E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2016
SUBJECT/S: Final week of parliament; Turnbull weakness; Government division and dysfunction; Tony Abbott; AAA credit rating in jeopardy; 457s
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: This week will be all about a Prime Minister defined by weakness and a Government defined by division and dysfunction. Malcolm Turnbull limps to the end of the parliamentary year with his leadership in crisis; the Senate in revolt; his agenda in tatters; Tony Abbott on the march; his Attorney-General under a corruption cloud; and his Budget swimming in red ink, which puts the AAA credit rating in jeopardy. The way that Malcolm Turnbull is finishing this year makes the chaos and confusion at the beginning of the year, and the ministerial resignations of the beginning of the year, seem like the high point of this incompetent Government.
What we have is Tony Abbott throwing down the gauntlet, blackmailing the Prime Minister, saying he must choose between promoting Abbott to the Cabinet or dealing with Abbott's daily sniping about policy and presentation. And what's so deeply troubling about what Tony Abbott said about restoring that horrific 2014 Budget is that when Abbott and the right wing of the Liberal Party make demands on the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull always caves. So I predict a return to the horrors of the 2014 Budget – the GP tax and the harsher pension cut; all of those changes which were rejected by the Australian people so wholeheartedly.
If the Government wants to avoid a AAA credit rating downgrade, they don't need to restore the GP tax or harsher cuts to pension, they need to ditch their $50 billion tax cut for big multinational corporations. Australia can have a AAA credit rating, or it can have a $50 billion tax cut for big business, but it can't have both.
It's deeply troubling to see the Finance Minister of this country lie to the Australian people about the state of the nation's finances. He said that the Budget was improving when the facts are these: since this Government was elected, the deficit for last year has increased by eight times; the deficit for the year that we're in now has tripled; and net debt has blown out by over $100 billion. Those are the facts.
The Government should stop blaming others for the chaos and confusion in the Government and the mess they've made of the Budget. They should stop pointing the finger at others. They should ditch the $50 billion tax cut. They should take responsibility, for once, for the mess they've made of the Budget and the fact that the AAA credit rating is at risk.
JOURNALIST: We've heard Mr Abbott wants to return to the frontbench next year. Could we see a repeat of Rudd-Gillard, really?
CHALMERS: Malcolm Turnbull's leadership is in crisis. Anyone who saw Tony Abbott's quite extraordinary intervention yesterday into the national debate – the way he attempted to blackmail the Prime Minister into restoring him to Cabinet or dealing with the daily sniping about policy and presentation – you can tell in this final week of Parliament that the Turnbull Government is in serious disarray. They finished the year even more divided and dysfunctional than they began it. Malcolm Turnbull has problems mounting up and that's why people like Tony Abbott and others – in the paper, on the record, off the record, on background and in all kinds of ways around the corridors of this building – are criticising Malcolm Turnbull for his failures of leadership. That's why his leadership's in crisis.
JOURNALIST: Mr Shorten this week wants to introduce a crackdown on 457 visas. We're hearing today that under the former Labor Government, there was a boom in the number of 457 migrant workers in fast food outlets when there was a high unemployment rate. Do you think that this undermines Mr Shorten's push?
CHALMERS: Not at all. What we are attempting to do here is to make sure that the arrangements in our labour market ensure that local workers get first crack at local jobs. That is a very sensible proposal at a time when we have pockets of high unemployment and a serious underemployment problem in this country. We want to make sure that when there are job vacancies, they are filled by Australians where possible. On some of that historical context that you mentioned: when the Howard Government removed labour-market testing, there was a blowout in numbers in the 457 program. In our last time in Government, Labor took some initial steps to tighten that up, but there's much more to do. And that's what today's Private Member's Bill is all about. It's all about ensuring that where there are local vacancies that can be filled by Australian workers, that Australian workers get first crack at those vacancies.
JOURNALIST: It's not a great look though. Doesn't it suggest that you're just trying to ride a political wave on this "Put Australian Jobs First"?
CHALMERS: This has a strong economic foundation. When we have pockets of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, in areas like mine but around the country, and where we have a serious underemployment problem, we want to make sure that vacancies in our economy are filled by Australians where they can be. Some of this debate about the history obscures the fact that it was John Howard who dramatically loosened the arrangements around 457s. It was Labor who took initial steps to tighten them up. We want to take some more steps to make sure that the occupations list and the labour-market testing and all of those arrangements are appropriate. I think that's what that Australian people expect from us.
Thanks very much.
