JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN 

GRAHAM PERRETT MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
MEMBER FOR MORETON

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
BRISBANE
MONDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2021

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison takes Queensland for granted; Scott Morrison needs to explain to Queenslanders why their real wages are going backwards while costs of living are skyrocketing; More Morrison stuff-ups in boosters the biggest risk to the recovery; Migration shouldn’t be an excuse not to train Australians as well.

GRAHAM PERRETT, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Hello and welcome to Moreton. We're here in beautiful Sunnybank Hills with my good friend Jim Chalmers, the Shadow Treasurer. We're here to talk about Labor's great plans for the future and also to make sure that people understand the Prime Minister's in Queensland at the moment, he's neglected Queensland for three years, neglected Moreton for three years now five minutes before an election turns up to make a few more announcements but failed to do the deliver part of that process. We know in Moreton that the ability to get to get vaccinations the ability to get boosters just hasn't occurred. We know that the Labor Party has a plan to restore economic credibility to Australia and I'll hand over to my good friend Jim Chalmers. 

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks very much GP, it is great to be here in the electorate of Moreton once again, and to spend some time with Graham. Graham is the gold standard when it comes to local representation. There is no better local champion for local communities, local jobs, and Medicare then Graham Perrett so it's a real pleasure to be here with you again today mate.

Scott Morrison's going to be passing through Moreton at some stage today we're told. 

Queenslanders aren't fools, they know this Prime Minister has been running us down for the best part of two years, picking fights with our Premier, and now just before an election he wants to swoop in and take credit for what Queenslanders have achieved together. If he thinks that he can show up five minutes before an election and people will forget two years of running us down then he's got another thing coming.

While Scott Morrison's here in Queensland, he should explain to people why he thinks it's good enough that their real wages are going backwards and their costs of living are skyrocketing. He should explain why the mid-year Budget update was nothing more than secret slush funds before the election and secret cuts to come after the election. 

Queenslanders desperately need a Prime Minister that takes responsibility, instead they've got a Prime Minister that takes Queensland for granted. That's what this trip from the Prime Minister is all about. 

He's been running us down for two years, picking fights with Annastacia Palaszczuk, and now because there's an election around the corner he wants to swoop in and try and take credit for everything that Queenslanders have achieved together.

The biggest risk to the recovery is another Morrison stuff-up on vaccines. The biggest risk to the economic recovery is Scott Morrison making the same mistakes he made on boosters as he made with the vaccine program earlier this year. Australians can’t afford another vaccine stuff-up from Scott Morrison.

At Christmas time, Australians are held hostage to the Prime Minister's incompetence when it comes to boosters and vaccines. 

There are 70 countries that measure their booster rollout; we are 65th-best out of 70 countries. There are a million booster shots in people's arms when the Government said there will be 4 million by the end of this month. So in six weeks, we've done 1 million with a week to go we're millions short of the 4 million target. 

Scott Morrison's learned absolutely nothing from the debacle on vaccines earlier this year and he risks making all the same mistakes when it comes to the booster program. We shouldn't be held hostage to the Prime Minister's incompetence on vaccines and boosters once again.

Richard Marles will be up later on talking about the migration story in the media today, but just very briefly: migration is obviously crucially important to our economy, but it can't be an excuse not to train more Australians for more opportunities. For eight long years now we've had a Government attacking training, attacking TAFE and apprenticeships. Now we've got these skills shortages which are a handbrake on the recovery. Skills shortages are a handbrake on the recovery. Migration is part of the story but it's not the whole story, we need to be training Australians for the opportunities that are there in the economy.

We want the national economy to recover strongly and Queensland needs to be a big part of that story. Queensland needs to be a big part of the economic story and not just a big part of the political story. When it comes to Anthony Albanese and Labor's positive plans for Moreton, and for Queensland, and for Australia, there stands to be no bigger beneficiary from our plans to support working families, secure jobs, and have a future made in Australia, then Queensland. We want Queensland to be a big part of our national economic success. Only Labor under Anthony Albanese has a plan to get us there. Scott Morrison just takes us for granted.

JOURNALIST: Would Labor commit to migration increasing from 160 to around the 200 mark in its Budget?

CHALMERS: What we've said for some time now is we need to know what kind of migration settings we would inherit. The mid-year Budget update last week was an opportunity to talk about migration, to talk about skills, the skyrocketing costs of living, stagnant wages, a lot of these issues that we've had for a long time in the economy, but it was more or less silent about that. Let's see what migration settings we would inherit from the Government.

We've said all along that migration is obviously crucial to the economy, but it's no excuse not to train Australians as well. It's the absence of any credible policy on skills, and TAFE, and training after eight years of attacking TAFE and training and apprenticeships, which is a handbrake on the Australian economy recovering as strongly as we needed to. 

ENDS