Interview with Karl Stefanovic, Today Show, Channel 9

KARL STEFANOVIC:

Anthony Albanese has been blasted for a union‑heavy Jobs and Skills Summit, the two-day event kicking off today. The minimum wage, lowering the working age to 13 and jobs for pensioners are all part of the agenda. Let’s bring in Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra this morning.

Treasurer, good morning to you. Nice to see you. Are you a plain Mentos guy at a conference or a coloured Mentos?

JIM CHALMERS:

I hit the plain ones, Karl. There’s not enough plain Mentos on the planet for me at these conferences. I chomp through them pretty enthusiastically.

STEFANOVIC:

So do I, So do I. It’s the Queenslander in us. How good is a mass strike and strike action on a day when you’re having a Jobs Summit? That’s not perfect, surely?

CHALMERS:

We’re looking for ways to bring people together, not divide people, and so what we want to avoid is a situation where employers and unions see themselves as somehow having different interests here in the national economy. What we’re trying to do is to bring people together around these big economic challenges that we have, whether it be stagnant wages or labour and skills shortages, or all of the other issues that we have in our economy. And the spirit here in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra is one of cooperation and collaboration, and that makes me cautiously optimistic that we can make some progress here.

STEFANOVIC:

Look, you might be optimistic, but what’s happening in places like Sydney yesterday, with the trains and buses strikes; I mean, the unions are treating Sydney people like chumps at the moment. Surely there’s got to be a point where someone steps in and says, “Come on, can you please sort this out for the benefit of the people”?

CHALMERS:

I think everybody wants it sorted out. People have different views about what sorted out looks like, but we want people to be fairly paid and we want the trains to run. And more broadly – I mean, that’s an important consideration for the New South Wales Government at the moment, but our objective here is to try and get outcomes that people are happy with across the board. And that means strong, sustainable wages growth, but also a more productive, better-trained workforce dealing with some of these issues in the economy. Our reason for being, Karl, you know how we roll; we’re trying to bring people together. That’s how Anthony Albanese is. That’s how the Government is and that’s what the Summit is about. We want to work together, see what we can do together, what we can achieve.

STEFANOVIC:

But you’ve got no problem with the strike action from train drivers yesterday?

CHALMERS:

From time to time, people will make their views known about some of these pay offers, and I’m not involved in that. That’s a State Government matter involving state unions in Sydney. It’s not something that I spend a lot of time involved in. My job and the Government’s job, Anthony Albanese’s job, is to try and get the broader industrial relations settings right so that people can get that wages growth in a way where everybody can win from it.

STEFANOVIC:

Fin Review this morning speculates this morning that your childcare policy may be starting in July not January of next year. Can you confirm all of that?

CHALMERS:

July was what we always intended. We said that before the election, during the election and after the election. But being up‑front with your viewers, we had a good look at trying to bring it forward, but it’s very expensive to do that. We’ve got this budget, which is heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal Party debt, so we can’t afford to do everything that we would like to do.

STEFANOVIC:

Okay. So, that’s July at the earliest. The ACTU wants universal childcare. This is a good idea. They’ll present evidence it will create $11 billion in the economy. I mean, there are some of your workers. Are you supportive of that idea?

CHALMERS:

We’re taking a big step towards that. Our childcare policy will be a game-changer for Australian parents. It will provide cost‑of‑living relief but also a big dividend for the economy. It’s a big step towards that objective that the ACTU has laid out. No doubt childcare will be a big important part of the discussions here, as it should be, but we’ve got a big policy, a big investment of almost $5 billion, and that will make a big difference to Australian mums and dads.

STEFANOVIC:

Getting pensioners out to work and keeping the pension, is that on the agenda?

CHALMERS:

That’s been on the agenda for a while now in the sense that we’ve got an open mind to it. We’re trying to work out if there’s a good, cost-effective way to do it. Again, we can’t afford to do everything, but we do want older Australians, if they want to work an extra day or two, we would like to find a way to make that possible. How we do that will be subject to discussion here at the Summit, but we’ve said for a long time now, for ages, that if there’s a good idea, a good way to do this, then we’ve got an open mind to it.

STEFANOVIC:

Okay. COVID payments – will they stop in September?

CHALMERS:

That’s a matter for the leaders, the State or Territory Premiers, Chief Ministers, and the Prime Minister to talk about. I think Anthony Albanese flagged yesterday at the end of National Cabinet that that will be something that they’ll talk about at the next opportunity. So, I don’t want to pre-empt those conversations. I think it’s self-evident across the board that some of these payments can’t go on forever, but equally, we need to be responsive to the pandemic. It’s thrown us a few curveballs and some of those curveballs have been expensive in the past. So, we’ll go through the usual processes, but recognising that again, you know, the budget is not awash with cash, and we can’t just do everything that we would like to do.

STEFANOVIC:

Really quickly, Broncos this weekend, they’ll make the finals; are your kids Brisbane or Eels fans? I’m just asking – 

CHALMERS:

My kids are Brisbane or else they’ve got to find somewhere else to live, Karl, as you know. My big fear, Karl, is that we’re going to get up over St George on Saturday afternoon and then Canberra will win on Sunday arvo and knock us out. So, it’ll be one of those times where the boys are all sitting around in their street clothes watching the Canberra game and hoping that Canberra gets dusted on Sunday.

STEFANOVIC:

I think the Tigers will beat Canberra. Anyway, good to talk to you, my friend. Have a great day – a couple of days.