JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
BRISBANE
SUNDAY, 24 APRIL 2022


SUBJECTS: National and economic security; Labor's plan for the economy; cost of living; Solomon Islands; Morrison government’s high taxes; multinational tax avoidance; Morrison government record on China; Powering Australia plan for cleaner and cheaper energy. 
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: The Morrison Government is undermining our economic security and our national security at the same time. Undermining our economic security with their attacks on wages at the same time as the costs of living are skyrocketing. And undermining our national security with all of this chest-beating on China at the same time as their incompetence has meant that China is setting up on our doorstep. This Government pretends, in their expensive marketing and spin, that their strengths are economic management and national security but their record shows that economic security and national security are the defining weaknesses and the defining features of this Government's mistakes over the best part of the last decade. 

Now, our economic plan recognises that the balance of risks in the economy has shifted to inflation, and what that means for real wages. Everything is going up for people in this country except their wages. And we'll see that on Wednesday when the inflation numbers are released. Now, this is a government which has deliberately gone after people's wages and now, with the costs of living skyrocketing, ordinary working families are falling further and further behind. And that's why Labor's economic plan is all about boosting the capacity of the economy, dealing with the supply issues in our economy, and getting real wages growing again. That's what our five-point plan for the economy is all about, in the context of an economy where the balance of risks has shifted to skyrocketing inflation, falling real wages, and the fact that working families in this country are falling further and further behind. This is a government which doesn't have a plan for the economy, they've just got a plan for the election. And they want to spend all of their time talking about the Labor Party because they are so bereft of any ideas about a better future for this country. 

Now, the Prime Minister says it's not a referendum, it's a choice. It's a referendum and a choice. It's a referendum on Scott Morrison's mistakes and his failures and his budget, which has been corrupted by his incompetence, by all of the waste and rorts and attacks on real wages that we've seen for the best part of a decade now. But it is also a choice. It's a choice between a better future under Labor or three more years of falling real wages and rorts and waste and a budget which has been corrupted by Scott Morrison, his mistakes, and his incompetence. That is the choice for people at this election. 
 
Now Scott Morrison wants to talk about tax today. Well, let's talk about tax. You can't believe a word that Scott Morrison says about the economy, especially when it comes to tax. On every available measure, this LNP Government is taxing more than the last Labor government. They've taxed more in total. They've taxed more as a proportion of GDP. They've taxed more per person. They've taxed more adjusted for inflation. You can't believe a word that Scott Morrison says on tax. Before every election he gives a pledge like this. His current budget has more than $2 billion of increased taxes. Over the life of this Government, there've been something like 150 different tax changes which weren't taken to an election. A hundred of them were increases in taxes and charges. 

You cannot believe a word that Scott Morrison says about the economy and about tax in particular. Tax-to-GDP under this Government has averaged 22.3 per cent, and under the last Labor government 20.9 per cent. They want to talk about this 23.9 per cent tax cap that the Government is talking about today. In Australian history, there has only been four times that the current tax cap has been breached, and every single time has been under Liberal-National governments. Every single time that the tax cap, which is now imposed at 23.9 per cent, has been breached, it's been breached by the Coalition and not by Labor. Labor has never gone near the current tax cap of 23.9 per cent. And that, again, is why you can't believe this government when it comes to tax. This Government is the second-highest taxing government of the last 30 years, and the highest taxing was John Howard's. We saw John Howard out yesterday. We saw Scott Morrison out yesterday but not taking questions. Those two prime ministers are the two highest-taxing prime ministers of the last 30 years. 

So if the Government wants to talk about tax, let's talk about tax. This is a Government which has taxed more, borrowed more, spent more than the last Labor government but delivered much less. They have a trillion dollars of debt in the budget and not enough to show for it, because the budget is riddled with rorts and waste and mistakes and incompetence, which means that the taxes that this Government has taken from Australians have been wasted by the most wasteful government since Federation. 
 
This is the worst budget that any government has ever taken to a federal election in this country. So if he wants to talk about tax, let's have the facts on tax. This Government is the second-highest taxing government of the last 30 years. Higher on every measure, when it comes to tax, than the last Labor government. He should tell the truth about taxes. 

He should also come clean about what today's press release means for his commitments to the global community about multinational taxes. Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have said that they want to be part of this 130-country agreement when it comes to multinationals paying their fair share of tax. When Scott Morrison stands up later today, he needs to answer this very basic question: Is he saying “no new taxes”? Or is he saying that he's walking away from the agreement that he made with the OECD and 130 different countries around the world? There have been important global developments when it comes to multinational taxes. Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have said previously that Australia should be part of them. Today, he's saying that we shouldn't. He needs to clear that up today. He can't have it both ways. He can't give a commitment to no new taxes at the same time as he's given a commitment to the global community to do something meaningful about multinationals. 

