SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison hiding while Australians were hurting; A PM more interested in avoiding responsibility than avoiding job losses; Morrison Government shouldn’t be playing State of Origin with pandemic support.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks for coming out to Coffee on Wembley, one of our really important local small businesses. It's been really heartening to see the way people have been getting behind local small businesses as they deal with lockdowns and they deal with all of the challenges of this pandemic. 

That is especially the case of course in Sydney. Right now workers and small businesses in Sydney are doing it incredibly tough and our heart goes out to them as they deal with what are a very difficult set of circumstances. 

People in Sydney have been hurting while the Prime Minister has been hiding. When he finally emerged after a couple of weeks of going to ground, he managed to come up with a program that doesn't maintain a link between workers and their employers, it antagonises the Victorians, it doesn't guarantee anything for people who lost their job before yesterday, and the support doesn't flow for some weeks. 

It's a fair effort from the Prime Minister, having gone missing for a couple of weeks, that when he finally emerges with hundreds of millions of dollars per week in support, he still won't guarantee anyone keeps their job, he still antagonises the Victorians, he still hasn't done anything for those who lost their job before yesterday, and the support won't flow for some time. 

This is what happens when you've got a Prime Minister who is more interested in avoiding responsibility than avoiding job losses. This is a Prime Minister who is content to leave people hurting while he's hiding, and when he does emerge, he comes up with a package of support which isn't good enough. 

What the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have tried to do here is come up with something that looks different to JobKeeper and in doing that they've discarded what was the most important aspect of JobKeeper, which was maintaining that link between employers and employees so that people hang on to their jobs and get through a really difficult period. 

We wouldn't be in this situation if Scott Morrison had done his job on vaccines and quarantine. Scott Morrison's failure on vaccines and quarantine are costing the economy something like $700 million a week and the recovery from this pandemic is hostage to those twin failures on vaccines and quarantine. 

So what we've seen in the last day or so is more SlowMo, more of that rolling shambles when it comes to this package of support. The Government's been falling all over itself to call it something other than JobKeeper but in doing that they've discarded the most important aspect of JobKeeper at the same time. 

So we will go through the fine detail of what's been announced in the last day. As always with this Government, it's not what's announced that matters, it's what's actually delivered. I think a lot of businesses and workers in Sydney will be especially concerned that the small business support won't flow for some weeks still. 

People are still being left out and left behind because we have that Prime Minister more interested in avoiding responsibility than avoiding job losses. 

What we're seeing here is the worst combination of complacency and arrogance, and that makes Scott Morrison incapable of providing the kind of competent leadership that we need in these difficult times. 

This is a serious situation in Sydney. Our heart goes out to people there going through what they've been through. 

The final set of points I'll make is about the issues raised by Victorians after the announcement of this Sydney package.  We shouldn't be playing State of Origin when it comes to federal support during a pandemic. 

Victorians have got every right to be filthy at a Prime Minister and a Treasurer which abandoned them in their hour of need. Victorians have got every right to be unhappy and angry that the Prime Minister and Treasurer are doing more for Sydney than they did for Melbourne not that long ago. We don't want to see State of Origin being played when it comes to federal support. The Prime Minister needs to be able to see beyond his petty, partisan differences. 

The federal Government's support should be determined on need not by the colour of the state government. 

We've seen in recent days, unfortunately, that the Victorians have got every right to be unhappy about what's unfolding here. Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg abandoned Victorians in their hour of need. We don't want them to make the same mistake when it comes to Sydney. 

We are disappointed to see no guarantees that people will keep their job. We're disappointed that there's nothing for people who lost their job before yesterday. We're disappointed that support might flow for some time. This is a Prime Minister that went into hiding when people were hurting. We don't want to see that continue because people are doing it tough enough as it is. 

JOURNALIST: This morning Josh Frydenberg said that Dan Andrews was just whinging and he was offered a 50/50 split and rejected it.

CHALMERS: I think Victorians were abandoned by their Victorian Treasurer. What kind of Victorian Treasurer abandons Victorians in their hour of need?  That's what Josh Frydenberg did. 

And whether it's him or Scott Morrison they're getting increasingly cranky when people point out the significant shortcomings of this Government. If there's petty partisanship being played here it's being played by a Prime Minister and a Treasurer at the federal level incapable of seeing beyond the political persuasion of the state government. 

We don't want to see State of Origin played when it comes to federal support during a pandemic. This is about whether Australians need help or not, not whether or not they've got a Labor state government or a Liberal state government. 

For our part in the federal Opposition, we've been constructive all along. We've said that the Premiers, the state governments of either political persuasion, have got difficult choices to make. They haven't got everything right, they haven't got everything wrong. From a federal point of view, it's really important that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer doesn't play favourites here. Victorians are right to express their concern about the way that they were left in the lurch. 

JOURNALIST: If they were offered 50/50 and rejected it they don't have a leg to stand on if they were offered that and rejected it? 

CHALMERS: I wasn't part of those negotiations or those conversations and I'm reluctant to take Josh Frydenberg's word for it.  The point remains that when Victorians were going through a difficult period they were abandoned by the federal government. 

The Treasurer likes to say that more support per head of population went into Victoria, well Victoria was in lockdown for longer. And what we need to see here is a federal government that can look beyond that petty, personal, and partisan differences to deliver the support for workers and small businesses that people desperately need. If we had a Prime Minister and a Treasurer who were as interested in avoiding job losses as they have been in avoiding responsibility the whole country would be better off. 

Let's not forget that the Sydney lockdown has consequences for all of Australia. I've been speaking to my colleagues in the Northern Territory, with Warren Snowdon in the last 24 hours, he pointed out rightly that there are businesses right around Australia impacted by the Sydney lockdown. The Treasurer and the Prime Minister like to say that we're all in this together, but they just mouth these platitudes they don't actually mean it. What they do means more than what they say. They've left people in the lurch here. We don't want to see that continue. Thanks very much.

ENDS