Doorstop interview, Hobart

JIM CHALMERS:

It's really great to be in Hobart again today. The Federal Cabinet, the Albanese Cabinet has met here in Hobart, and I've had the opportunity this morning to engage with business leaders about the Albanese Government's Employment White Paper. The Employment White Paper is all about how we create more opportunities for more people in more parts of our country, and Tasmania is absolutely front and centre when it comes to that. Whether it's primary industries or tourism or the energy transformation, there is so much potential here in Tasmania. We understand that if we want the national economy to grow strongly, we need the Tasmanian economy to be strong as well. I'm very grateful to the business leaders I was able to engage with this morning about the Employment White Paper. Our focus in the paper is all about how we help workers find great opportunities and help employers find great workers so that we can prosper together – not just in the Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne triangle, but right around Australia, including here in Tasmania.

Now the Reserve Bank has met today and has paused interest rates for the fourth consecutive month. Interest rates will stay on hold at 4.1 per cent for the fourth consecutive month. This is a really welcome outcome for a lot of Australians who are doing it really tough. The last thing Australians needed today was another interest rate rise. Australians are doing it tough enough already because of interest rates, which already began rising before last year's election. We want to see people being able to service their mortgages and provide for their loved ones, and that's why the biggest focus of the Albanese Labor Government is providing billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief in a way that takes the edge off inflation without adding to this inflation challenge in our economy. Inflation is moderating overall but it will be higher than we'd like for longer than we'd like. We'd like inflation to moderate faster than it is but it clearly peaked last year in quarterly terms before the election, and in annual terms around Christmas. We see in the Reserve Bank statement today they refer to the painful squeeze on Australians and I think that's accurate. Australians are doing it tough and that's why their Government in Canberra is doing what it can to take some of the edge off these cost-of-living pressures without adding to inflation. We are managing the budget and the economy in the most responsible way that we can. We're rolling out billions of dollars in cost-of-living assistance and we're investing in the future of the people and communities and industries right around Australia, including here in Tasmania. So I welcome the outcome today from the Reserve Bank Board. The Reserve Bank takes its decisions independently, they've chosen to pause rates for the fourth consecutive time at 4.1 per cent. This is a welcome reprieve for Australians. This is another welcome reprieve for people who are already doing it tough enough.

JOURNALIST:

How many people will come off fixed mortgages between now and the end of the year?

CHALMERS:

We've made it clear in recent weeks that we are now over the hump when it comes to people on fixed rate mortgages. Something like a million behind us and about a million ahead of us in the numbers that we have made public. We know that there are still a lot of people to come off fixed rates onto higher variable rates. We understand that they will be under substantial pressure when that happens. But there are now according to the official numbers that we've put out there more Australians who have come off then are about to come off, but we know that there are still a lot of people who will jump from the better fixed rates that they've been on to the higher variable rates.

JOURNALIST:

Will you be doing campaigning for The Voice?

CHALMERS:

The Government has been campaigning for The Voice here in Tassie. My focus has been on engaging with the business community on the Employment White Paper, but also meeting with some of the campaigners for yes and also the Cabinet meeting that's just concluded. A big focus of the Government while we've been here is campaigning for The Voice. The Voice is a generational opportunity to recognise the first people in the Constitution, to listen better and to get better outcomes. We have been campaigning here in Tasmania, it will be a really important state.

JOURNALIST:

People feel that the Government is too focused on the Voice and not other issues, like cost of living. Obviously, you would reject that, but how do you convince voters that you can walk and chew gum?

CHALMERS:

The Government's highest priority is rolling out billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief in a way that takes some of the sting out of these cost-of-living pressures without adding to inflation. And that's why we've got Commonwealth Rent Assistance going up by the biggest amount in three decades, increases to social security payments, help with out-of-pocket health costs, energy bill relief and other areas as well. The Government is focused on this cost-of-living challenge in the economy. What we have demonstrated is it's possible to campaign for constitutional recognition, better listening and better outcomes at the same time as we roll out this cost-of-living relief, at the same time as we present our vision for the labour market in the Working Future white paper that we released last week. Good governments are capable of doing more than one thing at once, and that's what we're doing.

