JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CANBERRA AIRPORT
SUNDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2021

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s biggest lie is that he’s managed the economy well; Morrison Government isn’t serious about integrity and religious freedoms; Scott Morrison’s dangerous and divisive politics.
 

JOURNALIST: How does it feel to be back in Canberra?

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: There are some important issues for us to be talking about. If you think about all of the things that the Prime Minister has lied about, the biggest lie he's told is that he's done a good job managing the economy. Under the Morrison Government petrol prices are skyrocketing, real wages are going down, and working families are going backwards.

JOURNALIST: And you've kind of been left all of these very important bills to the last minute, last few weeks?

CHALMERS: Well, the Government's not serious about religious freedom or about an anti-corruption commission. If the Government was serious about either of those things it wouldn't have taken them three years to get their act together. The reason this Government doesn't want a national anti-corruption commission is because they know it will uncover more of the same rorts, and waste, and dodgy deals that we've seen for much of the last eight years.

JOURNALIST: And any comment on what you've seen happening in Sydney and Melbourne in terms of the riots?

CHALMERS: We live in a society and we've got obligations to each other - to look out for each other and to protect each other and keep each other healthy. The Prime Minister has deliberately divided us and tried to diminish our collective efforts to do the right thing by each other. I think that's shameful. He is playing a dangerous and divisive game with potentially violent consequences, and that's not leadership. The country is crying out for leadership, and they're not getting it from this Prime Minister.

JOURNALIST: Thank you so much.

CHALMERS: Thanks guys.

ENDS