E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO BRISBANE
THURSDAY, 12 MARCH 2020
SUBJECTS: The Government’s Economic Stimulus Package.
STEVE AUSTIN, ABC RADIO BRISBANE DRIVE: Shadow Treasury spokesperson and Federal Member for Rankin here in Queensland, Jim Chalmers. Do you support the package?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: We are supportive of the package, Steve. We want to make sure that this support which is desperately needed in the economy at a difficult time gets into the hands of families and workers and businesses as soon as possible. We'll do the right and responsible thing in the Parliament. If it needs to be expedited to get legislation through we're prepared to do that as well because we do understand that people are anxious. Australians are worried about their jobs. They're worried about their superannuation balances when they see what's happening on the stock market. Our responsibility is to do the right thing, to be supportive of what's being proposed here but also to point out where there might be gaps and where the Government can do a better job.
AUSTIN: I think from memory you're an economist by education and past practice. The market has lost $100 billion of value off Australian shares and closed 7.6 per cent down again today. What are the implications of that, Jim Chalmers?
CHALMERS: For most people, particularly those who are close to retirement, they'll be looking at the stock market and worried about their superannuation balance. That is quite a hefty fall and there's been other days in the last week or two where the stock market has fallen substantially. We expect at times like these that there will be some volatility in the stock market. One of the reasons we are so supportive of doing what we can here is because we need to put a floor under confidence. The economy's got a confidence problem and it's not just a recent one. It's actually been around not for last couple of months but the last couple of years, so we need to put a floor under confidence. We need to assure people that we're all going to do what we can to support workers, employers and communities through this difficult period.
AUSTIN: Is the Federal Government doing what's needed to put a floor under confidence?
CHALMERS: It remains to be seen. There are some welcome initiatives in the package that they're proposing. We've been calling for a number of these initiatives for some time now. It's been clear to Labor for some time that the economy needs a boost, that it needs some support and to the extent that the Government has responded to those calls. We welcome some of those some of those initiatives. It remains to be seen whether it will be enough or deployed quickly enough to protect jobs and prevent businesses from going under. Hopefully it does but it remains to be seen whether that's the case.
AUSTIN: There's been some comparisons from around the time of the Global Financial Crisis when Federal Labor was in power. Do you see any similarities or resonance?
CHALMERS: There are some obvious similarities. The Government is replicating getting cash into the hands of pensioners which was the same thing that Labor did in the first tranche of our stimulus back in October 2008. That's almost identical. The instant asset write off for businesses was a Labor creation from around that period. There are striking similarities and we think it’s a good thing that the Government is conceding with these announcements today that there is a role for stimulus and there is a role for cash payments in extreme circumstances - and this is an extreme circumstance.
AUSTIN: My guest is Jim Chalmers. Jim Chalmers is the Federal Shadow Treasury spokesperson. This is ABC Radio Brisbane, Steve Austin is my name. Is there anything additional that you would add to this? They have made some additional announcements, like 100 fever clinics are going to be set up around the country. These are really for health reasons, not economic reasons. But there are a number of elements like that. Is there anything additional Federal Labor thinks should be done?
CHALMERS: There are some obvious gaps in the package. For example, there's nothing for infrastructure or for local government in the package. We're trying not to quibble with what the Government's announced we want to get this supported and out the door as soon as possible. There are some issues within what they've announced as well. The one that's the easiest for listeners to understand is there's an issue with casual workers who don't have access to paid sick leave. If they're sick or impacted by the virus, we want them to stay home. The Government's done some things in this package. They've said that they'll give access to Newstart for some of these affected workers but we are substantially concerned that this won't be enough to keep people from going to work when they're crook. The way we come at this is if Australians are to do the right thing by their colleagues at work, governments and businesses need to do the right thing by them. We think they could have done more to provide for those casual workers who don't have access to paid sick leave and my colleague Tony Burke will be saying more about that in the coming days.
AUSTIN: They have put money out there for businesses to retain their apprentices and trainees. Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy, 50 per cent of an apprentice or trainees wage. What's your take on that?
CHALMERS: We welcome that. That's a welcome development. But there’s been an issue with apprenticeships for some time. There’re tens of thousands fewer apprentices now than when the Government came to office but in this particular package, what they're proposing here is something that we're prepared to support.
AUSTIN: The Prime Minister has revealed that he's asked the Health Department in Canberra whether or not there is a need to close our borders to people flying in from Europe. That would be a massive decision. The United States has just made that decision, apparently, but not for the UK. What's the Opposition's position? Do you have any indication that we should consider that seriously?
CHALMERS: Our position throughout is to listen intently to the Chief Medical Officer and to make sure that any decisions that are taken are based on sound expert advice from medical practitioners. That's what has worked for us so far as a country and so if that was being contemplated, we'd want to hear first whether that is supported by the Chief Medical Officer and his colleagues. If it is, then we consider it then. I don't think it's especially helpful for politicians to get ahead on travel bans and things like that without the relevant advice. If the Prime Minister's asked for that advice I think that's appropriate. If that advice is provided then we'd expect to get briefed on it and we'd come to a position after that.
AUSTIN: You're a Federal Queensland Labor MP. I interviewed Nick Behrens yesterday, who looked at the implications for Queensland specifically as a state. Let me just play what he had to say and I'll get your reaction.
BEHRENS: - predominantly because of their exposure to the reduction of consumer spend associated with uncertainty. So I think that even the Prime Minister yesterday said this is going to be commensurate with the Global Financial Crisis, I believe it will be significantly worse for Australia than the Global Financial Crisis because there's a number of things that will happen. If you recall, the Federal Government was able to prime the economy by about $52 billion because it had large surpluses to spend. It no longer has those surpluses. Indeed, we're still in deficit. At the same time, the RBA was able to reduce the official cash rate from 7.25 per cent down to 3.0 per cent. We were able to prime the economy through monetary policy. Well, we're already at 0.5 and we don't have much further to go in that area.
AUSTIN: That's Nick Behrens on why he thinks that there might be a global recession as a result of this. You were in the office of Wayne Swan at that time. Do you think we that the Government has less firepower now and as a result, it's a more serious issue?
CHALMERS: Public debt has more than doubled in the last seven years. It was $175 billion when the Government came to office and it's $430 billion now. There's more debt in the system, but there's still firepower that they can call on. Unemployment is much higher now than it was under Labor during the GFC at the start of it, a full percentage point higher. The point that was just made about interest rates is a very big issue.
AUSTIN: Why?
CHALMERS: Because interest rates are already almost as low as they can go. That means the Reserve Bank doesn't have heaps of room to move to cut interest rates before they contemplate more extreme measures. There are differences in how we approach this crisis and without making an excessively partisan point about it one of the issues here is that there's been weakness in the economy for some years before we got to this virus and even before the bushfires too. That means that some of the challenges now are actually exacerbating issues we've had for some time. They've been unattended and that means we start this from a position of weakness rather than strength.
AUSTIN: Appreciate you coming in. Thanks very much.
CHALMERS: Thank you, Steve.
ENDS
