E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS AM AGENDA
THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2016

SUBJECT/S: Confusion around Government’s stance on gun laws; Turnbull Government jeopardising AAA credit rating; Government’s $50 billion tax cut for big business

KIERAN GILBERT: Shadow Finance Minister Jim Chalmers with me now. You've heard what the Government's saying - it's a distraction, trying to get away from the Building and Construction Commission debate. Is that what this is all about, given we know the Government's record on guns is a strong one?

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: I don't think anyone should describe gun safety regulation as a distraction from anything. It's pretty fundamental, especially in the uncertain times that we live in; it should be central. All we are saying is that the Prime Minister should end the uncertainty and end the confusion and tell the Australian people what position he will take to the meeting with the states tomorrow. That's entirely reasonable. He's been caught out trying to deal gun laws for votes in the Senate. That's a pretty despicable position and we just want him to clarify where he stands. They've got very serious divisions in their show…

GILBERT: …they deny that though, the Turnbull Government does, and so in fact does his predecessor in Tony Abbott. He says there was never a deal and Eric Abetz says it's mixed lines of communication here.

CHALMERS: Well there's at least three different positions in the Turnbull Government. There's Malcolm Turnbull's position; there's Tony Abbott's position, which he helpfully put on another program last night, and; then there's the National Party's position. We don't actually know where Malcolm Turnbull will land on this. We want some clarity from him on the position he takes to the states tomorrow. We don't know where he stands, but we do know generally he caves in to the right wing of his party. We're very concerned about that prospect. But all week in the Parliament, Malcolm Turnbull has been unable to clarify once and for all what his position is. These sorts of things shouldn't be traded for votes in the Senate.

GILBERT: I want to ask you about the other issue of the day in relation to Standard & Poor's. Treasury sources are suggesting they’re concerned about a downgrade in our AAA credit rating if the numbers aren't improved in the mid-year update by the Treasurer. Is this a real concern? Is this a real prospect and should Labor accept some of the accountability for it if it does happen?

CHALMERS: It is a real prospect that Australia loses its AAA credit rating. Actually, for the first time in our history, we got the AAA from all three credit rating agencies under Labor and that's at risk. It's at risk because there has been a substantial deterioration in the Budget under this Government's watch. If you look at the Budget outcome that was released a couple of Fridays ago, you'll see that the deficit, for example, in the financial year that's just finished has blown out by a magnitude of eight - an eight-times-bigger deficit than what the Government inherited. So it's no surprise really that the AAA rating is at risk.

GILBERT:  Should you be going to your colleagues and saying: "We need to compromise on more here, because this is how difficult the situation looks, we need to compromise more"? You did on the Omnibus, but you need to go further, clearly.

CHALMERS: We've got heaps of savings on the table that the Government could pick up and run with. There's been no Opposition, objectively, in the last couple of decades that has taken the task of Budget repair more seriously. We took $130 billion worth of savings to an election from Opposition. So we come to this with some bona fides when it comes to savings. The issue here, and the reason it's so troubling, is if the Turnbull Government does lose the AAA credit rating, it will smash confidence in the economy and it will push mortgage repayments up.

GILBERT: So then I'll ask you the same question. Should you and Chris Bowen take the argument to your colleagues that "we need to extend the olive branch further here" and compromise on things that otherwise you would have, and have, to this point blocked in the Senate?

CHALMERS: We've got a good record of trying to agree where we can and disagree where we must. We won't agree to hollow out Medicare, which is what the Government wants to do. But we're always up for a conversation about Budget repair, and not just Chris and I, the whole Labor team. We understand that this is an important task. We engage with it seriously.

GILBERT: Is it time for another sit down discussion then between you, Mathias Cormann, the Treasurer and Mr Bowen before mid-year update?

CHALMERS: We are always up for a conversation about Budget repair. But what we won't do is we won't hollow out health and education in order to inflict this $50 billion ram raid on the Budget, which is the Government's company tax cut. They should abandon that. They should come out today and say they won't proceed with that ram raid on the Budget, with that gift to multinational corporations. That would be a good step. That would be a good message to the ratings agencies that we can get this mess that they've created under control.

GILBERT: Jim Chalmers, appreciate your time.

CHALMERS: Thanks, Kieran.