Interview with Sarah Abo and Karl Stefanovic, Today Show, Channel 9

[Clip of interview with chair of Australia Qatar Business Council]

SARAH ABO:

Let's bring in Treasurer Jim Chalmers from Bundaberg. Thanks for your time. That was quite a takedown.

JIM CHALMERS:

Good morning Sarah, good morning Karl from beautiful Bundaberg in regional Queensland. Obviously I don't agree with those comments that you just played – that's the first time I've heard them but I don't agree with them – particularly when it comes to that ACCC point when that monitoring was set up in the middle of 2020, it was set up to expire by the former government in June of this year and that's what's happened. We've got ongoing monitoring by the transport bureau and publishing of this kind of information, which is important. And we've got a whole bunch of processes about aviation – green paper, white paper, not being excluded from the competition review – all of these sorts of things, which show that we are serious about competition in the aviation sector.

KARL STEFANOVIC:

It looks to me like after seeing that interview this morning, you guys are saying nothing to see here, when in fact, you guys are up to your eyeballs in this and you don't know how to get out.

CHALMERS:

That's not right either, Karl. Governments of both political persuasions make decisions like this one from time to time. You and I, and Sarah and I have talked about this on other occasions.

STEFANOVIC:

No sweetheart deals?

CHALMERS:

Obviously I don't agree with you Karl that that's what's happened here. What's happened here is that the decision was taken in the usual way, our predecessors took a similar decision, we've taken a decision like this. Capacity is actually expanding in our aviation sector – that's a good thing. We're getting lots of tourists, and that's helping the economy. Obviously, I don't share the description that you just repeated from that interview earlier on.

ABO:

I guess Treasurer, the issue is whether this washes with the public. We heard in the inquiry yesterday Qantas confirming that it did make representations to the Federal Government off the back of the pandemic recovery about cancelling out any kind of competition. They're not going to commit to actually re-engaging with that to open it back up to other markets. It's all about competition and it's all about the consumer losing here.

CHALMERS:

Obviously, it's about the consumer and obviously we want a competitive aviation system. That's why we're expanding capacity in both an international and domestic sense as well. It's why we've got this work that Catherine King is leading on about the future of aviation, and competition is central to that. And competition is how we get prices down. But it's not unusual, as I've said before, for governments of either political persuasion, frankly, to get these bids from time to time and to make decisions on them, the best decisions that they can weighing up all of the available information.

[break in interview]

STEFANOVIC:

There have been some reports you closed your Austrade office in Qatar. Can you confirm that?

CHALMERS:

No, I can't Karl. I can check that out for you. The decisions about those trade offices are taken from time to time. We try and move our resources around the world where we think that they can be most effective. I'm happy to check in with the Minister.

ABO:

All right, thank you so much for that and we will check back in with you about that one, Treasurer. Let's move on now, because fuel, as we know, is out of control at the moment, and inflation is lifting because of labour-intensive services. I guess everyone's asking whether the Government has this, do you have our backs?

CHALMERS:

Of course, we do, Sarah. The Government's number one priority is rolling out billions of dollars in cost-of-living support in a way that takes some of the edge off inflation rather than add to it. As everybody watching your show knows, we are seeing a spike in petrol prices because the global supplies have created a shortfall and we're all paying for that in one way or another. And that's a big driver of the inflation number that we got yesterday but inflation is coming off overall, over the last six or nine months or so. That's really clear despite that number that we got yesterday. What we're doing as a government, we do have people's backs, we're rolling out billions of dollars of relief because we understand that people are doing it especially tough.

STEFANOVIC:

You people know more than I do about the economy but when you look at fuel prices, they're saying that with the issues with Russia, that that may not come off before the end of the year, coupled with labour-intensive services and the inflation surrounding all those pressures. You changed the rules around the Reserve Bank but they've got a hell of a decision to make in December, and it doesn't look good for families struggling at the moment.

CHALMERS:

I'm not going to predict or pre-empt what the independent Reserve Bank does but typically what they would do in a situation like this is they'd look at the overall direction of travel with inflation. Inflation peaked in quarterly terms at the start of last year, in annual terms towards the end of last year, and it's been pretty clearly coming off overall, despite that number that we got yesterday. And so typically, they would weigh all of that up. It's really clear – and your viewers would know this, Karl and Sarah – the interest rate rises that are already in the system are biting really hard. These international developments are really hurting when it comes to petrol prices. Everybody understands that. That's why the Government's number one priority is helping people with the cost of living, but doing it in a responsible and a targeted way so that we don't actually make this problem in our economy, which everybody is feeling, that much worse.

ABO:

All those issues you mentioned there will definitely add pressure to the RBA when they next meet. Peter Costello, who says that the changes you made to the RBA won't make any real difference here – he isn't very hopeful.

CHALMERS:

He's made a couple of comments that I don't agree with and that's because a couple of those comments are factually wrong. He's talking about a change to the makeup of the decision-making board, how many external members are on there: there are six on there right now, there'll be six after. It's not an especially radical change, but it's an important change, and reflects a lot of consultation that we've done. So I don't agree with Peter on that. He would know that, he would anticipate that I've got a different view, and that's because the facts of the matter are we're not making a radical change here, we're trying to strengthen and improve the way that the Reserve Bank comes at these sorts of decisions. Obviously, every time they make a big call like this, it has an impact on real people in real communities like these in regional Queensland and so we have got to get the settings right.

STEFANOVIC:

I fundamentally disagree with you disagreeing with the Chairman of Nine and we'll have that argument later on. Just quickly, I've got to get you on the Broncos this weekend against the Panthers. The Treasurer of the country, unbiased – off you go.

CHALMERS:

This weekend we're going to see the Lions by four goals on Saturday, and the Broncos by four points on Sunday.

ABO:

We didn't even ask you about the AFL, what do you know about the AFL! [laughs]

CHALMERS:

When you've got so many of your teams in grand finals on the weekend, you've got to get your sequence right. Lions on the Saturday four goals, Broncos four points on the Sunday. As Karl knows every day is a great day to be a Queenslander but when you've got both your teams in the GFs on a weekend, it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to turning a few snags like the rest of Southeast Queensland and watching both grand finals with my kids.

STEFANOVIC:

Good luck, Treasurer.