Doorstop interview, Perth
JIM CHALMERS:
It's terrific to be back in Perth. It's an opportunity to say thank you to the employers of WA for the jobs and opportunities they create and the immense contribution that WA makes to the national economy and to the national Budget as well. And we want to repay the faith that the people of WA have shown in their new Labor Government. That's what the Budget was about. It was all about fighting inflation, but also looking for ways to fill these labour and skill shortages, which have been such an issue here in the West for so long. And that's why so many of the new initiatives in the Budget were all about providing and finding more people so that the substantial jobs and opportunities created in the West can be made available to more people, and so that we can make a strong part of the national economy even stronger.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the eastern states should adopt a gas reservation policy as they do in WA?
CHALMERS:
We're working through our options when it comes to gas on the east coast in particular. I think it's self‑evident that the decision taken some years ago in WA has been a beneficial one but the situation has evolved a bit on the east coast. We've said that our top priority here is to try and find a sensible, responsible, meaningful way to deal with these quite substantial forecast increases in gas prices and energy prices more broadly. We are working through the options as a government, working closely with state and territory governments, and with the ACCC. If there's something sensible, responsible and meaningful we can do on the east coast when it comes to gas and electricity then obviously we'll consider it.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
CHALMERS:
Commodity prices have made a big contribution, a welcome contribution to the Budget position. And we've taken a really responsible approach to that and banked almost all of the revenue surge over the next couple of years. The composition of that is changing, as you rightly identify. We have got good prices for our commodities but since the middle of the year the price for iron ore and met coal has come off a bit as the price of thermal coal and gas has come up because of the war in Ukraine. Our job is to continue to take a really conservative approach to the revenue that we get from commodities. But once again, the people and industries of Western Australia make a huge contribution to the national Budget and to the national economy. Today was an opportunity to express our gratitude for that but more than that to reassure the people of WA that we will invest that wisely in a stronger, more modern, more resilient national economy.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] you said you would voice the views of business to Cabinet. [inaudible] doesn't have full consensus on the industrial relations bill?
CHALMERS:
That's not the point I was making at all. The Government is as one when it comes to getting wages moving again and the role of industrial relations reform in that. My commitment to the union movement and to the employer groups is that our engagement will be genuine, it will be respectful, it will be meaningful. All of the meetings that I've had here in WA on this occasion have involved genuine, respectful, meaningful conversations about industrial relations. There won't be an unanimous view about how we get wages growing again in a sustainable and strong way into the future. But our commitment is to engage properly, to not dismiss the views that are raised with us. But we have made it very clear that there is a good opportunity for reform here. We need to get wages moving again more broadly and more sustainably in the economy and that's what drives the legislation before the Parliament which I support and all of the colleagues support.
JOURNALIST:
You've committed to make the cost of tax concessions clear to the public. Are there any particular tax concessions that make sense to look at reforming in this term of government?
CHALMERS:
I don't want to pre‑empt the national conversation that we need to have about a more sustainable budget except to say that in Tuesday night's Budget we showed there's a role for spending restraint, for trimming spending, and for sensible tax reform. I committed before the election and after the election to provide a better foundation for good policy decisions when it comes to making our Budget more sustainable. That means building an evidence base for some of the difficult decisions that are ahead of us and part of that is releasing a more meaningful Tax Expenditures Statement.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
CHALMERS:
Obviously that's not our intention or our expectation. The resources industry is so absolutely crucial to our economy, it will become more so in time. When you consider how the industrial base and the energy base is changing, and what we want to do is we want to create new job‑creating industries at the same time as we leverage and maximise our traditional strengths, including in areas like resources. We will continue to engage properly and meaningfully with the resources sector. Our intention here when it comes to these industrial relations changes is to get wages moving again in industries where wage stagnation has been the norm for the best part of a decade. We made those intentions clear before the election and after the election. What we're proposing is a sensible way forward, we can move forward together in a way that respects the diversity of views that exist in this policy area.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
CHALMERS:
The industrial future of WA is incredibly bright and that's because in the West, you do have the best possible combination of traditional economic strengths and a forward‑looking government and employers and workers and businesses, who recognise the vast opportunities that come from cleaner and cheaper energy, for example, or human capital, data or digital - all of the things that we talked about in there. The future of WA is very bright. Like the rest of Australia, we do have to navigate some tricky terrain when it comes to the global economy right now. But one of the things that makes me optimistic about the future of our economy and the future of our country is the way that places like WA have the capacity to leverage those traditional strengths at the same time as we seek out and grab the opportunities of the future. Thanks very much.
