JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW

SEVEN NEWS BUDGET SPECIAL
TUESDAY, 11 MAY 2021

SUBJECTS: BUDGET 2021

MARK RILEY, HOST: Jim Chalmers, Thanks for joining us.

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks, Mark.

RILEY: What isn't in this Budget that should be?

CHALMERS: Look, I think there are a range of missed opportunities in the budget.  You think about it; they've spent $100 billion, they've racked up a trillion dollars in debt, they still haven't implemented the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission, they still haven't done anything to make energy cheaper and cleaner; they've missed a whole bunch of opportunities to undo the damage done over the last eight years. But I think the defining problem with this Budget is that even after spending $100 billion and a trillion dollars of debt, they've still got real wages going backwards and that I think, is an admission of failure.

RILEY: Is there anything that you would vote against in this?

CHALMERS: We're still working our way through it. I mean, clearly, one of the things that troubles us, which we'll look at very closely, is there are 21 different slush funds in this Budget with billions of dollars stored up to get this government through an election.  We know how that goes, typically with sports rorts, and dodgy land deals and all kinds of money for mates. And so what we want to do is go through the Budget carefully. And no doubt there'll be some things we want to support, some things that we'll have a problem with.

RILEY: Lots of stimulus spending there going for jobs, is that a good approach?

CHALMERS: We've said all along that the priority has got to be jobs. You know, we've got an issue here with almost 2 million people who can't find a job or can't find enough hours to support their loved ones. That's a problem in the economy, as is the fact that millions more Australians have been trying to get by on stagnant wages for much of the last eight long years of this Government.

RILEY: So, does this change your approach to spending, they can hardly have a crack at you for spending too much after this?

CHALMERS: It just exposes what they've been saying for the last decade as a complete and utter sham. And what we've said all along, being entirely consistent, is jobs are the priority. The level of debt does matter, but what matters the most is what you actually have to show for that trillion dollars in debt. And you go through this budget, all the money that’s sprayed around, the Government won't have much to show for it. And the evidence of that is the fact that real wages go backwards. Growth goes back to below average, after a couple of years. There are a whole range of issues in this budget that have not been addressed. That's why it's more marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities.

RILEY: You mentioned debt there are a couple of times. The Government is not. Debt and deficit, are they really priorities at the moment, isn’t it a time to spend?

CHALMERS: Well it’s a time to support jobs. We've said that all along. We've said that for some time now. That the role of the Government needs to be to help people keep their jobs, to create new jobs, to create more hours in the economy, so people can provide for their loved ones. We desperately want people to get ahead in this recovery and we don't want people left behind. The difference between us and the Government is we want to make sure that there's something to show for that trillion dollars in debt that they've racked up. We will compare our approach ,to their approach to sports rorts and all the other rorts that riddle the budget, any day.

RILEY: Jim Chalmers, thanks for your time.

CHALMERS Thanks Mark.

ENDS