E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE
MONDAY, 26 AUGUST 2019
 
SUBJECTS: Josh Frydenberg’s lack of a plan for productivity and economic growth; Cuts to hairdressers’ penalty rates; Share market volatility; Weakness in the economy; Energy mix.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Today we've seen from Josh Frydenberg yet another speech which is long on finger-pointing and short of a plan. Just telling business they need to invest more is not an economic policy. Time and time again from this Liberal Government we see ministers like Josh Frydenberg spending all of their time pointing the finger and none of their time coming up with a plan to actually turn things around. This is a Treasurer who is always more interested in apportioning blame than actually coming up with an economic plan.
 
Under this Treasurer productivity has gone backwards every single quarter. Productivity has gone backwards every quarter that Josh Frydenberg has been the Treasurer. He says that his policy settings are right but his policy settings have been a recipe for the slowest growth in 10 years, productivity going backwards, living standards in decline, stagnant wages, record household debt and weak business investment. The list goes on and on and on.
 
If this Government spent more time coming up with a plan and less time pointing the finger at others, Australians would be better off. Weakness in our domestic economy has been around and obvious for much longer than since these trade tensions flared up between China and the United States. The Government needs to recognise and take responsibility for the fact that our domestic economy has been weak for some time, certainly for much longer than these tensions between China and the US have been around. The Government's failure to plan for this domestic economic weakness has left Australia dangerously exposed to the ups and downs of the global economy which we're seeing in the share market again today.
 
Business investment is part of the story but it's not the whole story. This Government needs a plan for growth, for wages, for investment, for productivity, for household debt. Right across the board for years now, Australians and their Reserve Bank have been crying out for a plan for the economy, and the Government has been too busy playing politics and pointing the finger to come up with one.
 
I might just touch on one other issue before I take your questions and that's the proposed cuts to penalty rates for hairdressers.
 
Under this Liberal Government already, hundreds of thousands of Australians have had their penalty rates cut. Scott Morrison himself voted eight times against restoring penalty rates for people who work on the weekends. The Council of Small Business has admitted that cuts to penalty rates haven't created a single job in this economy. It's very concerning to learn now that employers with the support of the Government are now coming after hairdressers. If hairdressers are paid less for the work that they do they will find it harder to make ends meet, harder to pay for their rent, harder to provide for their loved ones, harder to afford the essentials of life. This Government will not grow the Australian economy by cutting the wages of hairdressers and other workers in our communities. At a time when there is a big problem with consumption, a big problem with wages, a big problem with household debt, this Government will always support even harsher attacks on our workers, even harsher attacks on their penalty rates and their take home pay and that is one of the reasons why the economy is floundering on their watch.
 
Over to you.
 
JOURNALIST: The Treasurer says the economy and companies would both benefit from corporates indulging in fewer share buybacks. Is that right?
 
CHALMERS: Telling companies to invest more in their businesses is not an economic policy. What Josh Frydenberg has done today is to try and pretend that the whole problem that we have in our economy is that businesses aren't investing enough. Clearly we need to see more business investment in the economy. Clearly business investment has been weak and that's had consequences for productivity and for growth. But it's not good enough for the Treasurer to pretend that that is the whole problem and that he's had nothing to do with it. One of the issues we have in the economy is that under this third-term six-year Liberal Government, without a plan to deal with the economy which has increasingly floundered on their watch, it is harder for businesses to invest with any certainty or any confidence because the Government has largely vacated the field.
 
The Reserve Bank, the Labor Party, others, have made this very obvious point to this Government but they haven't been listening.
 
The Reserve Bank can't do it all on their own; businesses can't do it all on their own; the community can't do it all on its own without leadership and a plan from the Morrison Government. For some time now that plan has been absent. That's because we have a Government which has a political strategy but not an economic policy.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you worried by the share market fall?
 
CHALMERS: There have been substantial shifts in the share market again today and for a lot of people who rely on their investments that will be very concerning. That will impact on people's superannuation; it will impact on people's investments and savings and so I do understand why people get anxious at times like this.
 
The global trade conflict has impacted on our share market but it's not the reason why our domestic economy has been weak for some time now. The domestic economy has been weak for some time now for a whole range of reasons, but one of those is that we have a Government which plays politics all the time and doesn't come up with a plan for the economy. That means that Australia is unnecessarily and dangerously exposed to some of these big shifts in the global economy which we are seeing at the moment.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you share Kevin Rudd's view that Australia is at risk of recession?
 
CHALMERS: I wouldn't use exactly the same words that Kevin used but I do think there is recognition right around the economy and right around the community that the economy under the Liberals is particularly weak. The economy has been floundering for some time: the slowest growth for the 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis, productivity and living standards going backwards, stagnant wages, 1.8 million Australians looking for work or for more work.
 
For all of these reasons there is a lot of concern in our community that the economy is weak under the Liberal Party. They have no plan to turn it around and that leaves Australia dangerously and unnecessarily exposed to some of these big issues which are playing out in the global economy particularly between the Americans and the Chinese.
 
JOURNALIST: The Victorian Government's 50 per cent renewable target by 2030 is expected to cost Victorians thousands of dollars. Do you think that's fair?
 
CHALMERS: It's not for me to comment on the policies of the Victorian state Government, it’s a matter for them. I do think it's self-evident that we need to see more renewable energy in our economy. That's how we create jobs and get prices down. It's an important thing that Governments of all persuasions, at all levels need to be interested in. Unfortunately this federal Government - which is my main concern - just like for the rest of the economy they don't have a plan for renewable energy in the economy. That does Australia out of a heap of jobs and it means that power prices will be higher than they need to be. We need to see Governments of all levels care about, invest in, and prioritise getting those energy prices down and part of that mix is boosting renewables.
 
JOURNALIST: Off the back of a blackout warning from last week, do you think it's dangerous to rely on renewables rather than solely on coal or something more reliable like coal?
 
CHALMERS: The reality of the energy market is that there is a mix. What we've said for some time is that coal will play an important part in that mix for some time, for the foreseeable future. But over time our renewable energy will comprise a bigger part of that mix. For Australia that means new jobs in renewable energy. We can get those without abandoning our traditional strengths. We can have a mix of energy in this country which gets pollution down, that gets prices down but also allows businesses to invest with a bit of certainty in our future energy needs. Thanks very much.