Interview with Lisa Millar, News Breakfast, ABC

LISA MILLAR:

Well, for more, we’re joined now by Treasurer Jim Chalmers from Parliament House. Good morning to you. Are you feeling the pressure?

JIM CHALMERS:

Good morning, Lisa. No, I feel cautiously optimistic about the next couple of days, Lisa, and that’s because people have already shown a really encouraging, really heartening willingness to try to find some common ground, and not because we have some unrealistic expectation that there will be unanimity on some of these contentious issues, but already people from all parts of the economy and all parts of the economy have shown a willingness to work together in the national economic interest, and that’s been really quite energising and we’re looking forward to the next couple of days.

MILLAR:

Okay. So, one of the areas of agreement appears to be permanent migration, raising the cap to around 200,000. Does that sit with you? Is that what the Government will accept?

CHALMERS:

That will be an important part of the conversation tomorrow here in the Great Hall of Parliament House, but I think that there is an appetite across the board for some more sensible migration settings which recognise that we’ve got these skills shortages and these labour shortages, but also that migration should never be a substitute for training Australians for opportunities here as well. And so, whether it’s the progress that we hope to make on skills, migration, enterprise bargaining, participation in the labour market, the equal opportunity and participation of women in particular, we are heartened by the spirit with which people have shown up here for the Jobs and Skills Summit. In lots of ways bringing people together around our big economic challenges is not just the task of the Summit, it’s the task of the Government. We’re looking forward to getting stuck in.

MILLAR:

Well, there are, on the migration, and I realise you’re going to be discussing it over the next couple of days, but you’ve been doing the roundtables, you know how everyone’s feeling about it. The unions have been clear that they’d like to see the minimum wage for skilled migrants coming into the country to be raised to $90,000, and also to have this mandatory meet‑and‑greet for new skilled migrants. Is that acceptable for you? Is that something that you would consider?

CHALMERS:

First of all, on the overall numbers in the intake, I think, as I said before, there’s an appetite to lift that in a responsible way and not as a substitute for training. On the issues around the minimum wages, the income threshold for skilled migrants, there isn’t a concluded view on that at this point, but again an important part of the discussions tomorrow no doubt.

MILLAR:

Yeah, not a concluded view because the unions have said, “It’s only going to happen with these elements in”, and the criticism from the business groups is that the unions could be too dominant in these meetings. They’re worried that you might be doing side deals with the unions. What do you say to that?

CHALMERS:

First of all, Lisa, respectfully that’s not the reason there’s not a concluded view yet. We’re actually still consulting broadly, not just with any one part of the economy but broadly amongst the participants here, so it wouldn’t be right to make the conclusion that you have just described.

When it comes to union representation at the Jobs and Skills Summit, the idea that we would not have the representative of working people is absurd. And there are more representatives of the business community, whether it be CEOs or peak employer groups, than there are union leaders, but we want the representatives of working people here. I mean, one of our objectives here is to get wages growing in a sustainable and strong way, and that’s what’s been missing in our economy for the best part of a decade. So, we welcome the involvement of people from the employer groups, from the unions, from businesses, from community groups and elsewhere, because this is about bringing people together in the national economic interest to try and confront some of these big economic challenges which have been neglected for too long.

MILLAR:

Pretty strong words from you yesterday when you said, “Stop coming to me with unfunded Budget requests.” What’s prompted that? Just the child care or do you feel like you’re just overwhelmed by people with their hand out?

CHALMERS:

Oh, no, not at all, and that’s not how I see it. I was asked about a number of good ideas, and I said that there are more good ideas than there is capacity to fund them. I was just being upfront with the Australian people and with the journalists who were asking me the questions. There are a lot of good ideas and no doubt we will hear a lot of them over the next day or two. It won’t be possible to fund all of them. That’s just the reality of the Budget which is heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal Party debt. So, we need to be responsible. We need to be upfront. We need to work out where we can get maximum bang for buck, and that’s what we have been doing.

MILLAR:

You can fund them if you ditch the stage three tax cuts?

CHALMERS:

Well, our position on the stage three tax cuts hasn’t changed, as you know, Lisa, and our focus is elsewhere. Our focus is multinational tax reform, but more immediately it’s on these big issues in the labour market: stagnant wages, weak productivity, the fact that we’ve got these skills and labour shortages. That’s what’s been occupying the Government’s time. I think that’s what’s been occupying the country’s time, and you’ll see that all come together here at the Jobs and Skills Summit.

MILLAR:

Jim Chalmers, we look forward to seeing what comes out. Thanks for joining us this morning.

CHALMERS:

Much appreciated, Lisa. All the best.