Labor has made it clear that the only tax reform we're proposing at this election is fairer taxes on multinationals. That's about adopting and applying the principles developed around the world to make sure that multinationals pay their fair share of tax where they earn their profits. That's about leveling the playing field for Australian businesses as well. And it's also about making sure that we can continue to invest in the services that Australians need and deserve. 
 
The Government's got some questions to answer today. They've made this commitment to no new taxes. They've made this commitment around the world to multinational tax reform. They can't have it both ways. So Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg need to clear that up today. Now, this is a higher-taxing government than the last Labor government. The Prime Minister needs to come clean on that as well today. 

This is a government which has undermined our economic security and our national security simultaneously. All of their chest-beating on the economy and on national security has added up to the outcome of a government which has borrowed more, taxed more, spent more, but delivered less. A region which is less safe. A nation which is less secure. Because all of their chest-beating has delivered nothing but more economic insecurity and more national insecurity, and they need to be accountable for that rather than continue to blame everybody else for their mistakes. Scott Morrison needs to take responsibility today on tax. On the economy. On national security. He has failed on every front.
 
JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton has warned Australians to prepare for a chemical weapon attack, saying Australia is in its most vulnerable position since 1930. He told Sky this morning: “Labor will always cut spending on defence.” For people at home, is Labor going to cut spending on defence? And do you hold the same concerns about our national security?
 
CHALMERS: No we're not. And Peter Dutton needs to take responsibility for the fact that Australia is less safe as a consequence of his incompetence. Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison and all of these other characters, they wander around beating their chest about China. This is the Government which let the Port of Darwin be sold to the Chinese. This is the Government that wanted to sign an extradition treaty with China. This is the Prime Minister who, when he was Treasurer, signed a secret memorandum of understanding with China on their Belt and Road Initiative. This is a government which has allowed China to set up on Australia's doorstep. So if Peter Dutton wants to say that Australia is less safe today, and that is self-evident, he and Scott Morrison need to take some of the responsibility for that fact.
 
JOURNALIST: Chris Bowen has confirmed on The Today Show coal mines will be made to buy credits if they go above a threshold. How much will a carbon credit cost? 
 
CHALMERS: Well, that's been clear in our policy ever since we released it something like six months ago. And, as we said yesterday when we were asked about this, 215 emitters, the same number that is subject to the safeguard mechanism under the current government, will be subject to it under a Labor Government. The business community has proposed ways to improve that safeguard mechanism and that's what we are doing. Our preference is that, whether it's coal mines or other emitters, they reduce their emissions in line with the obligations which are determined by the Clean Energy Regulator. That's the point that we made yesterday, the point that we've been making for some time, and the point that I made today. Our modelling assumes the same cost of abatement as the Government does, currently something like $24 a tonne. That's the same under the Government's policy and under Labor's policy. Our preference is that people de-carbonise, they use the available technology to get their emissions down. Something like two out of every three of the 215 entities subject to the safeguard mechanism have already got plans for net zero by 2050. That's what we want to see. Their other option is to buy credits, as we've said for some time. But our preference, as I said yesterday, is that they get their emissions down, consistent with their obligations. Those obligations are determined by the Clean Energy Regulator. They take into account the technological possibilities in each industry and in each business, and also making sure that businesses aren't unfairly disadvantaged in relation to their competitors overseas. That's the point I made yesterday as well. 
 
JOURNALIST: What will that do to petrol prices?
 
CHALMERS: Well, the cost of energy will go down under our climate change policy. Our policy is about cleaner and cheaper energy. It's about more investment, lower power bills, and it's about more jobs, particularly in the regions. Five out of every six of the more than 600,000 jobs modelled in our cleaner and cheaper energy policy Powering Australia will come in the regions. A key benefit of our policy will be to get energy costs down and the whole world is moving in that direction. Australian businesses are moving in that direction. That's why the Australian business community supports the steps that we are taking.
 
JOURNALIST: Is forcing a company to buy a credit not just a fancy way of taxing them for polluting too much? 
 
CHALMERS: We're not forcing any company to buy a credit. As I've said before, businesses and entities have options under the safeguard mechanism. The same options that they have under the Government now, they will have under us. They can choose to buy a credit or they can choose to reduce their emissions below the baseline determined by the Clean Energy Regulator. Our preference is for the latter. We've said that repeatedly. Thanks very much. Thank you.

ENDS