E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE
SUNDAY, 2 JUNE 2019
 
SUBJECTS: Appointment as Shadow Treasurer; Labor’s new united Shadow Ministry team; coal; nuclear energy; Labor policy; emissions reduction and renewables 
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: I'm really pleased to be named Shadow Treasurer in what is a really strong frontbench team named today by our leader, Anthony Albanese. I want to convey my gratitude to him for the opportunity to serve in this key role. Labor copped what was a disappointing and dispiriting defeat only 15 days ago, and now the task for all of us is to rebuild and refresh and renew our economic policies for the future. That's a really important job and I'm joined in that task by some outstanding colleagues in Katy Gallagher and Stephen Jones and Matt Thistlethwaite and Andrew Leigh. We are up to the task of building Labor's economic policies and credentials, not just for the next election, but for the future under an Albanese Labor Government. 
 
It's a really big job, and it's an important time to be taking it on. In the people-facing part of the economy, there is weakness as far as the eye can see. Stagnant wages, weak consumption, underemployment, job insecurity, all feeding into weakness in the broader economy as well. These are the problems which have been largely ignored by the Morrison Liberal Government. What we need to do is we need to get the economy working for people, and not against them. Too many people in the economy feel that no matter how hard they work, they just can't get ahead. They feel that no matter how many hours they put their hand up for, or how many extra jobs they take on, they just can't do what's necessary to provide for their loved ones. That obviously needs to change.
 
So what we need to do, is we need to modernise this economy so we can create more, and better, and better-paid jobs for our people. We need economic policy which is forward-looking, and outward-facing, and upward-climbing. And we need Labor to reclaim our rightful place as the party of aspiration and the outer suburbs as well. So part of the task will be to paint a positive vision for the economy in the future; an economy where people play a central role where we can all get ahead together by working together and making sure that people's efforts are fairly rewarded.
 
Of all the lies the Liberal Party told in the most recent election, the most ridiculous one was that they've done a good job managing the economy. The economy under this mob is defined by stagnant wages and slowing growth and weak consumption and insecure work and all of these sorts of things feeding on each other, so that the people-facing part of the economy is in real strife. While the Liberal Party is so busy arrogantly patting itself on the back for its election victory 15 days ago, people out there in the outer suburbs of this country wonder what planet these guys are from when they try to arrogantly claim they've done a good job managing the economy. The facts tell a very different story. 
 
So we are spoiling for a fight on the economy. We will engage vigorously, rigorously, continuously on the economy. We have the team to do that. We are looking forward to engaging in the economic debate in the two ways that I've mentioned - by pointing out where the Government's has failed the Australian people over six years of blaming everyone but themselves, failing to take responsibility for this weakening the economy; and we'll also paint a positive vision as well. In doing so, we plan to consult with all sectors of the economy, in every corner of this country. The economic team, and indeed right throughout the Shadow Ministry announced by Anthony today, we will have an open door to anybody who shares our aspiration for more, and better, and better-paid jobs in a growing economy; an economy which is growing in a broad-based way, in a sustainable way to the ultimate benefit of all the Australian people.
 
JOURNALIST: How united is the Labor Party at this point with today's announcement? Obviously Bill Shorten's got NDIS understand. There's also these alleged rumours of him backstabbing, saying I'll be back and Albanese putting him on notice. I mean, what's the mood like?
 
CHALMERS: We've come out of a disappointing election defeat tremendously united. I think if you were to look at the last 15 days since we were defeated, the defining characteristic of our party now under Anthony Albanese has been unity. One of the challenges we have is we've got more talent and more talented people than we can cram into the 30 Shadow Ministry spots, and I think Anthony's done a great job consulting with people, understanding the roles that they want to play and the contributions that they want to make, and making sure that he can make use of all of those talents in the Labor Party. In that context, I wanted to specifically mention Andrew Leigh, my colleague and my friend who rejoins the economic team. He is a symbol in many ways of the team culture and the unity and the contribution that people want to make. Our aspiration is not for ourselves, it's for the Australian people. The economy is defined by weakness, particularly the people-facing part of the economy. And it's all shoulder to the wheel to make sure that we can turn that around, and part of that is telling a compelling story about the economy, about the future under us, but also where the current Government has fallen woefully short.
 
JOURNALIST: Was this the position that you wanted given that your name had been in leadership speculation? Was this something that you were after? You mentioned not personal ambition, but you're obviously happy with this job?
 
CHALMERS: I'm absolutely delighted to be the Shadow Treasurer in a really strong team. The events of the last couple of weeks, it is true that I thought about putting my hand up, but I'm really pleased with the decision that I took, which is the decision that all of us have taken, which is to unite strongly behind Anthony Albanese as leader. I think the team is tremendously united behind his leadership. He's had a magnificent start. He's put together what is really an outstanding team. The choices that we all had before us, after we lost the election just a couple of weeks ago, was we could either mope around and be sore losers or anything like that, or we could just get on with it. I chose to get on with it. Everybody has, and I think that augurs well, not just for the next three years, but for the types of policies and positions that we'll put together for the future under an Anthony Albanese Labor Government.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think that the future Australian economy has room for new thermal coal mines?
 
