JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY AM AGENDA
MONDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2021
SUBJECTS: The big reunion as Queensland’s borders reopen; Health advice and borders; Australia suffered its third biggest economic contraction in the September quarter due to the Morrison Government’s incompetence; Costs of living skyrocketing while real wages go backwards; Insecure work a cancer in the economy; Small business loans.
LAURA JAYES, HOST: Joining me live now is the Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Jim, thanks so much for your time. This is good news for you as well as thousands of fellow Queenslanders. Are you still in isolation?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Yep, I'm still in home quarantine for a little bit longer, Laura. There's a process that we go through today, but hopefully out before long. Today's a really exciting day. I think it's a heartwarming day. To see all those families reunited - the big reunion at the border and at the airport - it really is terrific to see. People who have done so well here in Queensland and around Australia. They've done the right thing by each other, and so they get to see loved ones after a really long period away. My message though to Queenslanders, we obviously to say to our friends and family from down south welcome back, but I think that the overwhelming message is that we still have a big job to do in Queensland. We still need to get those vaccination rates up. Every fifth Queenslander is still not vaccinated, every fourth Queenslander in my neck of the woods. So we still need to make sure we're getting vaccinated and we're checking in. And when we do all that, when we do the right thing by each other, we get days like today where people get to be reunited.
JAYES: There's been a bit of mixed messaging from Annastacia Palaszczuk. Do you think this is the end of the hard border closures now or you're not so sure?
CHALMERS: I hope so. Who knows what's around the corner, but certainly the intention of the state government and I think every Queenslander would be if we can continue to do the right thing and do so well for each other, then hopefully we've seen the back of those border closures. But as the Delta variant taught us, you don't know what's quite around the corner. The only thing that we can do is to get those vaccination rates up. If we do that we protect ourselves from whatever this diabolical virus might bring.
JAYES: Do we know what the threshold is for shutting down borders again, and also what do you make of WA's reaction to Queensland? Overkill?
CHALMERS: I think I've said that multiple times to you Laura, over probably the last couple of years, it's not for us to second guess the health advice that Premiers of other political persuasion get. I think the people of WA and the people of Queensland certainly are pleased with the hard decisions that the state governments have had to make - not universally but I think broadly, in the main, people understand difficult decisions have to be made. Going forward, whether it's Annastacia Palaszczuk, Mark McGowan, or any of the Premiers, if they continue to take these decisions based on the best health advice available to them, then I think those decisions would be broadly supported.
JAYES: But that's exactly the point, isn't it? We're so highly vaccinated, there is still a long way to go. You could be in government next year. It is entirely within your rights to question the health advice at this point in pandemic, isn't it? It's gotta shift.
CHALMERS: The point I'm making Laura, is that we have health experts advising governments for a reason. I'm not a health expert, governments will make difficult decisions based on that advice. I don't think there's a better way to go about it, so whether it's a Labor government in power or Liberal government in power at the national level, I hope that either political persuasion would take that health advice seriously. I guess what I'm saying about the uncertainty Laura, is you think about the economic impacts of this virus. The federal government didn't do enough on vaccines and quarantine early enough, so we had this big Delta outbreak. This time last year, and in the May Budget, the Treasurer was saying the economy was prepared for lift-off and it was all about to come roaring back. Instead, we had the third biggest downturn in the history of the National Accounts and so we need to be vigilant. It is still an uncertain time. We hope the economy's recovering strongly. We hope we're on top of the management of the health aspects of it. We hope that people continue to get vaccinated. But it's still an uncertain period, so we can't be complacent on any of those fronts.
JAYES: The economy's doing pretty well now, isn't it?
CHALMERS: The economy is recovering as everybody would expect it to after such a deep and damaging downturn in the September quarter. We want the economy to recover strongly. That is the strong expectation of economists. That's welcome and pleasing if and when it happens, but as I said we've been here before. We've had the Treasurer claim victory over this pandemic this time last year and in the May Budget. We know, subsequent to that, he oversaw one of the worst downturns in our history. So we need to be vigilant, we can't be complacent. I think the other thing, when Australians broadly in the community hear that the Government patting itself on the back for this recovery, they think we'll I've still got skyrocketing costs of living, I've still got my real wages going backwards. We want to make sure that when Australians reach the other side of the valley, they're not just returning to all the wage stagnation, and all the pressures, and all the inability to get ahead, that they saw before the pandemic. We need to make sure the economy and our society are stronger after COVID than it was before. I'm not sure the Government has a plan to do that.
JAYES: There's a huge skill shortage and wages still have not gone up in any significant way. What is your plan to get wages up because you have been banging on about this for three years and even longer than that? Will you guarantee you can do that? Will you have to do it artificially?
CHALMERS: I'll come to wages in a minute. You mentioned the skills shortage, that's the key issue in the economy obviously. Two million people unemployed or underemployed at the same time as we've got these skill shortages. That's one of the defining weaknesses in the Government and in the economy, which has been around for longer than the pandemic. And that is important when it comes to getting wages growing again. There are two ways to do that. At the macro level, it's about getting more investment in the economy, more productivity, that's why our energy policies are so important, that's why our training policies are so important, that we released in the last couple of weeks. And then at the micro level, we need to make sure that insecure work is made more secure - by Fair Work Australia, by making sure that in labour hire people who are doing the same job are getting paid the same rate. All of these sorts of policies that we've already announced are about shifting the needle on wages, but it's been a long-standing problem under this government. Nobody's pretending it can be turned around overnight.
JAYES: That sounds like trickle down wages growth?
CHALMERS: No, in two directions, Laura, you've got to get the economy growing strongly enough that we're dealing with this underemployment problem that we've had for a really long time now under this government. At the individual level, at the workplace level as well, we've got to make sure that if people are working in insecure jobs, we do what we can to make work more secure. The reason we've had stagnant wages for the decade of this government is because workers becoming less secure. Insecure work is a cancer in our economy. If we deal with that in an effective way, then we'll start to deal with this wages issue which has been growing under this government.
JAYES: Just finally, this small business loan scheme has been extended, worth about $7 billion. Are business, from where you sit, in a position to go into more debt and take onboard these loans?
CHALMERS: I think that's the overwhelming reaction from small businesses when they hear about these programs. Obviously, we are supportive, we don't stand in the way of any mechanisms to support small business but for many of them, particularly those who are left in the lurch by this government - in areas sensitive to international tourism or international education, more or less left behind by this government. The announcement of more access to debt is not the worst outcome but nor is it what they've been asking for. I think most people in the small business community will think okay, sure, but where were you when we really needed you?
JAYES: Jim Chalmers. We'll have to leave it there. Thanks so much for your time. Good luck getting out of quarantine.
(LAUGHTER)
CHALMERS: Thanks, Laura. All the best.
ENDS
