E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
MONDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2016
SUBJECT/S: Deloitte Access Economics Budget Monitor; AAA credit rating at risk; Government’s $50 billion tax gift to multinationals
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: There is a new report out this morning from Deloitte Access Economics, which projects a further $24 billion deterioration in the Commonwealth Budget under Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull. If that projection eventuates, then that will put further pressure on Australia's coveted AAA credit rating.
It's long past time for the Turnbull Government to stop pointing the finger at others, stop pretending it's somebody else's fault and to actually take responsibility for the dysfunction and incompetence which has blown out the Commonwealth Budget so substantially on their watch. What we've had is the deficit for 2015-16 blowout by eight times what was projected at the 2013 election. We've had a 2016-17 deficit triple and we've had a blowout in net debt of more than $100 billion since the Abbott-Turnbull Government was elected. With a record like that, no wonder the ratings agencies are ringing the alarm bells about Australia's debt and deficit.
If Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull lose Australia's AAA credit rating, it will push up mortgage repayments and it will smash confidence in the Australian economy. We call on the Government to abandon their $50 billion ram raid on the Commonwealth Budget, which is their big business tax cut. Australia can have a AAA credit rating or it can have a $50 billion gift to big multinational corporations, but it can't have both.
We believe, in the Labor Party, in Budget repair which is fair. We believe in Budget repair which doesn't attack the vulnerable, which repairs the Budget in a fair and reasonable and sensible way. We have shown that we are prepared to work with the Government to improve the Budget bottom line. We call on the Government to abandon their $50 billion tax cut for big business and to work with Labor on sensible tax reform proposals like those we have proposed to negative gearing and capital gains.
I saw that Scott Morrison was in the paper this morning, saying that the answer to the Budget deterioration on his watch was to give that $50 billion tax cut to big multinational corporations. Is it any wonder that Scott Morrison is not taken especially seriously any more as the nation's Treasurer? He thinks the answer to a budget blowout is to hand $50 billion to big business. If you asked him how to fix the Australian cricket team, that would be his answer to that as well - to strike at the most vulnerable people in our country and had it to big business - that's his answer for everything.
In the Labor Party, we think there's a better way to go about it. We're prepared to work with the Government on that, because the AAA credit rating is seriously jeopardised by this Government, by Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison's incompetence and dysfunction.
JOURNALIST: Doesn't it show though that Labor should support some of the Government's Budget savings measures?
CHALMERS: We've demonstrated our capacity to support those Budget improvements which we consider to be fair and reasonable and sensible – those Budget changes which don't attack the most vulnerable in our community and don't hollow out the future of our country; those Budget changes which don't jeopardise the type of inclusive growth that we want in this country. Remember, this is a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who promised they'd fix the Budget and they'd deliver jobs and growth. Instead, we've got Budget blowouts as far as the eye can see. We've got record underemployment and record low wages growth. That is the record of the Morrison-Turnbull effort when it comes to the economy and the Budget.
JOURNALIST: But won't Labor be partly responsible if Labor loses its AAA credit rating if you keep obstructing some of those Budget savings measures?
CHALMERS: Absolutely not. If Australia loses its AAA credit rating, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull will have nobody to blame but themselves. If Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull lose that AAA credit rating, Australians will pay more for their mortgages and business and consumer confidence in this country will be smashed. It's long past time for them to stop pointing the finger at Labor, pretending it's Labor's fault. They've been in charge now for more than three years. We've put on the table sensible Budget changes. Quite big budget changes, including those to negative gearing and capital gains, which I mentioned. If the Government was serious about fixing the Budget, they wouldn't proceed with their $50 billion gift to multinational corporations and they would work with Labor on our sensible proposals on negative gearing and capital gains.
Thank you.
