do is adopt Labor's policies about free rapid antigen tests. I would have thought the worst thing you could do is let the virus rip without heeding the warnings for some months now that we'd need these rapid tests to get people back to work safely and to keep the wheels of the economy whirring.
Australians are prepared to do their job they just need a Prime Minister and a Treasurer prepared to do theirs, and rapid testing is at the very core of the mess that they've made of this situation.
RAZAK: Let's just talk about isolation changes though. The government is talking about changing it to as low as five days. South Australian government doesn't want to do that right now, but we are seeing supply chain shortages and issues at supermarket shelves. Do you support changing isolation rules down to five days or even more?
CHALMERS: Let's see what the considered health advice is. Throughout the last couple of years, we've always said if it's consistent with the health advice, then we'd be positive about it. But that's not the only issue at play here. The reason we've got empty supermarket shelves, the reason why you can't get a rapid antigen test, the reason why people's summer has been ruined, small businesses are getting smashed, is because the government didn't order enough tests in the first place. That is the core reason why we're going through this difficult period and people can't buy fresh food in the supermarket. So let's fix that. The best way to fix that is to order enough and to provide them for free via Medicare. So many of these other issues would be easier to deal with if the Prime Minister and Treasurer did their job on rapid tests.
RAZAK: Sounds like there's a leaf blower doing their job near you, Jim Chalmers!
(LAUGHTER)
RAZAK: Thank you so much for your time.
CHALMERS: Appreciate it Isk, have a great day.
ENDS
