E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2020
 
SUBJECTS: National accounts; Jobs crisis; Energy; Migration.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Today will be a really dark day in the history of this country. This Morrison-Frydenberg recession is deep and it's devastating for millions of Australians and their families. We're in the teeth now of a full blown jobs crisis but the Morrison Government still doesn't have a jobs plan to respond to it. Already one million Australians are unemployed and the Government expects another 400,000 Australians to join the unemployment queues between now and Christmas. The Government's got a plan to wind back JobKeeper, to freeze the pension, to cut super, to cut wages, and to point fingers at the states but none of those things will get the economy going again or create jobs again in this country. It's a plan for jobs that we desperately need.
 
It won't be especially surprising to learn today that the economy's in a deep recession; the surprising bit is that the Morrison Government doesn't have any new ideas to deal with it. We know that unemployment has been rising even since the period covered by what will be some devastating National Accounts today. We call on the Government to stop creating distractions, to stop pointing the finger, creating diversions, shifting the blame, cutting super, wages and pensions, and instead to come up with a genuine comprehensive jobs plan to deal with the deepest, most devastating recession in our lifetimes.
 
The numbers today will be the worst we've ever seen on record. If numbers like these can't prompt a comprehensive jobs plan from the Government then nothing will. The time for Morrison and Frydenberg to tell Australians how bad things are is well and truly over. Australians already understand that the economy is a mess and this recession is deep and devastating. What Australians desperately need to hear from the Government today, not just in the October budget, is a plan for jobs. 
 
The Treasurer says that he's injecting $314 billion into the Australian economy, but we know from Question Time that that's not anywhere near true. We asked the Treasurer yesterday how much of the $314 billion the Morison Government has actually injected into the economy and he could only get to $85 billion. The Government is coming up short when it comes to support for the economy and we'll see that in the numbers today. The costs and consequences of a Government which was slow off the mark, did too little too late and couldn't get the support out the door will be absolutely devastating for jobs, for Australians and for their families.
 
The Reserve Bank announced yesterday that they will be doing more to support the economy at the same time as the Morison Government is doing less. It makes absolutely no sense when unemployment is rising for the Morrison Government's support in the economy to be falling. Once again the Reserve Bank has had to step in and do the heavy lifting.
 
This is a Government which spends all its time chasing headlines and not chasing jobs. We've heard all of the announcements and all the big figures but the follow through has been wanting. We'll see that in the numbers today. Announcements, spin and focus-grouped scripts will not get the economy growing again. Only a jobs plan and getting this welcome support out the door will actually make a difference. 
 
The final point is this; Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Mathias Cormann want to compare Australia's performance with the performance of other countries around the world. Australia should be doing better than Donald Trump's America. Australia should be doing better than the United Kingdom. It is absolutely meaningless to the million Australians who've lost their jobs and the 400,000 who are expected to join the unemployment queues for the Government to say we're doing better than Donald Trump's America. That means nothing to people who've already lost their job. The international comparisons and comparisons with what the Government expected three months ago are cold comfort for Australians who are unemployed, Australians who will become unemployed in the coming months, or small business people wondering how they'll hang on.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think at the moment [INAUDIBLE] full impacts of recession?
 
CHALMERS: Australians already know that we're in a deep and devastating recession and that has consequences for jobs. What they don't know is what the Morrison Government is actually going to do about that. We hear all of the spin, all of the bluster, all of the finger pointing and blame shifting but not a plan from the Government. Now is not the time for the Morrison Government to be withdrawing support from the economy when we're in the teeth of a deep and devastating recession and unemployment has risen since the period covered by the numbers today. What we need to see is a comprehensive jobs plan. We're in a full blown jobs crisis but the Morrison Government doesn't have a plan to respond to that.
 
JOURNALIST: You say that the Government isn't doing enough to support the economy. Do you think that now's the time for the RBA to start quantitative easing?
 
CHALMERS: The Reserve Bank is already taking steps that would have been inconceivable six, nine or 12 months ago. The Reserve Bank is doing the best that they can to support the economy. We saw additional announcements yesterday and we welcome those steps taken by Governor Lowe and the Reserve Bank. The issue here is that the Reserve Bank is doing more to support the economy, while the Morrison Government is doing less. It makes no sense whatsoever in the midst of the worst recession of our lifetime, with unemployment still rising and expected to continue to rise, for the Government to be spending all of its time withdrawing support from the economy, cutting JobKeeper, cutting JobSeeker, cutting wages, cutting pensions, and cutting super, which won't grow the economy. Only a comprehensive job plan will do that. 
 
JOURNALIST: When the Government talks about jobs and the recovery they often talk about gas these days. On the Labor side there are different opinions about whether gas should be part of the recovery. What's your opinion about whether new gas supplies are part of the answer?
 
CHALMERS: First of all, we haven't seen what the Government's proposing for their so-called gas-led recovery. Like all of the other things that they talk about, it's spin and a focus-grouped script. We don't know what they're actually proposing. It seems like we're still a fair way from hearing what they might be proposing there. We've said in the Labor Party that gas has an important role to play in the economy. There has been a lot of investment in gas in recent years. There are export opportunities. We do have businesses in Australia including manufacturers who rely on gas. and the cost of that gas is one of their key inputs. We've said that it's important all along. We will respond to whatever the Government proposes when it's put on the table. Gas is an important part of the fuel mix. We've said that we need to be shifting to cleaner and cheaper sources of energy. We've had a lot to say about that in recent months and in recent years. When I speak to business and we talk about the fact that business investment was floundering even before the COVID-19 crisis, the key reason that business points to is the energy policy uncertainty in this country. If the Government wants to do something about energy to get businesses investing again they should begin by doing what Anthony Albanese has proposed and come to the table and negotiate a stable investment environment so that the business community can invest with confidence again.
 
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] the Immigration Minister has identified [INAUDIBLE] visa areas to help fill shortages in critical sectors. Are you surprised that [INAUDIBLE] given how many people have lost their jobs? What should the Government be doing to help fill that void locally?
 
CHALMERS: I think it's an indictment of a Government which has spent much of its seven years cutting TAFE, cutting apprenticeships, and not training the workforce that Australia needs. There will always be a need for us to fill skills gaps when they emerge. They are ideally filled by Australian workers, which is a point that we've made repeatedly. This Government is about to enter its eighth year in office and the fact that we still have rampant skill shortages and are so reliant on importing workers to fill these gaps is an indictment of what they've done in the skill system so far.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think population growth and higher immigration after the pandemic, maybe even next year, is part of the answer to growth? 
 
CHALMERS: Inevitably when the borders reopen migration will be higher than it is now. Inevitably that will be part of the story. We were so reliant before COVID-19 on migration as a source of growth. Without migration in the lead up to this crisis, growth would have been non-existent. We've always been heavily reliant on migration as a source of economic growth. That will continue to be the case into the future. We need to be smart about it. Inevitably when the borders open, it'll be a bigger part of the story. 
 
Thanks very much. 
 
ENDS