Doorstop interview, Canberra

JIM CHALMERS: Yesterday we saw a welcome reprieve when it came to the third consecutive interest rate pause but we know that Australians are still under pressure. The government's highest priority is rolling out billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief in a way that takes some of the edge off inflation rather than add to it. That is the government's highest priority. We are making welcome progress in the fight against inflation but inflation is still higher than we'd like and will be for a lot longer than we'd like and that's why our cost-of-living relief is so important.

Later this morning, we will get the National Accounts for the June quarter. It remains to be seen what those National Accounts will tell us. We already know that our economy is being buffeted by a combination of global economic uncertainty including a slowdown in China combined with the impact of these higher interest rates in our own economy. It remains to be seen what those numbers say at 11.30 but our economy is being buffeted by the China slowdown combined with pressures here at home, including higher interest rates – we've seen that in the retail figures, we've seen that in household spending data and we're seeing that in the data out of China as well. Our job is to make sure that we are focused on the cost-of-living relief which we are rolling out right now in addition to laying the foundations for future growth. We will get a really important snapshot of our economy at 11.30, we'll get a better understanding of the impact of higher rates here on our economy and the impact of the China slowdown. We are making welcome progress when it comes to inflation but the pressures on Australians are still substantial and that's why that's our major focus.

JOURNALIST:

On Qantas, do you think Richard Goyder should stay as the chair?

CHALMERS:

Well, ultimately that's a matter for Richard Goyder and for the Qantas board.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think the public thinks he should stay as chair?

CHALMERS:

The Australian public are understandably really angry with Qantas right now and the major focus of the new leadership at Qantas needs to be regaining and maintaining the trust of their customers and the country more broadly.

JOURNALIST:

On the Qatar decision, as Treasurer, there's been a lot of talk about if those Qatar flights were added it would have brought down prices. Is that correct that adding those Qatar flights would have made flights cheaper?

CHALMERS:

The most important point about that is that there are extra flights being added. Our international capacity is expanding and that's a good thing and that is happening at the same time as the transport minister takes decisions like this from time to time, just like her predecessors did in other governments.

JOURNALIST:

[INAUDIBLE] but do you agree or not?

CHALMERS:

Well, the ACCC has said in principle that when you expand international capacity that should have an impact on prices and international capacity is expanding. There's a lot of interest in Australia right now from around the world and that's a good thing. We want our aviation sector to be strong and competitive, we want it to expand so that people have more choices and that's what's happening.

JOURNALIST:

Are there other discussions with airlines that, you know, we might see in the you know, that Catherine King might approve either in the next couple of weeks or months?

CHALMERS:

Well, as I understand it, there have been approvals in recent times to see additional capacity added to our routes and to our capacity and to our international aviation market. Transport ministers take these decisions from time to time – Michael McCormack did, Catherine King has in this instance. What we're seeing is a lot of interest from around the world in coming to Australia and why wouldn't you, it's amazing, more people should come here. An important part of our economic resilience right now is the fact that people want to come here and visit here and spend money here and that's a good thing. It's good to see our aviation sector expanding, we take decisions within that from time to time, the Transport Minister does, that's not especially unusual.

JOURNALIST:

Treasurer, would you agree that the government's explanation of this Qatar issue at the moment has been inconsistent?

CHALMERS:

No, I don't accept that.

JOURNALIST:

What is the national interest?

CHALMERS:

The national interest is weighed up by the transport minister –

JOURNALIST:

How would you define the national interest?

CHALMERS:

Well, it's not for me to define in this instance –

JOURNALIST:

Well, you've used it in your interviews this morning, so you must have a definition.

CHALMERS:

The rest of my answer is that the transport minister is asked to weigh up and consider the national interest in coming to these sorts of decisions – in the same way that Michael McCormack was in the past, Catherine King was in this instance. This decision is the preserve of the transport minister, that's been the case for some time. It's not for me to weigh up the considerations that come across her desk, she's made this decision in the usual way at the same time as her focus has been on a green paper on aviation which we'll release before long which is all about making sure that our aviation sector – which is an important part of our economy – is as strong and competitive as possible.

JOURNALIST:

The Greens are obviously pushing for super on paid parental leave. You said in your interview just before that you plan on putting that through, but you didn't give a deadline or a timeframe. So what is that timeframe, you must have an idea?

CHALMERS:

We've said repeatedly and publicly for some time that we weigh up these sorts of opportunities from budget to budget and we have expanded paid parental leave, we've expanded early childhood education as part of a suite of multi-billion-dollar reforms to invest in economic participation, particularly of women in our economy. We have said from budget to budget we make room where we can for these priorities, it is a priority for us as we've said publicly and repeatedly to pay the superannuation guarantee on paid parental leave when we can afford it. We will assess that from budget to budget.

JOURNALIST:

Treasurer, there's a story in the papers today about company directors putting shareholders' money towards the Voice referendum. Is there any controversy around companies putting their money towards this cause, towards the referendum for the yes campaign?

CHALMERS:

Of course not. On what planet should Australians not have a view about constitutional recognition so that we can listen to people and get better outcomes? I find it really quite extraordinary that some people want to limit the opportunity for people to make their views known. This is a really important opportunity for Australia. This is a generational opportunity and we want everyone to think about it and participated in it, grapple with it and ideally, we get to a great outcome here which is constitutional recognition and better outcomes which come from better listening. We shouldn't pretend that if we do things as we've been doing them that all of a sudden we'll get better outcomes. We need to do things differently, we need to do things better, the best place to start is to listen to people and to enshrine that in our Constitution.

I'll say this about the Voice referendum – Peter Dutton is caught in the most ridiculous situation where he is saying, vote no to this referendum so that we can have another referendum. Peter Dutton's policy is to have two referendums on this and he needs to explain why, for base political reasons he's opposing the first referendum so that we can go to a second referendum. I think a lot of Australians will be scratching their head and wondering what the hell is Peter Dutton going on about? Why is he going around the country in his usual angry and divisive way and stirring up all of this division when his policy is not just to have one referendum but to have two referendums and so he needs to explain that. I don't think that there has been enough pressure placed on Peter Dutton to explain this ridiculous position where he's saying to the Australian people vote no to this referendum so that we can have another one. We have an opportunity to get this done in one. We have an opportunity to get this done in one referendum, to enshrine this in the Constitution, to listen to First Nations people so we can get better outcomes on their behalf and so we can come together around this big generational opportunity. Peter Dutton can play all the usual angry, divisive politics that he likes – the country has an opportunity to be bigger than that and better than that and I hope we grab it.

Thanks very much.