E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE
SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2016
SUBJECT/S: Turnbull Government’s divisive approach to social security and the economy; ACOSS Poverty Report; Government's budget cuts; ABCC Bill; Kimberley Kitching; Labor’s ACT election win; MP entitlements
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks for coming out to my old stomping ground here at St Peter's at Rochedale South. It's the 40th anniversary today of one of the really terrific schools in my community and you're here at the fete to celebrate that important milestone at my old school.
When the Turnbull Government sees communities like this, they see another opportunity for divisive rhetoric about lifters and leaners. The Turnbull Government wants to set suburb against suburb, to distract from the fact that they have no plan for inclusive growth in this country; no plan to create jobs. This is a Government which has a slogan for jobs and growth, but not a plan to create and invest in the kinds of opportunities that people in communities like this need if they're to find and keep a job and provide for their families.
We've had more of this divisive rhetoric today. We've had more of these efforts to divide Australian against Australian, suburb against suburb. It's a pathetic political strategy when what we need in this country is more investment in the opportunities that lead to jobs, so that people in communities like this can find a job and keep a job, provide for their families and get ahead. Instead, we've got this divisive rhetoric.
Today we've had statistics come out about the level of child poverty in this country. The level of child poverty revealed in the report released today is simply unacceptable. This is the worst possible time for the Turnbull Government to be cutting people's family payments, cutting parental leave and making job seekers go a month without anything to live on at all. This is the worst possible time to hollow out our hospitals and our schools to give tens of billions of dollars to multinational corporations with a big business tax cut.
We call on the Turnbull Government to abandon their harsh cuts to family payments, to abandon their company tax cut for big multinational corporations and to invest in communities like this – in their education, in their jobs and in their opportunities. We need less of the divisive rhetoric and more investment in real people in communities like this.
JOURNALIST: This area, your area, has been labelled an area for dole bludgers. Is it?
CHALMERS: That's another example of the divisive rhetoric that we don't need in this country. What we need instead of that divisive rhetoric, where they set suburb against suburb, is proper investment in people. People in communities like mine are crying out for job opportunities. The Government has a slogan for jobs and growth, but they don't have a plan for real jobs that people in communities like mine can fill and keep and provide for their families.
JOURNALIST: Could changes to the welfare system be devastating for this area?
CHALMERS: The changes that are being proposed by the Turnbull Government would be a hammer blow to communities like mine. This is a Government that wants to take money out of the pockets of ordinary families like these to give to big multinational corporations. This is a Government that wants to cut family payments and parental leave and make job seekers wait a month to live on nothing at all. Cuts like these are devastating for communities like mine. We call on the Government to abandon these harsh cuts so that people have a chance to find a job, keep a job and get ahead.
JOURNALIST: This idea of cutting the job after six months - can it work?
CHALMERS: Plans like that are counter-productive. What we want is an adequate social safety net for people. But most importantly beyond that, we want a Government that properly invests in people's opportunities – in their education, in their job prospects – and doesn't spend all its time demonising and dividing people in this community while they cut their payments and cut their benefits and make it harder for people to find a job.
JOURNALIST: The Government's bringing back its double dissolution industrial bills into Parliament this week. Why won't Labor recognise its mandate on the construction watchdog and pass those laws?
CHALMERS: This is a Government that just won't learn when it comes to their attacks on industrial relations. They've had many opportunities, it's what the election was supposed to be all about. Hardly a peep about it in the election and now they want to run them up the flag pole once again. The Australian people have other priorities to this Turnbull Government. The Australian people are interested in jobs, they're interested in financial security and they won't have a bar of this division that the Turnbull Government wants to foster; whether it be in the jobs market, whether it be suburb versus suburb or whether it be in the workplace.
JOURNALIST: Dr Chalmers, what do you think of the news that pensioners are about to get just weeks before Christmas?
CHALMERS: This Turnbull Government's change to the pension system has been on the books now for something like a year and a half. I think it's cruel, unusual and pathetic for the Turnbull Government to wait until now to tell pensioners that their pensions will be cut for many of them. It's an unusual way for the Turnbull Government to celebrate Christmas, by finally coming clean with people and telling them that their pensions are likely to be cut. They've had 18 months to do this. They should have done it before the election. They should have done it well before now.
JOURNALIST: Do they deserve more time? The pensioners?
CHALMERS: Pensioners deserve the Turnbull Government to level with them about the cuts to the pensions and they've had 18 months to come clean. It's the least they could have done for people who have worked all their lives, provided for their families and want to retire with dignity. The Turnbull Government shouldn't be treating them in this shabby and shambolic way.
JOURNALIST: Are there skeletons in the closet of Labor's new Senator-designate Kimberley Kitching, who was adversely named in the Heydon Royal Commission?
CHALMERS: I don't know Kimberley Kitching; I'm looking forward to serving with her in the Australian Parliament. The Party has gone through its process. There was a whole range of terrific candidates for the Senate vacancy created by my friend Stephen Conroy's departure. I'm sure that the Party's gone through the process of vetting all the various candidates. I think Kimberley will be a terrific Senator. I'm looking forward to serving alongside her in a really strong Bill Shorten team, which is focused on the things that matter to the Australian people like jobs and financial security; not the sort of trivia or division the Government uses to go after people.
JOURNALIST: What sort of implications do you draw from the ACT election result?
CHALMERS: I was just absolutely delighted to see my great mate Andrew Barr get up in Canberra last night. Andrew is a terrific person; I've known him for about 15 years. He is one of the extraordinary political leaders in this country. He had a resounding and well-deserved victory last night in Canberra. Canberra did the right thing by the Labor Government, because the Labor Government's been doing the right thing by Canberra. It's terrific to see there will be another Labor voice around that COAG table, standing up to Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison as they try to hollow out health care and hollow out our schools in order to fund that multi-billion dollar gift to multinational corporations.
JOURNALIST: The Government's flagged that the new MP's Entitlements Bill being prepared by the Special Minister of State will mean less overall payments for MPs. Are you happy to take a net cut?
CHALMERS: Of course. I'm happy to go along with whatever the recommendations are that are implemented. It's very important when it comes to the arrangements that politicians have access to, that they have community support; that they're fair and transparent. I think any way that you can improve that system is a good thing and clearly over the past few years there have been occasions that have not met community standards. Any opportunity we can take to clean those up should be supported and I look forward to the details of the changes as they are announced.
ENDS