CHALMERS: I've said repeatedly, not just in this new role obviously, but for some years now that coal has an important part to play even in the transition to more renewable energy. I've also pointed out, as a very proud Queenslander, that coal is an important part of our industrial base, it's an important part of our export base, the money that we make from the rest of the world. So when it comes to thermal coal, and when it comes to any particular mine or another, we do need to be conscious of that. We do need to be conscious that people in regional Queensland in particular, but also in the Hunter and other parts of Australia rely on jobs in that sector. We need to be responsible about it. That's why, for example, when it came to Adani, we had what is effectively the same position as the Government, which is that it needed to get over the environmental and commercial hurdles. We no longer have a decision-making role in that, because we are the Opposition, and I don't think that particular mine will be a feature, or a factor, in the election in three years' time.
 
JOURNALIST: Your colleague, Shayne Neumann, has said he'd welcome it. How enthusiastic are you about Adani?
 
CHALMERS: My position is the same that I've expressed in front of cameras and not in front of cameras for some years now. If it has the capacity to clear those environmental and commercial hurdles, so long as there was no public money going towards the project, then that would determine whether the project went ahead. We do understand that there are parts of Queensland that do want the project. We do understand that right around Australia there are mixed views on it. The point that I'm making is that I have always said that coal is part of the transition. For some time, it's an important part of the industrial base here in Queensland, and that hasn't changed just because we lost the election.
 
JOURNALIST: The Nationals are planning to reignite nuclear energy. Is that a good idea?
 
CHALMERS: No, not a good idea from our point of view. I invite them now to put their hands up for which communities that they would like the see nuclear power stations built in. I think it's long past time, when you think that these characters have been in Government now for six years, that when they put these ideas forward they need to flesh out for the Australian people what suburbs will they build these nuclear reactors in. Rather than these just being thought bubbles for Oppositions to respond to, the onus is on them to outline their plans for nuclear power stations in our suburbs.
 
JOURNALIST: Looking at tax cuts, Mathias Cormann says the election gives the Government a strong mandate on its entire tax cuts package. Do you respect that mandate?
 
CHALMERS: First of all, when it comes to the Government's proposed income tax cuts, they come before the Parliament not for another month or so. So we have the opportunity in our new team, which has been announced only a couple of hours ago, to properly consult with each other and discuss what we want to do in the Parliament as it relates to those tax cuts. We've said for some time - and we say again today - that we are very keen to support those tax cuts which were to come into effect yesterday - sorry the 1st of July, come into effect on the 1st of July, we remain in favour of those tax cuts. The other tax cuts are a couple of years down the track, and in some cases longer than that. So we'll take the time to come to a position. But I say this about Mathias Cormann: Mathias Cormann in the election campaign had more than a month to tell the people of Australia how many billions of dollars in his tax package would go to people in the highest tax bracket in this country. He said more than a month ago that he would provide that information. He still hasn't. So for them to claim a mandate on a policy that they're not prepared to properly explain to the Australian people, I think is a bit laughable. We'll come to a position. We'll come to a position in due course, well ahead of the vote in the Parliament and we'll do that in a consultative way discussing it with our colleagues.
 
JOURNALIST: Will you be looking at the negative gearing and franking credits policies that were so controversial in the election campaign? Can you say now whether they will stay on?
 
CHALMERS: Obviously we won't take the exact same policy agenda to the 2022 election that we took to the 2019 election. We do have an opportunity to listen and to learn from the election outcome. We have time to go through all our policies to work out which ones we want to hang on to, and which ones we might want to improve or discard. The election was only 15 days ago. We might have another 1000 days or so, give or take, until the next election. I think the Australian people will understand if we take the time to review and revise our policies as we go about putting together an agenda for the election in three years' time.
 
JOURNALIST: Just looking at emissions reductions and Mark Butler stays in the Climate Change and Energy portfolio. Does it mean that Labor's sticking with its 45 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 and 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030?
 
CHALMERS: Again, it's not for me to announce all of the policies that we'll take to the '22 election 15 days after the 2019 election. I certainly won't be announcing them on behalf of other colleagues. We've got the opportunity to do the necessary work, to have the necessary conversations. I'm confident that when we do go to the 2022 election, we will have the right energy policies, the right policies on climate change, and I think Mark Butler's appointment is a terrific one. He is very well regarded in the sectors, and I look forward to working with him on these important issues.
 
JOURNALIST: It has only been 15 days, but is there anything that you learned from the election campaign that is sort of quite resounding for you? 
 
CHALMERS: We learned that the policies that we put together and took to the last election campaign weren't supported broadly enough to get over the line. As I've said repeatedly now in the aftermath of the election, we'd be mad not to listen and learn from that. We'd be mad not to take the necessary time to review and revise our policies. That's not to announce the conclusion of any of that today, but really to say that obviously we say to the Australian people, you didn't support us in sufficient numbers for us to get over the line at the last election. The onus on us is to do better at the next election. A big part of that will be getting the economic story right. I look forward to playing a part in that.
 
ENDS