JOURNALIST:

How many Australians had a super balance of over 3 million in 2019-20, compared to 2020-21?

CHALMERS:

We've made some of those figures public today and I'm happy to provide them to you.

JOURNALIST:

They were not for 3 million.

CHALMERS:

We've provided the figures that we have available, we've made them public. What we're doing with the superannuation changes is making the superannuation system fairer and more sustainable. This is a modest but meaningful change to super, it doesn't kick in until after the election and it only applies to something like point five of a per cent of people in the system – this is how we make it more sustainable and fairer and make a contribution to budget repair. The figures we've put out there show that the number of people on high balances has increased, they will still access very generous tax breaks in their superannuation and that's appropriate, just slightly less generous than before.

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible].

CHALMERS:

I've said publicly a number of times now that when we can afford to do that, we will look to do that, we've made that very clear, publicly –

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible].

CHALMERS:

If I could just finish my answer. We've made it very clear – and the Greens know this – that we will be seeking to provide the superannuation guarantee on paid parental leave when we can afford to do it. We're already extending paid parental leave at some cost to the budget, we've made it clear our priority is to pay the super guarantee on paid parental leave when we can afford to do it. You see, the Greens can call for all kinds of things, they don't have to run the place and they don't have to run the budget and so from day to day they will call for more spending on a whole variety of things. My job is to manage the budget in a responsible way, to prioritise particularly working families and that's why we extended paid parental leave.

JOURNALIST:

On the issue of the local stadium that the Government has committed money to, the PM sort of seemed to rule out exempting it from GST, do you also agree with that position? If that's the case, would the Government consider putting more money into the state given the cost of everything is going up?

CHALMERS:

First of all, we're making big investments in Tasmania and that's appropriate because we believe in the place and it's a key part of the national economy. The point that the Prime Minister made, the point that I agree with, is that there is a process here, which – the Tasmanian Government has written to us, we get Treasury advice on that in the usual course of events because there's investment in infrastructure right around Australia, it all works out in the end, it averages out in the end, because we're investing in infrastructure in every state – that's the point that the Prime Minister was making. Obviously, I received a letter from the Tasmanian Government, obviously, I get advice on that in the usual way but the Prime Minister has outlined the process that usually happens in instances like this.

JOURNALIST:

So would you respond once you get advice [inaudible]?

CHALMERS:

I think we've made it pretty clear that there's a usual process here that involves Treasury advice and if there's a decision taken on that, we will communicate it in the usual way at the usual time.

I've just been asked to cover one other thing just before I leave. Peter Dutton said some really quite remarkable things about tax today. He has pointed to the increase in revenue in the budget. By Peter Dutton's really quite bizarre and quite warped logic, the best way to cut taxes in the budget is to have fewer people earning less. No wonder we've got almost nothing to show from the trillion dollars of debt that the Liberal Party left us, no wonder we had a decade of wage stagnation. This is why Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor have no credibility when it comes to the economy. The reason why revenue is up in the budget is largely because of a stronger labour market – they should welcome that people are earning more, they're working more and that means the income tax take is up on expectations. The logical conclusion to Peter Dutton's quite bizarre and quite warped argument is he wants people earning less and working less so that the tax take comes down – no wonder he has no credibility, no wonder they racked up a trillion dollars of debt with almost nothing to show for it and no wonder we had a decade of wage stagnation.

JOURNALIST:

Another question just back on interest rates [inaudible]

CHALMERS:

I don't predict or pre-empt decisions taken independently by the Reserve Bank, they weigh up all of the considerations in the economy as they have done today. I welcome the fact that the Reserve Bank has today acknowledged what they call the painful squeeze on a lot of Australians, a consequence of the higher interest rates which began before the election combined with some global issues including in China. Our economy is slowing as a consequence of the interest rate rises already in the system and people are under pressure as a consequence of that, so I won't make predictions about the future or pre-empt decisions that the independent Reserve Bank might make in the future. I think it's really clear that the interest rate rises that are already in the system are already putting pressure on people and already slowing our economy and that's acknowledged in the Reserve Bank statement today in welcome ways.

Thank you.