E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
LOGAN
TUESDAY, 2 JUNE 2020
SUBJECTS: March National Accounts; Social housing; Live exports.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: We're getting some really important data about the economy this week, including the National Accounts tomorrow which will tell us a lot about what the economy looked like in the first three months of this year. But even before this Coronavirus and before the fires, growth in our economy was below average, wages were stagnant, business investment and productivity were both flatlining, and public debt had already more than doubled.
Whatever the National Accounts tell us tomorrow about the first three months of the year, we know that things have got much more difficult since then. With this kind of economic weakness, we can't afford this ongoing bungling ineptitude and serial incompetence of a Government which has got JobKeeper, Robodebt, sports rorts, bushfire relief and early access to superannuation wrong. We can't afford for the Government to continue to get these big calls wrong when it comes to the economy. We can't continue to see the Government take good ideas like wage subsidies and implement them so poorly.
The country desperately needs an effective response to this crisis to be confidently executed, and a plan to bolster the recovery and set Australia up for the future. It's not getting any of those things from the Morison Government. The Reserve Bank has been doing its bit, and playing its part, but the Morison Government has been letting the side down by bungling important programs like the JobKeeper program.
In the coming days, we'll hear what the Government has to say about residential construction, and what we can do to support the building industry. Anthony Albanese, Jason Clare and the Labor Party have made a constructive contribution by laying out what we think needs to be done to deal with what will be serial weakness in the residential construction sector.
We need to see a comprehensive plan for the building industry and that must include social housing. No serious, comprehensive plan to deal with the building industry can leave social housing out. It would be incredibly disappointing if the Government found billions of dollars for residential construction but not a cent for social housing. Social housing is good for jobs now and will have a lasting benefit for Australians doing it tough into the future.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned, of course, social housing. What else would you like to see out of the housing support package to be announced?
CHALMERS: As Anthony and Jason have made very clear, we need a comprehensive plan for residential construction. That could include changes to the deposit scheme to incentivise new properties being built. It should include social housing; it could include things like maintenance and upgrades of existing social housing. We need to find a way to house our essential workers closer to where they have done such a good job serving our community so that we can cut down their commute times. We've got an open mind on some of these grants, but the point that I'll make once more is this; any plan for residential construction which doesn't have social housing in it is not a comprehensive plan to deal with the challenges we're seeing right now. If the Government continues to get their programs wrong, if the Government leaves out social housing from their residential construction plan, then that will be bad for jobs and it will be bad for Australians who are doing it tough and who rely on social housing in our community.
JOURNALIST: Speaking of things being left out, the arts community has been crying out for support for a long time now. Is there anything in the coming weeks that the Opposition would like to see from the Government?
CHALMERS: Since the beginning we've been saying that the arts sector is one of the most heavily affected by this Coronavirus crisis. So many Australians work in the arts sector; not just the talent, but also all of those people that support the arts and the entertainment sector in our economy. This crisis has shone a light on just how many people work in these areas, but many of them are casuals who change their employers from gig-to-gig or from festival-to-festival. The most important thing that the Morison Government can do for the arts sector is to include more workers in the JobKeeper payments. Too many Australians in the arts sector and other sectors have been deliberately excluded from this really important scheme. That means that too many Australians from arts and entertainment, food and accommodation, tourism, and other important sectors in our economy are lengthening the unemployment queues when the Government had an opportunity to sign them up to JobKeeper but didn't take it.
JOURNALIST: On today's Federal Court decision about the live cattle ban, does Labor accept responsibility for the significant damage caused to the industry and the cost this will now incur to the Federal Government?
CHALMERS: I've just seen the news about that judgment. It's obviously a very important judgment and it relates to an important part of our economy. Joel Fitzgibbon will be putting out a full statement about this at some stage today.
JOURNALIST: How about the Minister at the time, Joe Ludwig? This judgment is quite critical of him. Should he apologise?
CHALMERS: I've only seen a very brief report of the judgment. I haven't had the opportunity to go through it in any detail. Joel Fitzgibbon is doing that and he'll respond on behalf of the Labor Party.
JOURNALIST: The Government could now be liable for that $600 million in compensation or so. What impact do you think that might have on the budget?
CHALMERS: Let's have a look at the judgment. Let's have a look at what it says. Joel Fitzgibbon will respond in a considered way. I literally just heard about it on the way out the door to come and speak with you about the economy. Thanks very much.
ENDS
