E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
LOGAN
THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2020
 
SUBJECTS: Insolvency proposals; JobKeeper and JobSeeker; Paul Keating and Josh Frydenberg; Final Budget Outcome; Federal Debt; Westpac and AUSTRAC.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: The Treasurer has just finished giving a speech on new insolvency arrangements, and some commentary around debt and deficits. These announcements for small business come at the same time as the Treasurer gets ready to withdraw billions of dollars in support from small business and local economies when JobSeeker is cut tomorrow and JobKeeper is cut on Monday. These are very complex arrangements that go to bankruptcy and insolvency, particularly as they relate to small business. We'll take the time to go through them in detail. We will do what the Government doesn't appear to have done, which is to consult with key stakeholders and consult with the industry.  We need to make sure that that consultation happens; key industry leaders are already saying that the Government hasn't done that consultation on these changes. We're very worried that when it comes to small business, this Government does a lot of photo ops but there's not much follow up. We see announcement after announcement when it comes to small business from this Government but very little follow through. This is the same Government that announced a $40 billion dollar fund to support the small business and yet only delivered $1.8 billion of that support. Small business has a right to be sceptical when the Government says that they're here to help. This Government often says that but fails to follow through. We'll go through the detail and we'll do all of the consultation.
 
The big announcements and the failure to follow through also relates to the other part of the Treasurer's speech today, which goes to debt and deficit. These are the same characters who said that they would deliver a surplus in their first year and every year after that. This Government is now in its eighth year in office, they've only delivered deficits and debt was already at record highs even before COVID-19 showed up. This is the Treasurer who will always be remembered as the guy who posed with "Back in Black" mugs and then went on to deliver the biggest deficits in the history of our country. Again, when it comes to the budget, big announcements, lots of photo ops, they printed the fancy mugs, but fell short on the delivery. We've been entirely consistent. We've acknowledged the impact on the budget of this coronavirus crisis. We've said throughout that the priority has to be jobs. We've said that not just over the course of the last year, but over the course of much of the last decade. It's appropriate for the Government to step in and support people and their jobs when the economy is in a downturn like the one we're seeing now. When the Government releases their Final Budget Outcome in the next day or two they need to explain why debt, a tiny fraction of what it is now, was a disaster a decade ago, but now all of a sudden is manageable on their watch. That's for the Government to explain. We've been entirely consistent. 
 
Paul Keating has had a bit to say about these issues in in the last day or so. If anybody's earned the right to comment on these issues, it's the architect of the modern Australian economy. Josh Frydenberg would prefer that young Australians carry the can for his recession by raiding and ruining their retirement incomes and damaging their super balances. Paul's entirely right to say that the biggest challenge we face is not inflation, it's actually unemployment and insecure employment going forward. We need to see the Government doing more to tackle this jobs crisis, not less. This is a full blown jobs crisis and at risk here is a lost generation of Australians. Too many Australians are at risk of being left out and left behind during this Morrison Recession. We need to avoid that. That's the point that Paul Keating has been making.  On the comparison between Paul Keating and Josh Frydenberg; Josh Frydenberg in the depths of the worst recession in almost a century is a real deer in the headlights. He's got no idea and he's got no ideas. He's got no understanding of what's happening to real people in real communities during his recession and he's got no plan to deal with what's happening in the economy throughout this period. 
 
We need to see the Government do more not less. That's the point that Paul Keating is making when he's intervened in the public debate in recent days. This is a full blown jobs crisis. It's absolutely mad for the Government to be withdrawing support via JobSeeker tomorrow and JobKeeper on Monday when the economy and particularly the jobs market is this weak. When the Government stands up in the coming days and releases the Final Budget Outcome they should also release the modelling which says how many jobs will be lost by their premature withdrawal of support from an economy which still needs it. Some businesses are recovering, many are not. The economy's too weak for the Government to be cutting these important payments at this time.
 
The last issue I'll touch on before I take questions is Westpac. The revelations about Westpac were deeply troubling and incredibly concerning. It's entirely appropriate that Westpac is severely punished for the standards which saw crime syndicates and terrorist organisations able to launder money through that institution. We want to make sure that a fine of this magnitude is a deterrent for any other institutions which might have standards which allow crime syndicates, terrorist organisations and others to launder money through their organisations. We need to hold our banks and our banking system to a higher standard. That's why we supported the royal commission that the Government resisted for two years and voted against 26 times. We need to get those standards up there. Part of that is ensuring that banks are appropriately punished when they do the wrong thing and have the wrong standards. That's what we're seeing here. 
 
JOURNALIST: To pick up on that point then, this is of course a historic settlement. Does it go far enough? Is it an appropriate deterrent? 
 
CHALMERS: It's certainly a big fine, and that's appropriate. We hope that it's a deterrent for any other institutions who might be allowing this kind of abhorrent behaviour to go on. It's more than a billion dollars. It's a substantial fine and that's a good thing, because we need to punish banks when they do the wrong thing. It needs to be a deterrent for others. 
 
JOURNALIST: On the Treasurer confirming that the Government won't be pursuing a surplus, wouldn't you agree that that is the right approach at this point in time?
 
CHALMERS: We've always acknowledged that this virus is having a big impact on the budget and on the economy. We've said that throughout. We've been very reasonable about it. We've also said, not just for the last year but for the last decade or more, that the priority needs to be jobs. But every dollar here is a borrowed dollar. We need to get maximum bang for buck for every borrowed dollar. We measure that effectiveness by what it means for supporting jobs, people, and communities through a very difficult time. We've been consistent on all of that. The inconsistency here is from this Morrison Government which pretended that debt and deficits a tiny fraction of what they are now were a disaster, and the end of the world, but now that they are many multiples of what they were a decade ago, they say it's manageable. It's for them to explain that inconsistency. We've been reasonable about it. We've said what the priority should be; its jobs and supporting people. We acknowledge that that has an impact on the budget. The most important thing here is when the time comes to repay the stupendous amounts of debt that this Government has racked up, the most vulnerable people aren't asked to carry the can for it again like they were in this Government's first budget. 
 
JOURNALIST: For those changes to insolvency laws, is that enough to help these small businesses get through the pandemic in its current form? 
 
CHALMERS: It remains to be seen. One of the reasons we want to take our time to work our way through some of these complex issues and consult with the sector is because unfortunately this Government has form, when it comes to small business, of making big claims and not following through. This Treasurer has given yet another speech. He likes speeches, he likes being on the front pages of the newspapers. He's less interested in actually following through and delivering for small businesses and for all of the people whose livelihoods depend on them. We've seen that before with small business support; big announcements with very little follow through. We want to make sure that the Government has this right.
 
Thanks very much.
 
ENDS